TMP Online

Gordon Brown has just launched his leadership campaign. He said:
“As Chancellor, I have learned that when you get something right you build on it. But part of experience and judgement is to recognise that when you fall short, you listen, learn and then are confident enough to set new priorities. And I have learned also that the best way to meet peoples priorities is to involve and engage people. For me this starts with governing in a different way.” To read the speech, log on to his campaign website - www.gordonbrownforbritain.com.

As Tony Blair announces he will leave as Prime Minister on Wednesday 27 June, the writer and Labour Party member, Tim Caswell, asks what will follow in his wake and explores the future of the Labour Party, in this first TMP essay. For a printable copy of this essay, click here: tmp-essay-may-2007.pdf

To new Labour loyalists, the Prime Minister’s announcement was a similar experience to learning of the death of someone who has been terminally ill, Sad but unsurprising. Like all seminal events in the party’s history it made me think of my Dad who joined the Labour Party as a teenager in 1945.

Throughout the eighties he believed he would never see another Labour government. Forty-seven years on the shop floor of an engineering factory left him with no allusions about the depths to which the party had sunk and the contempt in which working class voters held it before Neil Kinnock saved it from extinction. He believed that New Labour had returned the party to the people who voted for it out of the hands of an unrepresentative rabble. He didn’t live to see the historic third term but I knew what his reaction would have been. I saw the tears in his eyes when Tony Blair said; “Labour, back as the people’s party once again,” at the centenary celebrations.

In nearly thirty years as a member I can only recall the Labour family showing complete unity twice: when Thatcher fell, and the day Tony Blair was elected. That inspirational sunlit day, over a decade ago, seems like yesterday. His departure really is the end of an era. Now that the Blairite chapter in Labour’s history has closed what will be the fate of New Labour? What’s next come the evolution?

Read the rest of this entry »

It was inevitable; sooner or later the white supremacists were going to wake up to the possibility of there being a Black president in the U.S. and it appears others have an issue with that too (though they choose to dress up their disquiet with faux humour).

CBS has had to put a temporary block on Obama comments on their website because of the number of racist remarks, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Meanwhile shockjock DJ Rush Limbaugh has been running a song called “Barack the Magic Negro”, to the tune Puff the Magic Dragon – he, of course, denies the consequent charges of racism (“me, racist – nooooo”).

Colin Powell’s wife famously barred him from running for the White House as she feared he would be assassinated. Obama already has Secret Service protection to prevent him suffering the same fate as other substantial African American political figures of times past.

But is Obama fazed by the negativity of a few foul-mouthed dinosaurs? No. The Obama campaign continues with a campaign visit yesterday to Richmond, Virginia, where he gave a rousing speech to more than 500 people. Obama and his team are obviously not going to be held back by Limbaugh, white supremacists or anyone else!

This morning the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions gave a full and frank assessment of the state of ethnic minority employment in Britain today at the Fair Employment conference on equality, diversity in the workforce and reducing employment gaps in the public and private sector. The conference was also addressed by TMP editor, Chuka Umunna (in his capacity as an employment lawyer), Baroness Prosser, new Deputy Chair of the CEHR and many others.

Hutton said that the employment gap between ethnic minorities and the population as a whole stood at 14% which he said was “simply unacceptable for society as a whole and cohesion”. Hutton admitted that the government was “making progress but it is not quick enough or profound enough”. He identified three key action areas for the government: providing support for working families, more emphasis on welfare policies targeted at those most in need and tackling discrimination. Click here to read the speech.

Anna Lo MLA was sworn in today as the first ethnic minority member of the Northern Ireland Assembly. She is the Alliance Party member for South Belfast and the first Chinese politician born in East Asia elected to any national parliament or assembly in the whole of Europe. She is a social worker by profession, has lived in Northern Ireland for 32 years and was a founder member of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities and a commissioner for the first Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

The Alliance Party is Northern Ireland’s cross-community and anti-sectarian party which aims to “work on behalf of all sections of the community, to build a fair, peaceful and prosperous society that cherishes diversity, and is committed to human rights, equality of citizenship and social justice.”

Britain must come to terms with its slave past argues Patrick Vernon and this includes an apology.

