Jan Berry slaps down Jacqui Smith - Police Federation Conference.

Ever since I started blogging I have followed the speeches and press releases from the Police Federation. The one thing that always makes them interesting is the honest and straightforward opinion of their Chairman for the last six years: Jan Berry. Jan steps down as Chairman on completion of the police conference being held in Bournemouth this week. I will miss reading Jan's press releases and I can only hope that whoever steps into well worn shoes does the job to Jan's high standards. Jan did not disappoint when she made her key note speech at the conference today - She stuck the boot into Jacqui Smith good and hard:

At my first conference, I introduced the opportunity to ask questions of the Home Secretary. Although some Home Secretaries have subsequently regretted it – the session has been an important and healthy exchange of views. Home Secretary - I admire your courage. You didn’t have to come here today and I know conference will treat your office with the respect it warrants. I am sure when your Private Secretary reminded you of today’s event you felt like reaching for the nearest stab proof vest - and perhaps slipping into old habits and lighting up to calm your nerves…

… But as you have reassured us, you have moved on from these past indiscretions…
Your recent crimes have been more for the serious fraud office than the drug squad!

You will say that you could not take any risks with inflation by conceding on police pay. But let me ask you this. How was it that the government found 2.7 billion pounds to dig itself out of a tax hole in advance of a by-election but couldn’t find 30 million pounds to honour our pay deal?

And listen to this.

When teachers went on strike, the Prime Minister and the Education Secretary’s response was to say that it would be ‘irresponsible’ to over-ride the settlement recommended by their independent pay review panel. So it suited Mr Balls to defend the teachers’ panel deal but it didn’t suit you to do the same for us.

Home Secretary, what is it that Mr Balls has but you do not…..

Well done Jan. You will be sorely missed.

You can read Jan's full speech by clicking HERE. - Well worth a read.

Lisbon Treaty - Lib Dems - the most dishonest party?

Last night Tory peer Lord Blackwell proposed a motion to make it law that a referendum is held on whether Britain joins the Euro. The motion was defeated by 195 votes to 135. Now this is a surprise seeing as Labour promised to hold a referendum on the Euro during their 1997 election campaign. Why would they vote against their own policy? As Lord Strathclyde said: there was "something very fishy" about the government's refusal to back its own policy. I wonder if Gordon Brown has promised the other European leaders that we will join the Euro shortly after ratifying the Lisbon Constitution Treaty. If that is the case, then this is another example of Brown denying the people their democratic right to vote. There's a good chance that if entering the Euro did go to a referendum we (like the Lisbon Treaty) would vote NO. And Gordon can't let that happen.

It looks very much like Gordon Brown is going to railroad us into the Lisbon Treaty, shortly followed by forcing the Euro on us.

As angry as that makes me, it is nothing compared to how the dishonest behaviour of the Lib Dems infuriates me. A while ago I wrote the post: How to flush out a rat - In which I explained how Nick Clegg had forced his MPs to abstain from the vote for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, but would whip the Lib Dem peers to vote against a referendum when it reached the upper house. The reason - Gordon Brown would not be guaranteed to win the vote against a referendum unless the Lib Dem peers voted with his Labour peers. Nick Clegg has more faces than Big Ben's clock tower.

It gets worse. The UKIP peer, Lord Pearson is calling for vote on a referendum on Britain's continued membership of the EU. Now this is where it gets a little confusing: The Lid Dem peers are going to abstain from this vote. Can anyone out there figure that one out? Well a Lib Dem spokesman tried to explain their ridiculous position. He said the Lib Dems did not want to "give succour" to eurosceptics by voting with the UK Independence Party. Apparently the party wanted a referendum on whether Britain should remain in Europe from a "pro-European stance". What a load of old cobblers.

Do you think the Lib Dems are the most dishonest party? I'm pretty sure they are.

Police majority vote to lobby for full industrial rights.

Press release from the Police Federation:

20 May 2008

This afternoon in the Opening Speech to conference (available on the website) Jan Berry announced the results of the Police Federation/Ipsos MORI poll of the membership on binding arbitration and full industrial rights.

