Ukraine - Ipswich stands in solidarity

We knew Putin was dangerous, however Johnson and the Tory Party got closer to him by taking more Russian money, The Far Left of my own party found it hard to be critical of anything Putin did and most others just thought it was idle threats.

Now we have seen a major European country invaded, similar to World War 2? Possibly, but certainly it has the possibility of being far more of an issue for the whole world than the Balkan crisis was.

I visited the Ukraine , not long after it gained independence and spent two weeks in the Crimea, the Russians certainly never left that part of the country. We can't do much as individuals and now rely on our Government to act - however I fear that Johnson/Truss/Wallace are incapable of doing the right thing.

In Ipswich, we can show our solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

Cllr David Ellesmere, Leader of Ipswich Borough Council, says:

 

“Lit by blue and yellow from tonight will be our Town Hall in the heart of Ipswich. I know many Ipswich residents are deeply concerned about what is happening in Ukraine and worried about the safety of its people as they fight back against the illegal invasion by Russia. We are joining with councils around the world as we stand in solidarity by displaying the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag.”

Unfortunately, one local Tory Councilor decided to post on Facebook his support for Putin and the invasion of the Ukraine. He had formerly been a UKIP member, and it just indicates again that the local Tory Party now acts just like a branch of UKIP. 

Has Ipswich ever had a more embarrassing MP?

 As you can never tell if Mr Hunt has taken any posted comments on board, I decided to email him and he replied- twice- but with his last email stating he would not be responding again.

In his email he did not  apologise for comparing the Ipswich Labour Party emblem (1924) with the North Korean Workers Party emblem ( 1950s) and it was obvious he could not understand any hurt that it would cause to Labour members and voters like myself whose father had fought in the Korean War.

Mr Hunt did admit he had sent messages to at least one local Tory with a previous attack on the Cambridge Labour Party for having a similar emblem to the North Korean WP, so he could not even be original in his attack on the Ipswich Labour Party. Best bit was he seemed to imply he just sent it to the local Tory Leader for interest, he was not asking him to use it to attack myself again. So he would take no responsibility for two local Tories using it to defend him/attack me! Make a mistake, you should own it! Best thing about when the Tory Leader used it, he left Mr Hunt’s name on the message. Not sure MI5 or MI6 will be calling to ask for his services.

Now I have received his replies, I feel now I can answer the points he made in his Facebook post/rant/attack.

He did not like my comment that he was playing to the ‘right-wing crowd’. His explanation was > I think I'm simply expressing the views shared by the vast majority of my constituents, We don't like it when people come here illegally and then when here commit  criminal damage and threaten members of staff.

How does he know what his constituents opinion is? He has blocked many on Facebook, does not answer on twitter and when I looked down the replies to his posts, many were from people outside Ipswich -  Kent, Essex, Mansfield, Felixstowe – so not sure he will know how many are from Ipswich.

He also used the line – when people come illegally – no mention that these people are refugees- some may be economic migrants but others will be fleeing war torn countries – interesting the same day, he was retweeting a Tory post that highlights that a refugee from North Korea was to stand as a candidate to be Tory Councillor in May – Did she come here illegally? Should he not just want to send her back to where she came from,  as many of the comments on his Facebook post seemed to wish?

His next paragraph was his bizarre attack on Ipswich Labour for our emblem being similar to the Workers party of North Korea, which I have already commented on.

In my original tweet that seemed to cause this rant – I said he would be better of spending time on Ipswich issues such as the Northern by-pass. This caused the local Tory Leader to tweet in a supposedly humorous way that did I not know that the by-pass had been shelved, Mr (student politics?) Hunt liked the tweet.

What was funny – in his Facebook post, Mr Hunt stated > As for your advice for activity on local issues Cllr Ross, perhaps you ought to give my Facebook page a follow or look at my website.

I took the advice of my MP and guess what? On his website, he declares > I will continue campaigning for a Northern Bypass to ease congestion through the middle of Ipswich.

Does he not know it has been shelved? Scrapped by the Tory run Suffolk County Council? Maybe he should have told me to take a look at his 'out of date' website?

In his letter to me he indicated that by reading my social media posts that he had decided I was defending and explaining away criminal behaviour. How wrong he is.

In fact, I expected my tweet on the subject to see criticism from the left as I stated that as I knew Napier Barracks well, having spent my 20th birthday there and operating from the camp as recently as 2009, that I doubted the arson was due to the state of the accommodation.

In later tweets, i did comment that how a COVID outbreak had been dealt with by the private security firm had been given as reason for the unrest. Again at no time giving this as an excuse for the criminal behaviour, what is probably more telling, that even when the COVID outbreak became common knowledge, Mr Hunt failed at any time in his post to mention COVID, as if that would dilute his message of dealing harshly with illegal immigrants.

Some of the comments on the post by Mr Hunt stated that they thought I wanted the camp closed and the asylum seekers/ human beings/immigrants- choose your own title - should be put up in hotels. Again I never mentioned anything like that, in fact it was the Tory MP and Tory Council leader for Folkestone who demanded that the camp is shut.

So do I still think Mr Hunt plays to the 'right-wing crowd'?

I am afraid the answer still has to be 'yes', when he commented on Millwall fans booing players for taking a knee in support of 'Black Lives Matter' - he defended the Miwall supporters, I expect he would say he was speaking on the behalf of his constituents, however a week later Ipswich played the first of two games at home permitted by a relaxation in lockdown rules. On a miserable (football wise) afternoon, when both teams took a knee, the vast majority of the crowd stood up and applauded in support of the players, i am not sure if Mr Hunt was in the Directors Box, could not see him as he may have been sat down and too far away to ear him booing!

