Defending Lambeth

I've just sent this letter to the Plymouth Herald, following slurs against Lambeth by a Conservative councillor in Plymouth. The letter is self explanatory. I have no idea if the Plymouth Herald will do the decent thing and allow Lambeth a right of reply, but here it is.

Dear Editor,

As a senior member of Lambeth council I must set the record straight after your report of Plymouth’s recent council meeting, and in particular the prejudiced attacks on Lambeth Council by Cllr Joan Watkins, one of Plymouth’s Conservative councillors.

You correctly reported that Labour Lambeth set a council tax freeze of 0.0% with no cuts to frontline services, in marked contrast to Conservative–controlled Plymouth rise of 4.8% with devastating cuts.

The ill-informed Conservative Cllr Watkins claimed to have visited Lambeth, which she described as ‘appalling’ and said the roads are terrible here. She implied that the tax freeze was achieved at the expense of road repair. All three charges are UNTRUE.

Lambeth is currently rated by the independent Audit Commission at three stars out of four and is the best improving council in the country. Plymouth is rated at two stars. So Lambeth is hardly appalling, unless Cllr Watkins knows something I don’t, which I doubt.

Labour Lambeth has in fact committed extra millions to fix roads and pavements in our budget, whilst freezing the council tax. Even Lambeth’s Tory councillors – who voted to raise council tax by 40% - that's forty per cent - when they ran the council, have advocated a freeze.

In Lambeth we recognise that people may be struggling because of the global economic situation and because of the failures of bankers. I mention bankers because we should not forget that around a third of donations to the Conservative Party have come from bankers.

On behalf of Lambeth’s Labour Council I would be happy to share our best practice with the cabinet of Plymouth’s Conservative Council. Perhaps after some tutoring they should then stop above-inflation tax hikes for hardworking Plymouth residents whilst they cut their services.

Yours faithfully,

Cllr Mark Bennett
Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities, Lambeth Council
Labour councillor for Streatham South

Greed is Goodwin: shred his knighthood, not just his pension

I doubt there is anybody in this country at the moment who does not find the greed of Sir Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin, the man who presided over RBS banking losses of £24 billion, a matter for disgust.

This is a man who, despite notorious failures as a responsible banker, wants to cling on to his £16 million pension pot and the £650,000 it would yield every year.

My view is that not only should Goodwin be made to give up his his current pension 'entitlements' but he should also be stripped of his knighthood. He deserves the benefit of neither.

Since the knighthood was awarded for services to banking, and the only service to banking he has ultimately performed is to throw it into chaos, Goodwin should do the decent thing and hand back the cash and the gong.

Two malicious peas in same slimy pod

After a break from blogging, I've decided to get back into it. I've been asked to post the text of my 2006 Tribune article, in which I compared the Liberal Democrats to the BNP in pandering - in their campaigning methods - to the lowest common denominators in British politics. Nothing much has changed.

There are two parties where it is said that just talking about them gives them more legitimacy than they deserve: the fascist British National Party and the cosier Liberal Democrats. Neither is a party of solid, time-weathered principles. Both are active seducers of the angry, the impotent, the dissatisfied and the marginalised. They feed on issues that allow them to become receptacles for protest votes. Their entire existence relies on negativity.

In my years as a member of the Labour Party and active trade unionist in the GMB, I have fought the BNP on many doorsteps. As a press officer for my union, I was certain it was right to name and shame a “dirty dozen” BNP activists with criminal records. I received a range of surprisingly creative death threats as a result, which only demonstrated that the correct course of action had been followed.

A comparison between the Lib Dems and the BNP isn’t drawn lightly. The Lib Dems are not a bunch of overt racists. Nevertheless, there are similarities in their campaigning methods. Also, where they think they can win votes, the Lib Dems can be every bit as divisive as the BNP, particularly at a time when they are desperately seeking a unique political anchorage, with David Cameron’s chameleon Tories eyeing their territory. Look at the vicious campaign the Lib Dems fought at the recent by-election in Bromley.

True colours are never hard to discern. Look at Burnley where, in 2004, the Lib Dems were more concerned with ousting a Labour administration than opposing the BNP. Consider Birmingham, where the Hodge Hill by-election saw the Lib Dems putting out two kinds of leaflet: one for the Asian areas showing Asian voters, and another for the white areas with Asian voters expunged.

Look back to 1993 and the Isle of Dogs where the Lib Dems sought to exploit BNP propaganda and ended up assisting in the election of a BNP councillor. Further back, what about Simon Hughes as “the straight choice” against Peter Tatchell in the 1982 Bermondsey by-election?

Last October, I was the Labour candidate in a council by-election in Streatham South. The full, obsessive Lib Dem arsenal was aiming to gun me down. It misfired, and then exploded on itself in the borough-wide elections in Lambeth in May this year.

The Lib Dems’ shambolic alliance with a handful of Tories had been disastrous for Lambeth, with a 38 per cent council tax rise, £3 million lost in fraud and a parking fine system that amounted to piracy.

