3:36 PM - Bloggers Block

It's marvellous what a taste of sunshine can do, I have finally managed to cure my blogger's block.

August is normally the quietest month for those of us who earn our crust from parliamentary and political jousting.  But speculation about an October election has launched a tidal wave in the political pond.

The pros for Gordon Brown of an autumn election are:

The element of surprise - no one expects him to live dangerously

 The Tories will still be flat-lining

It would get the election out of the way before the economy nose-dives

The cons are:

 The troops will still be in Iraq

 No real substantive policy changes will have filtered through, even if the Brown re-branding is complete

 The Labour party will still be up to its eyes in debt

People will wonder, 'what's the rush' and 'what does he know that we don't'

That's Brown's big dilemma. 

Which way he will jump is anyone's guess. 

But whether it is autumn 2007 or spring 2008, one thing is almost certain, with the General Election out of the way, August next year will revert to type.

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7:30 AM - Talking the talk

We were on holiday in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />France a few weeks ago and even whilst indulging in France's café culture, is was possible to get immersed in France's presidential election campaign...:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Within sight of virtually every café in every town and village were metal hoardings on which the twelve presidential candidates could display their election posters.

The posters sung the praises of candidates as politically divergent as Olivier Besancenot and Le Pen and Arlette Laguiller and Philippe de Villiers. 

There was a candidate for every political tendency from the Trotskyist to the Extreme Right via the centre left candidate Segolene Royal and the centrist candidate Bayrou,.

One easy measure of each candidate's infamy was the frequency with which their posters were defaced and also the violence with which they were slashed; unsurprisingly Sarkozy and Le Pen led the pack.

Of course the result of the first round is now known.  And France can breathe a sigh of relief - Le Pen has been eliminated.

We now await the result of the second round.  Whether it is Sego or Sarko they will face the formidable task of shaking France out of bureaucratic stagnation and sclerosis. 

They both talk the talk but can they walk the walk?

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2:39 PM - Robot World
Current mood: pensive
Category: News and Politics

I am sitting here in my office in Westminster late on Tuesday night waiting for the Budget votes (we expect upto four at around midnight).  As I look out over the Thames, shimmering from the street lights on the Embankment below, a sign grabs my attention; Robot World.

What is Robot World?

Does anyone know? 

Has anyone ever been to Robot World?  Has anyone ever come back from Robot World?

Is it a coincidence that Robot World has set up shop opposite Westminster?

What sort of Robots inhabit Robot World and do they show more or less independence than some of the more subservient Members in the House of Commons?  Are they better programmed?

Do they have a Chief Whip to keep them in line?  And what sort of sanction could the Chief Whip apply if they step out of line?

I wish I had time to research the answers to these critical questions.  Unfortunately the wind-up speeches are underway and we will soon be receiving our electronic voting orders by pager or text message. 

If you listen carefully, you may be able to hear our cogs whirr into action!

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1:19 AM - Cairo Bound

Not many people have heard of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.  I am one of its Governors and it is our job to raise WFD's profile.

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WFD's USP is strengthening democracy in countries which do not have a longstanding or recent tradition of parliamentary democracy.  Our approach is traditional; dialogue and debate rather than shock and awe.

It was for a two day WFD assignment that I was in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Cairo last Monday.

The mission we chose to accept was to secure the agreement of the Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament and key members of their Parliament for a series of workshops.  The themes could include citizenship, the participation of women in the political process (with just 2% of Egyptian MPs women, Egypt still has a way to go) and anti-terrorism legislation.  Egyptian MPs – of all parties – and UK MPs would take part in the workshops.

Walking to and from meetings with our Egyptian counter-parts was out of the question.

Cairo is a chaotic, congested and smoggy.  The pyramids are just visible through a haze of climate changing exhaust fumes.  They lurk behind the armies of grey soviet-style tower blocks.  'Concrete – a style you can't resist' – according to advertising hoardings for a brand of clothing.  Cairo didn't resist.

Driving in Cairo is like careering around in dodgems but astonishingly without the crashes.  Walking is for the suicidal only.  Every pedestrian is a dead man walking.  The traffic lights switch from red to green and back again.  Their purpose is unclear.  They are certainly not for regulating the flow of traffic as drivers rarely stop for them.

We avoided casualties on the way to and from our appointments.  But this was no guarantee of success.

After an ill-fated dinner with Egyptian MPs during which the conversation was conducted almost exclusively by the Egyptian Parliamentarians in Arabic, a language that was a closed book to all the British parliamentarians, we wrote off our chances of any further dialogue.

But we were saved by the Egyptian Speaker.  Totally unexpectedly at the very end of our meeting with him, he put forward a number of suggestions for workshops of exactly the type WFD were hoping to hold.  And he agreed to the principle that MPs of all parties in Egypt would be able to participate.

