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TMP editor, Chuka Umunna, reflects on a turbulent and dramatic couple of weeks for Labour, culminating in the Prime Mininster’s announcement this weekend that there will be no general election this year and probably the next.

Waking up yesterday to the shrill, self-satisfied tones of those men of the people, David Cameron and George Osborne, crying “chicken” after Gordon Brown’s announcement over the weekend that there will be no general election this year (and probably the next) was wholly predictable.

Only three weeks ago I was downplaying the merits of an early general election on Sky News in discussion with the Telegraph’s George Jones, who was very much pro the idea. Not only did the Labour party seem ill prepared - under-resourced in terms of money and personnel, with many local parties lacking a candidate - but I felt it would be viewed as bad form by the Great British public when cows were being slaughtered and a run on one of the country’s banks (the first in a generation) was under way.

David Cameron, by common consent, had had a torrid summer. When Northern Rock started to splinter, with the consequent suggestion that a period of economic turbulence was to follow, Labour’s poll lead actually strengthened, with several polls putting Labour firmly in 40% territory - extraordinary given the usual downward pull of economic difficulties on a government’s poll rating.

So as Cameron’s fortunes dwindled and Labour congregated in Bournemouth, shorn of the Blair/Brown rivalry of yesteryear and more united than ever, I found myself beginning to waver. Maybe Gordon should call it after all. In private, one of the more cautious cabinet “young turks” and a couple of other ministers seemed to be wavering with me. But we have now well and truly sobered up, having got a bit jolly on a few poll leads in the last fortnight; smug shadow cabinet members are not what one wants to hear while recovering from the resultant hangover.

It may be painful, but Gordon Brown’s eventual decision not to call an election was surely the right one. Notwithstanding the latest polls, Labour’s troops were not totally sold on having an election now, with the most recent Guardian/ICM poll showing only 58% of Labour supporters saying “bring it on”. Indeed, public desire for an autumn election gathered apace as speculation increased; there did not seem to be an inherent desire out there in the real world to troop down to the ballot box on a frosty November day.

Above all, fans of our parliamentary system will also hope that Brown’s decision has stopped the drift towards a presidential system of politics in Britain. A common complaint made of Tony Blair was related to his promotion of the notion of a presidency with “Tony” at the helm, as opposed to a government with the Labour party in the driving seat. Though it could be argued that to the extent Labour’s mandate in 2005 was personal, it was as much Blair’s as it was Brown’s (remember the cries of “Vote Blair, get Brown”?), it is surely healthy that a change in party leader has not, on its own, precipitated a general election in Britain. There would have to be no clearer sign that Britain was sleep walking into presidential politics than for an election to be held primarily so that a premier could claim to have secured a personal mandate midway through a parliament.

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Shortly before Gordon Brown’s announcement that there will be no general election in the near future, TMP editor, Chuka Umunna, caught up with Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Ed Miliband MP.
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CU: Going forward, what do you see as the major challenges for Labour in terms of what it has yet to achieve after 10 years in government?

EM: I think there are a whole range of challenges. There are challenges where we have made progress since 1997 - such as those around some of the public services, creating a fairer society more generally- and we need to make more progress on them.

And then there are new challenges which, in a way, were not so apparent 10 years ago. Something I’ve campaigned a lot on is youth services – services for young people are a big issue in every constituency I go to. Work/life balance and having a voice over the things that matter over one’s life are also issues. Take young people, one of the things we have given young people control over is the ability to control local youth budgets and so on. But there is a lot further to go in all these areas.

So its about meeting the existing challenges where we have made progress and confronting the new challenges our country faces.

CU: With regard to youth provision, Gordon Brown has announced that £670million will be taken from dormant bank accounts for the purposes of youth provision – how are you going to use that money?

EM: The detail will be fleshed out. I think it will be money which will be channelled to local authorities but they will have to put in relatively innovative bids which involve the voluntary sector, which bring in all kinds of partners. There has been a consultation document issued but we are also talking to young people to find out the kinds of services they want. What I know is that this is an area we need to make lots of progress on.

