Labour MPs want to oust Jeremy Corbyn and make Alan Johnson new leader

I have no idea if the story is true - and Alan Johnson has shown no enthusiasm for being Labour leader when he has been asked to stand or lead a coup in the past - but the Mirror is reporting this evening:

Moderate Labour MPs want veteran MP Alan Johnson to step in as caretaker leader if they manage to oust Jeremy Corbyn . 

Four senior sources including members of the shadow cabinet have said they see the former Home Secretary as the best man to unite the party if Mr Corbyn was forced to step down. 

One shadow cabinet source said it was “a case of when, not if” Mr Corbyn is forced out by disgruntled MPs.

Liberal England: circulating unfounded rumours since 2004.

Alan Johnson shows the good and bad sides of mainstream Labour

There is no doubt about the bust up of the day. It is Alan Johnson's pummelling of Simon Hardy from what is laughing called 'Left Unity' on the Daily Politics this lunchtime.

Johnson was absolutely right to question Hardy's blithe assumption that only his groupuscule of the left stands against racism, austerity and war.

He was right to defend the record of the Labour governments of which he was a part:

we introduced the minimum wage, when we introduced the education maintenance allowance, when we introduced sure start children’s centres, when we reduced child poverty, when we attacked pensioner poverty, when we gave trade unionists the right to be represented, the right not to be sacked for going on strike.

Part of Labour's problem is that it has made so little effort to defend the Blair and Brown years. Blair, like Harold Wilson before him, has become a nonperson despite winning multiple elections for the party.

Where Johnson was completely wrong was where he complained that Hardy is "a middle-class intellectual".

Of course he is. Labour needs middle-class intellectuals. Labour wins when it manages to persuade both the working class and middle-class intellectuals to vote for it.

Yes, it must be galling for someone like Johnson to be lectured on the meaning of socialism, but his attitude does remind you of stories about how moderate Labourites used to behave when they were in the ascendancy back in the Fifties and Sixties.

Then, if someone applied to join the party, the local membership secretary would call. If he saw books in the house the candidate would be told that the party was full.

Still, if Labour is to return to sanity, let alone government, then the party's mainstream will have to emulate Johnson's fighting spirit.

The failure of the political class and the appeal of Alan Johnson

I am not the greatest admirer of Alan Johnson - his appearances of This Week, where his highlight of the week is invariably an event that proves he was right about everything when he was home secretary, can be irritating - but if Labour has any sense the party will find a way of deposing Ed Miliband and crowning him as leader.

Why? In part it is because Miliband fails the greatest test for a leader of the opposition: you cannot imagine him as prime minister.

And in part it is because of his flawed campaigning since 2010. Even if you agree with them that the Conservatives and the Liberal Demcocrats are evil, you still want to know what Labour would do differently. And of that we have little idea.

But above all the greater electability of Johnson is a mark of the self-defeating hegemony of the political class. (I realise this post lacks a definition of that class, but they are much like elephants - you know one when you see one.)

Ed Miliband's c.v. - adviser to Gordon Brown, cabinet minister, party leader - is at once the ideal of that class and a guarantee that he will have little appeal to anyone else.

This should not be such a surprise. Fairly or not, the two most prominent members of this class within Blair's inner circle were also its two members most disliked by the public. Step forward Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell.

Meanwule Alan Johnson has had a life outside this class - as a failed musician, postman and trade union leader. That almost in itself is enough to make him more appealing than most politicians.

Perhaps this view of the political class is unfair - perhaps things were always like this. Certainly, there were plenty of political dynasties in the past. But this modern distrust of professional politicians  is widely entertained, and the attitudes of many young politicos does nothing to discourage it.

I doubt Labour will find a way of making him leader, but they would have a much better chance at the next election if they did.

The departure of Alan Johnson and the dangers of Ed Balls

The announcement of Alan Johnson's resignation came just as I was leaving work. Guido Fawkes suggests there will be a scandal in the Sunday papers and implicates Ed Balls in its leaking. (Later: Tomorrow's Daily Mail suggests a different story is behind his resignation.)

Whatever the truth of that, Johnson never looked comfortable as shadow chancellor. His appointment has to count as a bad error by Ed Miliband, ranking alongside his naming of Phil Woolas as shadow immigration minister - though at least the latter showed a wicked sense of humour.

When Ed Balls was passed over as shadow chancellor I suggested that it was a sign of weakness rather than strength on Ed Miliband's part:

I am reminded of the way the England selectors used to leave out good players (John Snow, Phil Edmonds) because they might be disruptive or hard to control.

Well, Miliband has his star fast bowler now.

Will Balls strengthen the Labour team? He certainly knows his economics, but he is heavily implicated in the failures of the Brown years. More importantly, his instinct will be to return to a Brownite "Labour investment vs Tory cuts" attack.

If Ed Miliband does not try to rein him in then, however popular this approach is in the short term, Labour will lack credibility as an alternative government come the next election. If Miliband does try to rein him in, there will be fireworks.

