Technology | 2009.09.29
Hugh Muir's diary
They were here one minute, gone the next. What price peace for the party at war?
And so severe judgment has been passed on the seven Labour party members accused of gross misconduct in the badlands of Rochdale . Five were expelled after a hearing into allegations, strongly denied, that they bullied the party and its colourful candidate Simon Danczuk; two more were suspended, but they immediately resigned anyway. A couple of longstanding members, one a former mayor, have torn up their party cards in the immediate aftermath. More, it is said, will follow. The trial followed a letter written by the seven in January demanding an investigation into allegations, hotly contested, which relate to Mr Danczuk\'s personal life. Party officials, however, say the misbehaviour started long before that. "After listening to all sides, the National Constitutional Committee has ruled," a spokesman said, emphasising that its members are independent. The prediction now is difficult days ahead, perhaps a legal action by the candidate against a local website, certainly more soap opera; for Rochdale\'s contribution to the dog days of New Labour never seems to rise above that of ghoulish entertainment. Liberal Democrat MP Paul Rowen may look on and feel that his 1,000-vote majority has never been more safe.
Is there nothing to stop John Woodcock, the latest to be catapulted into public life from the launch pad that is No 10? He seems a shoo-in for the soon to be vacant seat for Barrow and Furness, and little wonder. Look at his friends. He\'s now a special adviser to Gordon but before that the former journalist was special adviser to John Hutton, the Barrow MP and former energy secretary who is stepping down at the next election to spend more time with his consultancy at French firm EDF. Last week, Woodcock received a slew of key endorsements from local branches. There are other candidates, but he is on his way. David Miliband travelled a similar path in South Shields, and perhaps the only thing to stop the next man on the conveyor belt will turn out to be the electorate. South Shields is rock-solid Labour, whereas the projected Tory landslide would see Barrow fall to the Conservatives. Still, expect him to be there when it counts.
And what next for Edward McMillan-Scott, the refusenik MEP who no longer has the brotherhood of the Conservative party to cling to? Homeless, rootless , and all because he scuppered David Cameron\'s plan to bestow the vice-presidency of the European parliament on to the dodgy Polish MEP Michal Kaminsky . It\'s cold out there, for sure. But McMillan-Scott will survive. In Brussels, Labour MEPs are grouped on the 13th floor of office block G, along with the Socialists and Democrats. And now McMillan-Scott is there with them. It wasn\'t what he wanted, but in time he\'ll think about the Tory-led rabble of homophobes and extremists he left behind, and smile.
Today\'s the day, for the Lib Dems vowed to fight the proliferation of nuclear power plants in the UK. A chance to enhance the party\'s anti-nuclear credentials. But not all agree. Yesterday, Phil Willis, chairman of the parliamentary science and technology committee , told a fringe event that "Liberal party policy is totally wrong and dishonest". But then last year he said that "We\'re just as likely to be hit by an asteroid as we are to have a nuclear disaster." The lefties in the party have a problem. His name is Phil.
Finally, what a long, unwanted period of seclusion this is for Conrad Black. Six-and-a-half years in a Florida prison for fraud and obstruction of justice . No wonder the mind wanders to his mansion in Toronto, another life, a better time. "In my mind\'s eye," he blogs, "the view from my terrace there, down to our ravine, traversed by deer, foxes, raccoons and less glamorous animals such as groundhogs and skunks, is a paradisiacal thought. This is especially true now that my wife is there with her menagerie. She dons a pith helmet, mosquito netting to keep the bees she has encouraged from becoming too familiar, and looking a little like Liza Minnelli preparing for her trip to Africa in Cabaret." Such thoughts sustain him. Each to his own.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/sep/22/rochdale-seven-conrad-black
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