One of the most serious faults of the Lib Dems in Lambeth, apart from their obvious incompetence, was their willingness to divert much-needed resources away from the most deprived areas - often those with the highest black and ethnic minority populations. This was coupled with an enthusiasm to impose the borough’s least attractive amenities on those same areas. For instance, they were enthusiastic about bulldozing a public park simply to give Lambeth’s dustcarts a home.

Lib Dems exploit fear and division within communities to win votes. Consider this advice in a Lib Dem campaign handbook: “Be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly”. In Streatham, they claimed, wrongly, that Labour had cut 40 “local” police, and told voters we would be spending more money “in Brixton instead”.

In Lambeth, there is a subtle Lib Dem code for “black”. You won’t find it in any handbook. It relies on exchanging one “B” word for another. In Streatham, there were constant references in Lib Dem leaflets to Labour’s plan to “spend money in Brixton” and “snatch the money to build a second school just for Brixton”, clearly hoping to pander to racist sentiments. In the council chamber and on the streets, I’ve seen Lib Dems in full battle cry. These people, like the BNP, make themselves look ridiculous from one angle, yet they have the capacity to be poisonous from another.

For four years in Lambeth, they had two ethnic minority councillors, one of them a former parliamentary candidate. Neither reached the all-white Lib Dem executive. In spite of their claims about inclusivity, Lambeth Lib Dems returned only 2 black and ethnic minority councillors out of 17 at May’s local elections. Labour returned 12 out of 39. The Lib Dems lost 11 council seats. They remain bitter and ungracious in defeat. Few hands were shaken by Lambeth Lib Dems on the night of May 4. One of my newly-elected Labour colleagues was called “slime” for his efforts by a departing Lib Dem.

The architect of their campaign, a pure maths graduate who left Lambeth’s finances in disarray, was duly anointed as their leader. In one of London’s most diverse boroughs, he is a white, middle-class Surrey male who lists politics and Wagner as his major interests. He has sneered in the past about Labour’s “unthinking vote”. Perhaps the Lib Dems were the ones not thinking when they sought to disenfranchise a whole swathe of Lambeth’s black and ethnic minority population by cutting funds for electoral registration. People can draw their own conclusions.

Labour makes no apology for holding Lambeth’s Lib Dems vigorously to account for their failures. That is the job of a party in opposition. The response of the Lib Dems - the doyens of negative campaigning - was to accuse us of “negativity” and “lies”. It was all a bit rich coming from the party which warns its activists “positive campaigning will not be enough win control of the council”.

Labour in Lambeth ran a tight, focused and organised local election campaign in 2006. We crafted our manifesto and message carefully spoke to as many voters as possible. Unlike the Lib Dems, we believe that any voter is a thinking voter. Unlike the Lib Dems, we promised what we believe in, rather than saying something merely to win votes.

Experience had shown us what we were up against with the Lib Dems: crude propaganda leaflets - shrill and venomous, but effective. Just as the BNP resorts to ruthless sensationalism and shrieks out its message, so do the Lib Dems.

In Lambeth, we proved that Labour can be strongly local, strongly critical and overwhelm the Lib Dems’ output while remaining true to a positive agenda of our values. Like the BNP, the Lib Dems specialise in a brand softly-spoken pavement politics that actually rely on suggestion, smear and distortion. Labour refuses to go down that road.

We have a duty to defuse extremism in all its forms. In Lambeth, our first task is to implement our manifesto - thus delivering quality services and tackling inequality. At the same time, we will continue to shine a spotlight on Lambeth’s Lib Dems and Tories for their failings, nationally and in this borough.

Lib Dems: Eyes Wide Shut

How about this for a subtle attempt by the Lib Dems at image manipulation?

It seems that the unfortunately named Lib Dem councillor Michael Howard, who represents Holmwoods in Mole Valley appeared in a recent Lib Dem election snap with his eyes shut.

The snap was forwarded to the Surrey Advertiser for publication. The paper pointed out that Cllr Howard appeared to be asleep on the job, confirming what Labour councillors in Lambeth tend to think of Lib Dems. The paper refused to use the substandard picture.

Rather than take another picture, this blunt refusal prompted some Lib Dem, who I can imagine sitting alone in a Mole Valley bedroom, to painstakingly provide Cllr Howard with some makeshift eyes.

Have you ever seen anything like it? Blinking Lib Dems.

Happy St George's Day!

I spent the beginning of it outside the new entrance to Streatham Common Station with Labour's Val Shawcross, London Assembly Member for Lambeth and Southwark. We were of course campaigning to win votes in the forthcoming elections, and got a good reception.

Val was a big help in the campaign to get the new entrance built and open after years of struggle, as well as the new N133 night bus for Streatham Vale. She is a very hard worker and I hope she is re-elected.

After cycling to the Town Hall in the rain I was pleased to see, as I sped down Brixton Hill, that the red cross of St George had been run up the flagpole.

There's a constant reminder of England's patron saint in the form of an impressive stained glass window at the top of the main stairs. It's always an impressive sight when you are climbing the stairs, not because it is Edwardian stained glass speaking of England and Empire, but because the Third Century Anatolian-born martyr is also a patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Palestine, Portugal and Russia. An appropriate figure in stained glass for a town hall serving a diverse borough like Lambeth.

