Pre-Prandial Manouvres
Off to the JJB Stadium in Wigan. 7:30 for 8:00 prompt says the ticket. That's a purple ticket. The only sort I was offered. But I soon find that everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others. The gold tickets probably cost more. And they come with a pre-prandial reception with the star guests.
The hoi polloi congregate in the dining room. I wait for my guest Mark who is a leading tax accountant and a major G Brown fan. Both of us are stalwarts of the business forum in Chapel Street, Salford. Mark now works on Salford Quays. And our building is still a bruised old relic waiting for its new life.
In fact Mark knows a few of the guests. Howard the MC for the night is one. And two women from the Tangerine PR agency. We congregate by one of the bars with a clear plan. We will ask Hazel Blears to get us introduced to Gordon. Get a photo for our business newsletter.
Getting photos taken with MPs, Ministers and Labour Movement figures is a game candidates must play and occasionally someone gets caught in the difficulty of having to choose whether they will aim for A or B in a crowded room with limited time. Or perhaps worrying about whether XY or Z is a prudent choice.
My advice is get the picture, or preferably all the pictures, and worry later.
As well as countless pictures with Tony Lloyd my own collection includes John Reid, John Prescott, John Hulme, and yes the big lemon himself Tony Blair.
Lloyd and Hulme have been used. The rest have not.
Hazel's entourage appear and we immediately introduce ourselves with our Business Forum hats on. We have both curried along with Hazel at a Business for Labour function on Rusholme's Curry Kilometre (it is well short of a mile). And Hazel is keen to broker the picture.
As the constituency MP for Central Salford she is a great supporter of our efforts to support the redevelopment process. As far as anyone can tell she is an excellent constituency MP. She sprang from the 'Broad Left' in NUS days. And she considers herself not "New Labour" but instead Sensible Labour. I suppose Lord Roy might call this "Craven Labour" but of course such loyalist foot soldiers would be as loyal and as vital to Cook in a Cook government as they are to Blair now.
I wonder whether her old 'Broad Left' tag has any resonance these days? Is it Labour left of Hattersley plus isolated erratics, left nationalists, and fellow travellers including a handful within the parliamentary Lib Dems? Will the ultra left, or the hard left, or the disaffected ex Labour left ever come back into a broad left alliance? Will the likes of the Campaign Group relax a bit?
Even to the extent of including most of the 139 Labour rebels on the war in their plans? After all these plus fellow travellers from beyond Labour could constitute 25% of parliament. And in an alliance with a properly drawn 'Centre Left' they might be able to get through more than say 20 or 30% of a socialist programme. Possibly even 50%. Perhaps all the wishes of Labour's conference.
Call me old fashioned but I would rather get 20% of my ideal programme than 0% or worse.
I'm jabbering. Time for tea.
The hoi polloi congregate in the dining room. I wait for my guest Mark who is a leading tax accountant and a major G Brown fan. Both of us are stalwarts of the business forum in Chapel Street, Salford. Mark now works on Salford Quays. And our building is still a bruised old relic waiting for its new life.
In fact Mark knows a few of the guests. Howard the MC for the night is one. And two women from the Tangerine PR agency. We congregate by one of the bars with a clear plan. We will ask Hazel Blears to get us introduced to Gordon. Get a photo for our business newsletter.
Getting photos taken with MPs, Ministers and Labour Movement figures is a game candidates must play and occasionally someone gets caught in the difficulty of having to choose whether they will aim for A or B in a crowded room with limited time. Or perhaps worrying about whether XY or Z is a prudent choice.
My advice is get the picture, or preferably all the pictures, and worry later.
As well as countless pictures with Tony Lloyd my own collection includes John Reid, John Prescott, John Hulme, and yes the big lemon himself Tony Blair.
Lloyd and Hulme have been used. The rest have not.
Hazel's entourage appear and we immediately introduce ourselves with our Business Forum hats on. We have both curried along with Hazel at a Business for Labour function on Rusholme's Curry Kilometre (it is well short of a mile). And Hazel is keen to broker the picture.
As the constituency MP for Central Salford she is a great supporter of our efforts to support the redevelopment process. As far as anyone can tell she is an excellent constituency MP. She sprang from the 'Broad Left' in NUS days. And she considers herself not "New Labour" but instead Sensible Labour. I suppose Lord Roy might call this "Craven Labour" but of course such loyalist foot soldiers would be as loyal and as vital to Cook in a Cook government as they are to Blair now.
I wonder whether her old 'Broad Left' tag has any resonance these days? Is it Labour left of Hattersley plus isolated erratics, left nationalists, and fellow travellers including a handful within the parliamentary Lib Dems? Will the ultra left, or the hard left, or the disaffected ex Labour left ever come back into a broad left alliance? Will the likes of the Campaign Group relax a bit?
Even to the extent of including most of the 139 Labour rebels on the war in their plans? After all these plus fellow travellers from beyond Labour could constitute 25% of parliament. And in an alliance with a properly drawn 'Centre Left' they might be able to get through more than say 20 or 30% of a socialist programme. Possibly even 50%. Perhaps all the wishes of Labour's conference.
Call me old fashioned but I would rather get 20% of my ideal programme than 0% or worse.
I'm jabbering. Time for tea.
posted by Chris Paul at 7:59 PM
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