They are:

A total of 60,572 responses were received.

Q1. Do you think decisions made by the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal should or should not be binding on the Government?

Yes, should be binding = 93%
No, should not be binding = 3%
No opinion/don't know/not stated = 4%

Q2. In the current absence of binding arbitration on the Government, do you wish the Police Federation of England and Wales to start to lobby for a change in legislation to allow police officers full industrial rights?

Yes = 86%
No = 11%
No opinion/don't know/not stated = 3%

Chairman of the Police Federation, Jan Berry says:

" I do not see this as a vote for strike action; it's a vote for binding independent arbitration.

" This is a wake up call for the government, and they must listen to what the police officers of England and Wales are telling them."

Jacqui Smith will address the Police Federation Conference tomorrow - I bet she is looking forward to that!

Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "I urge the home secretary to immediately enter into a dialogue with the leaders of the federation to ensure that the necessity for them to take such action is considerably diminished, if not eliminated."

Will they listen and learn?

Crewe and Nantwich - William Hill take record £40,000 bet (Tory win),

Press release from William Hill:

Conservative Cheer In Crewe As Punter Places Biggest Ever By Election Bet!
William Hill have today taken the biggest ever by election bet, when a customer from central London placed £40,000 on a Conservative victory in the Crewe & Nantwich by election at odds of 1/16 and should he be successful he will collect £42,500. As a result Hills have slashed the price of a Conservative victory from 1/16 to 1/20 and offer the Labour party at 8/1 (Lib Dem 20/1).

"This is a massive political punt, nobody risks £40,000 to win just £2,500 unless they are certain of victory. We are not 100% sure of the punters political affiliation but the description does not match that of Gordon Brown, who is likely to be in for a miserable few days," said Hill's spokesman Rupert Adams.

Also - William Hill have halved their odds for Gordon Brown to be ousted as Prime Minister this year from 5/1 to 5/2 after significant support for him to be out by the end of the year. 'Punters seem convinced that Mr Brown is on the way out sooner rather than later.'

Fertilisation and Embryology Bill - What sould the Abortion time limit be?

Tonight our MPs will be debating the Abortion time limit as part of the Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. The debate starts at 18:30 and a free vote should take place around 22:00. Conservative MP Nadine Dorries wants the abortion laws changed. She believes the right of a woman to choose had its limits.

She said: "If a baby feels pain as part of a barbaric abortion process - which is what happens post-20 weeks - and if we know that baby could live if it was allowed to be born, then there comes the point when that baby has rights which are of equal parity to the mother's."

However, Health minister Dawn Primarolo, said: "There is no science that shows us that the survival rates have changed since we took the decision to have the time limit at 24 weeks."

I'll be voting for 20 weeks in this poll. I believe that if their is a chance of survival - then the baby must be given that chance.

Fertilisation and Embryology Bill - What sould the Abortion time limit be?
	Stay as it is - 24 weeks.
	Reduce to - 22 weeks.
	Reduce to - 20 weeks.
	Extended beyond 24 weeks.
	Lower than 20 weeks
pollcode.com free polls

Crewe and Nantwich - Sir Alex Ferguson supports Labour.

Just when you thought that the Labour team in Crewe and Nantwich had absolutely no policies apart from "Tory Toffs", they've come up with a beauty: putting a picture of Sir Alex Ferguson on their leaflets. Football supremo Ferguson is of course well known as a political mastermind and no doubt his endorsement of Moyra Tamsin Dunwoody will have locals voting labour in their droves. Not.

Daily Mirror - Has the pro-Labour tide turned?

I was amazed to read an article in today's Daily Mirror that attacked the Labour "Tory toff" campaign being fought in Crewe and Nantwich. As Tony Parsons points out: "Gwyneth Dunwoody would never have run such a shallow campaign." Such critique of Labour's campaign comes as a welcome surprise after reading Brian Reade's pathetic article in the same paper last week. So I've got to ask: Are the Mirror going the way of the Sun in their support for Cameron's Conservatives? Has the Mirror's pro-Labour tide turned?

