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Bob Ainsworth - Even Lib Dems think he is Useless

Lib Dem Blogger, Norfolk Blogger has this to say about Bob Ainsworth.

I lived for three years, in Coventry and was a council candidate during that time in Bob Ainsworth's constituency. In that time, he was virtually anonymous. As a politically active and politically aware student, you might have expected the local politicians to be of immediate interest to me, and in the run up to the 1997 I expected to see lots of them, but of the then four MPs in Coventry (then reduced to 3 in 1997), Bob Ainsworth was the least seen and least known of any of them. Indeed John Butcher, the one Tory (who was standing down anyway) had the highest profile.

When all sides of the political parties think the man is a waste of space then you know that he must be completely talentless and unworthy of any job in Government far less in one of what should be the most important in Government.

This just goes to show that Gordon is so devoid of any support within his own party that he has to use the dross. When will our Armed Forces get the Minister they deserve?

Norfolk Blogger: Bob Ainsworth - A sign of desperation by the government

More On Brown's Spending Brownie.

The attached videos from Channel 4 show how big Brown's Brownie during PMQ's etc was.


This second video shows Jon Snow nailing Andy Burnham on the Brownie's.


And finally we have this report from tonight's Question Time

Another guest, Ruth Lea, the former head of policy at the Institute of Directors, criticised Mr Hain's response. "When I hear all this about Tory spending cuts... They are all in Alistair Darling's report," she said.

The audience joined in criticism of the government's position in the spat. A heckler shouted: "Labour is not being honest with people."

The man who posed the initial question told Mr Hain: "Your answer just lost my vote."

Spelman concluded by accusing Gordon Brown of misleading the House of Commons during Prime Minister's questions yesterday.

"He trotted out figures of billions without adjusting for inflation, without costing in the benefits for the people we do need to pay. I want a Prime Minister that will come clean with me," she said.

Both in the media, on the internet and just in general conversations people are now laughing at Brown's lies, He is a figure of fun not just in Parliament but also amongst the general public. How much more does he have to do to convince Labour MP's that he is a millstone round their necks pulling them further and further into the abyss.

FFS Gordon just Go Now

PoliticsHome | News | Spelman and Hain continue spending row

More Brownies on Spending Cuts

Lots more Brownies have been apparent during the past couple of weeks as our idiot Prime Minister lives in fantasy island where there is still no boom and bust. During PMQ's and last weeks press conference we had the huge Brownie that there were no spending cuts. Lets look at the truth and not the Brown fantasy

Here we see that whilst total spending is not cut, all front line services are cut, as most of the "extra" spending is being used to service our huge debts. Factor in that Andy Burnham has explicitly told us there are no NHS cuts and then the total cuts to other services are around 10%, much the same as the proposed Tory figures.

The problem is that Gordon, in his fantasy island, wants us to understand that only Tories do cuts, whilst his true genius allows us, during the worst recession in living memory, to continue to spend, spend spend. This is now revealed as a complete "Brownie". Lets look at what Brown has said

‘Public spending is rising every year; just be absolutely clear about that. Public spending is due to rise every year… The public spending in our country is rising and it’s going to continue to rise’ (Gordon Brown, Number 10 Press Conference, 5 June 2009)

‘The only party that’s proposing a cut in public spending is the Conservative Party.’
(Gordon Brown at PMQs today)

“Public spending this year is 621 million. It rises next year to 672 million, that’s this financial year, then to 702, then to 717, then to 738, then to 758.” (Gordon Brown at PMQs today)

Then have a look at the tables above and see the reality. Listen to the words of your own chancellor Alistair Darling:

‘I have cut overall public spending’ (The Today Programme, 23 April 2009)

BROWN IS LYING yet again. This is the man who says he said in his latest press conference

“To be honest, when I look at this expenses crisis I remember the words of my father and I remember what he told me: always be honest.”

This is the man who wants to "reform" government to be more open and transparent. The only people being honest and transparent are the tories who are telling the public what is likely to happen.

