TMP Online

There are less than two weeks to go until the race for the Democratic nomination for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election kicks off proper.

The last six polls of Democratic caucus voters in Iowa, all conducted between 13 and 19 December, show Senators Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton neck and neck, with Obama and Clinton leading in three of six polls each. They are both averaging 28.3%, with former Vice Presidential candidate, John Edwards, trailing behind with an average of 23.2%.

The Iowa caucus vote takes place on Thursday 3 January and the winner will be looking to use the momentum built up there to sweep to victory in the other states which vote in quick succession afterwards.

In New Hampshire, taking the averages of the last six polls conducted there of Democratic primary voters in the same period, Clinton is ahead with an average of 34% to Obama’s 27.8%. The New Hampshire primary takes place on Tuesday 8 January and is followed by Michigan (15 January), Nevada (19 January) and South Carolina (29 January). There is no polling data available for Wyoming which votes on 5 January.

Meanwhile, on the trail responding to claims that he lacks experience from the Clinton camp yesterday, Obama pointed to the support he says he has from her husband’s former foreign policy officials.
“Why is the national security adviser of Bill Clinton, the Secretary of the Navy of Bill Clinton, the Assistant Secretary of State for Bill Clinton—why are they all supporting me?” Obama said.
“They apparently believe that my vision of foreign policy is better suited for the 21st century.”

The British National Party has been reported to the Electoral Commission and the police over possible financial irregularities. Labour MP Jon Cruddas (right) used an adjournment debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday to make a number of charges regarding alleged illegal activity and financial irregularities in the internal operations of the BNP.

Speaking in the debate, Cruddas said
“Last week I wrote to the police to request an investigation into claims of illegal spying within the BNP,” he told the Commons. “Today I have been given a 20 page dossier entitled ‘Financial Irregularities in the British National Party: An Investigation by Searchlight Information Services’ which I am in turn sending to both the police and the Electoral Commission.”

He went on to outline a list of serious allegations against the BNP including the following:
■ the BNP’s 2006 accounts have still not been submitted to the Electoral Commission, more than five months (so far) after the due date;
■ the BNP failed to report a donation of £5,315 in the period 1 July 2007 to 30 September 2007 in contravention of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000;
■ BNP financial records were shredded at the home of the party’s former national treasurer in 2004;
■ the BNP has solicited donations from overseas to an organisation by the name of Civil Liberty, which Searchlight considers is merely a front organisation set up to circumvent the prohibition on donations to political parties from individuals who are not registered to vote in the UK;
■ the BNP attempted to earn insurance commission by means of an insurance entity that was not authorised by the Financial Services Authority and there were serious doubts whether the activity was exempt from the requirement for authorisation:
■ there is evidence that the BNP financed its insolvent position in 2006 by a failure to pay sums owed to HM Revenue and Customs in respect of Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and value added tax (VAT);
■ there are allegations that the BNP has paid workers in cash to avoid tax and national insurance contributions and to enable them to claim state benefits; and
■ the BNP claims to have spent at least £70,000 on printing equipment in 2005, but no such expenditure is shown in the accounts.

Cruddas also used his speech to reiterate his belief that the BNP leadership has acted illegally in the splits which have beset the party. He said that:
“the BNP have posted on their website a recording and transcript of a private conversation between the two people who were later sacked” and “it is the belief of the people concerned that their house, phone or computer has been bugged.”
He continued, “on Saturday 8 December members of BNP security, under instructions of BNP leader Nick Griffin, entered the house of Sadie Graham in the East Midlands by deception. Property belonging to Sadie Graham, including her personal computer bought for her by her father, was removed without consent. This is nothing less than burglary.”

Cruddas went on to say that this computer was later examined by the BNP, emails opened and read and the contents then posted on the Internet, which he insisted was a clear breach of the Data Protection Act. As the content of one email was referred to by Nick Griffin on the party website Cruddas concluded: “This clearly proves that the BNP leader has been privy to a criminal act.”