Talking of unity, I was pleased, as the new Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, to help launch the Lambeth year of reading at Brixton Library this afternoon. The intention is to encourage people across the borough to read more, and pass a love of reading down to the next generation. The Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival will be a series of inspiring events for all ages and tastes. There will be talks by bestselling authors, discussions with new authors and poetry readings, as well as a play to mark the 60th anniversary of the Empire Windrush.

Wednesday in the Park with Lib, Jim, Nigel and Flo

This evening I did the 5k Your Way run, which had been organised by the central London boroughs. The run was around Regent's Park, and it was great to see so many keen Lambeth staff taking part - out of work hours - and doing really well at the finishing post.

My fellow Labour councillors Lib Peck, Jim Dickson, Nigel Haselden and Florence Nosegbe ran alongside me. Conservative councillor Andrew Gibson was there too, not running but filling in with the civic aspects as a former Mayor. I didn't spot any Lib Dem councillors in running gear, but I'm happy to be corrected.

I used to do a fair amount of long distance running at school and university, and I still jog when I have time - mostly round Streatham Common, using the hill there for endurance.

But I currently have bruised ribs from a cycling accident a few nights ago, so I took it at a steady pace and finished in something like 28 minutes. Chief Executive Derrick Anderson was at the side of the course, loudly spurring on the Lambeth runners.

It was a great experience for all involved, and personally I feel inspired to do more 'competitive' running, which was one intention of the event. I picked up a flyer for the Royal Parks half-marathon later in the year and hope to be able to take part in that and maybe raise some money for charity.

Sorrow for Vassall

After a determined, exploitative and corrosive campaign against Labour by the Lib Dems in Vassall ward, we had to accept defeat at around midnight last night.

I was in the Assembly Hall at Lambeth Town Hall for the count, watching uncomfortably as the greater number of ballot papers stacked up for the Lib Dems.

In the end Labour's Andy Flannagan - a good comrade and hard-working campaigner - lost by 859 votes to identikit Lib Dem Steve Bradley's 1209. Andy, a candidate of substance and character, would have made an excellent councillor and I hope he goes the distance and is elected in 2010. As a by-election candidate myself, I know what it's like to be personally attacked by Lib Dems, and how hard Andy worked to promote a positive vision for the ward.

The weather was terrible - bitterly cold, windy and wet - for much of the day, which is never a good sign. The recent attacks on Ken Livingstone by the Evening Standard and various other warped anti-Labour messages exploited by the Lib Dems in their tsunami of leaflets, meant much of our hoped-for support stayed at home. There is much to learn from this defeat, and I hope that learning will make Labour in Lambeth stronger.

In my polling day role, cycling round the four polling stations from 7am to 10pm collecting numbers to take back to the committee rooms, I knew that we were not getting our voters out in sufficient numbers - particularly in the Labour-voting areas of the ward. But it was good to see so many Labour activists out on the streets, including many councillors from Lambeth and neighbouring boroughs, and Stephen Twigg braving the harsh weather without a coat.

We faced a swing to the Lib Dems which, if it were to be repeated on a wider scale in the GLA election, would give those charlatans more than enough votes to gain the marginal Lambeth and Southwark division. The challenge for Labour campaigners is to get out on the streets in bigger numbers and make sure that the terrible prospect of losing Val Shawcross as our assembly member, and Ken as our Mayor, is averted.

The Streatham Selection – congratulations to Chuka Umunna

It has been a demanding few months for Streatham Constituency Labour Party, choosing a candidate to fight the next general election and hopefully succeed Keith Hill as our Labour MP.

If you were a candidate, and there were 47 at the outset, including me, there were over 500 members to speak to, spread out across the eight wards of the constituency. Then there were websites to be created and leaflets to be written, printed and delivered, and a team of helpers to keep enthused.

It was always going to be hotly contested, with hopes and energies running high. In the end there can be only one politician smiling at the end of it.

That candidate emerged after a meeting on Saturday at Dunraven School, where I am a governor. The drama hall – what an apt location! – was packed with well over 200 Streatham members. Another 100 or so had voted by post.

My friend Chuka Umunna was the winner, with my friend Steve Reed coming a close second. My congratulations go to the former, and my commiserations to the latter. All the candidates on the shortlist – Dora Dixon-Fyle, Naz Sarkar and Cathy Ashley were the others – would make good MPs in their different ways, and whatever they choose to do in the future they can be proud that they made it as far as the shortlist and to a hustings which was perhaps the biggest CLP meeting Streatham has seen, certainly in my time as a member here.

I didn’t do as well as I had hoped, though I don’t regret putting my name forward. My affection for Streatham is such that I would have regretted not having done so. I had a lot of fun meeting members who, for whatever reason, don’t generally come to party meetings or come out campaigning and explaining to them what I believe in.

I learned a lot, both about the process and about the chemistry of local politics. I ended the process as an ordinary voting member, with a lot of sympathy for the remaining candidates, as well as sympathy for the members, who had been blitzed with paper, as well as phones and doorbells ringing at awkward moments. It’s a relief that it’s over, and we can now concentrate on working with Chuka to defend Streatham for Labour.

