Brown Involved in Political Spin Already, That didn't last long

After claiming to no longer adhere to the Blair doctorate of Political Spin, Brown's Spin Doctors follow in Blair's footsteps as Ed Balls, a key aide to Gordon Brown boasted to a reception that Quentin Davies would not be the last to cross the floor of the House of Commons. Mr Balls, a Treasury minister, sought to panic the Tories into fearing more desertions but the Tories have seen it for what it is, a pathetic attempt to promote Brown's new government which will "cross the political divide," supposedly.

Davies has also jumped on this spouting last night that he is not alone in his views. From the telegraph, "Mr Davies himself told The Daily Telegraph that concerns about Mr Cameron's leadership were "very widely shared" among the party across the country and specifically at West-minster. Speaking on BBC2's Newsnight on Tuesday, he hinted that although there were a "very large number of Conservative MPs" who thought like him, they did not want to go public now"

Perhaps they think if they say it enough it will come true. I doubt it. Davies is a extremely pro European loner who I for one will not miss. Privately, Brownite MPs who were well aware of Mr Davies defection a couple of days ago were admitting that they knew of no other Tory MPs posed to make the leap. This pretty much sums it up.

Labour got a very welcome surprise when Davies defected and are trying to make far more of this than it actually is. Even John Bercow, the Bucking-ham MP who launched a blistering attack on Mr Cameron in the 2005 leadership contest and gave one of the more enthusiastic standing ovations for Tony Blair at the end of Prime Minister's Questions, made clear that he had no intention of jumping ship.

In his first statement as Prime Minister, Mr Brown - who last week controversially offered ministerial jobs to the Liberal Democrats pledged again to reach out across the political divide in the formation of his government.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Lib Dem leader, insisted there would be no defections from his own parliamentary party.

The short version is Brown, in an effort to promote himself as leader, attempted to poach the other parties' MPs. He was successful with one loner, Davies, and is now attempting to make this defection appear to begin the beginning of many more. So much for ending political spin. New PM same games.

Another Embarrassing Report for the Government

Tony Blair, John Reid and Lord Falconer have claimed that too many criminals are being jailed.

Lord Falconer, the newly-created Justice Secretary, announced this month that tens of thousands of burglars and other thieves would receive community punishments instead of jail sentences. The Prime Minister signalled that there should be greater emphasis on rehabilitating offenders, tougher community sentences and crime prevention in March, and Home Secretary Mr Reid caused outrage in January by urging the courts to use jail sentences only as a last resort. Due to this paedophiles, muggers, burglars and heroin dealers walked free from court.

However, a Home Office report has concluded that stiffer prison sentences deter crime. This contradicts Labour plans to hand out softer punishments

Key Points in the Report

"Custodial sentences of at least a year are most effective in reducing re offending."

Figures showed that 70 per cent of convicts jailed for under 12 months re-offended within two years, compared with 49 per cent of those sentenced to between one and four years and 36 per cent of those serving at least four years

Men and women released from prison within a year had on average 13 previous convictions – suggesting shorter jail sentences were failing as a deterrent.

Prisoners released from longer sentences were less likely to re- offend because they were older, had time to be rehabilitated and had been convicted of more serious "one-off" offences.

Last night, the Conservatives blamed the "abysmal" situation on Labour’s failure to build enough prison places. Philip Davies, the Tory MP who uncovered the report, said: "The Government are at sixes and sevens. Because the Chancellor has consistently refused to invest in building more prisons, that has resulted in their being full. The Government now have to pretend that prison does not work after all, and that it is tougher not to send people to prison and to give them so-called tough community sentences."


A Home Office spokesman said the relationship between prison sentences and re-offending rates was "quite complex".

He said the report did not contradict the Government’s view. Is the Home Office spokesman reading the same report?

This comment is clearly the work of Gordon Brown and his "political spin" team. Rather than accept responsibility for the lack of investment in building prisons, Labour is attempting to claim that tough community sentences are best and prison should be a last resort despite the fact that their own Home Office Report contradicts them.

Brown Will Be New Leader of Labour and Prime Minister

Mr Brown's campaign said they would await the formal voting figures announced by the party on Thursday before making any statement however, shortly after 6pm yesterday, Gordon Brown reached the crucial total of 308 nominations needed to avoid a contest. The chancellor's only rival, John McDonnell, conceded after Mr Brown secured enough nominations from Labour MPs to stop him getting the 45 needed. Gordon Brown will be confirmed as Tony Blair's successor when nominations for the Labour leadership and deputy leadership close at 1230 BST.

