Stop digging Zac!

At one point this was the top trending topic on Twitter in the world.

As a media trainer, I think I’ve found the ultimate case study.

Where do you start….

Labour leadership – let’s try before we buy

They call it Summer Watch – those five weeks between the House rising and the conference season. The time when the PM goes on holiday and the poor old Deputy stands in.

John always used to joke that two things would have happened after the end of his Summer Watch stints – the weather would be better and the polls improved!

Only this year, it’s the first summer since 1996 that we’ve been in opposition. This is normally a great opportunity for the party. But with an emergency budget on June 22 and the cuts becoming really tangible Sheffield Forgemasters et al this has all the makings of becoming a Summer, Autumn and Winter of Discontent.

It’s now a huge opportunity to highlight the damage the coalition is doing. (BTW, why isn’t their a crowdsourced ConDem cuts map yet. Could be very powerful.)

However, we’ve got 14 weeks of a Labour Leadership election ahead of us and 30 (count ‘em, 3-0!) hustings to go.

Now while hustings are all very good in getting to see what they think, it’s just as important to see what they’d do.

So let’s take them for a test drive.

Harriet deserves a holiday. Why not then allow each candidate to run the party for the week.

Let them devise the campaign strategy for the week, be the public face of Labour and run the party machine.

And whilst I prefer the electoral colleage as it is – paid members and affiliates – it’s vital we gague public opinion. So how about running an informal poll on the party website – promoted across all media platforms – on which candidate did they thought did the best job during their
week in charge.

Frankly it’s win-win for everyone. The candidates will get to show their leadership skills, the party gets five driven politicians keen to prove their worth during the quiet silly season and the public have a chance to input into our leadership contest.

So come on Harriet, let’s try before we buy.

Or if you’re a Miliband fan, perhaps you could buy one and get one free!

Wasted opportunity

So that was the first televised Labour Leadership hustings?

Admittedly I didn’t expect neon crosses to be suspended above each candidate on Newsnight (though we did have the thinking women’s Cowell in Paxman) but surely it could have been a lot better than that.

A smattering of questions from a selected studio audience and Crick topping and tailing the debate by blogging throughout then giving his verdict at the end.

What was the audience’s take? Where was the ‘worm?’ Was anyone watching?

The first televised debate was badly produced, poorly-promoted (I only discovered it tonight by chance) and a wasted opportunity. The only interesting aspect was seeing Andy Burnham actually trending on Twitter – and me being retweeted by MumsnetTowers (come to think about, it would have been far more relevant to put a leadership debate on there.)

Hopefully the C4 debate and the special Question Time will give a better opportunity to reach and engage the public but you can’t help thinking that tonight’s Newsnight was the Westminster village talking to itself – and no-one was listening.

Anyone got a Vuvuzela?

Power 2010: Ever get the feeling you’ve been ConDem’d

So  John got made a Lord.  Cue all the end of the peer gags and puns – I’m sure Hislop will show no mercy when John guest hosts HIGNFY next week.

Interesting that the quote all the papers are using (“I don’t want to be a member of the House of Lords. I will not accept it”) is completely false,  made up by a Daily Mail diarist. John never said it

Anyway, one of the most vocal critics against him taking a seat in the House of Lords has been Pam Giddy (pictured) of Power 2010 – the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust-funded campaign for electoral reform.

As well as organising a rather crap stunt in Hull where they had to bus in anti-Prescott protesters, writing a quite nasty and personal attack on John based on an unsourced article in a Sunday newspaper, Pam wrote breathlessly about the Lib Dems being the only party committed to electoral reform.

“Liberal Democrats deserve credit and recognition here for their historic commitment to reform. In their manifesto, the party sets out its commitment to the Single Transferable Vote, a system which would offer real choice, allowing voters to choose between candidates as well as parties, and end the shameful institution of safe seats, which are no better than the rotten boroughs of the 18th century. Their commitment, often dismissed as simply self-serving, is right for British democracy and wanted by the British people.”

Self serving Liberals? Never. Shame that ‘historic commitment to reform’ couldn’t resist the lure of the limousine and the call of the cabinet. In spite of a true commitment from Labour to AV – even without a referendum - the Lib Dems jumped into coalition with the Tories and signed a programme for government that will:

a) Reduce the number of MPs and pack the Lords with unelected peers

b) Put  55% lock in dissolving parliament and – leaving the best to last -

c) a referendum on AV that Cameron won’t give a date for and won’t even vote in favour of!

Surely Power 2010 would be furious about this?

Indeed they are! They formed the Take Back Parliament Coalition and stated on the Power 2010 website:

“Our coalition government has promised us democratic reform, yet they’re expanding the House of Lords. Call them on their hypocrisy – tell the party leaders there can be no more new Lords. Message the party leaders today! “ 

Perhaps Pam could actually take it up with her fellow directors on the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.