If I have a personal highlight, it was being given a teapot by an elderly couple, a kind gift which I will keep as an unusual memento. We had a long chat as I sat in an armchair with their one-eyed cat settled in my lap, and I remember thinking ‘this is the Labour Party I believe in, good, honest people, sharing time, experience, hopes, views and values.’

Farewell, Selassie

In between meetings with the police, I made time to attend the funeral at 1pm today of my constituent and friend Stan Kendall-Morris, who died just after Christmas aged 72, following an illness. I had visited Stan just before Christmas at his home in Streatham Vale. He had just returned from a spell in Trinity Hospice, and was relieved to be home, with a view from his window of his garden.

We had a friendly talk, me sitting at his bedside taking notes as he urged me to press on with gating the alley behind his home. Stan was often on the phone with advice or requests from neighbours, or just for a chat about how things were going.

Stan would always call me “Mark, my councillor” and every time we met he would extend a big, powerful hand and shake mine, holding it tight until he had finished what he wanted to say. For a small man, Stan had very big hands. When Stan’s niece referred to those great big hands in her recollections of her uncle, and all the people he comforted with them, things he made and meals he cooked with them, there was a ripple of approving recognition through the small chapel.

The funeral, which was held at Streatham Vale Crematorium was, I’m pleased but unsurprised to record, very well-attended by Stan’s family and friends from the Streatham Vale Property Occupiers’ Association (SVPOA) and allotment holders from the Vale.

The service was conducted by the vicar of the Holy Redeemer Church, Streatham Vale. Bible readings were followed by a eulogy from Stan’s boyhood friend Dr Randy Chan, now resident in Toronto. While Randy was speaking we were surprised to find out that throughout his boyhood in Guyana, Stan was known universally as Selassie.

We were cheered by anecdotes of Selassie’s early life with his friends in the small village of Rosignol, on the west bank of the Berbice river in Guyana. It sounded like a simple, unhurried life; picking fruit, fetching cans of milk, playing bat and ball, watching the boats go by on their way to New Amsterdam and daydreaming about everything and nothing over shaved ice bought from a man who strolled the streets with a block of ice and fruit syrups to flavour it.

I was surprised that another of Selassie’s boyhood friends was already known to me through my work with Lambeth’s inter-faith forum, Vidur Dindayal. I had never connected the two. Vidur also lives in Lambeth. It’s a small world, he said to me afterwards, with a big smile.

It might not have seemed that way to the young Selassie when, one of ten children, he embarked on a small cargo boat for the two week crossing to England fifty years ago. He settled in London, found work as a telephone engineer, joined the CWU, had a family, but always harked back proudly to his roots in Rosignol.

Friends like Vidur, a Hindu, were close by and a constant reminder of the untroubled ethnic diversity of Rosignol – people of Chinese, Indian and Black Guyanese origin grew up happily together.

Dr Chan told a story about a visit Stan and his widow Norma made to Toronto in 2000. The visitors and their hosts had a meal in the fancy restaurant on top of the CN Tower. After the meal, Stan turned to his old friend Randy with a grin and said “if the folks in Rosignol could see us now, Randy. You understand me? You know what I’m saying?”

I could hear Stan saying it. I will miss the man, his advice and phone calls and his enthusiastic support for his Labour councillors - Stan and his family were kind enough to endorse me during my by-election.

I am glad to have seen my friend one last time before Christmas, though it wasn’t an easy visit to make. Stan – Selassie – was dying, but the grip of those big hands was as strong as ever.

Alan Davidson

I'm grieving over the loss of a dear friend and Labour Party comrade, Alan Davidson.

Alan died suddenly, though he was only in his early forties, on Tuesday. There was no warning, no opportunity to say goodbye. My heart goes out to Alan's beloved wife, Anna.

The last time I saw him, he was in good spirits and full of ideas. That is how I will always remember him. He had been immensely proud to lay a wreath at Streatham War Memorial on behalf of Streatham Constituency Labour Party. We talked for a long time after the ceremony about anything and everything, as we always did.

He was one of the most committed activists in Streatham Labour Party. I believe he had a bright future and (I know) big plans ahead. It is so sad that the future and those plans have been snatched away from him, and he has been snatched away from us.

We all have those moments when we hear terrible news, and we always remember where we are.

I was at home, up a ladder, painting a wall when I got a message from the Labour Party to say Alan had died. It was devastating, and ironic at the same time. Only days earlier, I had been offering Alan my services to hang wallpaper and for painting at his own home. Alan was not gifted in the painting and decorating department, and I think he was about to take me up on the offer.

Only a few days ago he and I were chatting about the writing of a history of Streatham Labour Party, and the need to archive all the election leaflets and pictures and minutes of meetings which have accumulated across the constituency over the years. Alan, as ever, was all for going full steam ahead.

There are so many conversations left unfinished between Alan and I, so many ideas left undeveloped, that the suddenness of his death has left me not really believing it has happened. But it has happened.