Here is a snippet from Tony's article:

As Labour supporters shrieked about rich Tories in Bentleys, they did not seem to have the faintest idea that Bentley has provided generations of Crewe families with work. In Crewe, a Bentley is a potent symbol of highly skilled, proud working men and a brand recognised around the world. Pointing self-righteous fingers might have worked elsewhere, but using a Bentley as an example of privilege in Crewe is thick. But there are other words to describe the class war Labour has waged in Crewe - witless, mindless and thoughtless. If you are going to talk about class, it needs to be done with intelligence and passion.

Well done Tony Parsons. You can read the full article by clicking HERE.

50% of "On the spot" fines are not being paid.

The Daily Mail are reporting that a Freedom of information request uncovered the fact that 50 per cent of "On the spot" fines (Penalty Notices for Disorder) are going unpaid. Some areas are reporting a payment rate of only 32 per cent. With an estimated 95,000 fines going unpaid the courts are struggling to recover the outstanding £7.7million. Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation, said:

“The government must restrict the use of Penalty Notices for Disorder to the most minor of offences. The reality is they don’t deter crime and a lot are never paid. “It’s high time we were allowed to get back to some common sense policing, using our discretion, and putting these persistent offenders before the courts. Otherwise they are just laughing in the face of the law and feel confident to go on to bigger and more serious criminal activity.”

Of course the main flaw in the "brilliant idea" is that yobs being yobs, they tend to give false identities when they are being fined. Who'd have thunk it? You may have noticed that Jan Berry said: "putting these persistent offenders before the courts" And there's a good reason for that - you do not get a criminal record no matter how many "on the spot" fines you receive.

Alan Gordon, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, says:

"Let’s look at the reality of fixed penalty notices. Currently a third (now 50%) go unpaid and those who receive them get no criminal conviction. The Sentencing Advisory Panel suggestion that shoplifters (for example) could avoid jail no matter how many times they commit the offence is a disgrace. It sends out the wrong message at a time when the police and the public alike are sick to death of a criminal justice system which is far too lenient on those who break the law. The term shoplifting is misleading. It is stealing, and stealing is a crime and should be dealt with as such. The ultimate deterrent to any criminal is a prison sentence. We need more prisons, not a short term fix which will only encourage crime, not tackle it.”

This is just another Labour quick fix aimed at gathering money that doesn't work.

Poll: How will the main parties perform in Crewe and Nantwich.

A poll carried out for The News of the World puts the Conservatives eight points ahead of Labour in the Crewe & Nantwich by-election. This morning David Davis told Andrew Marr: "We have got a 7,000 majority to overturn. "We haven't won a by-election from Labour in 30 years. But we are pulling out all the stops."

Conservatives 45%
Labour 37%
LibDems 14%

How will the main parties perform in the Crewe and Nantwich By-Election?
	Conservative win by more than 5000 votes.
	Conservative win.
	Labour win by more than 5000 votes.
	Labour win.
	Lib Dem win by more than 5000 votes.
	Lib Dem win.
pollcode.com free polls

The Eighty Ninth Magical Mystery Blog Tour Bus Leaves in 5 Minutes!

Got some time to kill but don't know where to go?

Why don't you climb aboard the Magical Mystery Blog Tour Bus? There are still a few places left.

Click on STOP 1 and the Bus will take you to your first Mystery Blog location.

To get back on the Bus just click the Back Button and click STOP 2 to continue the Tour. I think you can work the rest out.

The Bus rolls out on Sundays and Wednesdays - enjoy the ride.

- SHOCKER!

David Davis on the Andrew Marr Show - 18th May 08

I've just watched David Davis on the Andrew Marr Show. What a brilliant performance. I'm not saying that as a Tory, I'm saying it as an ex-Labour supporter who is becoming more convinced by the day that joining the Conservative party was the right thing to do. The difference between the way David and his fellow shadow cabinet members come across compared to our Labour ministers is glaringly obvious. I believe that Andrew Marr enjoyed this interview and actually bought into David's view of a future Tory government.

