March 10 2010
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'Brown's babies' poised to be biggest General Election winners

The-Latest - EXCLUSIVE

There will be plenty of fresh-faced high-flyers, lots more women and an increase in African Caribbean and Asia MPs in the British parliament this year, according to a groups of leading political lobbyists. 
But a special study by Insight Public Affairs has found that the Conservative Party, which pollsters say are likely to win the May General Election, is failing to select women candidates in its safest parliamentary constituencies and Labour is skipping a generation - selecting a large number of twentysomethings in prized seats they currently hold. 
Women make up just 25 per cent of Conservative candidates, nine out of the 36 seats where Conservatives have selected prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) – potentially a net gain of just two. This compares with 61 per cent (45 out of the 76 seats in which Labour have selected PPCs) of female candidates selected in Labour’s held seats – potentially a net gain of up to 27 women.
Twenty one per cent of the Labour candidates researched – so-called ‘Brown’s babies’ – are in the 25-30 range. For example, at just 26 years of age and the youngest PPC to inherit a seat, Labour’s Bridget Phillipson, standing in Houghton and Washington East will enjoy one of the largest majorities in the country (46 per cent). In the seats analysed, 39 per cent of Labour’s parliamentary candidates are under 35. Conversely, none of the Conservatives’ candidates are below 30. Instead they are opting for candidates in their late 30s: almost half (49 per cent) of the Conservative candidates are between 36-40.
The Conservatives have selected four candidates (5 per cent) who describe themselves as either black, Asian or mixed race, compared to ten candidates (14 per cent) for the Labour party. These include Lisa Nandy who inherits Wigan with a 40 per cent majority and Yasmin Quereshi in Bolton South East (with a 33 per cent majority).
John Lehal, managing director of Insight Public Affairs, a former Labour PPC, said: “The next parliament will look and feel markedly different to the current one. The change may not be of the order of magnitude the parties would like, but between them the new candidates will more closely resemble the electorate they seek to represent.  Labour will have a lot more women in safe seats and plenty of 20 somethings, whilst Conservative associations finally seem to be selecting Black and Asian candidates in safe seats."   
The research, published today in “Parliamentary Candidates to Watch”,  assesses the 138 seats in which sitting MPs are retiring at the next election. To date, 91 Labour MPs, 37 Conservatives and seven Liberal Democrats have announced their intention to stand down.
Just eight per cent of Conservative PPCs currently work in the "public sector" – these are the findings of new research published today, analysing 138 parliamentary seats in which MPs are retiring at the next election.
 
Special advisors to politicians and other people on the inside track are over represented compared to PPCs with a public sector background. Both parties have drawn heavily from the existing apparatchiks. Twenty four of the 138 candidates have spent time working for sitting MPs, ministers or advising government or are already MPs who have been selected in different seats. Four government special advisers have been selected in the seats of their former bosses.
 
The professional background of Labour vs Conservative PPCs highlights arguably the biggest difference between the two. Conservative MPs after the next election will be largely drawn from the private sector. Seventeen per cent have backgrounds in "consultancy", 25 per cent work in "business" and 14 per cent in the legal profession. Conversely, of Labour’s candidates, almost a third (32 per cent) work in the "public sector" and 13 per cent work in law. Of the 70 Labour candidates that have been selected, 51 per cent have served as councillors – compared to just 22 per cent (eight of 36) of Conservative candidates.
 

I'm the daddy: Prime Minister Gordon BrownI'm the daddy: Prime Minister Gordon BrownThere will be plenty of fresh-faced high-flyers, lots more women and an increase in African Caribbean and Asia MPs in the British parliament this year, according to a group of leading political lobbyists.

submitted by Editor on February 9th 2010

Randy politician Iris Robinson inspired by Simon and Garfunkel

In Northern Ireland good news is that the stories of dour men and bombs and proclamations and more dour men in beige car coats has been broken by the tale of wife of the troubled province's leader Iris Robinson’s affair with a teenager.

 

Iris Robinson Inspired By Simon and Garfunkel
IN Northern Ireland good news is that the stories of dour men and bombs and proclamations and more dour men in beige car coats has been broken by the tale of  Iris Robinson’s affair with a teenager.
This is Mrs Robinson who opined:
“There can be no viler act, apart from homosexuality and sodomy, than sexually abusing innocent children”.
Yeah, Mrs Robinson and the 19-year-old teenager. It’s life mirring Simon and Garfunkel. As he notes:
The tune “Mrs Robinson” was released in 1968, when Robinson herself was … 19.
The news in a nutshell:
According to a BBC Spotlight documentary, Mrs Robinson’s affair in 2008 had been with a Catholic teenager, Kirk McCambley, who was 40 years her junior; worse, much worse, was the suggestion she had solicited £50,000 from two Irish businessmen to set McCambley up in business. And accepted a £5,000 kickback for her efforts. And demanded the money back when the relationship ended, having failed at any point to declare it in the registers of members’ interests in Stormont and Westminster…
Iris was 59 when she started sleeping with McCambley, whom she had known since he was nine. And though it is clearly unfair to compare her behaviour to the paedophilia she once condemned in the same breath as homosexuality, the imbalance of power, the fact she was “consoling” him over the death of his father and her apparent willingness to use money as a means of control, all smack of exploitation.
File under: Sex in Northern Irish politics: about time.In the troubled Northern Ireland good news is that the stories of dour men and bombs and proclamations and more dour men in beige car coats has been broken by the tale of politician Iris Robinson’s affair with a teenager.

submitted by Editor on January 22nd 2010

America’s biggest unions: ‘Change health care bill or else’

Sam Stein

Trade unions in the US have said that they will not support the Democratic Party's health-care bill unless "substantial changes" are made to the current Senate version. And they have criticised American President Barack Obama for "abandoning his own principles".

submitted by Editor on December 18th 2009
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