I went to a building society in Streatham High Road yesterday and saw a dark-haired man with his back to me, wearing a jaunty fedora just like Alan's. I paused in the doorway, hoping that the man would turn round and turn out to be the wonderful Alan, but knowing full well that it couldn't possibly be.

Alan and I met ten years ago, when he was working at Millbank for the Labour Party and I was working at Downing Street as a civil servant. I took to him instantly, sensing the warmth and generosity of spirit he showed throughout all the years I knew him.

It was Alan who suggested, in a beery conversation at the Westminster Arms, that I should look in Streatham for somewhere to buy a flat - a flat being what I was looking for. After a circuitous search, and many false dawns, that was what I did. Alan was one of the first to welcome me, and was always a welcome guest at my flat.

He relished a full role in Streatham Labour politics, and was always an intelligent, interesting and provocative speaker when he made contributions at any of our meetings.

He was also a staunch trade unionist, with his roles in the constituency and in his union (Amicus, now Unite). I recall bumping into him at Conference recently in Bournemouth, toiling up a hill returning from a demo, rolled-up banner over shoulder, as happy as anything that he had been part of a big protest march on the seafront. He was unique, a man of many interests, individual and irreplaceable. I also recall meeting him later that day in a Bournemouth hotel bar, pint of Guinness in hand, glued to the Rugby which was playing on a screen in the corner.

Though we disagreed frequently, I always knew he spoke from a principled stance. He never wavered, or spoke to one audience differently from another. I admired him for that, amongst many other things.

When I became a councillor and then a Cabinet member, Alan would offer me considered advice about policy, or more personalised advice on how to give the best of myself at public meetings. That advice, in an occasional string of phone calls, texts and emails, has continued up to now. It was always couched in a friendly, amusing way and I always valued it.

I've been reading through his emailed comments after a public meeting just a few weeks ago. He said: "You have to stop holding the mike with both hands. Just think of a good crooner: Mel Torme or Bing Crosby. They always used the spare hand to sing and speak their feelings. You need to loosen up your delivery. Try to modulate more and project your voice."

I can hear him say the words, with that gentle Kiwi lilt he had. If it was face to face advice he was giving - "a quiet word, Councillor" he would say - an almost avuncular hand would be on my arm or elbow. None of Alan's advice was lost on me - I have borne it all in mind. At another public meeting, on the evening of the day he died, I was putting Alan's advice into action. A political Bing Crosby I will never be, but he has helped me to be a better public speaker.

I remember Alan very fondly in so many different settings - at stuffy receptions in Westminster, thoughtful seminars and symposia, in the crushed bars at Conference, at CLP and branch meetings, wine tastings and parties, and out campaigning in all weathers. He was an enthusiastic campaigner, and a natural on the doorstep.

I'm proud to say he worked like a Trojan during my by-election in October 2005, and again when the whole council was up for election in May 2006. He was also a great campaigner at GLA and General Election times.

I have very happy memories of being out knocking on doors with Alan in torrential rain, when it was also miserably cold.

The weather got so terrible at times that we kept our spirits up by making up alternate lines of Limericks, poking fun at the Lib Dems, each Limerick related to the roads we were canvassing at the time. I wrote the best ones down in my diary, and here are a couple.

A Lib Dem who leafleted Braeside
Had "issues" with those on the "gay" side
In true Lib Dem fashion
He altered his passion
In the arms of a trucker from Tayside

A Lib Dem who canvassed in Churchmore
Had a bottom a dog made a lurch for
Said he - no pretence -
"Ow! - can't sit on the fence ...
So instead of just sitting, I'll perch more."

Alan loved the Labour Party, and the Labour Party loved Alan, in all his flamboyant ways. The hats and scarves, the fob watch and chain. His laughter, and ability to chuckle at himself, the looks of intense concentration as he listened to others' views. He loved to chat and gossip, and loved to be in the know about issues large and small. He loved intrigue but hated infighting. He would have had so much more to offer the Party in years to come, and we discussed his plans many times over the years, with me lending a comradely ear. His death is a tragedy, but he is missed and will be remembered long into the future he should have been a part of.

Locally, Alan did good service in many ways for Streatham Labour Party, and for his chosen communty as a helper at Keith Hill's surgeries, for his local (St Leonards) Safer Neighbourhood Panel and as chair of governors at Woodmansterne Primary School. He gave a lot back to Streatham. He was also the proud author of elegantly waspish letters to the South London Press and other local papers.

I am proud to have known Alan. I am proud to have been a sounding board in his parliamentary ambitions - he would have made a great MP had he lived.

Wherever I go from now on, and whatever I do, there will always be something of Alan with me, reassuring me, but ensuring that I give the best account of myself and my party.

The battle against guns will be won at the grassroots

This is an article I wrote for Progress, the magazine of Labour's Progressives.

Lambeth calling

The battle against guns will be won at the grassroots

01 October 2007

This summer, our cities have seen a number of young people, typically teenage boys, slain on our streets. A rising sense of moral panic, ramped up by a media hungry for summer stories, has seen politicians of all parties trying to address an issue which is no stranger to Lambeth.