If there is scandal brewing over Alan Johnson then he might have been doomed whatever job he was given. But he is a likeable politician and would have been an asset to the shadow cabinet in an elder statesman role - something like shadow foreign secretary or shadow leader of the House. I am sorry to see him go.

Prime Minster's Questions: The verdict

Pete Hoskin writes on the Spectator's Coffee House blog:

If you ever needed a PMQs to brush away the last morsels of festive cheer, then this was it. Every question and answer came laced with some sideswipe or other, and it made for a scrappy exchange between the two party leaders. Both struck blows against each other, but both were also guilty of errors and mis-steps.

And that is about right.

David Cameron's inner Flashman broke free and he never looks half as appealing when that happens. One dig at Alan Johnson's lack of grasp of economic details would have been funnu, but there were four or five and it felt more like the bullying of one of Labour's more attractive figures.

I did like his put down of Angus Robertson though.

Someone who emailed The Daily Politics shares my view of Ed Miliband's performances on these occasions. He moves from subject to subject, claiming to have proved all sorts of things when few listening will have noticed any such thing. He is like an overconfident student who is confident precisely because he has failed to understand the subtlety of the questions he is tackling.

As I once wrote, the widespread view of Miliband 2 is that he resembles a bright sixth former, but on occasion he can be more like that sixth-former's ink-stained younger brother.

And there was not even a question from a Lib Dem backbencher to cheer us up.

Prime Minister's Questions and the Comprehensive Spending Review

At Prime Minister's Questions last week Ed Miliband was light on his feet and David Cameron's inner Flashman began to surface. Labour MPs left with a spring in their step.

They won't have been feeling so happy today. Cameron found the right tone this time, managing to patronise the Labour leader without sounding bullying. And Miliband's attempts to point to dissension within the cabinet (quoting Kenneth Clarke and Chris Huhne) were made to sound petty as a result.

Then came the Comprehensive Spending Review. George Osborne's approach, as one commentator said, was pure Gordon Brown. He bombarded the House with statistics. Before his listeners had time to consider a figure, they had been hit around the head with another six.

In his pomp Brown would appear before the Treasury Select Committee and not give them a chance to ask any questions. It was figures, figures, figures all the way. Osborne has not yet reached that level, and today he struggling to get through his speech as Iain Duncan Smith's frog had taken up residence in his throat.

And then came Alan Johnson. As a tweet from the Sunday Telegraph's Patrick Hennessy said:

AJ sounding a bit like Frankie Howerd - "Deficit? Oo-err missus" etc - but, amazingly, it's working!

I am not convinced it did work, and it certainly won't do in the long run. Johnson is endearing, but he is no one's finance director. He is the boozy regional sales manager who is not always too careful with the paperwork.

All this is about personalities and not the ishoos, but the problem for Labour (and for dissident Liberal Democrats, come to that) is that they have not yet formulated any alternative economic policies. Osborne's claim that his cuts in departmental budgets are lower than those Alistair Darling would have made my be sharp practice, but it does make the point that a re-elected Labour government would have done something very like this.

So over to you, Mr Miliband.

Alan Johnson is neither Ed Balls nor married to him

It is hard to escape the conclusion that Alan Johnson has been made shadow chancellor because:

1. he is not Ed Balls;
2. he is not married to Ed Balls.

Still, Ed Miliband's decision to appoint does suggest that he is planning a strategy that goes beyond opposing every Coaltion spending cut. That will help the quality of political debate in Britain and will not do Labour's prospects any harm in the long run.

You can debate whether this shows Ed Miliband is strong - prepared not to give Balls and Cooper what they wants - or weak - unable to trust himself to control economic policy if he gives one of them the post to which they are most suited. I tend to the theory that it means he is weak. I am reminded of the way the England selectors used to leave out good players (John Snow, Phil Edmonds) because they might be disruptive or hard to control.

But today's events do show how odd the Labour party's internal organisation is. You have a leader who was not the preferred choice of most Labour MPs (or most Labour members, come to that) obliged to put together his Shadow cabinet from the names those MPs have come up with. More than that, he is more or less obliged to give senior positions to people who come high in the poll

So Labour ends up with Alan Johnson, a shadow chancellor who knows nothing about economics; Yvette Cooper, a shadow foreign secretary with little experience of foreign affairs; and Ed Balls, who has hitherto shown no interest in home affairs - he promises to be like Charles Clarke but without the charm.

Incidentally, once Ed Miliband had made up his mind to appoint a shadow chancellor who was not Ed Balls or married to him, John Healey might have been a better choice than Alan Johnson. Healey has a little of Vince Cable's lugubrious charm about him.

How Gordon Brown has ensured Alan Johnson will be no threat to him

You are a prime minister under pressure. What do you do? Give your most attractive rival a job which ensure that everyone will soon hate him.

Since becoming home secretary, Alan Johnson has become the most prominent public defender of identity cards and of the extradition of Gary McKinnon. You may say that in both cases Johnson could have fought to be allowed to take a different line if he wanted to, but it does underline what a thankless job being home secretary is.