Half of them are Lib Dems and one of them, Danny Alexander is now a Cabinet Minister who drew up the  very programme Power2010 is now so vehemently against.

If you’d like to call Pam on HER hypocrisy, message her today at pam@power2010.org.uk

It’s a marathon not a sprint

I’ve been spending the last few days getting over so-called ‘campaign flu.’ A mild condition of general fatigue and flu-iness that comes after weeks of poor diet, too many cigarettes and being stuck in the back of a Transit van for 5,000 miles.

So after Gordon left Downing Street for the last time, and shepherding John round the media to pay tribute to the great man, I retired to my bed and got some sleep. It’s advice I’d give to anyone involved in the campaign. Switch off your phone, take time out and get your thoughts together.

It’s quite clear from the Jock room banter of that Downing Steet Garden presser that the ‘ConDem Nation’ coalition isn’t going to fall apart anytime soon.

Firstly if they manage to get the 55% lock through, it’ll be nigh impossible to pass a no-confidence vote. Secondly Clegg and Huhne will respectively be in charge of pushing through real political reform and representing the UK at the next climate change conference in Cancun in December.

Finally, more than a third of Lib Dems MPs are actually in Government. Think about it. Over the course of five years, Clegg could easily rotate all of them so everyone gets the chance to get their backside on a chauffeur-driven Prius.

So let’s forget about an election this Autumn. It just isn’t going to happen. That scenario has been the one and only driver for a quick Labour leadership election culminating in July.

That’s probably the reason why David Miliband was first out of the blocks on Wednesday, in spite of the fact the news cycle was dominated by the Nick and Dave show. You only get one opportunity to launch and as other commentators have said, it seemed a bit strange arguing for the ‘movement for change’ outside the House of Commons surrounded by middle-aged parliamentarians (no offence to those who were there, but we’re talking about perception.)

I remember the last leadership campaign in 1994. Margaret Beckett launched hers in the Jubiliee Room in the House of Commons. She then left through one door and John’s team came in through the other, sat at the same desk and launched theirs too.

Tony wisely left it a couple of days and made telling his members and friends in Sedgefield the focus of his launch.

I also can’t imagine any candidate would be happy to have Charlie Falconer or John Hutton’s ‘black spot’ endorsement. Perhaps they personally felt it would help build the ‘big mo.’ I’m not so sure.

But launches aside, we shouldn’t get too obsessed with dancing to the media’s tune.

And this is where David is absolutely right – go off  touring the country, talking to members, activists and the general public. But candidates shouldn’t rush this. Empty your mind of pre-conceived ideas and really listen to what people have to say. This is a real opportunity not a photo opportunity.

Time and time again, immigration was one of the the big issues that came up on the doorsteps, especially in the north. Labour – rightly or wrongly – is perceived to have handled the issue badly.

There’s not enough street politics in my mind. I’m sure more politicians would like to do as John did in the campaign – climb on a bench with a microphone and debate with the public. But they worry how one heckler can be enlarged through the prism of the media. If you do put yourself into real situations, hacks will say you were ‘booed by an angry mob.’ If you choose controllable situations, you’re ‘not meeting the public.’

But remember how ‘bigotgate’ had apparently destroyed Labour’s chances and finished us in Rochdale? We went there the following day and party activists had just come back from canvassing. Only a few people mentioned Duffy and the vote was standing up. Come election night, we won Rochdale back.

So let’s not rush this contest. Every member I’ve spoken to in the last few days wants an open and genuine leadership election, not defined and dictated by the 24 hour news cycle.

Whilst we can’t get away from the fact that there will be televised debates (we had them for the last deputy leadership election and they are popular) we mustn’t let X Factor politics shape this debate.

Miliband v Miliband is admittedly a great human intertest story. But we shouldn’t allow the media to make it dominate it – we all want policies not personalities.

We also need as many candidates as possible and I really hope some of our talented female MPs put their names forward too. We don’t need to be told there’s an ‘inevitability’ as to who will be chosen. That’s our job.

A four month campaign, with national, regional, union, Young Labour and online hustings will give everyone a chance to road test manifestos, scrutinise the candidates and challenge them directly face-to-face and through social media platforms.

All the while, candidates will still need to play their part in holding the executive to account, especially since we are now the only real substantive opposition on the green benches. That too will showcase their ability.

Hopefully the NEC will agree next Tuesday to a longer timetable and we can unveil the leader at our Manchester conference.

