"Friends as you know I’m not long back from Washington D.C. and I said to people there that I couldn’t stay long, because I was off to Dundee.
And they asked Dundee Michigan, Dundee Illinois or Dundee Oregon?
I said the original Dundee.
They asked what state was it in?
It’s in a great state, I replied.
It’s got a Labour council."
Gordon Brown, Labour Conference Speech, 6th March 2009
Since the SNP's emphatic win in the Maryfield by-election on the 12th of March, negotiations have been ongoing to remove the Labour/LibDem/Tory administration from Dundee. There will be a special full meeting of Council on the 30th of March, but ahead of this the tension appears to have gotten too much for the Labour Lord Provost John Letford, who has stepped down from the Labour party to go independent.
Provost Letford said in the Courier “I have been trying to persuade my ex-colleagues for nearly two years to recognise the fact that, in the interests of the city and fair play, Dundee City Council committee conveners should be compiled from all parties... It is ludicrous to believe all the political talent required to run a city is only available in the administration and exclude half of the councillors”.
That doesn't sound like a group in a great state, never mind a Council. The anti-democratic anyonebuttheSNP administration in the city has most recently been criticised for the condition of it's Council housing. When I went up to lend a hand during the by-election campaign I spoke to plenty of scunnered Dundonians who were desperate to kick the administration out of office. I also found out how unhappy some Dundee Council employees are with those in control. What's needed isn't a rainbow coalition - it's a wind of change.
The make up of the Council is now:
14 SNP
8 Labour
3 Conservatives
2 Liberal Democrats
2 Independents
5 comments:
Happy Days!
The ever impartial, objective and balanced BBC describe events in Dundee as some kind of greedy, grasping, selfish seizure by the SNP -
SNP gain vital ally in power grab
British Ministry of Propaganda
24 Mar 2009
Indeed, the last words in the article are given to a New Labour MP claiming the Lord Provost, Mr Letford, has done what he has done, because he has no principles anymore, and done it for the money. No further questions are asked by the BBC journalist.
However, I think the BBC journalist intended the final paragraph to be read ironically -
"If Mr Letford wishes to be reminded of what principles actually are, he need look no further than his former colleagues in the city council Labour group. They still have them."
Quite!
Here's George Monbiot on New Labour and its principled politicians, with a demolition of Hazel Blears -
Just what exactly do you stand for, Hazel Blears - except election?
Gruniad
10 Feb 2009
all the best BB!
Sorry
I meant to say that Gordon Brown didn't grab power in the same way the BBC claims the SNP has. No.
Gordon Brown isn't PM as the result of tawdry intrigue and back-biting in the court of the palace of St Blair of Iraq.
Brown was elected PM, fair and square, in British general election.
Also according to the BBC,
the result of the Glenrothes by-election (the only parliamentary election PM Brown has ever won if memory serves me),
...came down to more than one factor, but some argued that it showed Mr Brown was the man to steer Britain through tough economic times.
Success and challenge for Labour
HMG Ministry of Propaganda
06 Mar 2008
Yes, that right - not that Brown was in some way responsible for the economic depression, being he was the Chancellor and all, and now PM - but that the BBC thinks he'll save us all from his own utter incompetence and gross mismanagement.
As George Galloway said, when he heard that Blair had been made a Middle East Peace Envoy, "It's like putting Harold Shipman in charge of Help The Aged"
all the best!
Craig Murray
has written a nice wee post on events in Dundee -
Great News From Dundee
Craig Murray
31 Mar 2009
all the best BB!
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