Dissatisfaction with Brown Growing

It would appear that more and more Labour MPs are becoming dissatisfied by the leadership being provided by Gordon Brown.  This is something that is becoming increasingly obvious in East Lancashire, with Gordon Prentice calling for Mr Brown to resign.

Now we have the interesting scenario of Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson requesting Leadership Nomination Papers.  Mrs Anderson has been regarded as someone who was relatively loyal to the Labour leadership in the past, so what has suddenly made her change her mind?  I suspect it has something to do with Gordon Brown’s dire performance as Prime Minister, and of course let’s not forget the state of play in the opinion polls.

The actual reality for the Gordon Prentice and Janet Anderson is that they are seriously worried about their own political futures and continued places in parliament.   They are both obviously concerned about the consistently poor performance of the Brown government, the poor public perception of the man in charge and the general lack of political direction being shown by the government as a whole.

Nationally, we have seen both an Assistant Whip and a Vice-Chair of the Labour Party sacked for requesting Leadership Nomination Papers and former Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt demanding a “New narrative” from the government.  The Daily Telegraph’s Jeff Randall sums things up brilliantly when he says “First Brown was feared, then he was laughed at, now he’s just pitied.”

Surely the best thing would be to have a general election and let the people decide where they want the political direction of the country to go, another unelected Labour PM is not in anyone’s interests.  The sooner the public are given their say the better.

Sheer Utter Lunacy

I read with disdain that the control-freak state wishes to impose new rules on domestic gardens just the other day.  It would appear that the government wants to empower local authorities to force homeowners to apply for planning permission to plant lawns in their gardens, and also to dictate what we plant in our gardens. 

This is control-freakery going stark raving mad, I cannot for the life of me see why local authorities should have the right, let alone be given the right to dictate to people as to whether they may plant a lawn, rose bush or tree in their garden.  The argument that the folks from Whitehall have come up with is one about recycling garden waste, they reckon people are throwing grass cuttings from their lawns in with ordinary domestic rubbish.   In the Borough of Pendle, we have special green bins for this very purpose, making the Whitehall mandarins’ arguments null and void.  The government allege that they are “concerned about water-thirsty lawns and plants having an adverse effect on the environment”, I have never heard so much nonsense in all of my living days.

The truth of this matter, as always, is that the government and its increasingly out of control machine are committed to one thing and one thing alone, that’s to dictate to us as to how we undertake each and every part of our daily lives.  It is even being suggested that anyone who wants to repave or resurface their garden path or driveway should have to apply for planning permission to do so.  As a member of the Town Council’s Planning Committee, I have much more important concerns than what people are planting in their herbaceous borders or whether they plan to block pave or tarmac their driveways.  We really are descending to the level of the madhouse if this nonsense ever becomes law, and there are times when I really despair at the level of stupidity emanating from this government.

Margaret Hodge Should Be Sacked

As a Travel Agent, I was deeply shocked by the astonishing comments made by Minister for Industry and the Regions Margaret Hodge this week.  Hodge sought to literally dismiss the British Tourist Industry as being a shambles.

I thought government ministers were supposed to be in the business of marketing Britain as a tourist destination, not rubbishing it at any given opportunity.  Margaret Hodge accused hoteliers of sloppy service and ever reducing standards, this is shabby politicking at its worst and cannot come at a worse time for our travel and tourism industry.  What is quite apparent is that the minister has little understanding of the industry and the challenges it faces, the reality is that hotels and other tourism related businesses are much more heavily regulated in the UK than they are in some other countries in Europe. 

I’ll give you a example of how the industry works:  The hotel grading system used by the AA is one of the most stringent you will find anywhere in the world, and quite rightfully so.  The simple fact of an AA evaluation is that if a property doesn’t come up to scratch, it doesn’t get a decent rating.   I can think of hotels in other countries which are marketed as 4-star properties, yet would only make 2-star status here in Britain.  The reality of the situation is that the government itself has shown little interest in the tourist industry, perhaps one should look at the dumping of Blackpool as a conference venue as the prime example of this.  The government started the trend of shunning the Lancashire resort, so others have regrettably now followed.  I certainly regret my own party’s decision to move to metropolitan-based conferences, and have been left wondering if senior politicians in general are actually frightened of going to the seaside.