I think the other thing is that there is a wider issue about the voice of young people in society and I feel a bit like we are where we were with issues around women 10 or 20 years ago - which is that public policy is quite behind where the population is. Young people want a voice, they want a say, they don’t just want to have things done to them and I think public policy needs to catch up.

CU: On the poverty issue, Gordon Brown has reaffirmed the commitment to abolish child poverty – is that possible when you look at a place like Sweden which still has 5% poverty across the board?

EM: I think we want to be amongst the world’s best; I think that is possible but its going to take resources, its going to take effort and its going to take innovative thinking - we’ve got to do all those things. Read the rest of this entry »

TMP columnist, Lola Adesioye, presently stationed in New York, reports on the race to win the Democratic Presidential nomination. 

Last week I went to see Barack Obama in action at a rally in Washington Square Park in New York City. I was impressed at the diversity of the crowd: 25,000 students, professionals, young, old, white and black came out to see him. Although part of me had expected to see an overwhelmingly black crowd, the racial diversity of his supporters showed that he is being judged on the strength of his policies as opposed to just the colour of his skin.

Although Obama was good I have to admit I wasn’t entirely convinced. He was affable, friendly, down-to-earth. Most importantly, he made some excellent points and some important pledges, but I just wasn’t roused. On an emotional level, I would love for America to have a black president. However, on a rational level, I am not sure if I could see Obama as leader of the US at this point in time.

Whilst I agreed with his opinions on the war in Iraq and his pledge to introduce a long-overdue nationalized healthcare system, I felt that he was somewhat over-optimistic in promising to bring in the new healthcare system within his first term and pulling American troops out of Iraq as soon as he got into office. These are all things that appeal to voters’ emotions, but their realization in practical terms is a different matter.

New York is a Hilary Clinton stronghold and by calling a rally there, Obama was making a bold statement by stepping on Clinton territory. Whilst it gained him some good editorial coverage it does not appear, however, to have shaken Hilary’s grip on Democrat votes.

Polls show that Obama is way behind Hilary Clinton. According to a recent Gallup poll, 53% of Americans said they would vote for Clinton whilst only 20% would vote for Obama. It appears that Clinton has a firm hold on the Democratic vote, and each speech and appearance just seems to tighten that grip.

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On Monday we posted the first part of Chuka Umunna’s interview with former Labour MP, Oona King. Here is the second and final part of Chuka’s interview with her in which Oona talks about the need to modernise Parliament and how she is coming round to the need to adopt positive action measures to increase the number of ethnic minoritiy MPs.

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Chuka Umunna: Your book doesn’t actually encourage people to go into politics does it?

Oona King: It certainly doesn’t. One of the effects I hope the book will have is to hurry up the modernisation of the House of Commons and to increase pressure for the House to change some of the ways in which it works. There is no doubt that it drives out those people who want to contribute to politics but also want to have some life outside of it.

I think this is a really serious issue for our democracy - if you only have people in the Commons prepared to give up a significant amount of time of normal family life, then I think there are other consequences that will flow from that.

The longer I’m out of Parliament, the more I respect those who I left behind. Of course there are some bits I miss – you will never have a greater privilege in your life than being able to sit in the chamber of the House of Commons when the chamber is debating an issue, and to have you say on that issue. But I don’t miss it enough to give up everything else that I’ve gained since leaving, to go back there.

CU: A lot of people would like to see you return to Parliament, particularly those from ethnic minority communities. If you were invited to go for a seat, would you turn the offer down?

OK: I already have! I’m not bailing out on politics, but there are other ways to contribute to politics than by being an MP. The bottom line is that I hope people won’t be dissuaded by going into politics from reading my book. I hope they’ll think its an honest account of a normal person put into fairly extraordinary circumstances, but its not all doom and gloom. Its just that we need to look at this dysfunctional relationship between people and politics, and the way we run our country. If we improved the way we run Parliament, we would improve the health of our democracy.

