EXCLUSIVE: Brown's first U-Turn

With all the focus today on the technicalities of the handover of power, a colleague and I have both noticed that a quirk of today's events has seen Gordon Brown apparently retaining his job as Chancellor as well as Prime Minister. One of his first acts on returning from the Palace, according to the afternoon lobby briefing, was to appoint Tony Blair 'Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds' - the constitutional device for an MP to resign their seat.

However, the token appointment is traditionally one for the Treasury, and the press notice from his old office therefore stated: "The Chancellor of the Exchequer has this day appointed the Right Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton Blair to be Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern." (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2007/press_72_07.cfm).
So it seems until he (we expect) appoints Alistair Darling to the role tomorrow, Gordon Brown is still technically Chancellor.

Even more interesting, as in his budget speech this year he began with a joke:

'I am told that in the past two centuries only one Chancellor before now has delivered 11 Budgets, and then a 12th. That was when Mr. Gladstone combined the positions of Chancellor and Prime Minister, something no one should ever contemplate doing again'

So - the Brown government is not yet a day old, and we already have his first U-turn!

Brown is PM

Again, not a great shock, but history being made as we speak.

Rejoice!

Probably the least suprising newsflash Sky News have ever carried, but momentous and historic in any case. The Blair era is over.

Inside Labour's big tent? Not us.

As Gordon Brown recovers from his clumsy failed attempt to get the Lib Dems and others to join his new government, his colleagues in the Labour leadership of Greenwich have been making a more literal but equally cynical attempt at "big tent politics".

Having opposed the Council's decision to spend £95,000 of taxpayers' money on a corporate box at the O2, I was more than a little surprised on Wednesday, when at the community preview event first a senior council officer, then the Leader Chris Roberts himself sidled up and mentioned an invitation I should have received to an event in the controversial box on the opening night on Sunday. I joked that I hoped it wasn't an attempt to buy our silence on the issue.

I duly received an email inviting me and a guest to a reception hosted by the Mayor in the Council's box prior to the Bon Jovi performance, to mark the venue's official first night. My initial instinct was to turn it down flat, but having been told the box would host 'community groups' for such events, I decided to take a slightly different approach and go along to see at first hand who these groups were. In my email I replied that I would attend, adding "However in view of my own and my Group's public opposition to the decision to hire the suite, I will also be making a donation to a local charity for an appropriate amount." The council officer who responded called this a 'lovely idea' and even suggested a suitable charity.

This morning, the Daily Mail ran a story on the decision to hire the suite, in which our Conservative Leader, Spencer Drury, repeated our opposition to the decision. This sparked a heated debate on Vanessa Feltz's phone-in show on BBC London radio, in which many people expressed their disgust at the expenditure. During the course of the programme, Labour leader Chris Roberts gave a very unconvincing performance attempting to justify the decision, and claimed it was hypocritical of Cllr. Drury to criticise it as "his culture spokesman will be there tomorrow and I won't".

I try to avoid getting drawn into attacks on the character of a political opponent, but I am provoked in this case to call Cllr. Roberts thoroughly dishonourable in his behaviour. Having been caught out making a politically disasterous and indefensible decision, he has sought, like a drowning man, to pull others down with him. To call it a cheap stunt does not do it justice. He knows, as I do, that the invitation list of those due to attend includes not only Cllr John Fahy, the Cabinet Member for Culture, but also "Cllr Roberts and Cllr Peter Brookes as guest". I won't (yet) name the other guests, but some might be tempted to call them Council cronies. None of them, as far as I am aware, made the offer I did to pay the cost of their hospitality to a local charity.

I will still pay that donation, and I challenge all the other guests tomorrow night to do the same, but I won't be joining in Labour's big tent, and they are welcome to party away to Jon Bon Jovi without me. Next time I attend the 02 arena will be for the Scissor Sisters' concert, for which I have bought my own tickets. I am sure the venue will be a huge success and a great resource for our Borough, and I would recommend it to anyone. But beware ticket touts - particularly those from Greenwich Council.

Opening Night

I was at the Dome (sorry, the O2) last night for the special preview event for Greenwich Borough residents, or as David Campbell from AEG called it, the 'meet the neighbours' night. Although a band had been warming up the crowd as people took their seats in the arena, the first 'proper' performance on what will become a world-famous stage was a group of 300 schoolchildren from Greenwich schools, who sang a number of songs, ending with a medley of Abba hits. Whilst the children were fearless and impressive, I felt a little sorry for the teacher on the piano, who faced the daunting task of adapting from school assembly to playing such a vast venue. A suitable opening for this amazing new facility, which will be a great asset to Greenwich and to London. Speaking of assets, I must mention the earlier controvery over the Council's purchase of a hospitality box. After the call-in of that decision by the 02 rebels, tighter guidelines are being produced on proper use of the facility, which is welcome. I still think the Council should have negotiated better to get AEG to foot the bill rather than Greenwich Taxpayers, but now it's there, I think the priority is to ensure as many community groups get the chance to use it as possible.

