Red and Green Woes in Euro-poll

The first opinion poll relating to the European elections since nominations closed appeared in today’s Sunday Times. It makes interesting reading, though depressing for Labour and the Greens. In response to the question ‘How will you vote in the June 4 European elections?’, 37% said Conservative, 22% Labour, 19% Liberal Democrat and 7% UKIP. All the other parties registered 5% or less. If such a pattern were reflected in London, Labour would lose one of their three MEPs, the Greens’ Jean Lambert would be out, and I would come in as a second LibDem MEP. Intriguingly, this mirrors almost exactly the predictive poll calculated by Marsh and Hix a few weeks ago. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, however — though this poll should encourage LibDem activists to go out and campaign. Today I was out and about with local teams in Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest and the mood was certainly upbeat.

Why Sensible Conservatives should vote LibDem on 4 June

Today, 9 May, is Europe Day, but one person who will certainly not be celebrating is David Cameron, who has received a very public slap in the face from one of his outgoing MEPs, Christopher Beazley. Mr Beazley got a standing ovation in the European Parliament this week by declaring that the Conservative leader ‘thinks that by becoming anti-European in the House of Commons this will secure him the premiership of my country. I, as a British Conservative, reserve the right to object. If my party leadser seeks to rip up thirty years of work by Tory pro-Europeans, he is wrong.’ Another outgoing Tory MEP, Caroline Jackson, had earlier been equally scathing, denouncing Mr Cameron’s plan to pull Tory MEPs out of the EPP (Christian Democrat-dominated group) in the European Parliament as a ‘stupid, stupid policy’.

It is clear from the all-part hustings that I have already done in this election campaign that the Cameroon Conservatives are going to run on a Brussels-bashing ticket, vying with UKIP and the five (sic) other anti-EU parties on the ballot paper in London. No wonder a growing number of sensible Conservatives have been telling me that they have only one choice on 4 June: to vote Liberal Democrat.

Gladstone Supper Club

I had an evening off from campaigning in London tonight, as I had a longstanding engagement to be the guest speaker at the Gladstone Supper Club in Luton, whom I regaled with tales of my travails as a young journalist in Asia. The Club was established many years ago, as a way of lettting the spouses of hardpressed councillors see more of their husbands/wives in a social context. The three-course dinners are now cooked and served by students at the local catering college — and very good it all was too. An unexpected surprise was having my East of England counterpart (as Number 2 Euro-list candidate), Linda Jack, as my table companion. The dinners regularly attract up to 50 participants — an idea some other local parties might usefully copy.

After dinner, I took a train up to Leicester, where I’ll be giving an academic paper at a Black Sea conference, before returning to the fray in London.

The Orpheus Trial

London’s alternative gliterati turned out in force at Daunt’s delightfully renovated former Pan bookshop in the Fulham Road in Chelsea this evening, for the launch of Maureen Duffy’s 18th novel, The Orpheus Trail (Arcadia Books, £11.99) — a thriller, of which Maurren gave us all a tantalising taste with a short but powerful reading from an early chapter. I’ll probably have to wait until after the European elections until I get the chance to read the book, but I have been a fan, as well as a friend, of the author since I read a paperback edition of her first evocative memoir, That’s How It Was , when we lived round the corner from each other in Earl’s Court.  Apparently people in London are reading more books — and using public libraries more — during the economic recession, so every cloud has a silver lining, it would seem.

It was interesting to run into Ivan Massow, former Chairman of the ICA and a one-time Conservative anti-European, now back in the UK and looking healthy from a long sojourn in Barcelona, in his new guise as film director, producer and writer. He says he now wonders whether his former Euro-negativism was a mistake. It’s a pity his earstwhile Tory chum William Hague hasn’t yet realised that too.