Personally, I’d like to hear the candidates’ thoughts on how we can rebuild a mass-membership party, give members a more direct say in policymaking and how we improve organisation in constituency parties. Too many seats were lost because of poor planning by local Labour parties.

16 years on from the last leadership election and the same principle argued then is as relevant today – the politics of organisation are equally as important as the politics of ideas.

So by all means put on your trainers, limber up and do your stretches.

But let’s have marathon not a sprint.

Members will decide this election.

Not the media.

Don’t stoke the fire, Seddon

I drove through the night to get back to Hull. Had to pick up the new branding for the Prescott Express, which hits the road for the short campaign VERY soon!

So I’ve just got round to watching last night’s Newsnight on the iplayer about the selection of Tristram Hunt as Labour’s PPC for Stoke Central.

The focus of Michael Crick’s  piece seemed to be the unfairness of the selection process when the shortlist has been chosen by the NEC’s Special Selections Panel.

From my recent experience running for Weaver Vale, the SSP chose myself and three local candidates, one of whom went on to get selected as the candidate. (I came second with 77 votes to 46 – not bad for the 15 days we had to campaign.)

So I really feel for Tristram. He’s a high profile candidate and, no doubt, would make an excellent MP for Stoke Central – you can read his very impressive letter to members at the excellent A Very Public Sociologist.

But the sneering coverage Hunt’s had to put up with whilst running for this seat and Leyton and Wanstead, is very disappointing – especially when it’s stoked up by party members who should know better.

It wasn’t Tristram who chose to stand down at the last minute denying the local members more of a direct say over his replacement. In fact no-one’s to blame as Mark Fisher was forced to step down on health grounds.

However, I do think we should consider looking at co-opting the local party chair onto SSPs to give the CLP a greater input into drawing up the shortlist. This would also probably have prevented the fallout from the original Stalybridge and Hyde selection.

But what made me really angry was the whining of former NEC member Mark Seddon – who didn’t make the shortlst for Stoke Central – launching a vicious and personal attack on the selection process, and by implication, Tristram.

He told that well know left-wing periodical the Evening Standard:

“An unelected peer, Lord Mandelson, is choosing the candidate for Stoke, showing contempt for the Labour Party and treating the city as a rotten borough.

“This is political corruption of the highest order, and is a gift to the BNP. Gordon Brown and the Labour NEC need to re-start the selection process, or let Mandelson place his friends where he wants them.”

How did I find these comments online? Simple – they’re currently being highlighted on the blog of the BNP’s Deputy Leader Simon Darby, who is mounting a challenge for the seat.

Seddon also went on Newsnight last night to hammer home the point. (you can watch the interview below here – 28:44 in.)

He’d obviously been working hard to get himself onto the shortlist by pushing out the story that Gordon had told him recently that he should be in the Commons.

But Mark’s got form for running to the media when he doesn’t make the shortlist. Ironically Charles Clarke, Party Chair at the time, said the reason the SSP didn’t choose him for the Ogmore by-election was because the CLP wanted a local candidate!

So Mark, do as I did. Take the knockback with grace, get campaigning for the fourth term and try not to give ammunition to an extreme right wing party.

STOP! Hoon time

Just been listening to the car crash that was Geoff Hoon’s interview with Jim Naughtie on Today. You can listen to it here.

The first and main criteria for deciding to go public after your reputation’s been damaged is simple – will it ultimately help me? It gave him the chance to do his mea culpa but ultimtately sounded like he was sorry he was caught. “It was a private conversation.” Hmm..

Two things should have told him to stay away from Today.

Firstly, he was caught on camera, completely banged to rights. He might have got away with it if the expose was soley in print. But that footage is pretty damning.

Secondly, it’s just too soon after being exposed. He needed more time for reflection. This was less than five days after the Dispatches programme aired. It smacked of desperation. And worse still, he really didn ‘t seem prepared. It actually sounded like a George Parr interview!

But there are a few silver linings.

Hoon or one of the other three Labour MPs were going to go public at some time and at least he’s lanced the boil for the party before the short campaign.

Also the whip was taken away from the three straight after Dispatches, something Cameron, in spite of all his bluster,  still hasn’t done to Sir John Butterfill.

And finally, I’m sure Hoon’s masochistic two-way will make Byers, Hewitt and Moran think twice about doing the same.

Why I don’t believe in ‘Yes Today’

The excellent Paul Waugh‘s blogged on Alistair Darling’s non-appearance on the Today programme this morning. The Chancellor’s absence says more about a programme living on past glories and producers who think it’s still as important as it once was.

Darling was prepared to do Today but effectively told by the show he would have to debate against Osborne or not appear at all.

Alistair chose not all – and quite right too. Instead he did 5Live which has a far more relevant demographic. Today listeners are politically engaged and more likely to be set in their ways with their party preference. Five Live are where the floaters are.