Cruddas ended by saying: “In conclusion what is being uncovered in the internal workings of the British National Party appears to be illegal in terms of data protection, bugging, theft and the operation of the Political Parties, Elections and referendums Act 2000.
“This is not the behaviour of a mature political party and I would like to see the police and the electoral commission investigate these charges.
“The fact that this is being orchestrated by the leader of a political party is most shocking. The BNP leadership and Nick Griffin in particular, are showing us its true colours.”

You can watch the speech below.

Early day motions (EDMs) are formal motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons by MPs.  Diane Abbott (left), MP for Hackney North,  has just submitted an EDM against the Conservative’s London Mayoral candidate and MP for Henley, Boris Johnson (right) in the following terms:

“That this House condemns the reference by the hon. Member for Henley of black people as `piccaninnies’, of Africans as having `water melon smiles’ and of African people that `left to their own devices, the natives would rely on nothing but the instant carbohydrate gratification of the plantain’; notes that the leader of the Conservative Party, the rt. hon. Member for Witney, has been asked by leading members of London’s black community to disassociate his party from these remarks and has refused to do so stating that the rt. hon. Member’s remarks have been `taken out of context and fail to properly represent what he has said in the past’; further notes that the hon. Member has never disputed the fact that he wrote these comments about black and African people; and believes that there is no context in which such remarks could be defensible or justified.”

To contact your Member of Parliament to urge them to sign up to Diane Abbott’s EDM, you will find the necessary details here.

Yesterday the Guardian’s G2 section did a fashion profile of Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey. Unlike more high profile ethnic minority peers such as Lord Ahmed and Baroness Amos, Baroness Young is one of many ethnic minority peers we hear little about.

Young was an actress during the 1970s and 1980s and went on to become Professor of Cultural Studies at Middlesex University in the mid 1990s. She was head of culture at the Greater London Authority from 2000 to 2004, the year she became a cross bench peer in the House of Lords. She sits on the Boards of the South Bank Centre and the Royal National Theatre amongst other appointments.

Over the Christmas period TMP will be profiling our unsung ethnic minority peers.

Labour Party Deputy Leader and Leader of the House of Commons, Harriet Harman MP, has kindly passed TMP a copy of a recent speech she gave in her constituency on migration and diversity, which we publish exclusively here today.

Harman, who is also Secretary of State for Equalities and Minister for Women, represents Camberwell and Peckham, an inner city South London seat with the largest black community of any constituency in England. It was in Harman’s constituency that the young Damilola Taylor was brutally murdered on the notorious North Peckham estate on 27 November 2007.

In the speech given to London’s South Bank University Harman admitted that “just as this country has long benefited from migration, there has too, regrettably, always been fear and hostility to blunt the welcome.”

With remarkable frankness for a senior politician, Harman highlighted the importance of skin colour in the national immigration debate and the paradox of second and third generations of immigrant families being treated as outsiders:
“How do the proud children born here to migrant families from Africa and the Caribbean feel about a national debate which sees even the second and third generation of those families as less British than the children born here to Irish or Polish migrants?”

In October the Home Office published a cross-government report on the fiscal and economic impacts of immigration. However, Harman said we should not only make the economic arguments for migration but also recognise the inherent benefits it brings in an increasingly globalised age:

“We should look beyond the balance sheet of migrants working in our health services or migrants using our health services; or migrants contributing through their taxes or migrants claiming benefits…..migration and diversity offers us the prospect of being internationally literate, being able to look outward, having a huge advantage over unchanging homogenous societies.”

She acknowledged that the government has a long way to go in tackling the poverty that disproportionately affects ethnic minority communities, pointing to the fact that “two thirds of black people live in the worst housing in the country” and that by every measure of poverty used in a Policy Studies Institute study including housing and worklessness, and the unique Families and Children Study index of hardship “minority ethnic children are more likely to live in households prone to hardship and marked by disadvantage and persistent low income.”

In October 2006, Justice Secretary Jack Straw caused much controversy with his disclosure that he asks Muslim women wearing the veil to remove it when they visit his constituency surgeries. Whilst the debate at the time focused on Muslim women’s right to wear the veil Harman used the issue in her speech to illustrate the lack of diversity in the House of Commons:
“Who does this issue most affect? Muslim women. Who have the strongest and widely different views on this issue? Muslim women. Who are the group that are unrepresented in the House of Commons? Muslim women. My point is that you cannot have sensible discussions about people who are not there to contribute to the debate.”

