Gummer, interns and knives!

Ipswich Spy led in the local blogging world with a story that first came to prominence in The Daily Mail (so even though it seemed like a story attacking the Tories - I had to check the facts as it came from the Daily Fail).

The story was about a former intern of Ben Gummer who was caught with 2 knives in his bag as he went to hand in a petition to Nick Clegg as part of a delegation from the Oxford University Conservative Association.

The post by Ipswich Spy - here - concentrated on the fact that Henry Evans had escaped with a caution and that Ben Gummer had made a number of statements both in the Evening Star and in Parliament on stiffer sentences for those caught with knives.

Ipswich Spy then declares they are then surprised that Mr Evans escaped with a caution after what Mr Gummer had said. But of course whatever Mr Gummer or any politician tells us it is the police and the legal system who should decide what happens. Reading further into the story it becomes obvious that Mr Gummer employed Henry as an intern after he had been caught with the knives.

I decided to ask Mr Gummer his thoughts on the matter and also asked him did he know of the caution before he employed Mr Evans. Mr Gummer said he would not discuss Mr Evans as it was improper to comment on someone who he had employed as it would be improper for me to comment on a pupil who may have come under my charge. I understand that but as Mr Evans was over 18 not sure that argument adds up. Mr Gummer is only being asked the same questions as Mr Cameron is over Mr Coulson. Like Mr Cameron, Ben believes in giving people a second chance.

I agree with Ben that the sentencing should be left for the Police and the judiciary but politicians need to remember when they are quoted on sentencing or punishments for knife crime that it will then surprise the public when someone who seems to have treated quite leniently by the police is then employed by Mr Gummer, let alone allowed to work in Parliament.

But what interested me about the story is the use of interns, now after asking Mr Gummer it seems Mr Evans was employed on more of a work experience type scheme than as an intern and possibly would have received expenses from Ben.

But I feel it is wrong that MP's uses interns, they should employ and pay people a decent wage or possibly offer apprenticeships. Interns seem to be only those who can afford to live and work in London and therefore come from a more privileged background. Labour and Lib Dem MP's are also as guilty as the Tories for employing interns. But it seems the Tory Party leads on the number of interns employed.

Guido Fawkes - the Tory blogger is running a campaign against such misuse of the system and states the case of Tory minister Jeremy Hunt as Guido puts it; Multi-millionaire Jeremy Hunt, Cabinet minister's salary £134,565, paid himself £2 million bonus last year. Total pay to 7 interns: £0.00.

The Tories are recorded to have employed at least 125 unpaid interns in the last year. A number will do this so they can say to their constituents “look how low my expenses are?”

Mr Gummer informs me he has employed a number if interns and as he has not got a huge budget, he only pays expenses to those who if they did not have that money would find themselves excluded from looking at how an MP works.

Mr Gummer states he also gives priority to those from Ipswich, I am pleased to hear this as the ‘Evans – knife’ story concerned me because it seems that Mr Evans is an ‘old boy’ of Ben’s former Public School in Kent. Now I expect this last sentence will be seized on by the Tory bloggers, highlighting the fact that I work in a Public School. I understand how the ‘old boy’ network operates but possibly Ben should have put a good word in for Mr Evans with a Kent MP and offered the place to an Ipswich resident – whether they went to Ipswich School or Chantry.

Now Ben may state that he chose the best candidate! I hope not as the Chair of the Oxford University Conservatives stated that Mr Evans was probably saved from jail because he is stupid! You do wonder why someone at one the best universities in the world goes to London to see the Deputy PM, with 2 knifes in his bag, that he had put in there on a school trip to France a number of years ago!

In conclusion, I accept that people should have a second chance and am not concerned that Mr Gummer employed Mr Evans, It does emphasize the point though that when a politician issues a quote in a paper that he must remember that it could come back to bite them.

I am also happy that Ben allows young people to work with him in Westminster to get work experience, but let’s call it that then – rather than an internship.
Interns should be stopped, it should be an apprenticeship (paid) at least.

Choosing those for work experience, where possible they should come from your own constituency but if not they should be at least someone who is going to offer something to Ipswich residents rather than the class clown from your old school.

What now for the Lib Dems in Ipswich?

Last Thursday Labour got the result they expected and worked hard for in Barnsley, but the talking point has been how the Lib Dems slipped from second place At the General Election in May to sixth place last week. The Lib Dem vote was so poor that I actually got 14 votes more than the Liberal candidate in Barnsley when I won Rushmere Ward, Ipswich in 2008! UKIP also did well, taking votes from the Tories, BNP and the Lib Dems, they now hope to position themselves as the third party in Britain.

But where does that leave the Lib Dems in Ipswich? Will the national decline in their popularity be repeated in Ipswich? Barnsley was of course an election for parliament and in a strong Labour town but on the same night in East Anglia, we saw Labour push the Lib Dems into third in a safe Tory seat in Cambridgeshire.
Nationally, many Liberals are unhappy with Clegg and it is not just Student fees, last week whilst sharing a table with a leading Suffolk Lib Dem, I was left with no doubt that many are unhappy that the Lib Dems are involved in a government that is forcing through many of the severe cuts that local councils will have to make.