Link: www.maureenduffy.co.uk

Strangers into Citizens

The grey skies and drizzle of yesterday’s Bank Holiday Monday afternoon did nothing to dampen the spirits of the many thousands of people who turned up in Trafalgar Square, for the ‘Strangers into Citizens’ rally, compered by Bengali broadcaster Ajmal Masroor. Faith groups, progressive politicians, trade unionists, pop stars and others all had their say (or else performed), to celebrate Britain’s diversity and the contribution that hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers make to our economy — which is why there is a strong case for their regularisation. With typical bad taste and inaccuracy, however, the Daily Express marked the occasion with a front page story claiming that illegal migrant workers may cost Britain £1 million a head. Why is our tabloid Press so shameless and disgusting? Regularising ‘illegals’ would actually bring tens of millions of pounds into the British Exchequer, as the people concerned would then be paying taxes. More important, they would no longer be at risk of exploitation and abuse, as they are at present.

Although I once gave a speech before at a small event in Trafalgar Square, it was great to see a huge sea of smiling faces when I spoke from the platform yesterday afternoon, immediately after Chris Huhne MP. In various languages, I greeted all the different nationalities present and looked forward to the day when British people recognise the important role they play in our society, and they can truly ‘belong’ here, with justice and dignity.

[bottom photo: Jonathan Fryer, Merlene Emerson (LibDem PPC for Hammersmith) and Chris Huhne]

Link: http://www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk

It’s a Stick-up!

I have spent an inordinate amount of time this Bank Holiday weekend at various London Liberal Democrat offices, church halls and community centres, from Hornsey and Wood Green to Richmond and beyond, via Camden, Islington and goodness knows how many other London boroughs, moving around on trains and tubes and buses, as the massive operation got underway to ensure that every household will get LibDem literature for the European elections on 4 June — or several pieces, in some cases. Lacking major trade union support or noteworthy big business donations, the party relies heavily on small donations and voluntary help from members and supporters, but it is great to see everyone pulling together (while Labour, bizarrely, is pulling itself apart). All the target (UK parliamentary) constituencies are getting very smart, multi-coloured leaflets, to which addressed labels merely have to be stuck. But sticking labels on hundreds of thousands of leaflets, and bundling them properly, takes a daunting number of people-hours!

This evening, I’ll be addressing Streatham LibDems at a pasta and politics, on Europe, of course. London has so much to gain by being placed at the a heart of Europe, as Britain as a whole should be. Tony Blair said he’d do it, but he flunked it. Gordon Brown never had the real will to do it, and now he has his drawbridge up, in his own personal battlements, seemingly out of touch with what the electorate wants, let alone what Britain in Europe needs.

Link: www.JonathanFryer4Europe.com

The Islington Euro-launch

Islington Liberal Democrats filled committee rooms 5 and 6 in Islington Town Hall last night, to launch the borough’s Euro-election campaign. The sitting MEP, Sarah Ludford, is ‘home grown’ (though actually I first came across her when we were both living and working in Brussels) and both she and I rallied the troops, before a partly-serious, partly tongue-in-cheek video tribute to outgoing Council leader James Kempton was shown. His former deputy, Terry Stacey — who hails from my London adopted home, Tower Hamlets — has taken over as group leader.

The venue was nostalgic for some, as it was there that the count was held for the Hillrise local by-election in December 1999, when a massive swing to the LibDems delivered not only the ward but also the Council into their hands. Over the intervening decade, the party has turned the borough authority from a ‘poor’ to an ‘excellent’ performer, though it got a nasty shock in 2006 when it almost lost control, in part, at least, for not listening sufficiently to local residents’ grumbles about parking issues.

The Labour opposition in Islington — still of the red-flag socialist variety in the main — was in a bloody mood at the recent budget meeting, determined to try and foist a big council tax rise on Islington’s residents. But their failure bodes well for the fortunes of the LibDems for strengthening their hold on the Council again in May next year and for electing Bridget Fox as the next MP for Islington South — aims which will certainly be advanced by a vigorous Euro-campaign over the next month, to ‘Make it 2!’ London LibDem MEPs.

Link: http://islington-libdems.org.uk