Student protests turn violent in London

A GROUP of students yesterday took matters into their own hands, turning a peaceful protest into a violent bloodbath.  Milbank Tower, home to the headquarters of the Conservatives was stormed by an angry bunch of protestors, with fires lit, windows smashed and furniture damaged.  It is estimated that over £1million in damage was caused.

ANGER: Students turn against the coalition government

As the battle was over last night, the war between students and the coalition government has only just begun.  It is the first sign of rebellious action that has been taken since the spending review around three weeks ago.  Over 50,000 students marched through London, angry with proposals of an increase in tuition fees, from £3,290 a year to £9,000 year.  It wasn’t just tuition fees that dominated the concerns, with many cuts in education budgets and the removal of the EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance) and ALG (Adult Learning Grant) for students that attend sixth form or colleges across the country.  The march was set-up by the NUS and the UCU (University College Union).  President of the NUS, Aaron Porter was furious with those who had taken matters into their own hands; “It’s an utter disgrace.”  “Perhaps 500 or more have chosen to use disgraceful tactics to try and undermine us.”

FIERY: Fires were started by the protestors

Although no-one can condemn the students who decided to use violence to get their point across, the police have been strongly criticised for their response to the violence.  As the protestors stormed the roof of Milbank Tower, police admitted that they didn’t anticipate the trouble that was caused.  The commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Stephenson has announced an enquiry into the lack of police and looked shocked when he told the media of his thoughts on the day’s events; “We didn’t expect this level of violence – but we’ve got to ask ourselves the question: Should we have anticipated this?”  For him to have even suggested this is absolutely startling.  There a load of questions for the police to answer.  Their response and pre-planned action was simply unacceptable, when trouble could easily have been predicted by many.  It shows the lack of organisation within the Metropolitan Police – you do wonder whether a pet animal could have organised it better!

Another man feeling the heat is Nick Clegg, who seemed to be the main person that the students were targeting for broken promises.  In the Liberal Democrats manifesto, Clegg promised a cutback on tuition fees and many of the Lib Dem MP’s signed pledges against increases on university fees.  Standing in for David Cameron, who is in China at the moment, Clegg got a roasting yesterday at Prime Minister Questions from the Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman; “In April, you said it was your aim to end University tuition fees.  Can you update the house on how your plan is progressing?”

Clegg’s response was far from convincing; “This is an extraordinarily difficult issue.”

Harman went on the attack again; “In April, you said increasing tuition fees to £7,000 a year would be a disaster.  What word would you use to describe fees of £9,000?”

Clegg started to use old examples that simply didn’t awash with the main opposition.  Cameron’s suggestion in Beijing that overseas students will get a significant cut in fees, whilst domestic students get a raise just adds insult to injury.  The coalition government had a very bad day yesterday and have a lot of answers and very reasonable ones to give to win back the trust of many students.

FURY: A fire extinguisher is thrown from the Milbank Roof

There were some casualties on the ground, as students from the roof began to throw missiles, with a fire extinguisher one of the items thrown, which narrowly missed police, who were now dressed in riot gear.  Around 14 casualties were taken, with three police officers being treated in hospital.  The mayor of London, Boris Johnson was appalled by the events; “It was a quiet, peaceful, good-humoured demonstration.”  “They were fully entitled to do so, but it is very tragic that a few minorities have decided to abuse the right of protest and cause criminal damage.”  “Completely unacceptable and those who are responsible, I hope they are bought fully to justice with the law.”

Some of the troublemakers may not have been students; some could have been unemployed people or other minorities who have been affected by the spending cuts.  Police confirmed that 32 people have been arrested and hopefully, those responsible will be kicked off their courses and face the full force of the law.

TROUBLEMAKERS: Angry protesters charge into Tory HQ

The tuition fees proposal must be approved in the House of Commons and House of Lords next month.  If the £9,000 a year cap is introduced, then students will be close to facing £40,000 of debts.  Yesterday’s events are unlikely to sway the government’s thinking, but it was a day of shame and embarrassment for all parties.  A day when the coalition government came properly under-fire for the first time, a day when the students fought back – but with disgusting and shameful results, a day when the inadequacies and the lack of organisation of the Metropolitan Police were well and truly exposed, a day which bought the worst scenes of violence on British streets since the Poll Tax riots of 1990. 

In fact, yesterday was a black day for everyone, and the fear is, more is to come.

  

Johnson Gets The Top Job From Ed

The first big task of Ed Miliband’s reign as leader of the Labour party was to appoint a strong Shadow Cabinet, in challenge to the coalition government.  With his brother David having ruled himself out of frontline politics last week, it made the contest of who was going to become Shadow Chancellor even more competitive than ever before.

In the end, the Shadow Chancellor role has gone to Allan Johnson, with Ed Balls, who finished third in the recent Labour leadership contest race, getting the role Shadow Home Secretary.  Yvette Cooper, who had been tipped by many to earn the top post, as ended up being appointed as Shadow Foreign Secretary, though she still told Sky News that she was ‘delighted’ with the role she now has.  It shows Miliband’s trust towards Balls and Cooper, who are husband and wife, so for both to earn top Labour jobs really shows their commitment to the party’s potential turnaround.  There are also roles in the new cabinet for former interim leader of Labour, Harriet Harman and another candidate at the recent Labour leadership contest, Andy Burnham.

