Politics Watch

There is a long history of people posting petitions to 10 Downing Street or even handing them over in person (although the latter option is less likely nowadays given the current security environment), but until recently there was no centralised method of doing this electronically. However, the people behind the 10 Downing Street website, with help from MySociety, have now introduced E-Petitions, whereby members of the public can propose and sign petitions to the Prime Minister. The site is still in beta testing, but already it has attracted a large number of signatures for several high-profile petitions such as the proposed repealing of the 2004 Hunting Act.

Whether or not any of these petitions will be taken seriously is another matter entirely, but at least there is now a much easier way for people to make their views known at the highest level of government.

Further reading

• No10 petitions system goes live

Following up on my previous post, Four most influential British Prime Ministers, BBC History Magazine has published an article by Francis Beckett listing the historian’s greatest Prime Ministers of the 20th Century. His list is fairly close to mine, although he puts the emphasis on the successful implementation of policies and therefore Blair falls down the list somewhat with only three points out of a possible five.

Further reading

• Thatcher and Attlee top PM list
• BBC History Magazine

As part of Problogger’s Lists Group Writing Project, I’ve decided to compile a short list comprising of the four British Prime Ministers of recent times who I think have had the most influence on national affairs (it’s a short list as to make it any longer would include too large a percentage of the potential candidates). The selected politicians are listed in no particular order and their inclusion does not imply that I agree with any or all of their policies, only that I believe they had a significant influence on British politics whilst they were in power.

N.B. I have only mentioned matters of national importance in this list, so anything regarding international affairs—such as the conflict in the Falkland Islands—has not been taken into account, although all four of the politicians also had a significant impact overseas.

Margaret Thatcher

Arguably both the most revered and despised British politician of recent times, it never ceases to amaze me how the mere mention of Baroness Thatcher’s name can invoke such strong and mixed responses from the general public. That alone justifies her place on the list, but she also had a profound influence on the UK economy, with her relentless pursuit of privatisation changing the way we buy basic utilities such as gas and telephone services by taking these companies away from government control and forcing them to compete for business, instead of holding a monopolistic grip on the industry. Her influence can also be felt on the side of the employees through her sweeping trade union reforms which, amongst other things, lead to secondary picketing being banned.

As well as all these changes, Thatcher still holds the record for the longest continuously serving Prime Minister in over 150 years, and remarkably she is also the only woman ever to have reached the highest office in British politics. Like her or loathe her, there is no denying that Thatcher had a significant impact during her time as Prime Minister.

• Margaret Thatcher on Wikipedia
• Margaret Thatcher on 10 Downing Street

Winston Churchill

No list of influencial British Prime Ministers would be complete without the revered Winston Churchill. Whilst his performance as a peace time leader is often considered to have been somewhat lacklustre, his legacy was secured by his premiership during World War II. His inspirational stance, soundbites and speeches (including such memorable quotes as “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”) helped to rally the British people and encouraged them to fight on even as France surrended to Germany.

Widely credited as Britain’s greatest ever Prime Minister and almost certainly the most famous person to have held the post, Churchill is also one of the few people outside of the Royal Family to be honoured on his death with a state funeral.

• Winston Churchill on Wikipedia
• Winston Churchill on 10 Downing Street

Clement Attlee

Although Attlee is perhaps somewhat less well-known than the other names on this list, he did have a profound influence on British politics during his time as Prime Minister. Some of his efforts were subsequently undone by later governments, such as his nationalisation of several utilities industries (including coal and steel) and the railways, which were reversed by the aggressive privatisation programme spearheaded by Thatcher’s government.

However, by far and away the most influential decision that Attlee ever made was to create the National Health Service (NHS), which still survives to this day and provides healthcare free at the point of delivery to hundreds of thousands of people daily, as well as being the largest employer in Europe. In my opinion, this alone overshadows anything else that Attlee did whilst Prime Minister, and guarantees him a place on this list.

• Clement Attlee on Wikipedia
• Clement Attlee on 10 Downing Street

Tony Blair

Another name that produces differences of opinion in the same way as Thatcher does, our current head of government has had a significant influence over the past nine years he has been at the helm. His first success was to lead the Labour Party (which he rebranded and relaunched as ‘New Labour’ with the help of several close colleagues) into a general election victory, simultaneously bringing the end to eighteen years of Conservative rule and securing a huge majority for his party in the House of Commons. During his time as Prime Minister, Blair has set up numerous significant programmes of reform in public services—most notably health and education—and has even changed the way Parliament works by making several alterations to the House of Lords. Under his leadership the government has also produced legislation on a massive scale, creating hundreds of new criminal offences, though often justified on somewhat dubious grounds.

Even though rumours about when he will resign continue to float around the media, I suspect that Blair will continue to have a significant influence on British politics for some time yet, and even after he has gone the foundations he has set will probably lead the Labour party into at least one more general election.

• Tony Blair on Wikipedia

Now that the dust has cleared and all the results have been announced, it’s time for a reflection on how the various parties have fared in the recent local elections.

Labour

It was a bad night for Labour across the country, as they ended up losing over three hundred seats in total by the time all the results were announced. Although the governing party always expects to lose seats in local elections as the electorate use it as a way of expressing their grievances with the people in power, it was more awkward for Labour in many ways because of Tony Blair’s promise to go but with no indication of when. The poor showing will undoubtably give his detractors a stick to beat him with, though probably not enough to make him step down in the next twelve months.