CU: Where do you stand in the all ethnic minority shortlist debate in relation to Labour parliamentary selections?

OK: Initially I was opposed [to all ethnic minority shortlists], as I thought comparing all women shortlists and the situation of women (who make up 50% of the population) to that of ethnic minorities (who make up just under 10%) is difficult. But I think we are getting very close to the point where we will need to adopt some positive action measures as progress on ethnic minority representation is totally lamentable - if we keep going at the rate we are, we will get nowhere.

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A survey conducted for the new Equality and Human Rights Commission (formerly referred to as the Commission for Equality and Human Rights) reveals that 46% of people in Great Britain believe that they have faced unfair discrimination. Speaking on the opening of the new Commission this week, its Chair - Trevor Phillips - said:

“We live in an age of difference where most of us believe that people must be judged on their abilities, not their age, what they look like, their disability or their families and private lives.”

In the survey, amongst the population as a whole respondents pinpointed ethnicity, disability, religion and age as the top causes of unfairness; a third or more identified these as the basis for discrimination. When prompted half of those questioned also said that sexual orientation was often a reason for unfair treatment.

Two out of five (41%) of those who said they have faced discrimination of some kind said it occurred at work. Three quarters of all those interviewed (74%) think that most discrimination occurs in the workplace; half consider that schools, colleges and universities are also common sites of unfairness.

Mr Phillips continued:

“We have made immense progress over the past 30 years in giving women and minority groups the right to redress against discrimination. We will continue to support meritorious and significant individual cases. But we can do even better by working to change underlying attitudes and biased behaviour. Our task is to make the diversity of our society a source of energy and prosperity, not a cause for friction and inequality.”

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Chuka Umunna: Thanks for speaking to TMP Oona. Firstly, can I ask why you wrote this book? Was it a form of “self-therapy”?

Oona King: In a way I suppose it was. That said, I’ve always kept a diary since my mum gave me one as a Christmas present when I was 11. I’ve never been obsessive about writing it.

In fact, I’ve just started reading Alistair Campbell’s diaries and I can’t understand how he managed to do the job he did while writing reams and reams in his diary every day. In most of his diary entries he says there just aren’t enough hours in the day and ponders what he could do about that - I thought that not writing your diary would be a start!

I often would only write in my diary once a month. When first elected, I kept it less regularly than before, as I struggled to find the time to write it. What it gives is a snap-shot of what my life was like over a given period of time.

CU: Do you think you were too “normal” for the House of Commons?

OK: In some ways yes, in other ways I was one of the most abnormal MPs there. I was a completely atypical MP (being Jewish, mixed race and a woman). My favourite compliment (which I got as a politician) was when people would often say to me “you are too normal to be a politician” – so in a sense I was too normal. In other ways, I had wanted to be Prime Minister since I was 4 or 5 years old – that’s not normal at all!

CU: One of the things which has been said about you and the reason you did not achieve ministerial office was that you were perceived as being too “gobby” and not that “safe pair of hands” Prime Ministers look for in their ministerial team. Do you share this view?

OK: Absolutely - that is absolutely right.

CU: You are seen as a bit of a cheerleader for Gordon Brown [Oona appeared on his leadership campaign website and was part of his campaign team]…

OK: …well I always have been. People used to call me one of Blair’s “babes” but I always would jokingly say, “look at me, I’m a Brown babe!”. I’ve always been deeply impressed by his ability to marry strategic thinking with astonishing campaigning abilities, and his capacity to deliver the redistribution of wealth.

CU: …and what about redistribution – has there been enough redistribution of wealth over the last 10 years in your view?

OK: I don’t think there could ever be enough [redistribution] but for me its not just about wealth - you have to redistribute influence too.

In the past - on the Left - we thought if we just redistribute wealth, that’s enough. For me, its hardly the beginning - which is what my pamphlet is about [“The Battle to Engage: Renewing democracy for the next generation”]. I really think wealth was our focus but it can’t be our only focus.

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