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Senator John Kerry, the U.S. Democratic Party’s nominee in the 2004 presidential election, has come out for fellow Senator Barack Obama.  More to follow on this story here soon.

TMP editor, Chuka Umunna, reflects on last night’s television debate between those vying for the Mayoralty of the Capital. 

The first television face-off between the London mayoral candidates on Wednesday started so jovially. Before the cameras got rolling, Boris Johnson wondered aloud whether they should form a joint administration, with the other two “working under” him. Ken Livingstone’s retort that “too many people already have” provoked much laughter. They were joking, of course, but things got more heated later, in what turned out to be a quite angry affair.

Much has been said about the blandness of our British politicians in the wake of the excitement which the US Democratic presidential race is generating. That may be true of our national political operatives but here in London, while the protagonists may not be as slick and well-groomed as their US counterparts, bland they are not.

You have the Labour incumbent, the cheeky chappy “Ken”, with his slight cockney twang and trademark grin. There is Tory boy, “Boris”, Bullingdon club alumni - a man who carries the look and demeanour of someone straight off the set of a Richard Curtis film. Two characters miles apart. And then there is the Liberal Democrat policeman, former Commander Brian Paddick, who has something of the school head boy about him. So worried was Paddick about being eclipsed by the other two challengers at the outset, that he insisted on sitting between them in the pre-debate photo, lest the national press cut him out of the resulting shots.

The candidates came to the debate armed with a bevy of hand-picked supporters who made up the audience, of which I was one (yes, I’m a fan of Ken and proud of it). In turn, each candidate set out their stall and was cross-examined by their rivals. Then the audience was unleashed on them. Paddick’s pitch leaned heavily on his law and order experience but he appeared contradictory and hesitant on other policy areas. Johnson, among others things, accused Livingstone of failing to do anything about teenage gang violence, but was reminded by the mayor of the thousands of extra police on the beat since he took up his post.

Johnson looked rather bewildered at times, particularly when members of the audience - Labour and Liberal Democrat - drew on his past controversial comments (in relation to black people, etc) and one still does not get the sense that the honourable member for Henley really wants the job. He was reportedly heavily leant on to run by his old Etonian schoolmate, David Cameron (in need of a candidate who would at least attract attention), yet exhibited very little interest in London-centric issues before announcing his candidacy. But I would say that, wouldn’t I?

What cannot be denied is that the next five months are going to be entertaining with these three going at it. Hopefully, the contest will galvanise Londoners - many of whom have only a vague idea of what the Greater London Authority does - to take an interest in their city’s governance, much like our friends over the pond, which can only be a good thing.

Chuka Umunna is editor of TMP.  This article orginally appeared on the Guardian newspaper’s website.

Labour London Mayor Ken Livingstone will go face to face with his Tory challenger, Boris Johnson, in a television debate to be aired at 11pm on ITV1 in London on Thursday. They will be joined by Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick and the debate will be chaired by former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq.

Johnson, who was recently described as a “clown” by Paddick, has been accused of running scared from such a debate and this will be the first time that the candidates for the May 2008 London Mayoral election will debate together.

Commenting on the debate, Livingstone said,
“It’s the first time I’ve been able to pin Boris Johnson down to one. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m sure Londoners are looking forward to it.
“I would have thought radio and broadcasters would have set aside two or three slots a week for the candidates to debate. It’s very cheap TV and it gives Londoners a chance to ring in and ask questions.”

For information on Livingstone’s campaign, you can sign up at www.kenlivingstone.com.

It’s a draw in the race to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for the U.S presidential elections in November, after Senator Hillary Clinton managed to stage a come back in New Hampshire over night. Clinton won 39% of the vote against her main challenger, Senator Barack Obama, who won 36% of the vote. Former Vice Presidential candidate, John Edwards, continues to trail in third place, winning 17% vote.

It is thought that Clinton’s show of emotion at a diner when asked what it was like running in the tough race helped win women voters back over to her after Obama had picked substantially more women’s votes in Iowa. Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, has been noticeably more low key over the last few days, perhaps suggesting his wife’s team recognise the dangers of being linked with the past, given the success of Obama’s “change” message.

