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Action-Reaction: Hazel Blears Spills Her Guts to MEN
Yesterday LOL reported on a gathering of Labourists in Manchester at which extreme frustration mingled with softly spoken fury at the Blears antics of the last week, and indeed the last month.
The NEC member present, Peter Wheeler, a constituent and confidant of La Blears as well as an on message blogger, promised he'd take the message back and wouldn't pull any punches. Hazel Blears has clearly listened. Whether what she has done will be enough to save her from further opprobium and even de-selection is a moot point.
As LOL reported in a comment on our post Hazel really does have the common touch. She was taken to the bosum of the townsfolk of Rochdale on walk about a couple of weeks ago, when she was perhaps at her most shell-shocked over cheque-wave-gate.
Just the right size for little old ladies to hug is Hazel. The narrative she's come up with for the the Manchester Evening News (interviewer David Ottewell) is pretty lame I think. But nonetheless a huge step nay a giant leap for Little Chipmunk-kind. The damage of the Observer accusations, which she does not apologise for, and the "joke" which she does, was entirely predictable for a woman of Hazel's intelligence.
Roping in Jacqui Smith and Beverley Hughes as cover for her eve-of-poll stomp is a rather ridiculous category error I'd say. Smith's departure was long-expected and a plus for the government in terms of popular opinion. Many believe Hazel caused the news to be leaked anyway. And Hughes' routine announcement is not comparable.
Which leaves the wearing of that silly brooch as the only bona fide apology. But that's just a detail of the stomp out anyway. The cheque-waving was STUPID. the Observer article was STUPID. The stomp-out and brooch were STUPID. The harm felt by rank-and-file members has been enormous. And the BNP have a seat with 10% of the vote in the City of Salford, far far more than that in parts of Hazey's constituency. And on average way more than Manchester's 7%. If a third of them, in just this one counting area, had voted UKIP instead ...
These things have clearly hit home at last.
Hazel Blears IS a plotter. That's politics after all. But she is RENOWNED for it. At the House of Cards end of the spectrum. But not subtle with it. She needs to turn her guns exclusively on the opposition from here on in if she is to survive and prosper. Plot their demise if you want to. Stop and count to Number 10 before any more of this arrant foolishness.
I'm not a Blairite, a Brownie or a Bleary but I would much prefer to see a tamed, loyal and disciplined Hazel Blears speaking out for the government of our country than Caroline "Nanny" Spelman. She has got off scot-free with gaming her staffing allowances and ripping off the taxpayer - outside the rules - and now she's scolding us? And don't get me started on Eric "Two Homes" Pickles and his "clean up" rhetoric.
FOOTNOTE BBC PROTEST: Nick Griffin is due to appear on BBC this evening. From Manchester studios. Protest from 5:30PM. If I get the microphone I may break into song. Not the Marseillaise version concocted for Le Pen and Griffin in 2004. But it'll be another hit I'd say.
5 comments:
She's dead.
She was in it for herself when she 'didn't break the rules' to avoid paying capital gains tax. She was in it for herself when she eventually paid back the 13 grand of capital gains tax. She was in it for herself when she resigned the day before the local elections. And she's in it for herself now with an insincere apology that she hopes will save her career as an MP. Salford deserves better.
On the CGT and the expenses generally there are dozens if not hundreds of MPs who are also culpable at that sort of level. If Salford Central CLP's General Management Committee "no confidence" her this coming Thursday - at least three Branch Labour Parties are bringing resolutions - and if she then stands down or is subject to a triggered re-selection process (which she might well win btw) ... what will happen to the other 100 os so on similar misdemeanours?
She's a lost cause. Nothing can save her, not even the vote of confidence she'll probably receive. Her political career is over. As for the other 100 or so on similar misdemeanors, they can go and boil their heads for all I care. Hazel rocked the boat. Now it's time for her to walk the plank.
Looking forward to the meeting on Thursday night, never been to one of these before but Salford is never normally at the heart of such issues.
I think she must go but fear she will survive. Maybe not that bad an offender compared to many others but that doesn't mean she should be exempt from censure, it means that we should get rid of her to set an example that others should follow. The party nationally needs the cleanest slate of candidates it can get - Blears, Purnell, Hoon and Darling need to stand down or be de-selected.
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