If you want further evidence of why I think he craves the support of those on the right just look at some of the comments to his original post attacking me, some are disgusting, some outrageous, some sensible but very few are factual, however at no time does Mr Hunt comment or attempt to put the true facts.

Terms used, and quite often include > 'illegal immigrants' 'Send them back to where they came from' 'they only look after the scum who can't be bothered to work' and then 'they support anything or anyone who is not from the indigenous population' ( hate to see that person go on 'Who do you think you are? he might be in for a few shocks).

So if you read this Mr Hunt, I do believe you go after the Far right vote, your comments do not help build relationships between our many communities and in fact I find your comments embarrassing and would not expect them from any MP- Tory or Labour. At times you sound more like a UKIP candidate than a Tory MP.

As a son of a Korean veteran and former Labour Councilor, I found your comment comparing the Ipswich Labour logo to that of the North Korean Workers party disgusting. 

As a veteran and one who was proud to serve for over 24 years in the army, you remind me of those jingoistic MPs, stood up in Parliament, waving their union jacks as Tommy Atkins is sent off to war, but nowhere to found when he returns.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:

We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.

Don't mess about the cook- room slops, but prove it to our face

The widow's uniform is not the soldier-man's  disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' chuck him out, the brute!"

But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;

My week ahead, 19 - 25 January 2015

Monday 19 January, 8am – Angle editorial board meeting.
6pm – Labour Group campaigning

Wednesday 21 January, 9am – Ipswich Borough Council Planning Committee

Thursday 22 January, 6pm –Ipswich Labour Party and Fabians meeting on the ‘Living Wage’

Saturday 24 January, 10am – Labour campaigning in South East Ipswich

Sunday 25 January, 10am – Labour campaigning in South West Ipswich

More campaigning ahead this week, and it is still months to the election! We spend most of our campaigning time talking to residents and the Tories also seem keen to get their message over, with their main form of communication being expensive and large leaflets/papers. National issues are covered but most of the focus is on Mr Gummer, not sure many will believe his promise of getting Ipswich the best schools, the fact is in the last 4 years the standard of education in the County has spiralled downwards. With two of the key causes to the poor standard of education being the Tory run County Council not seeming to be interested in improving education, their priority seems to be get rid of as many schools from their responsibility as they can and they have been helped in that task by the Tory Government who have forced a number of primary schools to take the path to becoming an academy, in most cases against the wishes of both staff and parents.

It was not long ago that Mr Gummer could be found at the drop of a hat outside Ipswich Academy having his picture taken; he even joined Mr Gove on a visit to the school. Noticeably this week with the publication of yet another poor Ofsted report he does not seem so keen to be associated with the school.

So maybe there should be a ‘health warning’ printed at the bottom of all his leaflets?

The other party you would think are campaigning hard if you are someone who uses twitter is the local Green Party, but it seems that the social media campaign is the only work they are doing as talking to residents, face to face is not yet a priority for them.

Then we have the Lib Dems and UKIP. Both seem to have no local campaigning planned, UKIP seem to be happy to let all their national politicians do their work whilst the Lib Dems seem to be unable to go more than 400m from the confines of Christchurch Park, no social media presence unless you include one of their councillors writing for a blog then arguing with someone who had the audacity to comment on one of his posts! Locally they seem to be a party that no longer seems to have the will to continue. The way they jumped into bed locally with the Tories, means to many they will not be missed.

My week ahead, 22 - 27 September 2014

Monday – 22 September, 8am – Ipswich Angle editorial meeting
6pm – Labour campaigning in West Ipswich

Wednesday 24 September, 2pm – Labour campaigning in East Ipswich
6pm – East Ipswich Area Housing meeting

Saturday 27 September, 10am – Labour campaigning in East Ipswich

The big news (and good news) story this week was Scotland voting to remain part of Britain, as someone with Scottish roots I was both happy and proud when the result came through.

More of a shock was the way Alex Salmond quit so soon after the result came through, he did not seem that gracious in defeat, implying that the leaders of the 3 main political parties would renege on their last minute promises (of more power for the Scottish people). I was not impressed with his resignation speech and am glad to see that Ed Miliband is stating that the plan put forward days before the election must be kept to. I think and hope it will.

But people may believe Salmond when they see the way the Tories in Westminster are behaving, rather than getting behind their leader a sizable group of Tory MPs with John Redwood at the front (though a cabinet minister – Chris Grayling is also happy to join in) are using this opportunity to put the boot in to David Cameron, as they see he is in a currently weak position. With friends like this.......

Here in Ipswich we had the debate at full council on the Northern Fringe, not surprising the Tories attempted to put more barriers in to try and delay the start of the much needed development whist the Lib Dems seem to have forgotten how they voted when they were part of the administration!

One amusing part of the week was via twitter watching another episode of Ipswich Tory in-fighting, the latest spat took place not here but on the streets of Clacton! The current Tory Gipping Ward candidate spotted the former Tory Bridge Ward candidate campaigning for UKIP! He greeted his former colleague and possibly (still) a fellow Ipswich Tory member with the cry of ‘Traitor’!

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside

Today I spent the day in Clacton campaigning for our Labour candidate, Tim Young. For many reasons I was pleased to spend a day by the sea in Essex. First of all I like Tim, made easier because as well as being a sound Labour man he is also an Ipswich Town fans – so what is there not to like?