By appointing Johnson to the post, Gordon Brown has ensured that the more libertarian elements amongst Labour voters and (just as important to the prime minister) amongst Labour MPs are rapidly going off him. Johnson now looks far less like the man to recapture this important constituency for Labour at the next election.

You may think that this is just a Liberal Democrat complaining. Surely, I hear you asking, Labour should worry more about its core voters staying at home or voting Tory or UKIP?

Ah, I reply knowingly, just wait until the next scandal about paedophiles or escaped prisoners or asylum seekers. See how popular Alan Johnson is with them after that.

John Reid like to think himself as tough as they come, but his career did not survive 12 months as home secretary.

Very cunning, that Gordon Brown

House Points: Calder's Second Law of Politics

My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News.

Dyed in the Wool

Calder’s First Law of Politics is that if all the parties agree on a new law it is bound to turn out to be a disaster. My Second Law is that the more power the government takes for itself, the more arbitrary the exercise of that power becomes. This is why, with Labour’s effective nationalisation of childhood, we see children taken into care on apparently flimsy grounds whilst others die at the hands of their parents despite countless visits from public-sector professionals.

The same thing happens in the legal system. Labour has created numerous new criminal offences, yet this week we learnt that nearly 1000 offenders released on licence, who should have been sent back to prison, are still at large. They include 19 convicted murderers.

A word of advice to Alan Johnson, the new home secretary: concentrate first on keeping murderers locked up and spread your wings only when you have got that right.

Certainly, Johnson gave no sign that he offers a break with the recent past at home office questions on Monday. There was no sign of his being the fresh new face some Labour optimists still believe can win them the next election.

He washed his hands of any responsibility in the case of Gary McKinnon – the Asperger’s syndrome sufferer facing extradition to America for computer hacking. And he offered a dogged defence of identity cards, including the unconvincing claim that the “need to prove identity is a constant daily occurrence”.

Nor – to continue this column’s new theme – should you expect any better from the Tories. Angela Watkinson, wanted firmer action against antisocial behaviour. As Matt Foot recently pointed out n a letter to the Guardian 99 per cent of applications for an ASBO are granted:

they are extremely difficult for anyone to stop, as the only test for the court is whether there is evidence that someone behaved in a way "likely to cause alarm", and hearsay or gossip is allowed as evidence. An ASBO can then ban you from doing anything anywhere for the rest of your life. If you breach the order, you face up to five years in prison.

It’s scary to think what Watkinson may have in mind.

Government guidance on children and alcohol will make things worse

A consultation document launched by Ed Balls, Alan Johnson and the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, is expected to advise parents not to allow children to drink any alcohol before they are 15.

Donaldson was promoting this line on the Today Programme this morning but, as Costigan Quist points out:

He didn't seem to be able to point to any evidence that children being given the odd drink by parents in a controlled environment actually did any harm.

What would such evidence look like?

It might show that children allowed to try alcohol at a young age by parents, in a controlled way such as at meal times, were more likely to drink to excess as teenagers or adults; or perhaps that such children had more health parents as adults than their peers who were forbidden alcohol at home.

Liam Donaldson didn't even suggest that he had anything like that. The best he could point to was anecdote and being on the safe side, both of which may simply be wrong, as he must know.

Elsewhere, on the Off Licence News website to be precise, Donaldson is quoted as saying:

"This guidance aims to support parents, give them the confidence to set boundaries and to help them engage with young people about drinking and risks associated with it."

But how will issuing such guidance give parents confidence?

A significant feature of British society over recent years has been the collapse of parental confidence. And the principal cause of that collapse is surely the flow advice from experts - many of them state-sponsored - telling parents how to do their job.

Donaldson's today interviews are just the latest contribution to this. I recommend Frank Furedi's Paranoid Parenting for an analysis of the phenomenon.

Meanwhile, Liberal Revolution shouts:

parenting is a responsibility to be EARNT - and I think parents should prove it if their abilities are so poor that the child’s future is put at risk.

How is it possible to sack people who fail abysmally at their jobs when the bar is so low for the crucial job of being a parent.

After nearly 12 years of Labour government such a view is neither terribly Liberal and it is certainly not revolutionary.

Britblog Roundup 187: The Bournemouth edition

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Lord Bonkers on Matthew Taylor, Nick Clegg and GQ

From Liberator 325.

Monday
Well, well, well. So the story has finally come out. I suppose it was inevitable.

The name "Percy Harris" will mean little to my younger readers, but he was quite the fellow in his day. Percy was elected in the Liberal interest at a by-election at Market Harborough during the Great War and was a frequent guest at the Hall in those dark days. The soundest of fellows, he stood by Asquith in 1918 and was thus denied the "coupon" by Lloyd George and his Tory allies, ensuring his defeat. He soon re-emerged as a Liberal MP in the East End and his strong following amongst the Pearly Kings and Queen (many of whom could drink more wine than he'd ever seen) ensured that he held that seat until 1945. The point of my story is that Percy’s granddaughter (a charming girl) fell pregnant during the louche days of the 1960s and a baby boy war born. Despite my strongest urgings, the family saw to it that he was adopted by a kindly scriptwriter and his wife and I assumed that was the last I would hear of the business.