I was interested to see many of the comments from Tory activists at their Spring Conference were not as critical of their junior coalition partners as I thought they would be – in fact many praised Nick Clegg – not sure that is what Lib Dem activists wanted to hear, one comment from a Tory summed their feelings for Clegg up best:

“Nick Clegg seems like a nice person. I don't think he is really a Lib Dem. He seems to be more in tune with a lot of Conservative philosophy. I don't think he ever really believed in tuition fees. He is not a proper Lib Dem but it would be difficult for him to defect to the Conservatives because he gets his power from being the Lib Dem leader.” Matthew Miller – Tory activist.

But back to Ipswich, will we see the same fall in the Lib Dem vote? Even before the General Election the Lib Dems were on the back foot in Ipswich, from having councillors in four Ipswich wards they were down to being represented in only three, and this May that could be down to only two wards. What will they do to fight back? In Stockport and other parts of the country we have even seen Lib Dems Cllrs and activists split from the main party and next week we are told to expect the Lib Dem ministers to take a pounding from Lib Dems Cllrs at their Spring Conference. With an expectation that Lib Dems MP’s will be instructed to not vote for the proposed Tory plans for the NHS, might be a difficult week for Clegg but will we see Lib Dems leaving the party in Ipswich? Will we hear Atkins, Cann or others criticizing the coalition’s plans for the NHS?

Don’t hold your breath would be my answer, the Ipswich Lib Dems are not a party that the traditional Ipswich Liberal family the Grimwade’s would recognise, two of their seven councillors are refugees from the other two main political parties and many of the others seem to have just arrived by default from a St Margaret's Ward Residents Association meeting.

Of course they would find it hard to be critical of Clegg and his fellow Lib Dem ministers, they themselves jumped in to bed with the Tories when offered a chance of (limited) power, they are so determined to stay in power with the Tories they just covered their ears when Tory councillor Wells attacked them in his final speech as a councillor, it seemed to me he was just saying out loud what most of the rest of the Tory councillors believed.

We may not have to wait for election day in May to see where the Lib Dems currently are and where they are heading , we will see when the nominations for the local election are announced whether they will stand in every Ipswich ward, will Councillor Andrew Cann stand again in Westgate Ward, try and find another seat or just not stand and concentrate on his duties as a County Councillor? Will we see leaflets in any other Wards on top of St Margaret's Ward and Alexandra? We have not seen a council election leaflet in Rushmere ward for at least 4 years. Now it may seem that most of the Lib Dem councillors in Ipswich are quite happy with the coalition government, but it is not their blind loyalty to Clegg that will decide how well they do in May, it will be if Lib Dem voters are willing to forgive Clegg for his stance on tuition fees, it will be if the voters of Ipswich are willing to vote for a party that is forcing these severe cuts (many that seem to be driven by a right wing ideology rather than because of the need to make cuts to help reduce the national debt). Not sure there have ever been many Lib Dem members in Ipswich but I am sure there must have been a number of activists who were willing to go out a deliver leaflets – even if only in a very few of the Ipswich wards, will they still be prepared to put on that yellow rosette and spend a couple of hours delivering the local ‘Lib Dem Focus’ leaflet? Not sure the Lib Dem leaflet that went out in Barnsley on Wednesday helped them – ‘it's Lib Dem or Labour here’ will we see a truthful ‘only the Lib Dems can come last here’ leaflet?




The Tories, may be slightly less popular than they were in May, but seem to have not suffered the same fate as the Lib Dems, though like the Lib Dems, very little campaigning seems to have been done, with only one Tory leaflet being seen in Rushmere between May and December last year, though we have seen two leaflets delivered in Rushmere ward over the last month.

Finding out what the local Lib Dems in Ipswich think about how the government is doing is quite hard, Cllr Pollard and Cann are often quoted in the local papers, but no Lib Dems leaflets are to be seen and their website has had only 4 news stories since last May and two of them were on the same subject.

What you will see over the next two months, is the Ipswich Labour Party continuing to campaign hard, we have not stopped to be fair since last May, and plus we have been buoyed by the many new members that have joined since the last election. I am sure we will see the Tory election machine move up a gear (seems to stuck in neutral at the moment) but will we see the Lib Dems?

Party of opportunity

Party of opportunity



In Ipswich we have known for a long time that the Lib Dems will say anything on the doorstep but then do anything the Tories want just for the chance of power (plus the extra pay as a Portfolio holder). Even during the election campaign in Ipswich I found a number of Lib Dem voters who thought that we were being unfair in our criticism of the local Lib Dem councillors, well now we can see that the Lib Dem MP's were also willing to say anything on the doorstep then once offered the chance of power with the Tories were willing to drop all their policies as they drove away in their ministerial cars. Local Lib Dem Councillors may find it harder this time to persuade voters that they are a party of principle.
A petition by failed Lib Dem parliamentary candidates (104 signing it but no Mark Dyson - failed Lib Dem Ipswich candidate) has now called on Lib Dem MP's to stick to their original pledge on student fees - wonder what notice Clegg, Cable and others will take of them?