Brown has achieved his long standing goal of becoming Labour Leader and Prime Minister. He will now have to wait a further 42 days before Tony Blair formally hands over the reins of power. Meanwhile, in Whitehall the transition to a Brown premiership has begun. Officials are currently working on Mr Brown's blueprint for power and preparing for a radical Cabinet reshuffle.

Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell said the fact Mr Brown would be unopposed meant it was even more important that there was a General Election. "The country is surely entitled to pass judgement on whether he should become the most powerful politician in the country," he said.

Campbell has a point. Even though Brown has made promises to improve education standards, an extension of GPs' hours and a house building programme when he takes over is that really enough? Promises are very easy to make and we will have to wait and see if he actually follows through with them. Personally, I wouldn't hold my breath. The greater question is, do the British people want Brown in office at all or, as Campbell said, are we "entitled to pass judgement on whether he should become the most powerful politician in the country?"

Damning Report Questions Gordon Brown's Welfare Reforms

Mr Brown claims to have slashed youth unemployment and transformed life for the poor. However, according to a damning report that questions Gordon Brown's welfare reforms, youth unemployment is sharply higher than when Labour came to power. Despite Labour spending almost £2 billion on the New Deal, the number of people aged 18-24 out of work has risen by 70,000 to 505,000 since its launch in 1998.

Last week the National Association of Head Teachers said that schools were producing an "army of the unemployable" as tens of thousands of teenagers quit education at 16 with no qualifications. This was emphasized by the Bow Group, a Conservative-affiliated think tank, which tracked secondary school pupils over three years and found thousands had gone missing from school rolls.

Frank Field, the former welfare minister, says that the New Deal has been "woeful". He continued, "The results show that even if the money was available, which it isn't, more of the same won't work and will be a betrayal of young unemployed people. As part of the Labour leadership contest it is important for the Chancellor, and the candidates for the deputy leadership, to tell the electorate how best to move the 505,000 unemployed young people into work, as the New Deal is failing to do so."

Mr Field backs up the a criticism of the Tories that many of the young people helped into employment by the New Deal would have found a job anyway "Moreover, the number and proportion of young people finding work as a result of their New Deal has collapsed from 51 per cent in 1998 to 34 per cent in 2005," he adds. "Youth unemployment is higher than when Labour was elected in 1997, and rising.

The figures are in sharp contrast to the claim by Jim Murphy, the employment and welfare minister, who said in an article that "youth employment has been virtually abolished". .

This does not bode well for Brown as he attempts to rebuild public trust. As I said before, a package disguised in different wrapping is still the same package. It is just a little more attractive until you open it. With these latest developments it appears Brown is still very much subscribed to Blair's philosophy of political spin, despite recent attempts to distance himself.

Gordon Brown Attempts to Rebuild Public Trust

Mr Brown pledged to govern “in a different way’’ yesterday when launching his campaign to lead Labour and become Prime Minister. He promised a clean break with the Blair years as he admitted “mistakes” had been made in Iraq, hinted at a review of ID cards and vowed to end the cult of celebrity. Brown also said he would restore power to Parliament and rebuild the public trust in democracy.

Yesterday, in a low-profile launch which was in sharp contrast to Blair’s carefully-choreographed grandiose farewell, the Chancellor quickly distanced himself from the spin and obsession with image of Blair while emphasizing his own "moral compass." Brown promised measures would be taken to make government more accountable to Parliament over decisions to go to war and senior public appointments, with a new code of ministerial conduct, to be followed by a major programme of constitutional reform. When speaking about Iraq, he said: “I accept that mistakes have been made”.

Mr Brown indicated that he would stick with Blairite health reforms and a push to increase the number of affordable homes. Policies that are seen as essential to keep on board "middle Britain" voters who helped Mr Blair win three election victories.

Brown's statements sound promising however George Osborne, his Conservative shadow, had it correct when he said: "After 10 years of waiting, all Gordon Brown has given us is reheated slogans and a promise to listen - when all the evidence shows he's incapable of acknowledging his mistakes."

Brown is responsible for the pension disaster and his tax credit system has handed out 6 Billion in overpayment and lost a further 1.4 Billion due to fraud. If this is Brown's track record should we not be concerned that he will be responsible for running the country? As for distancing himself from Blair, it is nothing more than political spin. A package disguised in different wrapping is still the same package. It is just a little more attractive until you open it.