To read the speech, which also covers migrant worker rights and remittances, click here: tmp-speech-harriet-harman-december-2007.pdf.

Looking ahead to 2008, Compass will be holding a high profile Westminster debate on migration to coincide with the publication of its recent report on the issue “Towards a progressive immigration policy”.

The panel will include Immigration Minister Liam Byrne MP, Jon Cruddas MP, The Guardian’s Madeleine Bunting, Barrow Cadbury Trust Chief Executive Sukhvinder Stubbs, Don Flynn of the Migrants Rights Network and Neil Jameson from the Strangers into Citizens campaign.  The event, which will be chaired by The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee, takes place from 6pm on Tuesday 29 January in the Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, Westminster, London. To register to attend email: gavin@compassonline.org.uk.

TMP advisory board member and London Assembly Member, Murad Qureshi AM (pictured on the left with Viendra Sharma MP), explains why it is so important for London’s ethnic minority communities to get out and vote in the May 2008 GLA elections. 

As we approach the London Assembly elections next year, Labour can be proud of its achievements in relation to the representation of ethnic minorities in London and the policy successes we have delivered to date.

On the Assembly, Labour is presently the only party with ethnic minority representation and a majority of female members. 50 per cent of our candidates for the May 2008 London Assembly constituency elections are from an ethnic minority background including Navin Shah in Brent & Harrow, Shafi Khan in Croydon & Sutton, Ranjit Dheer in Ealing & Hillingdon, Balvinder Saund in Havering & Redbridge, Jennette Arnold AM in North East London, Ansuya Sodha in South West London and myself in West Central London.

Since the 2004 elections, ethnic minority London Assembly members on the Labour Group have actively supported the Mayor’s budget to finance the organisation of events such as the Annual Diwali Festival, the Annual London Mela, the Annual Eid Celebration, the Women in London’s Economy Conference, a Black History Month Event, Holocaust Memorial Day and the Rise (London United Against Racism) Festival. We have also represented London’s BME communities on the Assembly by promoting equal opportunities and challenging discrimination in London.

However, all this could be tarnished if our communities do not get out and vote in May 2008. There is a significant chance that the BNP will gain at least one seat this time round. Five percent of the vote will give the far-right party one seat and eight percent will give it two.

And the threat is real. Earlier this year, Nick Griffin claimed that the BNP would win between one and three seats in the next GLA elections. At the last GLA elections, they came within just 0.1% of gaining a GLA seat. Since then the party has gained 12 councillors in Barking and Dagenham and one in each of Havering and Redbridge. There are a further six BNP councillors just over the London border in Loughton. Support for the BNP appears to be concentrated around the outskirts of London, particularly in outer East London and on the fringes of South and South West London.

The one thing that can help prevent the BNP from winning Assembly Seats is a high voter turnout. Searchlight, the anti-racism organisation, has argued that a 45% turnout is needed to prevent the BNP from winning any seats. So if Labour’s achievements in London do not move you to get out and vote, at least do so to keep this odious party out of our City Hall.

Murad Qureshi AM is a London wide member of the London Assembly.  He is also a member of the TMP advisory board.  Check out his website here – http://muradqureshi.com/.

On the day EU leaders sign the Lisbon Treaty, TMP’s new european columnist, Anne Fairweather, reflects on our relationship as citizens with the European Union. 

As the leaders of Europe gather in Lisbon to sign another European Treaty, the debate as to what it all means is as unenlightening as always. The real challenge to all politicians that recognise that the EU is a necessary and useful institution, is how to communicate this to Europe’s citizens.