Over the last several weeks I have been involved in chairing and speaking at events and numerous media interviews on the bicentenary of the commemoration of the 1807 Slave Trade Act. In addition, I attended a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in honour of the President of Ghana as part of the country’s 50th anniversary of political independence from the UK. As a Councillor in Hackney I have also been involved in promoting the local exhibition at the Hackney Museum on the slave trade and national curriculum resources developed for local schools in the borough. This is a model of good practice giving a different and arguably correct perspective to young people on the slave trade and how it relates to issues of citizenship and community cohesion. Finally, I just recovered from a 13 week campaign in Bristol West as part of the selection process to be a prospective Labour Parliamentary candidate.

The bicentenary commemoration’s major focus is on the role of abolitionists particularly William Wilberforce, and the passing of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.This is the first time at a national level that people from all quarters of society have discussed the issue of the slave trade. Not since the landmark US drama series Roots, back in 1977, based on the Alex Haley book, have we have been given official sanction to discuss the slave trade and Britain’s involvement.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today we launch TMP’s “Eye on Obama”. Senator Barack Obama is one of the most exciting politicians to come out of the U.S. Democratic Party for many years.

Obama, who is of mixed race, is only the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history and is the sole African American currently serving in the U.S. Senate. He is still is his first term as one of the senators from Ilinois and has come out of nowhere to become a leading contender to become the Democratic Party’s candidate in next year’s U.S. presidential election. He first rose to prominence at the Democrats 2004 national convention where he gave a barnstorming speech which can be viewed here.

There are seven other contenders for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination: former First Lady, Senator Hilary Clinton; former Senator Mike Gravel; Senator Chris Dodd; former Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards; Congressman Dennis Kucinich; Senator Joe Biden; and, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. However Clinton and Obama have emerged as the clear front runners - a recent poll has Clinton on 39% and Obama on 24% - the nearest rival to them both is Edwards on 21%.

The primary season, during which the Democrats will vote for who they want to be their presidential nominee, runs from January to June 2008, followed by the presidential campaign proper after a nominee has emerged. Election day is Tuesday 4 November 2008.

45 year old Obama has already managed to raise almost the same amount of money for his campaign as Clinton has and he has over 70 people staffing his campaign full time. Regular updates on the progress of his campaign will appear on this site. In the meantime, you can find out more information about him from his official campaign website.

Bashir Ahmad MSP and Mohammad Asghar AM have become the first ethnic minority members of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly respectively. Ahmad represents the SNP, while Asghar represents Plaid Cymru.

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee publishes its report on South Asia today.  In it the Committee argues that “given India’s size, economic growth and large contribution to the work of the United Nations, there is a compelling case for granting it a permanent seat on the security council, as part of wider reforms of the United Nations”.  The report also explores the nuclear tests carried out by India and Pakistan in 1998, the leading role India is playing in developing renewable energy sources and generally notes that the UK and India enjoy excellent bilateral relations on a wide range of shared interests.

A copy of the report is available here.

Last year I wrote an article in the Financial Times bemoaning the lack of ethnic diversity in the City. Just 2.5 per cent of FTSE 100 board members are from an ethnic minority according to Cranfield School of Management, and there is one non-white chief executive. Fewer than 3 per cent and 4 per cent respectively of the partners of most prestigious City law and accountancy firms are drawn from a non-white background, according to Legal Week and Accountancy Age, and the leading investment banks do not fare much better.

Since then several ethnic minority City operators have come to prominence for different reasons. Arun Sarin, the sole non-white FTSE100 chief executive referred to above, has been involved in somewhat of a power struggle at Vodafone this last few months. In February, Damon Buffini, managing director of Europe’s biggest private equity firm, Permira, became the target of the GMB union’s campaign against such firms – the private equity industry stood accused of asset stripping and causing the loss of thousands of jobs.

Today the Guardian has done a profile on another leading ethnic minority City personality, whose profile is on the rise – former Ivroian politician, Tidjane Thiam (pictured), managing director of Aviva (Europe), the fifth largest insurer in the world. Thiam was also recently a member of Tony Blair’s Africa Commission. Perhaps, slowly, things are beginning to change in the City and the world of financial services?

Chuka Umunna, Editor