I also wanted to experience how a campaign is run at a by-election and also to compare the real feelings of residents on the streets of Clacton compared to what was reported in the first few days of media frenzy when Carswell jumped ship. A media frenzy that soon died away when the real story was found to be a few hundred miles north and over the border in Scotland.

What I found was a buzzing campaign centre with many volunteers who were boosted in number today by our large Ipswich contingent. We were also joined by the Suffolk Labour Rural Express – 3 more of our Suffolk PCC’s and other members who had spent the weekend touring Suffolk before arriving in Essex. Of course I expected to find a well organised office and was told that UKIP had a busy centre close by but the Tories were still in a state of shock from the defection of not only their MP but also a number of their members.

What did not expect to find was the reaction we got whilst canvassing on the street in the Rush Green Ward, we found residents that did not even know about the by-election, the lack of posters from any party- 2 Labour and 1 UKIP, and also a feeling of residents not knowing who to vote for. We found Labour and UKIP voters but I only met 2 Tories but the real significant find was the number of ‘don’t knows’ we found, in general many of these were planning to vote UKIP. They told us they had felt let down or ignored by both Labour and the Tories so they felt drawn to UKIP, there was also the issue of immigration, it seems to me that in many coastal towns in the east from Ramsgate to Hull. Immigration is a much bigger issue to them than it is when you move further inland. UKIP would have expected to have taken most of their votes but for these voters they now feel confused, they would never vote Tory and Carswell is still seen as a Tory and not many had a good word to say about him, many agreed with his anti Europe stance but it was obvious from talking to residents that Carswell has never seen as an MP who would spend much time talking to and looking after the interests of residents in Rush Green, Jaywick or some of the older parts of the town.

Not the sort of view you would have had of Carswell if you had watched or read the first media reports from Clacton, from those first reports you would have thought he was ‘Mr Clacton’ but from talking to voters today he is more ‘Mr Frinton’ or Mr Holland on Sea’ than ‘Mr Clacton’.

My guesstimate of the Clacton election result – a win for UKIP but with Labour also increasing their vote even pushing the Tories for second and the Lib Dems? I would expect the Lib Dems to lose their deposit – again.

I hope to get to Clacton again, there are certainly many voters who planned tp vote UKIP that now feel betrayed by having Carswell forced upon them. This gives us in Labour a great opportunity to talk to these voters, to show we have not forgotten them and that we are the best party to fight for them.

Vote Tim Young

What a week in politics - exciting, sad and even depressing

What a week in politics – at times it has been exciting, sad, depressing has made me angry and also made me want to keep fighting. And still over 8 months to the General Election!

My thoughts on a few of the topics that have popped up this week and quite often you can see a link in all of them – from the independence debate in Scotland, to Islamic extremism here in the UK and in the Middle East, the rise of UKIP, how the child exploitation scandal was handled in Rotherham, the failure of the PCC and lastly the increase in the terrorist threat – is it real?

I have taken a great interest in the Scottish independence election, not surprising with so much Scottish blood in me but also because I believe in the United Kingdom and as a Labour supporter it is important for us to stay as one. On my travels in the army in particular in the Balkans – I have seen how bloody and also pointless have been some of these fights for independence/separation, I never thought we would have that same sort of battle in Scotland but it seems the campaign has got very nasty and social media seems to have been the weapon of choice, something I can see repeating itself in the election here next May.

Jim Murphy who i like and have met has been touring Scotland on his ‘100 streets tour’ but that has to be curtailed as over the last two weeks there has been a noticeable campaign by the SNP/ ‘Yes’ group to make sure that wherever Jim turns up he is met by ‘Yes’ supporters. Nothing wrong with that even here in Ipswich we had Mr Gummer turning up at a sure start centre to tell Mrs Harman she was lying over Tory plans to close children’s centres (bet he wish he had stayed at home now!!!) but in Scotland it has been more sinister, with a journalist threatened with violence, eggs thrown and ‘no’ supporters intimidated this was made worse by a quite pathetic apology from the SNP. You can see the SNP/No campaign type activity going down quite well with a few of the ‘name calling’ Tory activists in Ipswich.

This leads on how do we deal with Islamic extremism in the UK, It is about working closer with all our different community groups but also not being afraid to comment and act if we thinks something is going wrong- this did not happen in Rotherham. But we also need to look closer at the people who are going off to fight in Syria and also the sort of men involved in the crimes in Rotherham. Young, isolated, feel picked on, pressure from their own community not to forget their own culture, widespread gang culture- drink and drugs, poor housing, fee job prospects – all these factors are causes of what can lead young men and women to head off to Syria but also to get involved in gangs in Rotherham, Rochdale or Oxford.

But the failure of the police and councils to act in places like Rotherham helps fuel the rise of far right groups like the EDL but also groups like UKIP. There is no doubt that UKIP will take votes off Labour in the north and Mr Farage will go on about this and how they are the ‘peoples party’ whilst we will try and convince the voters that they are just Tories in different suits, and that case was certainly helped by the defection of Tory and Clacton MP, Douglas Carswell to UKIP this week. It was at first a great success for Farage but the coup soon unravelled as the former UKIP candidate refused to vanish and has even said he will now fight for the Tories. We now find out that UKIP have little electoral data on Clacton as there was some sort of pact with Carswell in 2010! Farage also called Carswell ‘honourable’ for resigning his seat – so all the previous defectors to UKIP were ‘dishonourable’? last night a leading Tory in Sevenoaks followed Carswell into UKIP but he will not resign his seat as the by-election would be a waste of tax payers money – how much does he think the election in Clacton will cost? So from being a big coup the defection of Carswell has just highlighted that at the top of UKIP you still just have a bunch of euro sceptic Tories.