This made the whole trip worthwhile.

After just 48 hours in Cairo we were heading back to the airport knowing that agreement had been reached on a way forward and that a working relationship had been established with Egyptian Parliamentarians which will grow in future months and years.

Mission accomplished.

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12:57 AM - How Many Hospital Managers Does it Take to Remove a Light-bulb?

England 2007.

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After nearly ten years of Labour government investment in the National Health Service has risen from around £30 billion to more than £90 billion.

Labour has honoured their pledge made before the election in 1997 so 'save the NHS'.

Or have they?

At my local hospital, ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />St Helier hospital, managers have devised a new cost-cutting wheeze to help them towards their target of cutting £24 million from their budget in the next eighteen months.

Two hundred beds and hundreds of staff are already set to go.  Staff are emptying their own waste bins, the water-coolers have disappeared and patients now get sandwiches or wraps for lunch rather than a hot lunch. 

Their latest brainwave?  Remove every third light bulb in the hospital's corridors and public areas.

I thought this might be a joke.  I went to the hospital to check.  It's for real!

Government Ministers can be really proud, they have nearly trebled the amount going into the NHS, yet hospitals are so short of cash that they are removing light-bulbs to save on their electricity bill.

What does our Prime Minister, Tony Blair, think about this?  I asked him at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.  Here's my question and his reply.

Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD): Can the Prime Minister explain why after increased investment in the NHS, my local NHS trust has to slash £24 million from its budget in the next 18 months, and has resorted to removing one in three light bulbs in St. Helier hospital to cut costs?

The Prime Minister: Whatever the level of investment, each trust—and this is the whole point about making sure that we have proper financial transparency in the health service—must live within its means. There has been a massive increase in investment, and as a result, waiting lists have fallen dramatically in the hon. Gentleman's area, as in others; cancer treatment has improved; cardiac treatment has improved; and accident and emergency treatment has improved. Despite all of that, it is correct that trusts must live within their financial means—I am afraid that that is the case, no matter what amount of money goes in, and it is a lesson that the Liberal Democrats must learn.

He made no attempt of course to explain why after such a sharp rise in spending, hospital managers are so desperate to save cash that they are resorting to unscrewing light-bulbs. 

There are many answers.  Too many costly re-organisations have siphoned of cash badly needed for health services.  A pay settlement for GPs which even the GPs who negotiated their contracts with the Government accept was more generous than they had expected.  A monolithic NHS which is so large that nobody can get to grips with it.

Explanations for the financial crises many of our hospitals are facing aren't going to help the Government.  They are fast running out of solutions.

Ten years on, Labour's election slogan, 'there are only 24 hours to save the NHS' is looking a touch over-optimistic.

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7:12 AM - Downsides and Upsides

Being a Member of Parliament has its downsides.

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Here's a short list;

Within the geographical confines of your constituency you can never express frankly your concerns about another car driver's inability to observe the simplest rules in the Highway Code. 

Your job security compares unfavourably to that of a 4*4 salesman in the London Borough of Richmond.

The contents of your shopping trolley will be closely analysed for salt, fat and additive content by fellow shoppers.

Your blog will be dissected by political opponents who will cut and splice it to create the most damaging quote imaginable from a totally innocuous comment.

I should not overstate the hardship.

Those two letters after our names open many doors which would otherwise stay superglued shut.

We are in the unique position of regularly meeting people from all walks of life, all countries and all creeds and hearing their stories; sad or depressing, entertaining or baffling, uplifting or challenging.

Seb Coe (twice an Olympic Gold Medallist and holder of many track world records), is one of the people I have been privileged to hear speak recently.  He impressed me so much that I have even forgiven him his brief flirtation with being a Conservative Member of Parliament.

He leads the London 2012 Olympic Team and was the speaker at the French Chambers of Commerce Annual Dinner (a strange choice for the Chamber given Seb Coe's role in demolishing ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Paris's bid to host the Olympics).

In the course of his unscripted twenty minute tour-de-force from the podium, he left me in no doubt as to why he had won those medals and why London 2012 had defeated Paris, Madrid, New York and Moscow. 

It was his drive and focus. 

The neat marketing stunts helped as well, particularly putting the children you'd want to be competing in London in 2012 at the centre of London's bid.  None of the other bidding teams thought of that apparently.

In the question and answer session that followed, he was asked what lessons we could all learn from his experiences.

His simple answer was 'never assume it can't be done'.

I am going to adopt that as my own motto.

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2:46 AM - Mother's Pride

The rules governing parliamentary debate are simple. 

Respect the speaker. 