The next big test for the Democratic candidates is in the South Carolina primary on 26 January in a just over a fortnight’s time. Obama is presently averaging a 13 point lead over Clinton there and it remains to be seen what affect the New Hampshire result will have in that state.

Between then and now there are less significant primaries in Michigan on 15 January and Nevada on 19 January – Nevada only sends a small number of delegates to the Democratic Party’s national convention which chooses their presidential candidate, whilst Michigan has been excluded from sending delegates for breaking the rules on when it is holding its primary.

Commenting on Clinton’s victory, Obama said,
“I want to congratulate Senator Clinton on a hard fought victory here in New Hampshire. She did an outstanding job, give her a big round of applause.”

Our centralised power system is massively wasteful, so lets stop arguing about nuclear or non-nuclear and start to open our market to the full range of competitive alternatives says TMP environmental columnist, Hugh Goulbourne.

It has been disappointing to read recent articles by ‘green energy campaigners’ criticising the Government and civil service for their over-commitment to nuclear power. As a keen advocate of all forms of low-CO2 energy and energy efficiency, I am of course sympathetic to the argument that the UK needs to do more to support sustainable forms of energy. However, the debate must move beyond endless criticism of the Government’s review of nuclear and instead focus on how the industry and Government can together deliver the 20% of renewables, 20% reduction of CO2 emissions and eradication of fuel poverty within the next decade.

Contrary to much speculation, the government has now firmly committed itself to going most of the way towards meeting the UK’s 2020 EU target for a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions and an increase to 20% of energy (heat, power and transport) from renewables. A new generation of nuclear power plants will not be able to contribute to any of these targets. The planned redevelopment will only replace existing capacity and, therefore, cannot supplement either the CO2 or the renewables target (even if as has been suggested it were to be re-categorised as a renewable source). Furthermore, they will not come online before 2025, this according to figures supplied by the DBERR in the 2006 Energy Review.

All of us in the ‘green energy movement, should therefore recognise this as a moment in which government is keen to engage and find solutions to its pressing targets. Key to this is identifying the reforms of the regulatory and fiscal structures that provide the DNA to our energy market and generating systems.

Read the rest of this entry »

Senator Barack Obama appears to be leading in the battle of hearts and minds in the New Hampshire primary, the next stage of the contest to win the Democratic Party’s 2008 U.S. presidential nomination.

In the latest CNN/WMUR poll conducted after the Iowa caucus, he has a 10 point lead (on 39%) over Senator Hillary Clinton (on 29%) with former Vice Presidential candidate, John Edwards on 16%. Another recent USA Today/Gallup poll gave Obama a 13 point lead.

The candidates spent the weekend campaigning in New Hampshire yesterday ahead of the primary vote there tomorrow. It got off to a rocky start for Clinton on Friday when she was booed at a Democrat fundraiser when seeking to highlight Obama’s alleged inexperience. Then on Saturday she came under sustained attack from Edwards during a televised debate between the candidates.

News is awaited of the post Iowa caucus polling from Hew Hampshire. Supporters will want to see whether Senator Barack Obama has benefited from a bounce there after his victory in Iowa on Thursday, the first test in the race to win the Democratic Party’s 2008 presidential nomination. Meanwhile, the commentariat has been busy analysing the results:

The Guardian - Gary Younge, “Obama reshapes US presidential race”
The New Statesman – Andrew Stephens, “And the next US president is…”
The New York Times – David Brooks, “The two earthquakes”
The Washington Post – E. J. Dionne Jr, “A whiff of revolution from Iowa”

This week the Economist publishes an in depth report into global migration, an introduction to which can be listened to below.  The report argues that migration has been good for countries receiving and sending immigrants and points to the role that migrant remittances have been playing in aid flows to developing and third world countries (echoing arguments made on this site by Jon Cruddas MP and Murad Qureshi AM.

TMP editor, Chuka Umunna (left), reports on a remarkable victory for the junior Senator from Illinois.