A few years later, however, news reached me that a small boy had won the All Cornwall Primary Schools L. T. Hobhouse Recitation Contest at a preternaturally early age, and I soon guessed who the child he was. It was thus no surprise when, upon the sad and untimely death of David Penhaligon, Master Taylor (for it was he) emerged as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Truro. He soon proved a useful addition to our front bench (bedtime permitting). Now the tale is all over this morning’s newspapers; I spend the day at the Home for Well-Behaved Orphans refreshing my memory on the pedigrees of our young residents.

Tuesday
To Windsor for a banquet in honour of the French President M. Sarkozy. In the past I have found our Gallic cousins Rather Hard Work - one got the impression that General De Gaulle could never quite forgive Britain for liberating France - but the present incumbent proves a jolly little fellow. I am particularly taken by his wife, whom I rescue from the Duke of Edinburgh as is telling her (in more detail than is strictly necessary) the best way to disembowel a stag. We get on famously until the Prime Minister - a dour Scotsman by the name of Brown - muscles in on our conversation and tries to interest her in "post-neoclassical endogenous growth theory". I soon get my revenge: Brown asks me the way to the dining room and I send him off through the billiard room down the back stairs and out into the kitchen garden, before taking the delightful Mme Sarkozy into dinner on my arm. The Queen is amused.

Wednesday
I come across a magazine called GQ and, when I am told that the initials stand for Gentlemen’s Quarterly, I purchase a copy as it sounds My Sort Of Thing. Imagine my delight when, upon perusing the contents page, I find that there is an interview with out new leader. I order a pot of Earl Grey and sit down to read it, but I am soon disconcerted. I find that Clegg makes light of the notorious incident in which he set fire to a priceless collection of rare cacti -- I don’t know if they sell GQ in Rutland, but if they do it is lucky for Clegg that Meadowcroft’s choice of reading matter runs more to The Horticulturalist’s Journal. Then - dear God! - Clegg goes on to boast of the number of women he has slept with, which is something no gentleman should ever do. I certainly should not have done it myself when there was talk of my leading the Liberal Party - particularly if I thought there were any chance of the magazine falling into the hands of the first Lady Bonkers.

Thursday
To Brick Lane for the launch of the Liberal Youth, and not without a little trepidation as the name conjours up visions of footer bags, hearty folk singing and long hikes through the forests of the East End. I am thus reassured, when I arrive, to find a party in full swing and not a pair of lederhosen in sight.

Friday
I settle beside my hearth for a long awaited treat; a tumbler of Auld Johnston - that most prized of Highland malts - is at my elbow and a hardback copy of my old friend Ming Campbell’s memoirs is open on my lap. I begin reading and am fascinated to learn of Ming’s schooldays in Glasgow and his exploits as an Olympic sprinter, and chuckle at his anecdotes of life at the Edinburgh Bar. Yet when he turns to are former leader, poor Charles Kennedy, and his struggle with the demon drink, I find my attention wandering. When he turns to Kennedy again I almost nod off. When he turns to him a third time… I awake to find that the fire has burned low and my setters have put themselves to bed. In short, it is a fascinating read, but why Ming’s publishers insisted that he bore us all with constant talk of Kennedy I cannot imagine.

Saturday
To Rutland International Airport for the opening of its new terminal. Vast airships nuzzle the terminal tower having arrived from as far afield as Croydon, Königsberg, the Straits Settlements, Newfoundland and Bechuanaland; attentive footmen carry ones bags to ones Bentley; the Amy Johnson Bar dispenses pints of Smithson & Greaves Northern Bitter to all-comers. In short, it is everything a modern airport terminal should be. I hope the people at Heathrow will take notice.

Sunday
Lunch at the Hall with Matthew Taylor -- so much more enjoyable now that he is able to take wine with his meal. I tell him all about his great-grandfather and the Harborough by-election of 1916. I am never to blow my own trumpet, as my readers will know, but I trust that I give a fair account of my part in getting the Liberal vote out in Cranoe, Glooston and Carlton Curlieu.
Later a caller arrives with tidings of a small girl who has won the North Wales Paraphrase T. H. Green Without Falling Asleep Award for the second time at the age of eight. Here we go again.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South-West 1906-10. He opened his diary to Jonathan Calder.

BritBlog Roundup 136

Story of the Week

Bloggerheads and Craig Murray's blog have been down for several days following action by lawyers acting on behalf of the Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov. A number of other notable blogs, including those written by Bob Piper and Boris Johnson, have also disappeared, as action has been threatened against the server hosting the blogs rather than the individual writers.