Going back to crimes in Rotherham, it is only right that those in authority at the time stand down –elected councillors plus Council officers and police. We have seen some Labour councillors’ resign, a few officers but some hang on and even worse have other jobs involved in child protection both here in the UK and even in places like Australia.

The South Yorkshire PCC has refused to stand down not only over the failings of his police force but also because before he was PCC he was the councillor responsible for children’s services in Rotherham. He has left the Labour Party but clings on to his (well paid) PCC job.

This yet again highlights how ill thought out the whole post of PCC was, you can even be jailed and still keep the job! This was not some rushed in act to elect PCCs, this was a policy the Tories had worked on in opposition. We do not want to go back to the almost invisible ‘Police Authorities’ but I think Labour should announce soon that as of May 2016 the PCC post will be replace with a far better system of running the police force.

South Yorkshire Police may also need to be placed into ‘special measures’ the same force that failed in Rotherham, the same force so badly implicated in the Hillsborough disaster – time for big changes in that force.

Finally we have the raising of the terrorist threat state, is this needed? I am afraid even though I am involved in politics (at a low level) i wonder if the threat has been raised by Cameron, Clegg and May for political reasons. Is the threat any higher now in the UK say compared to the height of the troubles in Ireland? We have talk of removing passports from suspects- is that so difficult- the police have been taking passports off football fans for over 20 years. I am afraid it seems more a case of political posturing rather than acting on any form of intelligence.

Let us hope next week is slightly more peaceful so we can concentrate on local issues, on building houses, developing the Northern Fringe and campaigning to keep children’s centres open in Suffolk.

A few thoughts on the election in Ipswich and further afield

As I have a few days to recover from a long election campaign, think it is worth writing a few lines on how I think we (Labour) did both locally and nationally. Then it will all start again as only 11 months to go till the important General Election.

Starting very close to home it was a good night for Rushmere Ward as we gained the final Tory seat and elected Sandra Gage to the Borough Council.

It seemed to be the culmination of 11 years hard work from when I first stood in the ward when the Tories held all 3 Borough seats, the fight back starting in 2008 when I won my seat, the slight reversal in 2009 and 10 when we failed to capitalise on that result till today when we no longer have any Tory representatives in the ward. The hard work of course has to continue and we have some serious issues to deal with, the lack of support for our local schools and the state of our roads and verges. Both the responsibility of the Tory run County Council but we still need make sure residents’ concerns are heard.

In Ipswich, we also gained a further seat (in Whitton) and held all our own – The Tories were claiming some sort of victory for holding onto Stoke Park and Holywells. They did increase their margins of victory from 2012 but their majorities were down from 2010 when these set of seats were last fought for. Of course we wanted to and hoped we could win both seats – we worked hard and had two outstanding candidates – I quite like George Debman and though I can’t say the same about Nadia Cenci what I do know is that she is very active in her ward, dedicated and a hard worker but I have no doubt that the residents of both wards would have been better represented by Colin Smart and Howard Needham. But I am sure both will fight again and it will not be long before they are both serving as Ipswich Borough Councillors.

The Tories (by their low standards) worked hard in those two wards but other than Bixley , North West Ipswich and parts of Ravenswood little sign was seen of Tories elsewhere in the town. Gipping and Gainsborough residents have not seen any Tory activity other than the odd leaflet since 2010 where on the other hand we worked in every ward- no matter what party held it and I myself spent time both canvassing in Bixley and delivering in Castle Hill. This hard work will pay dividends in 2015 but the Tories will find it hard to just concentrate on only two wards next year.

On Election Day after starting in Rushmere, I spent the rest of the day working in the North West of the town where I feel we gained our best results of the night – gaining Whitton, holding Whitehouse and more importantly making sure that UKIP are not represented on the Borough Council. To actually increase the majority in Whitehouse was great reward for a long day’s work.

Regionally it was disappointing that we did not gain a second MEP, it was always a hard task but made more difficult in that it seems parts of Essex and constituencies along the East Coast seem to be areas where UKIP did very well.

It is important that we do not just ignore UKIP or even just ridicule them. The European Count on Sunday indicated that when it came to the Euro vote they topped the poll in Ipswich. The problem we have is how to deal with not only UKIP but how to persuade voters that UKIP are not the party that will help them. Just look at their number of MEPs, how many of them are ex Tory members or politicians –and there is no doubt that UKIP has also attracted some from the very far right, as Tony Blair stated on BBC Radio 4 this morning: “peep beneath UKIP facade.. something unpleasant” – we need to get that message across to voters – what is the UKIP policy on the NHS, Defence, tax breaks for the rich, housing? – When you ask those questions you quickly see a party that other than its stance on Europe is just the Tory Party in a different coat.

But voters did vote UKIP why? I do not feel Europe was the main reason it is more basic than that it is immigration – and again we need to address those concerns but we also need to tell residents the true facts. The ex Tory MP and now journalist Matthew Parris believes we need to take UKIP head on and that the trouble is voters have been duped by the press to believe that immigration is a big problem. The press have lied, made the situation worse but immigration is a problem. All UKIP voters are not racist, probably very, very few are but certainly some of their activists are and certainly (like some Tories) they exaggerate the threat for their own benefit.