Stick to 'parliamentary' language only.  Avoid 'liar' in particular.  We are after all Honourable or Right Honourable Gentlemen and Ladies.  Parliamentarians of experience will confirm that this constraint presents no great obstacle to stinging put downs - such as Dennis Healey's description of a verbal attack on him by Geoffrey Howe as 'like being savaged by a dead sheep'.

Don't make allegations if they cannot be substantiated. 

Never mention your mother.

I made the last one up.

There is no rule against mentioning one's mother.  And if mothers are being brought into the fray, it is safer to mention your own mother than someone else's.

The outpouring of filial devotion was kicked off by Michael Gove MP, the Times columnist and MP for Surrey Heath, during a committee sitting of the Greater London Authority Bill last week.

He attempted to curry favour with the Minister Yvette Cooper by penning a tragic picture of his mum following her son's every legislative trial and tribulation, waiting desperately for her darling to secure a place in history by removing a comma or adding a semi-colon to an obscure clause in an obscure Bill. 

His plea fell on deaf ears.  The Minister was not going to give way.

Not to be out-done, I painted an even more pathetic picture of a mother who had waited nearly a decade for her only son to strike a blow for democracy by … striking from the Greater London Authority Act the requirement that London's Deputy Mayor be a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority!..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

To my embarrassment, my plea did not fall on deaf ears.  On the contrary, the Minister confirmed that the law had been changed last year to scrap this requirement!  

It was only a minor consolation that later on during the debate, the Minister had to clarify that the relevant law had not actually been enacted yet.

We were all left with egg on our faces.

It is safe bet that none of the leading contributors to last Thursday's debate will be providing a bound copy of the proceedings to their mothers. 

There was a distinct absence of mother's pride.

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2:18 AM - Flying Long-Haul
Current mood: energetic

The tree and the Christmas cards are recyled.

All edible festive treats have been despatched (with the exception of a tantalising piece of Christmas pudding which screams 'eat me' everytime I open the firdge).

My New Year's Resolution (NYR) was made and so far kept.

It was simple - consume less.

It has many advantages.  Easy to remember.  Saves money and the environment.  Good for health.

Did our Prime Minister make a NYR?

If he did, it certainly wasn't to be greener. 

His statement that it is impractical to ask people to reduce their use of long-haul flights confirms that.

The PM and his Ministers do not hesitate to ask people to reduce their car use, cut smoking, eat fewer crisps, take more exercise.  Why the reluctance to talk about air travel?

What is impractical about asking business people to use, where it is appropriate, video-conferencing as an alternative to face-to-face meetings?  How difficult is it to ask people to consider taking a train instead of a short-haul flight to a near-European destination when decent rail connections exist?   Where's the challenge in floating the idea that UK plc would benefit if more of our holidays were spent in the UK and fewer in Miami?

It is too late for our PM to make a NYR for 2007.  But for next year could I suggest "I will be bolder."

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8:53 AM - New Year's Resolutions and Chocolate Biscuits

Christmas and the New Year are quiet times for all but the hardest core politicians and political activists.

The biggest festive challenge is usually to come up with New Year's resolutions that are neither too trivial nor too ambitious.

My pledge to stop eating chocolate biscuits a couple of years back elicited a furious response from one constituent who demanded that I should instead bring an end to all wars.  It is with some shame that I have to confess that I delivered on neither of those pledges.  

This year I have opted for a half-way house - I will consume less.  This has the advantage of satisfying the requirements of my electors who want New Year's resolutions to be humourous and those who expect them to be deeply serious.

Watch my consumption of all those 'red traffic light' foods plummet along with my use of fossil fuels.

And do not be afraid in one year's time, in the (slightly adapted) words of our dear Deputy Prime Minister, the Rt Hon John Prescott MP, 'to hold me to account.'

Happy New Year

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1:44 PM - Keeping the Benches Warm

My prolonged absence from the blogoshere is nothing to do with a hectic whirlwind of Christmas parties.  I haven't been to any yet.

In fact my first party was supposed to have been tomorrow night, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy bash, but instead I will be sitting on the green leather familiar to all aficionados of PMQs (Prime Minister's Questions).

The Greater London Authority (GLA) Bill is what will keep me stapled to those highly polished benches from around 3.30pm until 10pm. 

On balance the GLA Bill contains more good than bad but nonetheless we will attempt to improve it.  In particular, we will fight against any proposal that would let London's Mayor, the main beneficiary of the Bill's clauses, smash and grab planning controls from local Councils.  And we will seek to put an end to the democratically dubious arrangement whereby the Mayor only requires support from just over one third of the Assembly Members for his budget to get approved.

The debate will be followed by only the most hardened of parliamentary observers.  This is a pity because there are many clauses in the Bill which could make a significant difference to Londoners' lives.

But that is what most parliamentary business is like – solid and stolid – with the fireworks reserved for the weekly Wednesday noon slot when the PM takes on all-comers in PMQs.

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