The best place to keep up with developments in this sorry affair is Chicken Yoghurt. The Yoghurt carries a list of the people who have blogged about it. It currently totals 193:

Curious Hamster, Pickled Politics, Harry’s Place, Tim Worstall, Dizzy, Iain Dale, Ten Percent, Blairwatch, Davide Simonetti, Earthquake Cove, Turbulent Cleric (who suggests dropping a line to the FA about Mr Usmanov), Mike Power, Jailhouse Lawyer, Suesam, Devil’s Kitchen, The Cartoonist, Falco, Casualty Monitor, Forever Expat, Arseblog, Drink-soaked Trots (and another), Pitch Invasion, Wonko’s World, Roll A Monkey, Caroline Hunt, Westminster Wisdom, Chris K, Anorak, Mediawatchwatch, Norfolk Blogger, Chris Paul, Indymedia (with a list of Craig Murray’s articles that are currently unavailable), Obsolete, Tom Watson, Cynical Chatter, Reactionary Snob, Mr Eugenides, Matthew Sinclair, The Select Society, Liberal England, Davblog, Peter Gasston Pitch Perfect, Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe, Lunartalks, Tygerland, The Crossed Pond, Our Kingdom, Big Daddy Merk, Daily Mail Watch, Graeme’s, Random Thoughts, Nosemonkey, Matt Wardman, Politics in the Zeros, Love and Garbage, The Huntsman, Conservative Party Reptile, Ellee Seymour, Sabretache, Not A Sheep, Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, The People’s Republic Of Newport, Life, the Universe & Everything, Arsenal Transfer Rumour Mill, The Green Ribbon, Blood & Treasure, The Last Ditch, Areopagitica, Football in Finland, An Englishman’s Castle, Freeborn John, Eursoc, The Back Four, Rebellion Suck!, Ministry of Truth, ModernityBlog, Beau Bo D’Or, Scots and Independent, The Splund, Bill Cameron, Podnosh, Dodgeblogium, Moving Target, Serious Golmal, Goonerholic, The Spine, Zero Point Nine, Lenin’s Tomb, The Durruti Column, The Bristol Blogger, ArseNews, David Lindsay, Quaequam Blog!, On A Quiet Day…, Kathz’s Blog, England Expects, Theo Spark, Duncan Borrowman, Senn’s Blog, Katykins, Jewcy, Kevin Maguire, Stumbling and Mumbling, Famous for 15 megapixels, Ordovicius, Tom Morris, AOL Fanhouse, Doctor Vee, The Curmudgeonly, The Poor Mouth, 1820, Hangbitch, Crooked Timber, ArseNole, Identity Unknown, Liberty Alone, Amused Cynicism, Clairwil, The Lone Voice, Tampon Teabag, Unoriginalname38, Special/Blown It, The Remittance Man, 18 Doughty Street, Laban Tall, Martin Bright, Spy Blog The Exile, poons, Jangliss, Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?, Imagined Community, A Pint of Unionist Lite, Poldraw, Disillusioned And Bored, Error Gorilla, Indigo Jo, Swiss Metablog, Kate Garnwen Truemors, Asn14, D-Notice, The Judge, Political Penguin, Miserable Old Fart, Jottings, fridgemagnet, Blah Blah Flowers, J. Arthur MacNumpty, Tony Hatfield, Grendel, Charlie Whitaker, Matt Buck, The Waendel Journal, Marginalized Action Dinosaur, SoccerLens, Toblog, John Brissenden East Lower, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Peter Black AM, Boing Boing, BLTP, Gunnerblog, LFB UK, Liberal Revolution, Wombles, Focus on Sodbury…, Follow The Money, Freedom and Whisky, Melting Man, PoliticalHackUK, Simon Says…, Daily EM, From The Barrel of a Gun, The Fourth Place, The Armchair News Blog, Journalist und Optimist, Bristol Indymedia, Dave Weeden, Up North John, Gizmonaut, Spin and Spinners, Marginalia, Arnique, Heather Yaxley, The Whiskey Priest, On The Beat, Paul Canning, Martin Stabe, Mat Bowles, Pigdogfucker, Rachel North (193).

As Tim Worstall observes, if his lawyers were aiming to keep Mr Usmanov and his record out of the limelight, their action has not proved an unqualified success.

Green Banana and Ministry of Truth offer thoughtful accounts of why this affair matters. If you want to join the campaign on your own blog, Poliblog Perspective has produced some campaign buttons you can use.

It happens that I heard Craig Murray speak at the Lib Dem Conference last week. Geoff Payne was there too.

Another good way of fighting back would be to buy Craig's book Murder in Samarkand.


Announcements

Settle down school. Tompkins, see me afterwards.

Tim Worstall's blog has moved home and can now be found here.

Clairwil is doing a roundup of her very own. You can find the first one here.


Blogging

What is the most graceful way to handle things when you decide to close a blog down? Matt Wardman tells you.

And Media Influencer takes on Andrew Keen, a prominent critic of blogging.


Jose Mourinho

A Chelsea fan since I was so high, I am typing this section through my tears.

Arserant pays generous tribute to the Special One, but Blood and Treasure is less impressed.

K T Dodge crows that Mourinho's departure will be good for her team, Arsenal. I wish her joy with Mr Usmanov.