His grip on reality has disappeared, his grip on his cabinet has disappeared, his grip on Government has disappeared, he needs to disappear.

FFS Gordon just Go Now.

The truth about 10% spending cuts - thetorydiary

Brown appoints part-timer as energy minister No. 12

Now we see the impact of the in-fighting between Brown and his party, Part-Timers in important Cabinet jobs. Perhaps Mr Brown would like to remember where he gets much of his money from and where some of his "green shoots" of recovery are coming from.

As the P&J said

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was under fresh fire last night – over the way he treated the vital North Sea oil and gas industry in his government shake-up. He has handed the key minister of state for energy portfolio to part-time peer Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, who will be helped in the Commons by Stafford Labour MP David Kidney – a new, unpaid junior minister.

Former NHS chief Lord Hunt’s other post, as deputy leader of the Lords, involves the painstaking work of getting government business through without a majority. The appointments take the number of changes of energy minister since Labour came to power in 1997 to 11.

Last night, industry bosses and opposition politicians accused Mr Brown of treating the offshore sector in a “cavalier” manner and criticised the lack of continuity in the government department. West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine Liberal Democrat MP Sir Robert Smith said: “This is a crisis reshuffle with Mr Brown doubling-up ministerial jobs because he has run out of loyalists. “It is another example of the prime minister’s neglect of Britain’s most important industry.”Sir Robert added: “To put it in the hands of a part-time peer and an unpaid junior minister is a disgrace.”

Just another example of the contempt that Gordon Brown has for the Real World.

FFS Gordon just Go Now

Brown appoints part-timer as energy minister No. 12 - Press & Journal

Treasury is crippling war in Afghanistan

Former Brigadier in the army and SAS, Ed Butler appeared before the Defence Select Committee yesterday to expose the financial constraints being placed upon the military in Afghanistan.

When he resigned last year Butler stated, when paying tribute to the servicemen and women he fought with, that they operated

'within the well-known constraints and restraints', leading to speculation his departure was due to concern over troops' equipment and conditions.

Appearing before the committee Butler said that the constraints meant that the Army could

“just about hold the line, but couldn’t sustain a higher tempo” in its campaign against the Taleban.

In other words Stagnation, nothing was being achieved as we make no progress militarily or with sorting out the civilian problems. These are both a pre-requisite before lasting peace can be achieved.

Brigadier Butler told the committee that in 2006 the Treasury had “capped” resources available for the operation, limiting funding to £1.3 billion for a “three-year campaign”. The Government has always denied imposing a cap on resources for the mission.He said

“There was a Treasury-imposed cap on the number of troops we could have in Afghanistan,”.

With the troops available to him — 3,300 —

“we could just about hold the line but we couldn’t sustain a higher tempo.”

Brigadier Butler said he was visited by numerous ministers during his tour of command but not once by a Treasury minister.The financial constraints resulted in a severe shortage of helicopters in the field and seriously hampered the ability of British forces to cover the ground, He compared the number of helicopters available in Afghanistan to those that had been available n Northern Ireland.

Butler was also critical of the overall government strategy in Afghanistan with no little or no efforts being made to start development and reconstruction programmes. Without these the efforts of the forces were being wasted.

Butler also said that the

“tribal tapestry” in Whitehall was as complex as it was in Afghanistan and that the officials working in Helmand from the Department for International Development were the most “risk-averse” of the civilians involved in the campaign, followed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the security services.