On Election Day, in Whitton a woman told me she had moved to Ipswich from Great Cornard as 600 asylum seekers had been given all the new housing in the town. I attempted to explain that that was impossible- would be surprised if there were 6 asylum seekers in Great Cornard rather than 600 and probably the number of new homes built was closer to 60 than 600 but she was convinced it was true and that voting UkIP was the answer.

We do need to get the true facts out there and that is hard when the right wing press wish to keep pushing their lies. But we also need to work with the EU to make sure that there is not just a constant flow of cheap employment from the East to places like the UK, Germany and Denmark. Voters still believe that the recovery isn’t benefiting them and their families, but the right-wing owned press is happy to persuade them that it isn’t the wealthy and their tax-avoiding multi-nationals driving the UK into a low-wage economy that are to blame. Instead it is migrants coming here in ever larger numbers, taking housing and benefits, whilst causing a disproportionate amount of crime. In fact net migration is static, migration has a positive effect on the economy, and the Eastern European crime wave is a myth. In fact, perceptions of the public on many of the issues on which UKIP campaign do not match reality.

These are tasks we have to take on locally as well as nationally.

The other myth which the press wishes to push is that only UKIP were the winners on Thursday, that again is wrong – Labour had a great night in London but also in the rest of the country, and made the targets that I thought we would make. We gained over 300 council seats, did well in almost all of the parliamentary marginal seats, took control of councils and increased our share of the vote. Interestingly when you look at the local council votes, the UKIP share is actually down on last year. Where we did not do well (or the Tories) was in South Essex, and parts of the East Coast- Yarmouth and Grimsby being two examples.

So the fight continues, plenty to do before May 2015, but we can win Ipswich, we can form the next Government but we have to work and work hard- something that the Ipswich Labour Party is good at.

Migration is not a crime!

Each day we seem to have yet another UKIP candidate show their real colours - today we have an attack on Lenny Henry (born in Dudley) by a UKIP candidate in Enfield - pushing the Tories hard for the title of 'nasty party'.

Over 100 years of fighting to represent the people of Ipswich

The European and local Ipswich elections are being held on May 22nd this year, a day later and one hundred years earlier the first socialist candidate stood in Ipswich in an election to represent the town at Westminster,

John Scurr only received 395 votes, as the Tory candidate John Ganzoni won. The Liberals came second with their candidate being Charles Masterman, the brains behind the National Insurance Act who had a place on the Cabinet waiting for him if he had won, he never and lost a number of elections afterwards gaining the tag of 'unluckiest man in British politics'. He was so highly regarded by the Liberals that Lloyd George himself came to campaign and speak in Ipswich the day before the election.

We certainly have come a long way since 1914, by 1918 the official candidate, Peter Jackson had pushed the Liberals into third and in 1923 he won the seat for Labour for the first time.

Peter had also been one of our first councillors in the town and when we won 5 seats just after the First World War the Tories and Liberals panicked and started to stand joint candidates (sounds like the last Tory/Lib Dem administration in the town) but the Tories still only managed to maintain control by the use of the Alderman system.

One hundred years on and times have changed as we have had a number of Labour MP's and we have bean the largest political group in Ipswich for a number of years and we even more recently has a period running Suffolk!

But we still keep fighting, campaigning hard and if we work hard, 101 years after John Scurr stood in Ipswich we will be sending David Ellesmere to Westminster to represent the people of Ipswich.

But as in 1919, the Tories will turn to anyone to stop Labour winning, in 1919 they jumped into bed with the Liberals but today in 2014 we have two Ipswich Tory activists and former Conservative candidates urging voters to vote for UKIP just to stop Labour winning in certain wards. This practice was supposedly against Tory rules as laid down by David Cameron but do not expect any sort of action to be taken by a very weak Ipswich Tory leadership

My week (and the year) ahead 6 - 12 January 2014

Monday – 6 January, 5pm – North East Area Committee Agenda setting meeting
6pm – Area Committee Chairs, meeting – Grafton House
7pm – Labour campaigning

Saturday 11 January, 10am – Labour campaigning – South East Ipswich

A start of a New Year and which will include important local elections for Ipswich Borough, European Elections, plus a referendum in Scotland but with all political groups now focusing on the result of the General Election in 2015.

As a slight political anorak, I of course have an interest in all 4 elections and we in Ipswich are determined to do our bit in increasing our number of seats on the Ipswich Borough Council – including winning the last seat back in Rushmere. Plus we will be helping get the best possible result for Labour in the Euro Elections. These elections often give a slightly distorted view of politics in this country as UKIP have in the past done well in these elections but it is where those voters then vote for in 2015 that is more important.

At least this year at the European Elections we have an Ipswich based candidate in our own North East Ipswich Cllr – Sandy Martin. Is a great campaigner and also well know to residents in East Ipswich so it will be a real boost to the local campaigners in that e will be working for a local resident.

It is harder to work out what our opponents are doing, the Lib Dems have retreated into their ST Margaret’s enclave and even in that ward seem to be doing very little, not even being able to host an Ipswich Lib Dems website is an indication of how far they have fallen down the political ladder.

The Tories do little better on the social media front and seem more interested in internal fighting – mainly over their one safe seat of Bixley, a poor performance at the polls for them in late May will not be good news for a certain Mr Gummer. It is quite noticeable that one a local Tory loses their seat they often disappear totally from the local political scene.

UKIP, I am sure will do in May but they seem to have done little work in the town since winning a seat at the County Council elections last year. But with a free mail drop at the Euro Elections, they will cause problems for both us and the Tories in certain seats.