Liberal Democrat Conference

For the second time a Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year was made at Conferernce. And for the second time this blog was nominated but failed to win it. A total of six awards were made: Millennium Elephant gives a characteristically idiosyncratic account of the event.

The six short-listed bloggers for the top award also got to meet Ming the Merciless. The Emperor's own site has some pictures and Blog of the Year Quaequam Blog! wrote up the occasion.

Curious Snippets from a Cynical Optimist asks what the point of the Lib Dems is, showing how divided the party is on policy. Well, with that and continuing grumbling about the leadership, we look like a proper party to me.


Health

Dr Rays Focal Spot attended an NHS "consultation" exercise featuring Gordon Brown, Alan Johnson and Ara Darzi. He was less than impressed:

I can only say that the way the voting was done makes the "Blue Peter" voting fraud seem like, well, "Blue Peter".

The Devil's Kitchen writes about this too.

The Yorkshire Ranter suggests a better way of developing healthcare computer systems than the one the NHS uses at present. Squander Two Blog finds the British Heart Federation and the Daily Mail talking bollocks on peope's willingness to take exercise. No surprise there, in one case at least.

Rhetorically Speaking has no doubts about genetic screening for Alzheimer's disease.


Sexual Politics

Mind the Gap! finds two Guardian articles taking a simplistic view of sexuality. Stroppy Blog offers a qualified defence of Tarantino's new film Death Proof.

Guesting at Humaniform, Ruthie Zaftig reports how she broke up an anti-abortion demonstration.

And Mick Hartley puts the boot into Dr Freud magnificently:

As a good well-educated girl, shy and obedient, it may be doubted that the young Anna did in fact spend so much energy fiercely masturbating over fantasies connected with her father, only to forget all about them. Freudian dogma, however, demanded that such was the case. It is, of course, a happy male fantasy that women, underneath the demure exterior, are really sex-crazed. How much more exciting for Freud, then, to slowly force these supposed memories from his daughter's Unconscious, revealing that the old goat himself, her father, was the everlasting object of her lust. And, crucially and most disgracefully, poor Anna was in no position to do as Dora did, and walk away in disgust. As Freud's daughter she was trapped there. It's difficult to conceive of a more thoroughgoing example of the betrayal of a child - of, indeed, child abuse.

History

Investigations of a Dog looks at the developing historiography of the English Civil War (part 2 is here).

Elizabeth Chadwick: Living the History visits Wymondham (pronounced "Windham") Abbey in Norfolk and finds that English Heritage has got Roger Bigod all wrong.

Matters of fact seem harder to establish in Sri Lanka, where the story that Lord Ram used monkeys to help him build a bridge from the Indian mainland is suddenly a topic for controversy. Pickled Poltics reports.

Finally, Diamond Geezer on a bit of London history: the closure of the New Piccadilly Cafe.


Politics

The first one in this section is really on economics. Virtual Economics is your guide to the wisdom of, er, Terry Pratchett.

Pickled Politics (again) asks whether referendums are good or bad. Most impressively, the writer (Rumbold) uses the correct plural.

Shane Greer (who recently took over the Diary whilst Iain Dale was on holiday) thinks that Miranda Grell, the Labour candidate who smeered her Lib Dem opponent as a paedophile, is "stupid". That is a rather charitable view.

Gray Monk is not impressed by the political class which leads us these days. Burning Our Money is no more impressed by the rates for clearing up crime that the police claim. A nice bit of Sherlock Holmes parody there.

And to complete our trio of unimpressed people, read Mr Eugenides on the new Scottish cabinet.

At least someone is pleased: Earthquake Cove celebrates the Lib Dem and Green condemnation of the academic boycott of Israel.

There is a better than average meme circulating at the moment: as you would expect, Miserable Old Fart has a longer memory than most of us.

Finally, the f word marvels at Croydon Conservatives' website:

Interestingly today’s “main story” ... isn’t the arrest of their MP (and London Assembly member) but that the council tax rise is the lowest in five years.

Goodbye

That's all for this week. Next week's Roundup will be hosted at Philobiblon. Please e-mail your nominations to britblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

And please support Bloggerheads and Craig Murray.

Lord Bonkers on the end of Blair and much else

Liberator 319 is now with subscribers - at least mine arrived this morning - so it is time to post the latest diary from Rutland's most celebrated peer.

Incidentally, issue 319 is a cracker, so why not visit the magazine's website and subscribe?

Sunday

It began with the bells of St Asquith’s pealing across the Rutland countryside; soon spontaneous Morris dancing had broken out on the village green and before long there were unconfirmed reports of oxen being roasted whole from as far afield as Marston Trussell and Cropwell Bishop. I immediately took charge of events, declaring a half-holiday at the village school for the following day and ordering free pints of Smithson & Greaves Northern Bitter to be distributed to all-comers at the Bonkers’ Arms.

In short, no one hereabouts will forget the day that Tony Blair announced his resignation as Prime Minster and Leader of the Labour Party. For my own part, I have not laughed so much since King Leopold of the Belgians died.