Here, crime is the Labour administration’s top priority, being the main concern of residents. There were over 3,000 fewer offences committed last year, the fifth successive year of crime reduction. But seven murders in a nine-week period have again underlined the need to continue to address violent crime among young people.

Sadly, too many politicians respond in a default way. I never thought I would hear a Tory leader quoting the Sex Pistols, but for David Cameron to talk about ‘anarchy in the UK’ is doubly disturbing. First, because it feeds a sensationalist media agenda, and, second, because it was the social conditions created by the Conservatives’ legacy which contributed to the problems of inner-city violence that we see today.

Some of Cameron’s proposals are welcome, but I cannot believe that the Conservatives are serious about correcting the social ills which they did so much to bring about. Eighteen years of Thatcherite rule saw horrendous riots in Brixton and other parts of the country, and pushed aspiration and wellbeing in Britain’s black and minority ethnic communities to an all time low. The decimation of urban and industrial areas in the 1980s and early 1990s created both a black and a white underclass.

In 1997, Labour was entrusted with the task of tackling these inequalities. Over the past decade optimism has been repaid with better schools and measures to address poverty, as well as Sure Start. But action has been focused too much on broad national intention and not enough on very localised application.

Neither local government, the police, the health service nor the voluntary sector, have yet been trusted enough by the centre to work together on local solutions. The government has introduced tougher legislation to deal with criminality. But more needs to be done to encourage localised action on the causes of crime - poor housing, poverty, school exclusions, drugs, absent fathers and fractured families.

Strong, patient and responsible action is needed in places like Lambeth. Guns and gangs have been a growing problem for years, and it will take years to grow the solutions. In Lambeth we are prepared for a long, determined journey with our communities, and our police. A gangs commission, set up by Lambeth Council, is currently taking a comprehensive look at our problem.

We are realists. It may take 10 years, probably more, working with children from the earliest age and their parents before we see tangible benefits. In the meantime, we are in much need of stronger legislation on weapons and drugs. But we also require funding and support from the government to engage better with young people and their families, to improve council housing and build another secondary school in addition to the two we are now building.

More ‘role models’ are an obvious and talked-about answer, but the best and most consistent role models are good parents, and the best places to learn how best to live are first in the home, and second in a strong community with inclusive facilities for study and leisure.

Yes, we should be also be tough. Crime and antisocial behaviour are intolerable. Discipline is everything, in the home, in school and on the street. The government is right to tackle crime and poverty, but it must also give greater attention to the strains of debt on low-income families and the pull of consumerism on our children.

It is in our communities that the lasting solutions will be emerge - better parenting, more encouragement through school, proud neighbourhoods that celebrate young people and prepare them for a future as working citizens, equipped with the skills to raise families, walk away from conflict with their peers and to live useful lives within the law.

Mark Bennett is Labour councillor for Lambeth and cabinet member for safer communities.

The Importance of Being Ernest's Great-Grandson

I travelled up by train to a family barbecue in North London today, hosted by my cousin John Garrad.

Part of the reason for getting together was for older members of what has become quite a far-flung family to share old photographs, memories, keepsakes and the like, and for younger members of the family to get to know each other better.

It was fascinating to read the obituary (pictured) of my great-grandfather, Ernest Garrad, from the TOT (Train Omnibus Tram, a friendly society, a forerunner of the London Transport Benevolent Fund) magazine of December 1929. Ernest started life in the East End as a road-sweeper, the son of a policeman. He served with the 20th Hussars in India, South Africa and the Great War. He served with Kitchener's and then Roberts' Horse, and in the Great War was a motor mechanic.

He was latterly a ticket collector at St James's Park tube station, by coincidence the station I used frequently when I was working for the Labour Party at Old Queen Street. I've always felt really at ease at St James's Park, and now I know why.

I'm supposed to have been given my middle name after this man. However, for mysterious reasons, it appears that he used the name Ernest and the name Edward, and my grandmother was under the impression that his name was Edward. So my middle name is Edward when it should really be Ernest!

As Wilde said "It is a divine name. It has a music of its own. It produces vibrations ... The only really safe name is Ernest."

So maybe I'll have to change it, or add it in.

Gordon Brown Wows the USA

If proof were needed of Gordon Brown's stature as a statesman, his visit to the United States, which included the remarkable move of getting the United Nations to back a peace plan for Darfur, has provided it. A friend in Washington has sent me the following link to a pro-Gordon paean by Brent Budowsky, who goes as far as wishing that our new Prime Minister could be President of the United States.

"Imagine," says Mr Budowsky "an American president who would speak as Gordon Brown speaks, and do what Gordon Brown proposes to do!

"November 2008 is coming and Americans will be astonished at the outpouring of idealism, optimism and excitement when the dead hand of the current course is removed, and a new government brings new life to our democracy and renewed
appeal as a beacon for the world.

"Gordon Brown, a man who prepared to be prime minister for a decade, has spoken the words with eloquence, and offered the plan with depth, that is a gateway to the future and a forerunner to what is coming.