He then went onto to say

that a strong secretary of state was needed to ensure that everyone co-operated, and praised John Reid, who was Defence Secretary in 2006, for “knocking heads together”. “It needs someone with clout back home. . . if you want to go into these places [Afghanistan], you must go deep and go long or go home. . . and it must be properly resourced,”

So what have we now got instead, we have Bob Ainsworth or "Slow Bob" to his friends. This is the man who lies and covers up problems. This is the man now trusted with ensuring our Armed Forces are adequately funded and resourced to be in Afghanistan. This Brown Toady, who "inherited" the Defence Minister post by default will unlikely be strong enough to face down anyone to help the Armed Forces, he cannot even cope with some simple questions from Paxman. But what do we expect when we have the man of "Courage" in charge, a man who only knows how to defeat his enemies by lies and untruths and has never faced a serious challenge in his life. A man who has so little respect for his Armed Forces that he appoints someone as inept as Ainsworth to look after them, in the full knowledge that, he is only there as his lickspittle, a lap-dog to do as he is bidden.

Let us also remember the fact that over the past four years more than 150 of our Servicemen have been killed in Afghanistan (Do watch out for statistics that quote since 2001).We have to now question what this loss of life is achieving unless we are prepared to put in place a proper strategy and properly funded resources.

Former British commander in Afghanistan says Treasury is crippling war - Times Online

First Snouter officially resigns - Ian Gibson

Ian Gibson has officially resigned by being appointed to be the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham.

He is the first snoughter to actually resign, despite the fact that there are much worse troughers than him stil in the Stys of Commons. A by-election in his constituency should be interesting but don't wait in bated breath for it to happen any time soon as Labour will no doubt delay it as long as possible.

The position of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds is now used as a procedural device to effect resignation from the House of Commons, as British MPs are not permitted simply to resign their seat. This legal anomaly dates back to a resolution of the House of Commons of 2 March 1624, passed at a time when MPs were often elected to serve against their will.
As an instrument of resignation, the role is usually alternated with that of Steward and Deputy Steward of the Manor of Northstead in Yorkshire. Under the Act of Settlement, any Member of Parliament accepting an office of profit under the Crown must give up his or her seat. An MP applies for the office to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who usually then signs a warrant appointing the now former MP. The Chancellor can in theory deny an application, although the last time this happened was to Viscount Chelsea in 1842. The appointee holds the office until such time as another MP is appointed, or they apply to be released.

David Marshall is the current holder of th Manor of Northstead, he resigned because of "ill health".

Three Hundreds of Chiltern - HM Treasury

Defence in the World:

This was the name of the debate on Defence in the House of Commons on Thursday 4th June, Yes, buried amongst the elections and some trivia at the HoC we had one of the most important debates of the year, timed so that few could attend, few would watch, few would even know it was going on and few would report on it.

By my reckoning only 10-12 MP's were actually present at what should be on one of the most important debates held by the H0C, I think 4 Labour perhaps 6 Conservatives and 2 Liberals actually spoke. As Bernard Jenkin said during the debate

Staying with the theme of the public's attitude towards defence spending, we in the House of Commons should have learned in recent weeks how neglecting an issue can engulf us in public rage. Neglect of this particular issue may be fine in peacetime and when we are deploying our troops in faraway and little-understood battles, but if we require our armed forces to do something at short notice that they are not capable of doing and it results in disaster, we need to be aware that the wrath of the British people over our neglect will be unimaginable—and we will deserve it.

In a year when casualties in Afghanistan have now overtaken those in Iraq it should be a national disgrace that we pay so little attention to what is happening to our Armed Forces around the world.

As you read the debate you begin to understand how little has changed in the past 2-3 years. Still we are sending soldiers out in badly protected vehicles, still we have inadequate helicopter and aerial support, still we are arguing about how little money we should spend on the Armed Services, still we comply with ridiculous rules of engagement that will allow the death of our soldiers before we can take action, still.... it goes on.

And now what do we have, one of the worst possible MP's as our new Defence Secretary. "Slow Bob" Ainsworth who has been rewarded for his toadying and blind faith in Gordon Brown. All I can say is let us hope his reign is short or our Armed Forces will suffer more than they do today. He is the complete Labour Jellyfish ready to lay down any principals for the greater god of serving his master and the pursuit of a longer sinecure and a tidy index linked pension.

Makes you sick.

