Shane Greer

Ben Brogan has drawn attention to Alastair Campbell’s appearance on Daily Politics earlier during which he said:

"The Labour party have had one unelected Prime Minister come in and I think to start playing around with two is not a very clever way to go"

Brogan contends that Campbell was trying to be helpful, but that his choice of words was more likely to add to Brown’s woes.  I wonder though…

Alastair Campbell is best known for his genius in the field of political communication; a man who uses words like weapons in the war to seize the political agenda.  As such it would be surprising indeed if his words were not uttered with a purpose in mind.  And given the context in which the statement was offered it would be particularly surprising if the purpose in mind was not to undermine Brown. 

In an aside it’s worth noting that Campbell’s appearance on Daily Politics breaks something of a media black-out (a black-out Campbell’s publicist intended to keep in place until his novel is published later this year).  I wonder what provoked him to step into the light…

Madame Tussauds has launched its own election to determine whether Gordon Brown should be immortalised like his predecessor.  Their reason for not casting Brown in wax already is quite simple:

"When Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair last year, for the first time in a 150 year history, Madame Tussauds took the decision not to immediately create a figure of the current Prime Minister.

Instead we chose to wait for a General Election to confirm Gordon Brown’s status. Ten months later there is still no sign that Mr Brown intends to go to the polls – so Madame Tussauds is holding its own election to let YOU decide the question: Gordon Brown – in or out?"

‘Confirming Gordon Brown’s status’… hmm, it sounds an awful lot like Madame Tussauds have reservations about the merits of Brown’s leadership (I wonder why that might be!?):

I know what way I’ll be voting.  To keep Brown out of Madame Tussauds click here. 

After 13 years at Talksport James Whales had his contract terminated for urging listeners to vote for Boris in the mayoral elections.  Given the current state of the law it would naturally be wrong to criticise Talksport for their decision to fire Whales.  But the fact they felt compelled to take such action speaks volumes about the extent to which the regulation of broadcast media inhibits free speech. 

When I get into the office in the morning I read through the papers; Sun, Times, Guardian, Telegraph, and Daily Mail.  What they all share in common is the freedom with which they express political bias - there’s no restriction on their ability to urge readers to vote for candidate X or Y (indeed the Evening Standard made no bones about their candidate of choice in the mayoral election). 

I’ve never understood the logic of the broadcast media restrictions; are viewers less able to make intelligent decisions than readers?  Am I more likely to be swayed by Sky News than the Times?  No and No. 

Perhaps it’s time the law reflected reality…

Blogging’s been a touch light non-existent today as I’ve been out at Camden Markets visiting, amongst other things, one of the coolest shops in London (Cyber Dog).  Anyway, now that I’m back and have had a chance to read the news I thought I’d chip in on the latest entrant to be the next MP for Crewe and Nantwich, Miss Great Britain. 

Gemma Garrett, the current title holder, has launched her bid in an attempt to get another round of press coverage:

"…make Westminster as glamorous a place as its fellow European legislatures, where beautiful women abound in the higher echelons of government."

Whatever you think about Gemma’s run for parliament, and having met her at Radio 5 a while back I’d add that she’s pretty savvy, it’s important to bear in mind that her bid is if nothing else a profound statement about the pluralist liberal democracy we enjoy. 

It’s easy to forget that the, relatively, civil manner in which we choose our representatives isn’t the norm.  We enjoy a system that affords people the freedom to form parties - whether it’s Gemma’s Beauties for Britain party, the Monster Raving Looney party, the Conservatives, or Labour - and stand for office.  We enjoy a system where close run battles are settled by recounts rather than bloodshed. 

Gemma won’t win in Crewe and Nantwich, but the fact she’s standing at all serves to remind us that we have won perhaps the greatest battle of all; the battle for freedom. 

Let’s hope we never forget it…

I’ll be co-hosting a live-chat with Iain Dale between 6 and 7.30pm today.  So if you have a few minutes or a full hour and a half pop across to Iain’s and join us.  We’ll be discussing Gordon Brown’s live interviews on Andrew Marr and Adam Boulton earlier today, as well has the coverage in the Sunday papers

News has just reached me that a bulk order of Kleenex has just arrived at downing street…
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[Hat-tip: Guido}

I’ll be on Sky News this evening between 7.30 and 8.  What will I be doing?  I’ve given it some thought, and I think it’s fair to say I’ll be sticking it to Labour.  Joking aside it should be an interesting discussion as I’m on with Jag Singh who’s an absolute legend (expect some heated exchange) and Jo Christie-Smith for the Lib Dems. 

The projections put Labour in third place in terms of vote share. The question is, how much is Tony Blair giggling himself silly with thoughts of Gordon Brown’s inadequacy?
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Election nights are always great fun and tonight promises to be no exception (even if the mayoral result won’t be in until tomorrow).  Despite that though I’ll be at City Hall for the BBC party; I like to think of it as an opportunity to drink other people’s license fee!