"A new Democratic president, backed by a new Democratic Congress, working with a brilliant British prime minister, backed by a Labour Party majority in Parliament, would create a program that would rally support throughout the world, lifting two proud nations while lifting the aspirations of people everywhere."

http://thehill.com/op-eds/gordon-brown-for-president-2007-08-01.html

Cameron's leadership: A Miraj

How amusing but also how appalling to hear David Cameron on the Today programme this morning, lashing out at anyone who has recently dared to criticise his leadership of the Tory party. I suppose if he attacks everybody, then that makes him inclusive.

Cameron was actually on the airwaves to tout his latest policy idea, which is to take away the right of appeal from children who have been excluded from schools. To my mind, as a school governor, the appeal process is vital, giving an opportunity for a child's case to be scrutinised by a higher 'court of appeal' than the school, allowing for justice to revisited and done if the exclusion has been unfair. Cameron, incidentally, got it wrong in saying that "perhaps" school governors could sit and hear exclusion cases as if that was some new idea that had just occurred to him. Governors already do that, the final decision does not rest with the head teacher as Cameron appears to believe.

Then it was on to the meat of the interview, Cameron's wobbly leadership of dissenting Conservatives.

Ali Miraj, on the board of two Tory policy reviews and the man who introduced Cameron at the launch of his leadership campaign, has become disillusioned, asking for "some substance and some credibility and not box-ticking and gimmickry". He has also said that "Cameron in my view has got substance, somewhere in there, but I'm afraid that in recent weeks, that has been taken over by PR."

Showing a spectacular lack of substance and a rather immoderate temper to judge by his rising tone of voice, Cameron hit out at Mr Miraj saying "I think listeners will draw their own conclusions about someone who one day asks for a peerage, to be elevated to the House of Lords, and the next minute launches a great attack on the leader of the Conservative Party."

With what evidence does Cameron make this serious assertion? Miraj has denied it.

Miraj, a former Conservative councillor and twice a parliamentary candidate, has responded: "Instead of engaging with the actual significant points I was making, he is trying to smear me now, which in my view is very, very disappointing and smacks of a complete lack of integrity. They can smear me as much as they want. They will be the losers if they don't engage with the points I have made."

Cameron then turned his anger on Lord Saatchi, who has said that "nicey-nicey" politics will not help the Tories win the next election. Cameron said, paying scant heed to the 18 years of Conservative rule (when of course the guiding Thatcherite motto was that there was no such thing as society) that his "answer to Maurice Saatchi is that the big question facing Britain today is how to mend our broken society."

Next up for scorn was Lord Stanley Kalms, the party donor, who last week dared to opine that Cameron's Conservatives "need to do some rethinking". Cameron retorted: "I don't think he knows what's going on in the Conservative party review groups. Stanley Kalms has never supported the Conservative party under my leadership. He takes a very backward looking view of these things."

I wonder whether any of this would be happening now if David Davis had won the Conservative leadership. Perhaps ordinary Conservative voters outside Mr Cameron's metro-bubble are wondering too. Is he thinking what they're thinking? I doubt it.

Richard Stott

I was deeply saddened when I heard this morning that Richard Stott, with whom I worked closely during the editing process for the single volume of Alastair Campbell's diaries, died this morning from the pancreatic cancer he had been fighting against for much the project.

I had known Richard slightly ever since I worked in the Downing Street press office, but got to know him well as we went about the protracted editing process. I came to admire him as a journalist of great flair and fibre, and phenomenal energy. He coped with the disease with immense courage and bullish good humour, as well as what I would describe as an optimistic fatalism, often shown in sudden flashes of biting - but good-natured - wit, very often at his own expense.

I will always recall the long discussions we had about the relative merits of one form of words over another for various footnotes. He would often correct me over a point of syntax, and I would often correct him back on a point of detail. He never got impatient or gave the impression that he thought his view (ie as one of the great modern newspaper editors) was any more valid than the whippersnapper he had been asked to work with.

The last time I saw him, perhaps a few months ago, he had just had weeks of therapy and seemed to be very much on top of the cancer, cracking jokes - usually at the expense of the man he called either "Campbell" or (for more pointed fun) "the diarist", who had worked for Richard when he was editor of Today. Working closely with Richard was a great education and great entertainment - he would frequently have me in stitches with a mischievous remark, lobbed like a hand grenade into the most serious conversations.

I can remember at that last meeting, a long evening called to take careful stock of where we were with the diaries with publication looming, that despite his obvious ill-health he had the team laughing off our worries for him. He did a very funny and totally spot-on impression of Alastair reading out his work for the audiobook version with every snort and throat-clearing that anyone who has had a conversation with AC would recognise instantly.

I'm sure Richard was pleased to know that The Blair Years was published, and I know AC made a point of driving to see him in hospital, where he had worked on the last proofs of the book, where he was presented with the very first copy off the presses.

I am sorry I will never see or talk with Richard again. He was a good man, a Labour man, and only 63. Cancer is the cruellest of diseases.