Monday

I suffer something of a disturbed night – too mature a Stilton, perhaps? It can hardly have been the champagne, Smithson & Greaves or Auld Johnston – and scenes from my past scurry before my eyes: Jo Grimond quoting Napoleon’s advice to his marshalls that they should march their troops "towards the sound of gunfire" (I had suggested that he employ Nelson’s "No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy," but he chose not to take my advice); my introducing Bing Crosby to the young Menzies Campbell at a Hollywood party ("Ming, Bing; Bing, Ming"); Shirley Williams outlining the plans for the launch of the "SDP Party" – my reaction was "Shirley, you can’t be serious." Yet when I awaken and have the curtains drawn it is a beautiful early summer morning and all is right with the world – or at least with Rutland.

Tuesday

With a number of important fixtures for my XI coming up – notably against Mebyon Kernow, I Zingari and the Elves of Rockingham Forest – I have been eyeing the weather more closely than usual. I have consulted seaweed, pinecones and Meadowcroft’s rheumatics, but the other day decided that a more scientific approach was needed. So it is this morning that the lovely Siân Lloyd arrives at the Hall to cast her eye over my observations. Inevitably conversation turns to the end of her engagement to poor Lembit and she confesses that she could not face the prospect of being called Siân Öpik as "there would always be something hanging over me". I console her with the reply: "Never mind, my dear, you will always have Powys."

Wednesday

People complain a great deal about "the nanny state", don’t they? Well, my Nanny was always a fount of good sense and would have made a better fist of things than many cabinet ministers I have come across; certainly, she would have been a more competent Chancellor than Norman Lamont or Reginald Maudling. I suppose the point is that we do not like government nagging us about our health. With this in mind, when asked to mount a campaign in favour of better dental hygiene, I was careful to choose a public figure whom everyone loves: look out for my "Brush your teeth like Alan Beith" posters on a billboard near you soon.

Thursday

It is a fine day and I climb the tower at the Hall to survey the old demesne. My eye is caught by a figure in the far distance as it follows a zigzag course across the landscape, falling into a stream here, fighting its way through a thicket there. Eventually it nears the house and, just as it disappears into Meadowcroft’s compost heap, I recognise it as none other than the Chancellor of the Exchequer; I descend the tower to rescue him from my gardener’s ire. I offer him a cup of tea to restore his spirits and he explains the cause of his difficulties in navigation: "It’s this compass my father gave me: I think it must have worn out or something. Every time I try to go north I end up walking around in circles." I commiserate with him and set him on the lane towards the village: a few minutes later he has to be rescued from the moat.

Friday

In recent weeks, a number of our most distinguished Members have announced that they do not intend to fight their seats at the next election – I think in particular of Paul Keetch, Phil Willis and Matthew Taylor. As a result, I have been contacted by a stream of keen young activists who want to know how they can improve their chances of being selected to fight these tempting constituencies. My advice is generally to establish that you have a local connection: "Tell them," I say, "that your family comes from Cornwall; that you have always been fond of Harrogate toffee; that your mother was frightened by a Hereford bull whilst she was pregnant with you." (I fear that in certain cases this last claim is all too plausible). Some ask if they should also be familiar with the latest papers from the party’s Federal Policy Committee, but I generally reply that this will not be necessary.

Saturday

I see that Alan Johnson has been defeated in Labour’s Deputy Leadership contest by Harriet Harman, who is some sort of niece of Lord Longford. I can only regard this as something of a shame as Johnson has always struck me as the best sort of postman – the sort of fellow who whistles in the street, always closes your gate and has the sense to leave parcels behind the buddleia if you happen to be out. Harman is best known for walking out of an interview on the Women’s Hour programme when it became too taxing, but at least she was following the first piece of advice I give young candidates when it comes to dealing with the broadcast media: Always know where the exit is.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South-West 1906-10.

Nice, dim and principled

My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Details of how to subscribe to the party's weekly newspaper are here.

School choices

Until Tuesday the most remarkable thing about Graham Brady was his resemblance to Harry Enfield's Tim Nice-But-Dim. Now Brady looks nice, dim and principled after resigning over his party change of education policy.

David Willetts was right when he said that grammar schools are dominated by the middle classes. But he could have added that the same is true of the best church schools and comprehensives too. And it is true in spades of private schools.

It must have been galling for a grammar school product like Brady to be lectured on social equality by David Cameron. For Cameron's circle is dominated by Old Etonians to an extent which would have made even Harold McMillan blanch.

The growing domination of society by former public school boys is one of the dirty secrets of modern British life. As the former Tory minister George Walden has written:

In no other European country do the moneyed and professional classes - lawyers, surgeons, businessmen, accountants, diplomats, newspaper and TV editors, judges, directors, archbishops, air chief marshalls, senior academics, Tory ministers, artists, authors, top civil servants - in addition to the statistically insignificant but eye-catching cohort of aristocracy and royalty - reject the system of education used by the overwhelming majority pretty well out of hand, as an inferior product.

