When Peter Mandelson speaks, I tend to listen. Not because I agree with what he says, but because, as he so famously announced the last time he was re-elected as the MP for Hartlepool, he is a “survivor and not a quitter”.
Mandelson is quite frankly, one of the canniest political operators around. If Gordon Brown is Macavity the mystery cat, then Mandelson is the archetypal feline with nine lives.
I used some rare leisure time to have a browse of my favourite blogs the other day and there were lots of stories that caught my eye, but this post by John Redwood was particularly resonant with me, for reasons that should be obvious.
Although there are some parts of the constituency where retailers appear to be going strong, such as St Margaret’s, this is often a veneer and the shop owners are struggling to stay afloat. The more obvious disasters, such as Twickenham’s King Street and Heath Road are now, I believe, on a knife-edge between potential recovery and permanent decline.
I have been forwarded a few e-mails by local residents containing correspondence between themselves and our local MP, Vince Cable, mainly in relation to Twickenham Riverside, although the hated CPZ tax comes in to play here as well.
In them, he states that he “does not believe in local referenda, except for constitutional matters” (obviously he forgot about this when faced with the vote on the Lisbon Treaty) and that he won’t intervene in “local issues”.
Although he is uncharacteristically candid in explaining his absence from the crucial local matters of the day, what’s the point of having him as our MP?
I think it’s time Dr Cable booked a seat on the red leather and made way for someone who actually wants to represent their constituents now.
This is not a trick question, readers. I have been following the quiet transformation of Chancellor Alistair Darling since Brown’s botched reshuffle.
He appears to be revelling in his new-found security of tenure, even suggesting today that there will be a spending review before the next election, in direct contradiction to Gordon Brown’s many claims on the matter.
It appears that he is actually enjoying being the understated rebel. If Labour lose the Norwich by election next week, which it looks like they will, and then suffer defeat in Glasgow, could the autumn of discontent result in a coup for our Chancellor against the PM?
The BBC is reporting that the cost of a passport is going to rise by £5.50 or 7.6% to £77.50.
According to the ONS, CPI in May was 2.2%, so the rise is 3 ½ times that of inflation.
Such is the the Government’s grasp on economics, Ministers are blaming a fall in demand from fewer applications on the rise in cost, as revenue has fallen.
In any normal commercial world, would you not then reduce your own costs by cutting headcount, improving processes and reducing overhead to keep the price down?
Clearly not in a Labour Government.
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