Another Greenwich ship

As a Portsmouth-born resident of Greenwich, it's always good to see the Navy paying a visit. Here's HMS Ark Royal, currently moored off Greenwich to mark the 25th anniversary of the Falklands victory.

Council Backs Cutty Sark

Not the most surprising of headlines, I agree, but I wanted to record my thanks to Councillors across the political divides who united at Council on Wednesday to support the motion I tabled in support of the restoration of our Borough's great flagship.

It was an uncontroversial motion, but I felt it was right we formally put on record our sadness at the disaster and our determination to do all we can to help her rise again. A pleasing example of cross-party co-operation saw the motion seconded by Labour Councillor Maureen O'Mara, in whose ward the Cutty Sark is situated, whilst several others from the majority group also spoke warmly in support.

On a personal level, I was pleased that a cause so close to my heart became the first Opposition motion for many years to be passed by the Council unamended (and even more pleased that the jokes in my speech got a few laughs!). Now, back to opposition...

The O2 Rebels?










3 vs 02: Janet Gillman; Mick Hayes; Danny Thorpe

What's this? A hint of dissent in the People's Rebublic of Greenwichgrad? It has been reported this week that the Council's Cabinet waved through a scandalous proposal to spend £95,000 a year of taxpayers' money on hiring a corporate box at the O2 to use for Council Hospitality.

I'm all for a bit of hospitality, but when budget cuts are being made and the Council's staff are laying siege to the Town Hall (I and others had a very rough time getting through the angry jeering crowd on Wednesday to attend full Council), this seems an indefensible slap in the face. My colleague, Conservative leader Spencer Drury, made this point in the press this week, and I also raised it at council.

Now it seems that even some Labour Councillors are uncomfortable with how it looks, and have broken ranks to "call in" the decision for review by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee next week. This was something we were considering doing ourselves, having been unconvinced by the justification offered by the Labour Deputy Leader Peter Brookes on Wednesday, but for once we were beaten to it by Comrade Roberts' own usually-obedient troops.

The three Labour members are all Chairs of Scrutiny panels, paid positions they have been effectively appointed to by the Labour leadership, so their action is all the more surprising - and brave. The meeting is set for Monday night- and as a Member of Overview and Scrutiny I will be there to see it for myself. I hope they hold their nerve and have this ill-conceived proposal reversed.

Building collapses in Westminster

This is the rather worrying scene just up the road from my office in Westminster where a building has collapsed. Police are sealing off roads, but the reports from witnesses I've spoken to are that there was no explosion and it looked like a structural failure during building work.

The One-Party state spreads

Following on from my previous comments about the one-party mentality of the Labour leadership in Greenwich, it seems the attitude is shared by their comrades in national government.

Gordon Brown's obnoxious crony Ed Balls, an inexplicably high-flying junior Treasury minister, said in the Treasury Select Committee today:

"STEP [The Society of Trust & Estate Practioners] have two choices: they can either brief the opposition ministers to try and reverse legislation that has been enacted in this House, or they can engage in detailed consultation with HMRC [HM Revenue & Customs] to ensure their legitimate grievances and concerns are dealt with...".

At this point Shadow Chief Secretary Theresa Villiers intervened, asking Mr Balls whether he was trying to threaten professional bodies, an approach she described as 'wholly undemocratic'.

You can hear Balls' undemocratic spouting here - the comment is 1 hour, 17 minutes and 16 seconds in. As Tory blogger Iain Dale notes, in a democracy it is not just possible but desirable for organisations with an interest in the effects of legislation to do both! The indignation displayed by some Labour members at the merest suggestion that a lobbying group should consult anyone but the party in power is unhealthy enough. But the implied threat of retribution against organisations whose only crime is to speak to the Opposition is deeply sinister.

A good time, then, for Kenneth Clarke's Democracy Taskforce to publish its latest report, Power to the People- Rebuilding Parliament, which suggests a range of ways that the scrutiny role of Parliament can be strengthened. There has been talk of Gordon Brown taking steps to strengthen the role of MPs in holding the Government to account, but if the words of Mr Balls are anything to go by, this will be an empty promise.