It is hardly surprising that most people have little idea about what the purpose of the EU is, let alone what it does. The debate has been stuck in a rut for decades. The European Union tends to be described by anti-Europeans as a plot to take over British sovereignty – a debate that fails to recognise that political power in Britain has become more and more defuse over the centuries. Whilst those that speak out in favour of the EU are characterised as leading Britain into a never-ending ‘ever closer union’. This then generates fear, as it is perceived to have no end other than that of a ‘super-state’, whatever that maybe. This is an equally curious concern as no one even thinks to ask what the purpose and direction of their own country is. In fact, the way in which the UK’s borders and political institutions have evolved over centuries ought to provide a template for understanding how the EU evolves.

A common understanding of the role, purpose and direction of the EU is desperately needed. Interestingly, the need to co-operate across nations is not questioned when one considers the challenges of the modern age, from climate change to terrorism, mass communication to world trade. It is therefore puzzling that the legitimacy of the institutions, which the EU encompasses, is constantly questioned. The EU is the most creative and organised response to the need to co-operate in the modern world. Rather than responding to policy challenges on an ad hoc basis, the EU allows for a more consistent and transparent approach.

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The Equality and Human Rights Commission joined forces with high profile faith leaders to claim back Christmas yesterday.  The Commission said it was responding to a growing feeling that it’s taboo to celebrate Christmas in our public spaces.

This year it is the traditional Christian nativity play that is the centre of the stories, with the usual reports of a local authority or public body falling prey to the accusation of “cancelling Christmas” and PC running amok. The resulting media furore is now a regular ritual of the holiday season.

Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said,
“A lot of these stories about Christmas are the usual silly season stuff. But I can’t help feeling there’s sometimes an underlying agenda to use this great holiday to fuel community tension.
That’s why I asked leaders in different religious communities to join me in saying: It’s time to stop being daft about Christmas. It’s fine to celebrate and it’s fine for Christ to be the star of the show.”

In the joint statement, senior figures from the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim communities added their voice to the concerns raised by Phillips. Anil Bhanot, General Secretary, Hindu Council UK said “Hindus celebrate Christmas too. It’s a great holiday for everyone living in Britain. We would like Christians to continue to carry Jesus’ message of love. Barring the faiths of others does not fit in with the Hindu religion.”

Regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Dr Indarjit Singh, Director, Network of Sikh Organisations UK, said,
“Every year I am asked, ‘do I object to the celebration of Christmas?’ It’s an absurd question. As ever, my family and I will send out our Christmas cards to our Christian friends and others. In the spirit of Christmas, we in the Singh family will, as usual, force ourselves to have extra turkey, Christmas pudding and mince pies, the lot – all in the cause of inter-faith harmony. No one can say Sikhs don’t go the extra mile!”

This weekend Oprah Winfrey joined Barack Obama on the campaign trail in Columbia, South Carolina.  Talkshow queen Oprah is supporting Obama’s bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.  You can watch them team up below.

In the wake of the sentencing of Samina Malik last week, TMP columnist, Lola Adesioye, argues that the sooner we come to terms with the idea that freedom of speech and expression do, in fact, come with limits and consequences, the better.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the individualistic society in which we live today. Obsessed with individual freedoms and liberties, we appear to have lost the ability to see the causal link between our actions and their consequences. Young boys who carry guns fail to see it – they are just protecting themselves after all. The actor Chris Langham, jailed for downloading child pornography, was unable to see it – according to him he was simply perusing sexual images of children for his own research. And now it’s the turn of self-named ‘lyrical terrorist’ Samina Malik to have missed this vital action/reaction link.

Apparently Ms Malik is just a naive young woman, who thinks that watching beheadings of Westerners and supporting jihad is “cool”. She is, of course, entitled to her views. After all, she’s an individual. Shouldn’t we all be able to think, say and do what we want?! Aren’t we all entitled to our freedom of expression, our freedom of speech, without repercussion?

Well, no actually, we’re not. The sooner we come to terms with the idea that freedom of speech and expression do, in fact, come with limits and consequences, the better. After receiving a 9 month suspended prison sentence for possessing documents likely to be of use for a terrorist, I’m sure that Malik has been reminded of that today.

Personally I have no sympathy for the girl. Her argument that she was just seeking “fame” carries no weight with me. What does supporting the execution of westerners and downloading terrorist material have to do with finding your fame and fortune? Most people I know who are looking for fame are auditioning for Pop Idol.

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