This is the real problem in education. What can we do about it?

It is would be impossible to ban private education under the European Convention on Human Rights. Even if it were possible, wealthy families would happily send their children abroad to be educated.

The candidates in the Labour deputy leadership have been talking about the charitable status many private schools enjoy. In many cases it is hard to see why they should , but removing it would make them even more exclusive.

So we are left with using charitable status as a lever to persuade private schools to share their facilities, in the way that Alan Johnson has been advocating. It does not sound like much of a solution.

Now both Labour and the Conservatives are putting their faith in the Academy programme as a way of making good education more widely available. But there is little evidence to support their faith.

What, I wonder, is the Liberal Democrats’ solution?

Against conscription in education

A new collective blog - Educational Conscription - has been set up to protest against Alan Johnson's plans to force teenagers to stay in education or training until the age of 18, with the aid of sanctions like ‘education Asbos’ and fixed-penalty fines.

Not Saussure is good on this too.

A poor sap like Jade

My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News.

Over-lawed

Despite your pleas, I seldom quote old House Points columns. But this observation from last May seems pertinent this week:

Governments increasingly resemble spoilt teenagers. Look at the state of this bedroom. New laws piled on top of each other. Some have not even been taken out of their boxes, but you will still demand the latest model next year.

Think of the government's reaction to the recent shootings in South London. Tony Blair went on television to announce that he wanted to lower the age at which there is a mandatory five-year jail term for carrying a gun from 21 to 17.

It soon turned out that the government had already lowered the minimum age to 18 in the 2003 Criminal Justice Act. But this had been found by the courts to conflict with the Powers of Criminal Court Act of 2000.

So we already have too many laws in this field. Yet the government’s instinctive reaction is to call for even more.

News management was always central to the New Labour project, but these days it is all there is to it. All that matters is countering this morning’s bad headlines. As to governing he country… that takes too long and there just isn’t time.

The South London shootings were tragic, but the process can be farcical too. Because Gordon Brown was embarrassed by the media furore over Jade Goody and Celebrity Big Brother on a trip to India, Alan Johnson decided he had to be seen to act.

"The current debate over Big Brother has highlighted the need to make sure our schools focus on the core British values of justice and tolerance," he said, and announced that, while children must be taught about British history, they should also have an understanding of cultural diversity.

Whether this means anything, I am not sure. But I am perfectly certain that it will be lost in the hundred other education initiatives announced this month.

It may well be that the shootings and way our culture exalts and then vilifies a poor sap like Jade have common roots in our lack of confidence in our own values. But examining that would require some hard thinking. It is far easier to announce a new law.

Who is helping Alan Johnson's campaign?

The Daily thinks it knows.

Playing Matron at three-card brag

And they're off! The first House Points from the new parliamentary season. This column appears in Liberal Democrat News.

Education gamble

Culture, media and sport questions are usually obsessed with organised games in schools. But a
less healthy kind of activity featured prominently on Monday:

The roulette match against Fettes was won. The first XI are playing Eton at blackjack this afternoon and I expect a large and enthusiastic turn out to support them. And the boy who has still not paid Matron what he owes her from playing three-card brag: see me afterwards.

Mercifully, it was not school gambling they were talking about. But the government is in trouble with the adult variety. The days when Labour ministers imagined families enjoying days out at casinos are long gone. Now their ambition that Britain should become a world leader in online gambling looks equally questionable.

Gambling will always be with us. It is impossible to ban and must be regulated. But it is hard to see why government should encourage it.

Later Alan Johnson made a statement on young people in care. He spoke with feeling of the problems they face. They are five times less likely to get five good GCSEs and nine times more likely to be expelled from school than other children. A quarter of people in prison today have spent time in care . And he pledged that the government would do better in future.

The trouble is that Frank Dobson was saying much the same almost 10 years ago. Progress has been made, but it is dreadfully slow.

Everyone agreed on the need for more social workers, but Johnson’s statement hinted at a move from the professional model of care towards more of a family model. He wanted children to have long-term relationships with individual workers and those workers to be able to give children small sums of money for days out like a parent would.

Another proposal to win widespread support was compelling the best schools to take children from the care system. Sarah Teather welcomed it for the Liberal Democrats without mentioning that it goes against our wish for applications to secondary schools to be made anonymously.

But it would be best if that policy were quietly dropped. Children -including children in the care system - are individuals with unique abilities and needs. We need an education system and a care system that recognises this.

Alan Johnson commits polytoynbeeism

Last summer I identified the concept of polytoynbeeism:

You divide the world into two groups: there are sensible people like you and your readers, and there are people who hold ludicrous views. There can be no middle position.

There was a good example of it today in Alan Johnson's comments to the UK Youth Parliament:

He told the UK Youth Parliament that exams were not getting easier and critics were sentimentalists harking back to a "mythical golden age".

So there are sensible people who agree with Alan Johnson, foolish people harking back to a golden age and no position in between?

You only have to type that sentence to see what nonsense it is.