Defence in the World: 4 Jun 2009: House of Commons debates (TheyWorkForYou.com)

The Jinx of Jonah Brown

Jonah Brown has just had his first UK wide elections as supposed Leader of the Labour party. It notched up a number of notable firsts.

• First Loss in Wales since, well for about forever.
• First Loss in Scotland since, well for about forever.
• First BNP person elected in a National Election since, well forever.
• First time Labour have come third in a National Election since, well for about forever.
• First time as third party of local government in England, well for about forever.
• First time under 20 per cent vote share, well for about forever.

I'm sure there are more but I haven't time just now so this will have to do.

Let us hope that the Labour PLP has the sense today to see that it should, for the first time, depose one of it's Leaders before he has been through a General Election, you know it makes sense.

FFS Gordon just Go Now

Why I lost my loyalty to Gordon Brown

Sally Keeble MP for Northampton North, a former International Development Minister, and a member of the Treasury Select Committee has said

I am withdrawing support from Gordon Brown as Labour leader.

In an open letter to her constituents she says

Gordon Brown was the obvious successor to Tony Blair. Both were architects of New Labour. Gordon's command of the economy underpinned the achievements of the Blair governments and rightly won him international stature and acclaim. He will always deserve our respect for that.

The transition from chancellor to prime minister was not an easy one, and when Gordon said in the autumn of 2007 he wanted more time to put ­forward his vision, that seemed fair. However, 18 months on, it is painfully clear that time has really run out.

First, the vision has not materialised. The economy is the most important factor, and he was the right man to deal with the crisis. But people look to their prime minister for more than that. ­People in Northampton work hard, pay their way, and look after their families. They look to the government for high quality public services, and a sense of purpose and direction for the country. The prime minister has to articulate that and, sadly, it hasn't happened. Not that there is an alternative on offer from the other main parties. David Cameron's vision would quickly become a nightmare, while Nick Clegg's is multi-focal.

Second, recent events have shown that Gordon Brown has not been able to manage relations within his government. Admittedly, some ministerial behaviour has been appalling. Whatever the disagreements, resigning just before council elections can only be topped by talk of window-dressing. However, the person at the top has to forge a group of strong politicians into a united, coherent team to provide stable ­government. And that has, painfully, not happened either.

In my first political job, I was a press officer at Labour HQ during the 1983 general election campaign. It was a searing experience. The public did not see Michael Foot as a credible prime minister. The electorate had its say – Northampton roundly rejected us then – and it was another 14 years before we recovered. Meanwhile, the public paid a massive price in jobs lost, communities laid waste, lives ruined. I'm not prepared to let that happen again.

The reason for writing this letter is that the UK is a parliamentary democracy and Labour is a democratic socialist party, not a Trotskyite cell.

The government depends on retaining the confidence of MPs, so the debate taking place among Labour MPs is vitally important. It has profound implications for the day-to-day lives of my constituents, jobs, homes, schools, hospitals, all the things that touch us most. So the debate has to be public, it can't be some private Westminster coup – in the Pugin room with an ice-pick.

By the next general election, the Labour party needs to put forward a coherent vision with a credible team. We need to say what kind of country we want Britain to be: whether we're going to encourage innovation and enterprise, or cap it with tax increases; invest in public services or cut them to close the fiscal gap; how we're going to give people a say in our country's progress and realise the aspirations that my constituents and I share. There has to be consistency and credibility, not just a statement of values but an explanation of how they will be put into practice.

To achieve that we need a leader who can articulate that vision and let our country and the party move on. I want my constituents to have the best that Labour has to offer.The challenge to the cabinet is how that will be achieved.

Getting the message Gordon.

FFS Go Now Gordon

Why I lost my loyalty | Sally Keeble | Comment is free | The Guardian

Please Gordon Read the Papers

Please Gordon read the papers this morning and take the hint.

FFS Go Now

Newspaper Front Pages On June 8, 2009 | UK News | Sky News