Watch and enjoy: Click HERE. (46min and 15secs in)

Crewe and Nantwich - Dunwoody tears up campaign leaflets

The Sunday Express are reporting that Labour candidate Moyra Tamsin Dunwoody-Kneafsy has been ordered to tear up her campaign leaflets. The leaflets for the Crewe and Nantwich by-election are to be scrapped over fears of a back lash against dirty campaigning. One senior Labour source said: “They had been told to attack the Tories on policy not the background of an individual. We want to win on policy, not some old-style class war.”

The leaflet in question sported slogans such as: “Do you really think a Tory toff from Tarporley cares?”, “out-of-touch Tory” and “Stop the Tory Rot”. However I find that mild compared to this Labour leaflet:


Con man? Where the hell do they get off calling Conservative candidate Edward Timpson a con man? What's next? Just how far are Labour willing to go?

Conservatives - 20 point lead in Sunday Times YouGov Poll

From the Sunday Times:

The latest YouGov poll for the Sunday Times makes depressing reading for Gordon Brown ahead of the coming week’s key by-election test in Crewe & Nantwich. The Tories have a 20-point national poll lead, up from 16 a month ago. Labour is on just 25% of the vote (down 2), with the Tories at 45% (up 2) and the Liberal Democrats on 18%, also up 2. David Cameron is beginning to move towards the kind of poll leads that Tony Blair enjoyed before his landslide victory in 1997.

What I'm pleased to see from this Poll is that Gordon Brown's tax bribe failed to come off - 47% say it was a cynical ploy ahead of the by-election. 69% of voters say Brown is not up to the job and 59% say he should step down before the next election. Any of the cheering Labour MPs at Darling's tax announcement last week will not be too happy today.

The people have seen through them.

Blog under construction - slow weekend blogging.

I know I said that I wouldn't be changing the look of the blog for a while, but I've decided that seeing as the number of visitors is rising (200 bad day, 800+ good day), it needs to look more professional.

Let me know what you think of the new look. Should be finished by Monday.

Cheers

Steve

Nick Robinson hits Gordon Brown's nail on the head.

Nick Robinson is often accused of being soft on Gordon Brown by the right and of showing contempt for the PM from the left. To be honest this is probably down to Nick writing his articles from the centre ground - you can't please them all. Anyhoo, Nick's latest post directs his readers to an essay he wrote for the Today programme at the end of Gordon Brown's extraordinary week (as he describes it). The essay gives us an insight into what is really happening behind the scenes in the Labour party. Nick hits Gordon Brown's nail right on the head:

"Imagine. Imagine just for a second. What if there had not been an emergency Budget this week. What if the government had not borrowed an extra £2.7 billion to pay for a tax cut to 22 million people? Ministers are in no doubt. Labour MPs would have defeated the Finance Bill - that's the legislation that implements the Budget. That would have been led to the resignation of the Chancellor, Alistair Darling. The prime minister's long-term ally would have been seen to have paid the price for Gordon Brown's errors. Thus, his future would have been in real doubt.

The 10p saga toxically combined Gordon Brown's political weaknesses with the economic consequences of what the governor of the Bank of England has called the "death of the nice" decade. It was the squeeze on family finances caused by rising food and fuel prices that made the losses from the scrapping of the 10p tax rate intolerable to many people. However, it was the prime minister's stubborn denial that there were any losers and his insistence that there was no political problem that made this row so dangerous. Gordon Brown did not just ignore the warnings of the experts or backbenchers like Frank Field but of many of his closest allies in the cabinet. Some in Whitehall talk of the PM living in a parallel universe. Even when he finally acknowledged that the problem had to be solved he insisted at first that it would only require a tweak of his beloved tax credits and a few hundred million pounds.

You can read the rest of Nick's essay by clicking HERE.