But all in all, I can see this being a good year for Ipswich Labour, increasing our seats on the local council, more people joining the party and helping us ensure we return a Labour MP to Westminster in 2015.

This year I will be more involved in the Labour Defence team at Westminster, working with the Shadow Defence team in helping set priorities for when a Labour Government returns to power next year. For anyone interested in matters concerning veterans, I ask you to read this article by Dan Jarvis MP, a former soldier and working with the Shadow Justice team – it concerns the number of veterans who ended up on the wrong side of the law. I would ask you to contact your local MP and ask for their support when Dan tables two amendments to the Offenders Rehabilitation Bill about to go through Parliament, there should be no reason that these two amendments do not get full cross party support- read more about the need for these amendments here: Dan Jarvis article in The Telegraph

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas to all readers of this blog

It has been a hard year for many but as we are getting closer to the General Election in 2015 I for one will be working even harder over the next year to do all I can to help us get a Labour Government in 2015

In 2014 I will continue to work hard in Rushmere, help Ipswich Labour to win more seats in the Borough election.

I will also continue to spend time helping veterans and work with Labour Friends of the Forces to get a better deal for our Armed Forces - the Christmas Card is from my former Regiment, The Royal Green Jackets - the fictional TV soldier Sharpe was serving in a Rifle Regiment

I also think 2014 will be the year we have to unite and stand together as a town against the Far Right - in their various guises - BNP, EDL, Britain First and even elements of UKIP

UKIP - Like the Tory Party of the 60's?

When you see Tory leaflets from the 1960's, it is no wonder some of their members are attracted to the policies of UKIP

WARNING

Thanks to Ipswich Spy, I have been informed that the poster may be fake - this has led to an on-line discussion on twitter with the national Conservative HQ stating that the Tories never used it whilst others have given examples of constituencies where the poster was used.

If it is a fake, it seems it is also from the 60's - what it does show that all political groups were willing to use the race card in one way or another for their own benefit.

The concern is that this weekend a van has driven round London - organised by the Government warning illegal immigrants that if they are caught they will be deported. Are the Tory Ministers doing this because they think it will work, or because they are scared that UKIP will take more of their members?

The EDL, the military and the aftermath of the savage murder of Drummer Rigby

I am sure that most of this country were appalled and shocked by the murder of Drummer Rigby 10 days ago. As an ex-soldier it was reminder of the threat from Irish extremism that we lived under for the majority of my time in the army. The way Drummer Rigby was murdered and the callous way the two murderers asked people to photograph them and then call the police was something we have never witnessed in this country before. But members of the IRA and INLA murdered many soldiers, police members, innocent civilians, and children but maybe as we never had 24/7 news coverage and those murders were carried out by people who did not want to get caught and quickly sneaked away into the background we did not have the same revulsion we feel today about the murder of Drummer Rigby.

Some good may come out of his despicable act, the military will be reminded again that unlike the 70’s and 80’s they are much loved and respected by the British public and more importantly the Muslim community has quickly condemned the actions of the two murderers and not only that have opened up their Mosques to the general public and in some places like York, even invited members of the Far Right EDL into the mosque to talk and share tea and biscuits.

Even here in Ipswich some members of the Muslim community joined EDL members on their march through the town, though I for one feel this was step too far and gave the EDL some form of legitimacy they do not warrant.

But where does that leave us now both in the UK and closer to home in Ipswich?

There has been more dialogue between faiths and communities, we do not want people to just retreat into their own groups and areas. But I do fear about the growth of the Far Right over the next two years. This country is tolerant and has always welcomed immigrants, refugees and visitors into this country- in most cases with open arms. But mistakes have been made and some communities have found it harder to feel this is their home. Some like the Somalian community have seen many of their younger members find themselves drawn into gang culture in parts of London and even small towns. But this country has shown that Right Wing extremism isn’t wanted here, the rise of the BNP was a concern over the last few years but their failure to win seats at the May County Council elections indicated that their day was over. Partly due to the in-fighting and the incompetence of their leaders like Griffin. But many from the Far Right have just looked for a new vehicle for their racism, some have joined UKIP and attempted to gain from the anti-Europe bandwagon and others have found themselves in the EDL. Not really a political group but a hotch potch of football hooligans and others on the edge of society. Many who are more interested in a having a few beers, a punch up and a row with the police than discussing politics.

The murder of Drummer Rigby, and the natural anger this country felt about that event has led more people to feel that the EDL are in the right, seeming willing to overlook the criminal records of their leadership and the previous EDL marches that have mainly ended up in a pub and clashes with the police.

As an ex solder, I am concerned that soldiers and veterans are not drawn into the EDL. The right will use their support as a sign of legitimacy and those soldiers will suddenly find themselves thrown out of the army- reports today in the press state that at least 15 soldiers are under investigation for posting messages showing support for the EDL on social media. Both the family of Drummer Rigby and his Regiment asked the EDL not to march on Saturday but they were ignored.

I remember as a young soldier many of my colleagues who spent many months in fighting the IRA in West Belfast and South Armagh talking of their support for loyalist groups like the UVF and the UDA, but for many of us who spent longer in the province that the UDA, UVF were as cowardly and murderous as the IRA and INLA. I hope that Commanding Officers and Regimental Serjeant Majors are reminding soldiers of the pitfalls of getting involved in far right groups. Dan Jarvis MP, a former officer in the Parachute Regiment has informed that he will ask a question to the Armed Forces Minister to ask what steps are being taken to protect young soldiers who could easily be influenced.

