Welcome to the Elevator Pitch, where we give a Labour blogger two minutes in an elevator with a Minister or Cabinet Minister of their choice and instructions to keep it in line with the Queensbury Rules. This week Mars Hill's Paul Burgin takes Douglas Alexander on over the "Education for All" initiative.
Nothing to see here folks, sorry. I've been battling with an online petition site since 9am (and emerged victorious, BWHAHAHAHAHAHA). This week's Elevator Pitch is from the blogosphere's Paul Burgin (of Mars Hill fame) and will go up at 2pm.
Stay tuned ...
Because the dirty mind is a perpetual feast (and because I know you've all got dirty minds), we're going to start with this frankly ROCKIN' headline from LabourHome: "Gordon has his best PMQs for months and satisfies Joanna afterwards". Saucy devil! [Cue Leslie Phillips style sniggering];
Posted in Morning roundup
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Tagged Alex Smith, David Cameron, Demos, Derek Draper, DNA database, Gordon Brown, hazel blears, Iain Dale, Joanna Lumley, Jonathan Myerson, Kerry McCarthy, LabourHome, LabourList, Liberal Conspiracy, Luke Akehurst, Matthew Parris, PMQs
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The Gurkha related ho-down of last week continues apace, with the latest installment of this drama taking place in a special sitting of the Home Affairs Select Committee. Readers will know that I'm on the side of the Gurkhas in this particular kerfuffle, but I challenge the most ardent campaigner to listen to St Joanna of Lumley's evidence (available via Today in Parliament) without coming to the conclusion that, in the end, it's not just MPs who are destined to start believing their own press releases.
Posted in Morning roundup
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Tagged Culture Media and Sport Committee, domestic violence, Frank Owen's Paintbrush, Gordon Brown, Gurkhas, Home Affairs Select Committee, Home Office, Ian Hislop, Jacqui Smith, Joanna Lumley, John Rentoul, Nadine Dorries, News of the World, Question Time, Red Box, Sam Coates, The Sun, Today in Parliament
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It's thirty years since Thatcher became Prime Minister, and the entire blogosphere has gone Maggie ker-AZY! ConservativeHome appears to have a "Margaret and me. But mostly meme" on, with this from John Bercow on how she inspired him to join the Young Conservatives, and Liberal Lord Alton tells all about his part in her triumphs. [...]
Posted in Morning roundup
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Tagged A Very Public Sociologist, Anton Vowl, BBC, BNP, ConservativeHome, Dailyy Mail, David Dimbleby, Don Paskini, Evening Standard, Frank Owen's Paintbrush, Gordon Brown, hazel blears, Hopi Sen, Jackie Ashley, John Bercow, John Rentoul, Liberal Conspiracy, Lord Alton, Margaret Thatcher, Paul Burgin, Robin Day, Tom Harris
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Well done the comrades on the Gurkha debate yesterday! The comrades, I hear you roar? THE COMRADES?! For was it not David Cameron who posed with Joanna Lumley outside St Stephen's Entrance for the cameras with wee Nicky Clegg? (Yea!) Was it not the Government that was defeated at the vote and promised to bring forward the review of the guidance to before the summer recess and put a moratorium on deportations? (Yea!) Why yes, to all of the above. But it was actually the LABOUR backbenchers by and large - who actually care about the Gurkhas and have been lobbying for years for justice - who put on the pressure to bring about the changes (although hon menshes go to Ann Widdecombe and other Liberal and Tory members of the APPG on Gurkha Rights). The rest is just vacuous grandstanding by two leaders with pretty hair for the benefit of headlines involving the words "BROWN" and "CRISIS." Guess it depends whether you think politics should be about process or progress, I guess.
Posted in Morning roundup
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Tagged David Cameron, Giles Coren, Gordon Brown, Gurkha, Hopi Sen, Joanna Lumley, Laurence Robertson, Liberal Conspiracy, Mike Smithson, Nick Clegg, Paul Sagar, RecessMonkey, Rod Liddle, swine fever
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... but what's the point in having them if the self-described representatives of Heaven don't appreciate them, laments Tom Harris?
Today is the Liberal Democrat Opposition Day debate on the recent announcement on Gurkha settlement rights. As all of us here work, I hope you'll understand and let me off our common endeavour this morning as teh boss has quite a hectic schedule.
