It's All About the Money

The General Election is finally upon us but judging by the media, anyone would think that campaigning only started this week. The truth of the matter is that many activists, like myself, have been campaigning since before Christmas. Across the country, evenings have been spent in meetings or at home preparing leaflets, envelopes or the letters to go in them. Weekends have been spent meeting the public in the street, or posting leaflets through doors. However, now the real work begins.

Over the next few weeks I hope to try and blog regularly to give an impression of what it's like, as an activist, campaigning for local and national elections. I hope that you'll get some opinion, some insight and a feel for our constituency. I will try not to make it too dry. ;o)

So, the beginning of 'day four'. Where are we at?

Last night a group of us headed down to Salford Arts Theatre for a local 'Question Time' style debate. On the panel was the sitting Labour MP, Hazel Blears, Conservative candidate, Matthew Sephton, Liberal Democrat front-runner, Norman Owen, local journalist, Pamela Welsh and local TUC secretary, Alex Halligan.

There is a lot of ill feeling in our constituency (Salford and Eccles) towards the Labour party and Hazel Blears. During the summer of last year, it transpired that Hazel Blears had 'flipped' her home in order to avoid paying £13,000 in tax. She was far from the worst offender but has come out of this side of last year's expenses scandal very poorly. At the time, she showed up on TV waving a cheque, which she said would pay back the tax she had avoided. The reality of the publicity stunt was that the cheque was meaningless. Had she sent it to the Inland Revenue, they would not have had a mechanism to accept it. In addition, £13,000, the amount which seemed so insignificant to Hazel, is close to what many people in Salford get paid in a year. Thus, she came across as arrogant and effectively set herself apart from her voters. The only worse response would have been to stick two fingers up at the public on live TV. She followed this up by stabbing her party leader in the back and consequently losing her cabinet position. She saw an opportunity to progress her career and it back-fired. Needless to say, she is not a popular woman.

The event itself was very worthwhile and aside from a group of hecklers, served to genuinely engage the public. I think it was clear by the end of the meeting, that Hazel had done little to change the minds of those present, which is good news for our campaign! The event also served to confirm my worst fears about Labour and TUC politics.

Frankly, I have never seen so much ass-kissing in public. Throughout the event, the TUC panelist sucked up to Hazel at every opportunity. And the same was true in the opposite direction. There is a lot of back scratching going on and it couldn't have been more clear that the two organisations are in bed with each other if their representatives had stripped off right then and there! The TUC donates a significant amount of money to the Labour party, which in turn gives them a lot of power. I'm not saying the TUC dictates Labour party policy necessarily, but I do believe the Labour party is afraid of pissing off the unions for fear their funding will dry-up. Whether intentional or not, this will ultimately influence the behaviour of the party. At this point, you might be wondering what's wrong with that? Well, put simply, it's a conflict of interest. How can a government act in the interests of the nation when they are worried about their funding?

This is not a problem that is unique to British politics. It is a topic that featured in American politics time and again. Allowing unlimited donations to political parties and candidates means that it becomes possible to 'buy an election'. No-one really likes to admit it, but people are generally more impressed by a glossy full colour leaflet than by something produced in black and white on a Risograph, regardless of content. In also means that you can put more feet on the ground, stage more events and sometimes enables you to be more visible. Big money allows parties to campaign more aggressively over a much greater area and makes it more difficult for independents and smaller parties to compete. It's unfair and, in my opinion, undemocratic.

I think Lib-Dem policy puts it best:

"Politics should be a battle of ideas, not marketing budgets. No-one should be able to buy influence or buy an election. We will take big money out of politics by capping donations and spending throughout the electoral cycle."

What Hazel Did Next

Hazel: picking up the pieces of her political career. (photo credit: dailymail.co.uk)

Hazel Blears has resigned from the cabinet. Unfortunately, the residents of Salford are still stuck with her. She claims that she is 'returning to her roots' out of a desire to renew her personal committment to the people of Salford. Rubbish! She's jumped before she was pushed in the impending cabinet reshuffle. The timing of her announcement and that fact that it has come from her and not Number 10 suggests that she is playing a rather skilful political game. Allow me to elaborate.

Hazel must've realised well before now that her position on the cabinet was under threat and she must, by now, also realise that her popularity in Salford is ebbing away. In the last election in 2005, Hazel won with over 50% of the vote. However, the Lib Dems' candidate, Norman Owen, has been making up ground on her with every passing election. Now that Labour is polling lower than the Lib Dems nationally, she must anticipate that the Lib Dems will be nipping at her heels - especially in the event of a snap election! With all this in mind, I believe she has taken the decision to resign in order to distance herself from an obviously failing government with the hope that it will stall her similarly failing popularity here in Salford. She has nothing to lose and everything to gain. If Gordon Brown is deposed (as the media seems is certain will happen very soon after the European Elections) taking an anti-Brown stance now will increase her chances of being re-selected in a new Labour cabinet. Particularly if she can does manage to boost her popularity. If she is not re-selected for the cabinet, it still isn't a disaster for her: You can bet she will come out fighting to keep her parliamentary seat. She's a smooth talker and an experienced politician - she knows the words that will sooth and charm you and she'll tell you whatever you want to hear to try and sway your support to her.

Don't be fooled: this resignation is more about her political career than the people of Salford!

The fact is that Labour (and the Conservatives) and so completely out of touch with the public that they wouldn't know honesty if it crept up and gave them a big sloppy kiss! Nationally, Labour got it wrong on expenses, they got it wrong on Gurkhas, they got it wrong on fuel duty and locally they got it 110% wrong on the congestion charge, ice rink, propaganda wagon etc etc etc. The Conservatives are no better choice - they only know how to oppose and have no new ideas of their own (no good ones anyway). A vote for Labour or a vote for the Tories is a vote for the status quo. Vote Lib Dem if you want change for the better!