Continuing As I Mean To Go On

This morning I read two articles on the new blog by Oliver Jones of the revolting McDonnell camp. The first of these gave a cynical welcome to our latest recruit to the PLP.

Under the title "Lower than vermin", Oliver describes how Quentin Davies is a nasty, Thatcherite, anti-trades union, homophobic, fox-hunting reactionary. He then publishes Gordon's welcome: "Quentin Davies is a senior parliamentarian and he commands respect on all sides for his expertise and his dedication to public service, and I welcome him to the New Labour party. On Sunday, I said I was determined to reach out to those who share our values and who would like to be part of building a more just society. I said we had to reach out to people who want to change from the old politics, who yearn for a public life founded on principles, who are inspired by what we as a nation can achieve together - and asked them to join us. I am delighted that Quentin Davies has done so today."

If Quentin is promoted as one of the grandees to whom Gordon wants to reach out, his relationship with the PM will certainly be a familiar one to him - he last served in the Cabinet under IDS, who never won a General Election either. He came to my attention back in April when he was one of only two Tory MPs to vote in favour of a new £10k p.a. "communications" allowance for MPs. The other Tory MP who voted for our proposed PR spin allowance was my old mate and Castle Point election opponent, Bob Spink.

If this wasn't enough, Oliver Jones followed this up with a post summarising ten years of Blairism. The article highlights the tremendous political reforms and achievements, including the minimum wage, increased maternity pay, lower unemployment, increased investment in public services, free nursery education, the repeal of Section 28, the right to civil partnerships and peace in the North of Ireland.

He then balances the scales with a summary of the negative aspects of Blairism. These include top-up fees leaving students in £000s of debt, foundation hospitals creating a two-tier NHS, academy schools backed by rich donors and boosting Christian fundamentalist influence in education, more religiously segregated schools, systematic attacks on civil liberties, £billions wasted on nuclear weapons, continued Thatcherite restrictions on trade unions and continued privatisation of key services. Plus inequality at the same level as under Thatcher, increasing child poverty, increasing homelessness, record numbers of people in prison and... Iraq. And as a result of these policies, implosion of the Labour Party, with membership decimated to well under half of the 407,000 peak a decade ago.

All of this may well be true. But I don't give a b******s. The important thing is that we keep winning elections and, unlike the Tories, we are able to organise orderly and smooth transitions of power like the one I watched on TV this afternoon.

It brought a tear to my eye, seeing the crowds applauding Gordon as he made the journey from The Treasury to The Palace and took part in the longest audience given by the Queen to a new Prime Minister in decades. And for the benefit of the smart Alecs out there, it wasn't because she couldn't understand his Kirkcaldy nasal drawl.

So f**k Oliver Jones. We are going to have a very different Government under Gordon. Same policies, but very different faces. Let the change begin, but I intend to continue as I always have.

STOP PRESS: Quentin Davies has just been awarded Newsnight's Order of the Brown Nose, beating Harriet into third place and leaving Hazel as a failed runner-up.