Conservatives

The Tories were by far the major winners in the local elections, picking up most of the seats that Labour lost, as well as taking control of eleven councils and pushing several others (including Bury) into No Overall Control. With a projected vote share of 40%, compared to the relatively poor 27% and 26% of the Lib Dems and Labour respectively, it was certainly their night at the polls.

However, the Conservatives failed to make significant gains in the major northern cities, and they still have no councillors in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and several other cities. This takes some of the shine off the otherwise good showing by the Tories, because I think they really need to make some inroads into big cities if they want to return to power.

Liberal Democrats

The Lib Dems usually do well in local elections, picking up the floating voters who are dissatisfied with the government but aren’t ready to switch back to voting Conservative. This time, however, they failed to make any real progress, making a net gain of only two councillors and one council. I think there are a number of reasons for this poor performance.

First of all, the recent leadership contest and the controvesy surrounding it has rattled the Lib Dems somewhat. They have certainly lost some of their perceived integrity in the process, especially given that the previous leader and two of the leadership candidates brought the party into disrepute early on in the year.

Secondly, Campbell hasn’t really had much time to make his mark on the party or come out as a particularly strong leader. That’s not to say that he doesn’t have potential, more that he hasn’t had the opportunity to demonstrate his abilities yet. I believe it will take a few more months before we will be able to give a fair verdict on how good a leader he is.

Finally, I don’t think the Lib Dems ran a very effective campaign this year. In previous elections there have usually been Lib Dem posters all over the place, with lots of party members handing out leaflets and pushing their policies to the general public. This year I haven’t seen as much campaigning done, and the party seems to have stalled somewhat. Personally, I think that this is partially down to the fact that playing the War in Iraq card seems to be less effective, and also because of other parties (particularly the Conservatives) playing to previous Lib Dem strengths, such as their focus on environmental issues.

British National Party

At first glance, it seems as if the BNP did particularly well in the local elections, managing to double the number of council seats under their control and become the second largest party on Barking and Dagenham council. Nick Griffin was particularly buoyant when the results were announced, boasting about how well the party had performed.

However, anyone worried about a sudden rise in the far right can take assurance from two sides. First of all, whilst the BNP have indeed doubled the number of council seats they control, one has to remember that they only had twenty to start off with. If you look it as “the BNP gained just over twenty seats” instead of “the BNP more than doubled its number of seats”, then the situation doesn’t appear quite as frightening. Also, even with forty councillors, the BNP still only represents approximately 0.2% of the available seats, so they are hardly poised to take over the reigns of government.

Finally, as pointed out in Will BNP election gains last?, history would tell us that these sort of results tend not to repeat themselves. It seems unlikely that these gains for the BNP will be reflected in the next general election, and the same applies for the next round of local elections.

Green Party

The Greens made a number of important gains, increasing their seats in places where they were already strong, such as Oxford, and moving into new areas such as Islington and Camden. Unfortunately, I suspect that they are seen as a one issue party by many people (the name certainly doesn’t help dissipate this viewpoint), which probably damaged their chances of success in more urban areas such as Manchester, where they failed to make much of an impact.

Further information

• Election 2006 In Depth at BBC News

A little light relief before my write-up of the recent local elections:

Boris Johnson vs Germany

BNP leader Nick Griffin, along with his fellow party member and activist Mark Collett, has been cleared of four of the charges brought against him relating to speeches made in 2004 that were filmed by a undercover BBC journalist. Whilst I disagree with what Griffin said in those speeches (I remember watching the documentary at the time), and I don’t believe the propaganda on the BNP web site claiming that the trial is somehow part of a plot by the government to undermine free speech, I can’t help feeling that perhaps this case has been a waste of taxpayers’ money. The problem is, as always, the fine line between free speech and inciting people to commit criminal acts, and where the line should be drawn.

Media coverage

• BNP pair not guilty of race hate at BBC News
• BNP leader walks free from court at Guardian Unlimited – Politics

As I’m sure many people will have heard, The Right Honourable George Galloway MP has accepted a place as a contestant on the Channel 4 show, Celebrity Big Brother. A lot of people are angry about this, and rightly so. There is now a web page estimating how much Galloway’s time in the Big Brother house has cost the tax payer, based on his salary and how long he has not been at work doing what he is paid to – representing his constituents in Parliament and addressing their concerns on a local and national level.

If you’re a constituent of Bethnal Green and Bow and are feeling disappointed with your MP’s lack of effort in representing you, feel free to send him a message via the UK Parliament web site or write to him at the following address:

George Galloway MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Remember, Galloway only won his seat by a majority of 823 votes, so a couple of hundred emails and letters from angry constituents should be enough to make him buck up his ideas and get back to doing the job he is being paid for.

If you’re not one of his constituents then you shouldn’t write to Galloway directly, as MPs aren’t obliged to respond to people outside of their constituency (many will refuse to meet with lobby groups unless at least one member is a constituent – I’ve come across this issue when campaigning for Manchester MPs to sign a climate change EDM with Manchester Friends of the Earth). You can, however, write to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and ask him to investigate whether or not Galloway is breaking the Code of Conduct for MPs by appearing on Big Brother, specifically the part where it is stated that:

Members have a general duty to act in the interests of the nation as a whole; and a special duty to their constituents.

There is also a pledge that you can sign to indicate that you will be taking this course of action and which encourages other people to do so as well.

Media coverage

Big Brother Galloway criticised at BBC News – Politics