In Ipswich, I have spoken to the British Legion and a number of veteran’s organisations warning them that the EDL may attempt to draw them into protests by pretending they are organising charity events or a march to support our troops.

But I am concerned about the rise of the Far Right those who are fascists, Nazis who will use events like last week to gain members and support – we must remember the past, I was undecided if I should write this post or at least the next part of it, but the rise of nationalism does remind me of the events of 30’s Germany and the rise of Nazism- I have just finished the book ‘Dominion’ by C J Sansom, and it portrays a Britain that made peace with Germany but then saw the likes of Mosley lead us to the right eventually sending British Jews to Germany and death. It may only be a book but at the end of it C J Sansom speaks of is own fears as nationalism takes hold in Europe using the rise of the SNP in Scotland as an example. We can't just shut our eyes and think things will be all right. we need to stand up and be counted and do all we can to help our community to continue to live in peace.

UKIP had amazing success in the May elections, taking votes off all the main political groups and there is no doubt that their support covers the whole political spectrum, but they will attract ex BNP members and current EDL members, they admit themselves that they do not have the vetting procedures in place to keep those extremists out. The number of those elected in May who are now under investigation is an example where they have grown too fast.

But UKIP may say they are not of the Far Right but they have been quick to play the immigration card to gain support and locally that seemed to be the topic they discussed most rather than Europe. The leadership at the top of UKIP are mainly ex Tory, but UKIP support as I have said comes from left and right but the concern is now that the Far Right will see UKIP as their natural home as the BNP is in its death throes.

Next week, ‘Hope not Hate’ the organisation that did do much to defeat the BNP is holding a meeting in Ipswich to discuss how we must work together to defeat the EDL plus those from the Fra Right who find their way into the UKIP, I am afraid that UKIP has shown it can’t control who joins or even stands for election under a UKIP banner currently.

But the left has also got to control elements of groups within the UAF that just see fighting the EDL as the only way to protest, ‘Hope not Hate’ has shown there is another way. The Labour Party and the Government also has to continue to work with Muslim communities to stop the rise of extreme Islam.

The way ahead is difficult, we must be prepared to discuss immigration the fears of all communities but more importantly we must be prepared to stand up against extremism- from the right or the left.

My week ahead 20 - 27 May 2013

Monday 20 May - 4pm Culture portfolio meeting
6pm Labour campaigning in South West Ipswich

Wednesday 22 May - 7.30pm - Fabians meeting - 'Asylum and immigration - have we got it right?'

Thursday 23 May - 7pm - North East Ipswich Area Committee, St John's Church Hall, Cauldwell Hall Road

Friday 24 - 27 May - Trip to Verona and last stage of the Giro D'Italia

Saturday was like the first day back at school after the summer holidays, seeing your friends for the first time in ages and catching up with the gossip - but this was not our first day back at school but our first day back campaigning after two weeks off! We had 16 of us out in South West Ipswich, delivering thank you leaflets to our residents.

This is the way to deal with UKIP, getting out and talking to residents about their concerns. It is also important to be able to talk about issues like immigration and the Suffolk Fabians have a meeting about this issue on Wednesday.

But what are the other two main political groups doing to counter the rise of UKIP and to deal with the issues that concern the people of Ipswich? The Lib Dems have gone back into their 11 month hibernation, just counting the days when they are out of the coalition and they can go back to being a minor opposition party - whilst the Tories seem all over the place, blaming UKIP, thinking of joining UKIP and then attacking each other!

Locally an Ipswich Tory activist called me a moron on twitter - water off a ducks back, but I thought that sort of behavior just puts more people off politics and gets all politicians a bad name. trouble is there seems to be no self-discipline or leadership in the local Tory Party to stop it. Two of their members/candidates who have blogs seems to enjoy calling opposition Councillors names (when not attacking each other) but then it seems that this sort of behavior is also rife at the top of the Tory Party with the accusations that a senior adviser to Cameron called Tory activists 'swivel-eyed loons'.

Getting back to dealing with good news, this week the Ipswich HEARS service has now reached the target of 1,000 customers, this is a great service that looks after our senior residents and gives families peace of mind. When we took over at IBC, the Tories were planning to hand HEARS over to Suffolk County Council and we know that they would have looked to get rid of it (like the library service) as soon as they could. Well done to all those involved in HEARS.

The election result in Ipswich and what do we do about UKIP

Just over a week has gone since the County Council elections, plenty has been written and blogged about the results with most of the articles concentrating on the success of UKIP at the ballot box. This has meant most articles and debate has been similar all over the country with little discussion about local results.

Before the election a number of local journalists complained that politicians in Ipswich and Suffolk were spending most of their time talking on the doorstep or producing leaflets concentrating on national issues not on matters that are the concern of Suffolk County Council. Welcome to the real world! Ever since I have been campaigning, most elections seem to be decided on national issues and results often depend on the performance of national politicians in Westminster. Now I would have liked this election to have concentrated on County Council issues, the terrible state of education in the county, and how it is deteriorating under Tory control should have been the main issue on the doorstep and I am sure the Tories only wanted the talk to be about their promise/bribe of 0% Council tax rise for the next 4 years. But in the end many voters voted on national issues- economy, Europe and immigration. Local issues can effect elections on occasions, the way the Tories have badly handled the building of a waste incinerator in Norfolk certainly helped the downfall of the Norfolk Tories.