Senator Barack Obama has won the Democratic caucuses in Iowa giving him that crucial momentum – the big “mo” – to help carry him through to the next stages of the race to win the U.S. Democratic Party’s presidential nomination for the November presidential election.

Obama (below) won 37.6% of the vote to John Edwards’ 29.7%, with Hillary Clinton trailing in third place on 29.5%. Of the other contenders, Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd have now bowed out of the Democratic race having failed to make an impact.

Obama’s victory is a remarkable feat for an African American, given over 95% of the population of the state is white. He is believed to have benefited from a high turn out and the relatively mild weather conditions.

TMP caught up with Iowan Stephanie Tingley during the campaign, who remarked how “Obama has been working the high schools and targeting first time voters in a way Hillary [Clinton] has not”.

Tingley met all of the candidates during the Iowa caucus campaign and her mother had been working on Clinton’s campaign in Council Bluffs, Iowa. “Obama certainly has a warmth and presence about him which the others do not, though I thought Clinton came across much better in the flesh than on the television” she said.

Though many high school students are not of voting age at present, many will be in November when the Presidential election takes place, so were entitled to take part in the caucuses. Obama did many high school rallies and has also been using other techniques to target independent and first time voters and across party boundaries.

You can watch Obama’s victory speech below:

All of the candidates have now flown to New Hampshire where campaigning has already started in earnest. Obama has work to do to carry his victory through to that state where Clinton (on 34%) has a 7 point lead over him (on 27%) in the latest poll of polls. The Obama team will be hoping that victory in Iowa will help close the gap.

London’s Muslim community leaders, in an unprecedented intervention, have come out in support of Ken Livingstone’s re-election as Mayor of London today.

The British Muslim Initiative (BMI) has issued a document supporting Livingstone which has been signed by more than sixty mainstream Muslim organisations and figureheads who are said to represent the majority of London’s Muslims.

The BMI was formed to fight racism and Islamaphobia, combat the challenges Muslims face around the world, encourage Muslim participation in British public life, and improve relations between the West and the Muslim world.

The document states:
“Since June 2000, Ken Livingstone has been an outstanding Mayor of London. He has stood out in support of a multi-cultural society and has supported the Muslim communities of the city against racism and Islamophobia as well as all other minorities against all types of prejudice. His stands and policies have constantly championed justice in the Middle East and around the world, freedom for the Palestinians and withdrawal of occupying troops from Iraq; a rare trait of modern-day public figures. He has enhanced London’s standing in the world and helped improve the lives of all of the city’s communities. For those and many more traits continuously and consistently demonstrated by the Ken Livingstone, we the undersigned believe that it is in the best interest of the Muslim communities of London, and indeed all Londoners, to back Mr. Livingstone in this year’s mayoral elections.”

Commenting on the statement, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, former General Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain said,
“I have followed closely the political career of Ken Livingstone for many years and had the pleasure of working closely with him. As Mayor, he has served the diverse communities of our capital with true distinction. Under his stewardship London’s Muslims and people of faith communities were given a voice and encouraged to be part of the mainstream as equal partners and genuine stakeholders. Things could only get better for all Londoners under his continued leadership”.

Prof Tariq Ramadan, a Senior Research Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford and also a signatory to the statement said,
“Ken Livingstone has consistently used his office to oppose war and promote the cause of peace. He has stood firm against racism, championed the rights of minorities against prejudice and discrimination, and been one of the strongest advocates for a diverse and multicultural society. At home and abroad he has supported those struggling for justice.

Livingstone is standing against the Conservative candidate, Boris Johnson (left), and Brian Paddick for the Liberal Democrats in the election in May this year.  Earlier this week Paddick attacked Johnson for behaving like a “clown”.  Anas Altikriti, spokesperson for the BMI said,
“Muslims in London feel that for the Conservative party to choose Boris Johnson who wrote that Islam is ‘the most viciously sectarian of all religions’ and that ‘Islamophobia seems a natural reaction’ was nothing short of an insult to London’s Muslims as well as its ethnic and religious minorities”.

A full list of the signatories to the statement can be found here.