What is seriously needed in Britain is a rethink of how we go about selling ourselves as a tourist destination, we certainly don’t need the dead hand of the state machine dictating things to our hotel owners, leisure companies, coach operators and travel agents.  The reality is that is ought to be the companies in the industry themselves who are asked to take the lead, with the government and local authorities playing their part, but not interfering directly with the marketing activities of those who know the market best.  The best strategy would be to bring Hoteliers, the self-catering holiday operators, the Confederation of Passenger Transport, the Association of Train Operating Companies, the Association of British Travel Agents and the hotel classification agencies together to produce a winning team to take the industry forward. 

Instead of criticising and rubbishing our hoteliers and leisure industry, we should be going out stressing the positive and inviting people to visit Britain.  Gordon Brown should act decisively to dismiss Margaret Hodge from office immediately and get her department off their collective backsides to go out and help actively market Britain as a tourist destination.

Confidence?

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has warned of dire consequenses in the light of the economic slowdown facing our country.  Ms Smith warns of a huge rise in violence, theft, smuggling and illegal working in an explosive draft letter to the Prime Minister leaked to a national newspaper.  The draft letter also reveals that police forces will be ill equipped to cope with a predicted rise in criminal activity as the economy continues to slow down, budgets are already under pressure from rising fuel and operating costs, and most forces simply don’t have the resources to put the necessary extra officers on the street to ensure public safety and security.  The worst prediction of all is the increased potential for terrorist attacks as community tensions rise.  The outlook is very grim to say the least.

The most serious difficulty facing the government at present is that too many senior ministers have been talking both the economy and the country down during the last week.  We had the Chancellor of the Exchequer saying that the country was facing the worst economic prospects for 60 years one day, then presumably on the orders of Gordon Brown, he was flitting between television and radio studios vainly trying to persuade anyone and everyone that he didn’t really mean what he said the next.  The Chancellor has attempted to cover up his disastrous interview with the Guardian by saying that he was referring to the global economic situation and not purely that faced by Britain.  The problem for Mr. Darling is that Chancellors are historically supposed to talk up our economy, whereas he’s done just the opposite.  This is desperately unlikely to inspire economic confidence in the business community or the public whatsoever.

Perhaps the most damning indictment of the government’s inability to distribute a common message came with Justice Secretary Jack Straw’s interview on Sunday’s Andrew Marr Show.  In general, Jack Straw’s often proven himself rather adept at spinning and blagging his way out of messy situations on the government’s behalf.  The reality is that this time Mr. Straw said and did nothing to hide the deep divisions that obviously exist around the cabinet table, what is becoming quite open is that this government is turning into the most dysfunctional we have ever seen.  The Chancellor says one thing one day and something completely different the next, the Foreign Secretary all but commences a leadership challenge against the Prime Minister.  Then we see the spectre of  the Home Secretary warning the Prime Minister that the rule of law will collapse as the economy falls apart.

The most worryingly shameful issue of all for Gordon Brown must surely be that the citizens of this country don’t know what to believe anymore.  With all this briefing and counter-briefing going on, it makes you wonder whether the government is really capable of doing anything properly, let alone be trusted to make the informed and positive decisions necessary to take our country forward.   They don’t inspire one ounce of confidence in anyone whatsoever, Britain deserves better.

Good Luck Andrew!!

My good friend, Pendle’s Prospective Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson is on his way to trek the Great Wall of China as a participant in the 2008 Great Wall Challenge.  Andrew, together with a group of MPs and Prospective MPs will be spending 10 days trekking along the Great Wall of China to raise money for Crimestoppers, The Children’s Society and Cancer Research UK.

I believe this yet again demonstrates Andrew’s commitment to helping those in our society who need assistance, and proves what a great asset he will be to Pendle as our next Member of Parliament.