So journalists, political commentators and politicians are left to discuss the reasons why UKIP did so well and also how to campaign against UKIP in the future and more importantly, I believe in how to regain the trust of the voting (or non-voting) public.
Ipswich Tories seem to be just burying their head in the sand and coming up with the much used statement that UKIP took more votes from Labour than they did the Tories. Firstly I am not sure that statement is correct but I also believe that where UKIP got votes from varies from region to region and even ward to ward.

There is no doubt that UKIP took voters from Labour in Whitehouse Ward but the Tories would have also lost votes to UKIP in Whitton and St Margaret’s and the failure of UKIP to stand in Bixley makes it harder to see the UKIP effect on the Tory vote but in 2012 when UKIP were not the ‘flavour of the month’ they took many votes from the Tories in their safest ward.

It is important that all political groups try and understand why voting UKIP was popular and you can’t just follow the Cameron example and call them all fruit cakes, loonies and racists. I think you also have to distinguish between UKIP Voters, recent UKIP activists and others using UKIP for their own purposes.

I spoke to an elderly couple in Sprites Ward and they had voted UKIP but also they had voted for the Greens! So certainly a protest vote and the man said it was but more concerning the lady had said it was a protest vote but she did believe (from the UKIP leaflets and the Mail) that 21 million Bulgarians would be arriving at Dover by Christmas!

Of course the Tories only have themselves to blame when UKIP gain support over Europe and immigration. The Tories are full of anti EU rhetoric but the likes of Cameron know we are better off in the EU than out of it, but he now even has minsters openly saying they will vote to leave Europe. On immigration they were happy for the Mail and the Express to lie about immigration and migrant workers, it suited them when they were in opposition but now the boot is on the other foot, and so they blame Europe as they are worried about UKIP taking their supporters.

Europe and immigration are both issues that we need a grown up debate about, but it is almost impossible with the one sided reporting of the national press – but voters want it to be debated and solutions found. Voting UKIP is not a solution but part of the problem.

Voters (and I also believe) non- voters have turned to UKIP as they see that all politicians have their greedy noses in the trough – they believe all politicians are as bad as those MP’s who abused the Westminster expenses system. They also believe that many in politics come from the same political class or in the case of the Tories from the upper class. The funny thing about this is most of the UKIP MEP’s do seem to come from a rich political class, many have been caught out with their claims and some have even gone back to being real Tories (as in the case of the UKIP MEP in this region)

It is important that we speak to residents about immigration and Europe when we are campaigning on the doorstep. It is also up to those in Westminster to make sure they are seen to be squeaky clean – trouble is the headlines in the papers this Sunday are about a Tory MP been taken to court for failing to pay mortgage expenses back and a Tory PCC employing a chauffeur.
So we need to speak to UKIP voters, don’t label them as nutters or just discount their decision to vote UKIP as a protest, we need to continue to engage with our constituents and make sure we regain their trust.

Even those who decide to stand and campaign for UKIP, we must treat them with respect – in some cases it will be difficult and the UKIP leadership do have a number of problems to make sure they are not just seen as ‘BNP in ties’ or ‘old Tories’. The UKIP leader has admitted that they never had time to vet their candidates and a number of those elected are about to be thrown out of UKIP after it has come to light that they have close links to the BNP, EDL or have put racist posts on social media.

In Ipswich we know we have work to do, but in one way it will not see a change in the way we work – we campaign every week and in all wards in the town not just the ones we know we have to win. We are used to a party gaining votes without doing any groundwork – the UKIP votes have replaced the Lib Dem votes in many wards. We will work harder to engage with all constituents and I am sure the national party will also ensure that immigration and Europe is debated in a sensible way.

For the Ipswich Tories it will be a much harder task, they seemed to throw all their effort into St Margret’s Ward to end up getting nowhere – they do not have many activists and little leadership – and at a UKIP meeting in Ipswich this week a number of their members attended. At least one ex councillor and a regular candidate- it seems that at least one of them will stand for UKIP next year, but this is also a problem for UKIP – are they a new force in British politics or just a home for refugees from the Tory Party – many who have either left over single issues (Gay marriage) or are jumping to UKIP as they feel they have more chance of being elected. What UKIP does in Ipswich over the next two years will be of interest to all local politicians?

32 BNP members in Ipswich but 32 too many!

' Not many of these to be seen on the streets of Ipswich'

First of all I will say that BNP members should be angry that their details have been released by a disgruntled member of their party, and the Police should take action against that person.

But even so it is interesting to see how many members of this "Far Right" party are in Suffolk and Ipswich in particular. According to local papers we have just over 100 in Suffolk and 32 either in or close to Ipswich. First of all this is 32 too many. But compared to other towns of our size it is a low total. But we must not get complacent, within the last two weeks the BNP have held street stalls in both Colchester and Harwich and earlier in the year held one in Norwich. There are over 600 BNP members in Essex, though many seem to be in the south of the county, with Loughton a surprising "Far Right" stronghold!

The current financial climate is just the sort of opportunity the BNP will use to recruit more recruits- we must make sure that does not happen and to do that we must (and in Ipswich WILL) continue to campaign all over the town and to continue to offer a good service to our constituents. Maybe if the Tories and Lib Dems also got off their backsides and campaigned as well, there would be even less opportunity for the likes of the BNP or UKIP to get out on the streets of Ipswich and peddle their lies.

As an ex soldier I was not happy to see a number of soldiers on the list, when I served in the Army, I was led to believe that you could not be a member of a political party but it seems now you can be a member but not an activist. I wonder what the Fijian and other Commonwealth soldiers feel about having a member of the BNP in their section or platoon!