LIST OF THE KEY LABOUR APPOINTMENTS IN ED MILIBAND’S SHADOW CABINET

Shadow Chancellor:                                                       Allan Johnson

Deputy Leader:                                                              Harriet Harman

Shadow Home Secretary:                                               Ed Balls

Shadow Foreign Secretary:                                             Yvette Cooper

Chief Whip:                                                                   Rosie Winterton

Shadow Education Co-Ordinator:                                    Andy Burnham 

Shadow Defence:                                                          Jim Murphy

Shadow Communities & Local Government:                    Caroline Flint

Shadow Health Secretary:                                             John Healey

Shadow Business Secretary:                                        John Denham

Shadow Work & Pensions Secretary:                           Douglas Alexander

Shadow Lord Chancellor:                                             Sadiq Khan

Shadow Minister for the Olympics:                              Tessa Jowell

Ed Gets The Labour Nod of Approval

Ed Miliband has been chosen as Gordon Brown’s long-term successor to lead the Labour party into the next General Election and maybe beyond.  After months of hard campaigning, Ed surprised many by just getting enough votes to edge out his brother and favourite with many bookmakers, David Miliband.  The news was announced at the weekend, at the start of Labour’s annual party conference.  He will take over from Harriet Harman, who has been standing as acting deputy leader during the transitional period in British politics.

After four rounds of vote counting, Ed received a 1.3% bigger majority share to win the role and become the figurehead into challenging the coalition government for the next testing period that politics has to deal with, which is the inevitable spending cuts.  Fellow candidates Ed Balls, Andy Burnham and Diane Abbott were a distant third, fourth and fifth in the final votes, with the leadership already looking like it was heading to one of the Miliband brothers.

In his acceptance speech, Ed was full of praise for his brother:

“David, I love you so much.”  “To the country, I know we lost touch, I know we need to change.”  “Today begins a new generation for Labour.”

There is now intense speculation about the future of David Miliband political career.  Many insiders are expecting him to quit frontline politics to spend more time with his family.  Whatever he decides, his support for the Labour party must remain strong if the party is going to recover from the devastating blow of losing power in Downing Street when we went to vote back in May. 

Can Ed Miliband turn around the fortunes of the Labour party….he certainly has a tough and challenging job on his hands…..

The Labour Leadership Contest Gets All Brotherly

   

He may have only vacated Downing Street and the most important job in politics one week ago, but the race is already underway to become Gordon Brown’s long-term successor of the Labour party.  Whilst Harriet Harman is standing in for now, whilst the party attempts to rebuild itself as an opposition force, it is the forthcoming battle between the Miliband brothers that could be the new storm in British politics.

As the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats settle into their coalition partnership, and sorting out pressing issues, such as the economy, our troops in Afghanistan and taxes, Labour gets ready to become an opposition force after thirteen years in power.  As MP’s return to duty on Wednesday, following the six week election campaign, it will be interesting to see who can lead Labour out of the doldrums on a long-term basis.  Already, former Chancellor Alistair Darling and Peter Mandelson have ruled themselves out of the race, whilst Harman has insisted she will not run long term, only interested in providing the much-needed stability that the party requires now.  However, fellow Labour MP’s, particular from the female side, want Harman to stand to prevent an all-male leadership contest.  Ex Schools-Secretary Ed Balls, an outspoken figure is expected to launch his bid this week, whilst there have been outside mentions for fellow MP’s Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper.

However, the frontrunners appear to be the Miliband brothers.  On Saturday, the outgoing Energy Minister Ed Miliband announced his intention to stand for Brown’s vacant position.  The MP for Doncaster North, who launched his campaign in London, has insisted that there is no rivalry with his brother, David Miliband.  He also claimed he would support David, should he win and went out with the comment ‘Win or Lose, we will still be the best of friends.’  Whether that will happen, remains to be seen….For David Miliband, this is his chance to take control of the party.  Twice before, he could have challenged Gordon Brown for the leadership, but elected to support him rather than stand against him, and now with the vacant position open, he is the bookmakers favourite to land the Labour role.  A recent YouGov poll showed him coming out with 32% of the vote, more than half the percentage of the next closest, Harriet Harman with 11%.  The former Foreign Secretary, an MP for South Shields since 2001 and having served Labour on the Cabinet for eight years, is known to have some wide support from many sectors of the Labour fraternity.  Many already see him as the figurehead for the fightback to Downing Street.

There is unlikely to be such a complex deal, as there was with Gordon Brown and Tony Blair in 1994, after the untimely death of the popular John Smith, but there could well be many more twists, before the expected announcement, Labour’s annual party conference in September.  The race to be Gordon Brown’s long-term successor is well and truly on and it is really more closer than home than many may have anticipated.