In fact, his SPAD Catherine MacLeod is one of the shrewdest media operators around – it was she and Darling’s wife Maggie who pushed for THAT Guardian sit down with Decca Aitkenhead where he correctly predicted it would be the worst recession in more than 60 years. That honesty and openess is now paying dividends with Darling scoring higher than Osborne in opinion polls.

Catherine, a former Herald and ITV hack, knows he’s far better going mainstream then arguing the toss with Evan and Humphreys et al at TVC.

Yes, Darling will do Today but they won’t be held to ransom by producers who believe appearing on the show is akin to making pronouncements from Mount Sinai!

Instead Alistair had to make do with live hits and reaching the following audiences on 5Live (people on school run) GMTV (AFTER 7am not BEFORE which poor old Osborne had to accept,) This Morning (stay-at-home mums),  SkyNews (hacks), BBC Breakfast (more mums), Sky Radio (regional radio coverage), LBC (cabbies) Talksport (white van man) , 5 News, PA TV (newspaper websites), Reuters (financial sector), Bloomberg (more city whizz kids), ITV (more mums) and C4 News (teachers and students!)

In fact, such was the Chancellor’s ominpresence, I expected to see him presenting the ITV lunchtime weather. (Getting sloppy there, Catherine!)

Expect a lot more of this  – the sofa’s the real media election battleground not the Today studio.

All the best to Weaver Vale Labour

Just wanted to say that I had a thoroughly enjoyabe time in my attempt to become the Labour Party candidate for Weaver Vale.

It was all a bit of a whirlwind – my shortlist interview was on March 1 and once chosen, I only had just over two weeks to win support from around the constituency. Luckily my Uncle Ray, who went to the local school, drove me more than 400 miles in four days as I attempted to meet every member in Weaver Vale.

My campaign was about three main issues  – protecting frontline services, securing the second Mersey crossing and kickstarting the Northwich Vision regeneration project which the Tory-controlled Cheshire West and Chester Council seem to have kicked into the long grass.

I picked up a real feeling that mid Cheshire tends to get ignored by CWAC and if selected, I would have made standing up for Northwich one of my main priorities as the town has absolutely enormous potential.

It was always going to be hard to get selected as the leading candidate had been active in the Weaver Vale local party for the last 15 years. He managed to win with 77 votes. I only had 15 days to campaign from scratch but am really proud 46 people voted for me.

So I’d like to thank everyone I met, especially those who were kind enough to back me.

I thought the local party had a great choice of four local candidates incuding the excellent Justin Madders who came from the neighbouring constituency of Ellesmere Port and Ben Johnson (a really talented party official who will go far) who grew up in nearby Warrington.

Anyway, I wish Weaver Vale and its new candidate John Stockton all the very best in the fight to keep the seat.

As for me, I’ll be back on the Prescott Express travelling round the country for the General Election, doing everything we can to get the Labour vote out in the marginal seats that will ultimately decide who gets into No10.

But as I promised at the beginning of my Weaver Vale campaign, win or lose, I’ll be back in the next few weeks with the battle bus to help them keep it Labour.

Now for a well-earned day off with my girls – Roz and Ava Grace. Off to The Deep this afternoon!

Things can only get Twitter

We had out best tweetup yet on our election warm-up Prescott Express Tour.

First we presented to party activists in a training event/rally on social media and how Labour has really started closed the gap on the Tories.

Everyone’s been loving the presentation and the various posters and virals we’re highlighting as best practise. Also great to see so many older activists ‘get it’ – the  fact it’s traditonal campaigning in a modern setting. 

What really brings the house down is the video we did to rebut the Tories claims to being progressive.

Labour North West is really making the most from social media, epecially on Twitter with Grace Fletcher Hackwood (tweeting as @msgracefh) and Kev Peel.

Their idea to bring people from across the country to campaign together using Labour’s virtual phone bank but communicate with the Twitter hashtag #mobmonday is a real grassroots success. No edict from HQ. Just an excellent idea dreampt up by a couple of supporters.

In the last few weeks, they’ve made more than 3,000 voter ID calls to several marginal constituencies!

I was interviewed by the Politics Show about how I think this will be the first content election, where it’ll be the son, daughter, friend and colleague ‘wot won it’ by passing on clips, lines and posters. As I’ve said before, I serously think the party would do a lot better just crowd-sourcing our ad campaigns and buying some digital boards to publish the best.

Then after the tweet-up it was back on the battle bus to campaign in Burnage with the excellent Lucy Powell. Because alhough social media is a great channel, it doesn’t replace knocking on doors and leafleting.

Here’s how it went. Apologies to Stallone.