For the Many not the Few, Remember?

How very fitting for John Hutton, business minister and free-market disciple (left) to select the Daily Telegraph to announce a big 'No' to any thoughts of a windfall tax on gas and oil companies' huge profits. Very few Telegraph readers would be personally intimate with 'fuel poverty'. However most would still be aware of the inexorable rise in fuel and electricity costs. (Fuel poverty is defined as any family who spend in excess of 10% of their income on fuel and that's about 3m families at present.) Hutton was clear despite overwhelming evidence of hardship, families had "benefitted very considerably in the past from low prices." It is true we have had comparable prices to other European countries in recent years. But then again these countries have not had the massive resources of oil, gas and coal we have in Britain. There was barely any acknowledgement from the Labour Minister of the misery and want millions have in store this winter.

The profits enjoyed by firms such as BP (£13Bn last year and £4bn last quarter) are by any standard extra-ordinary and all of their increases have been derived from market conditions and not from harder work or shrewder investment. British Gas has a more modest enterprise than BP and only posted a £2bn profit at the same time as announcing an overnight increase in bills of 35%. If you didn't realise it, gas has doubled in price in the last two years.

Hutton argues it would be unreasonable to tax the utilities like 1997 when £4.5bn was raised because that was a manifesto committment. However the market economy grows in unpredictable ways and Government should not wait for an election before making any adjustment. Traditionally American Democrats have been well right of Labour in terms of being business friendly. But Obama is committed to impose a windfall tax on oil firms and give a tax break to middle and lower income families.

Hutton has unashamedly swallowed the CBI argument about disincentives to investment - the same arguments that have been made by Tories about minimum wage, equal pay and going back 100 years national insurance. Much of the Labour administration is just too cautious to make any bold policy gesture toward social justice. I suspect for Hutton re-distribution is not an embarrassing reminder of naive ideals, he really believes in the unrestrained business ethos. To Hutton, addressing these profits would be a 'tax and spend' socialist agenda. His constiutency is no longer the poor and elderly struggling to keep their houses warm -now he serves the profiteers.

Pontificating on Racism

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI has stepped into the increasingly frantic race row in Italy mainly concerning the prejudicial treatment of the 150,000 Roma population. Being the Pope he only referred in an oblique way to "new and worrisome signs of racism in the world" but his words are certainly a calculated intervention responding to the sinister creep to open bigotry from Italy's establishment. Burlosconi's announcement that all Roma should be fingerprinted was effectively blessed in a High Court Ruling last month where the presiding judge said, "all the Gypsies are thieves." Now that's what I call institutionalised racism.

Here in Britain we can look at these events with a sense of superior calm, can't we? Except we can't. The Government still intends to press ahead with denying GP treatment to failed asylum seekers. In their joint DH/ Home Office consultation paper 'Proposals to Exclude Overseas Visitors to Free NHS Primary Care' they assert 'genuine' asylum seekers will continue to get GP treatment but failed asylum seekers will not. It would be easier to understand, although still discriminatory, if all failed asylum seekers were workshy economic migrants and 'genuine' ones were brave, oppressed and without hope. But many (thousands) in the failed category are from countries like Zimbabwe, Iraq and Congo where basic freedoms and individual rights are routinely denied.

It is already Government policy to disallow work or benefits to failed asylum seekers but to prevent access to healthcare would be to confirm them as entirely 'second-class.' GPs were invited to comment but the Government have refused (even under FOI) to release their responses and seem content to supress the professionals' opinions. Some responses have leaked out anyway. Naturally there were severe concerns about the spread of certain diseases which would go unchecked, TB, diptheria and measles (the proposals would also outlaw vaccinations).

Then there is that pesky General Medical Council guiding principle that GPs should "make the care of your patient your first concern." There seems no way around that one and it would be pretty hard for the Government to carry this through Parliamnet with almost unviversal objection. Alan Johnson as Sec of State for Health can clearly see the iniquity - the ghastly, humourless Liam Byrne has all the necessary sangue froid to implement this dispicable policy.

Gord Help Us

I was sitting with cold beer looking up at at Mont Blanc, not thinking about Gordon on holiday in Suffolk, when I got the text from my brother. Labour had lost the by-election in Glasgow to the SNP. Just ten days before, I saw two polls which showed a 12-14% point Labour lead which would translate into a much reduced majority of 4-5,000 but a safe win. So I had put the prospect of Government defeat out of my mind.
The loss easily ranks with other by-election disasters for a sitting Government, Orpington, Bermondsey, Govan, Newbury for those political anoraks.
It was a colosall political error for Brown to call the election in July. His idea was to get it out of the way ready for a re-launch in October. But what he failed to realise was how far the mo' (that's American for momentum) was against him. It was also extra-ordinarily foolish to reveal, a week before polling. a new Tory style strategy on benefit scroungers instituting a US welfare to work scheme and forcing the disabled into work. Glasgow East is one of the poorest seats in UK with very high levels of state dependence, how did they expect it to play?
It is as well for Gordon everyone is still on the beach but they'll be back by 1 September and then he can expect huge speculation about his future. He may be about as popular as rabies but his Prime Ministerialship is not immediately threatened. He is clearly not one of those resigning types, particularly as he doesn't feel he's got anything wrong.

Party rules on unseating a leader are really tough, about half the delegates at the Manchester Conference in October would have to vote against him in a no-confidence motion. I can't see that happening especially as there is no very obvious successor although David Milliband and Alan Johnson would probably make a better fist of it than Gordon.
Labour MPs are also aware a new leader would bring a General Election and for many joining the queue of scroungers in the search for work. It may be the case constitutionally there is no requirement to hold an election simply because the ruling party have elected a new leader. But the public would not accept three Labour PMs in 18 months without a re-newing its mandate.
Gordon was of course chillin' with his homies in Southwold in the August drizzle. He looked even stiffer than John Major which I didn't think was possible. Who wears a jacket and patent leather shoes on the beach? Cameron as Boden man in bordies and a polo shirt made Gord look like he was from another era. There's a reason for that. He is.