Streatham Vale Flower Show

Since I was elected as a councillor, I have attended the Flower Show that is held biannually in the Holy Redeemer Church Hall in the Vale. It's always a fun event, organised by the Streatham Vale Property Occupiers Association, harking back to the earliest days of the Vale in the late twenties and early thirties, when the residents would vie to win various cups and shields for their garden and allotment produce, their cakes and their jams.

The show is still going strong today, and today's event saw trestle tables displaying the best in flower and vegetable arragements. Tea was served, old friends caught up with news and raffle tickets were sold - I won a nice little paintbox for my nephew when the draw was made by excited local children, overseen by former Conservative councillor for Streatham Vale (1986-98), Simon Hooberman.

The Flower Show is a testament to continuity, and the strength of the community young and old in Streatham Vale.

It's Gordon and Harriet

I was up in Manchester today for the Leadership Conference, held in the Bridgewater Hall. It was a really positive event, and it was nice to see Lambeth well represented there.

The announcement of the results for Deputy Leader were pure political theatre, with twists, turns and suspense throughout. There were gasps as the results were read out by Mike Grffiths of the NEC, and consolatory applause as one candidate was knocked out of each round.

Finally, it came down to two candidates - Alan Johnson, tipped by many as the favourite (who had been nominated by Streatham CLP) and Harriet Harman, who eventually won. Sky News had announced Johnson as the winner minutes before the announcement, only to have to retract and apologise, proving the old saying about Sky - "never wrong for long".

Coming out of the hall, there were a lot of long faces, and a lot of shocked ones. I went to the bar with some friends and we watched as various followers of various candidates got their bags and drifted home.

This all goes to show that the Labour Party can do the surprising thing, even surprise itself. She's only been elected for a matter of hours, but I have no doubt that Harriet will be a notable Deputy Leader, who will attract many people back to the party, and new members too.

I spoke to an old friend from '97 on the phone this evening and he said, wisely: "Harriet wanted it enough. The others didn't. She won." And now that she has won, we should all support her to do the job.

It was a historic occasion - seeing Gordon Brown accept the leadership, and Tony Blair standing down. Gordon made an acceptance speech that was ambitious, substantial and serious, with much for local government to think about. The poll results today - putting Labour significantly ahead of the Tories - stand us in good stead as we embark on a new era of Labour government.

Lambeth's X-it project shows strong practice

I'm pleased to report that a youth project in Lambeth, X-it, was highly commended in a Home Affairs Committee Report out today on young black people and over-representation in the criminal justice system.

MPs on the committee contacted young people from Lambeth’s X-it programme who gave evidence for the report.

One young person gave her views on the programme this morning, outlining her experience of young people and crime in the area. The reporter mentioned she was part of a successful Lambeth programme that has prevented re-offending in over 70 percent of cases.

BBC News Twenty Four and the Today programme did interviews this morning at the Marcus Lipton Youth Centre, with young people on the project, myself and project organiser Julia Wolton.

Two other Today programme pieces on the Home Affairs Committee report included a broadcast from the Boyhood to Manhood centre in Peckham and an interview with Kids Company founder Camilla Batmangheldjh.

The core of prejudice at the heart of Cameron’s Conservatives

It has emerged that almost two thirds of Conservatives apparently believe that immigration has not “been good for Britain”, according to a survey carried out by a leading Conservative website, whilst only a third of Conservatives would attend a civil partnership ceremony.

The findings were published by ConservativeHome, at:

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/2007/06/is_this_you.html

The survey results state that only 34.4% of the 1,294 Conservatives who took part in the survey considered that “immigration had been largely good for Britain”, whilst only 66.3% would “go to a civil partnership ceremony if invited by a friend.”

This survey shows the core of prejudice at the heart of Cameron’s Conservatives. Labour equality activists from the BME and LGBT communities have maintained that divisive Tory attitudes are alive and as insidious as ever, and here is the proof. It seems that David Cameron has so far managed to chloroform dissent within his ranks, but it is now reviving.

These findings will come as a shock to many people in Lambeth for example, where the Conservatives affect a cuddly image. When Tories express their real views they prove that only Labour has the commitment and the support from within to promote equality, whilst the Tories remain as entrenched in their attitudes as ever. They still have a long distance to travel from lip service to genuine belief.

The Joy of Stench Pipes

I was at the Patrolling the Streets Scrutiny Commission tonight giving an update on the introduction of the 22 new Police Community Support Officers we as a Labour council have invested in. I have a feeling the Commission was supposed to report its findings at the beginning of the year, but here we are in May. Could this have anything to do with it being chaired by a Lib Dem?

Anyway, I was followed in the hotseat (bear in mind this was hardly the Spanish Inquisition) by Cllr Jackie Meldrum, the Deputy Leader, who was answering questions about our plans for greater community engagement.

Jackie prefaced her remarks by expressing her views on the literally hundreds of council staff who patrol Lambeth streets, from highways engineers to refuse collectors.

She then went slightly off the page, and I was unable to force back giggles, when she told the assembled councillors, officers and single member of the public that: "I'm very interested in stench pipes."

I may have giggled at the sudden remark, but there is a seriousness to the situation, both in terms of sanitation and conservation. She was referring to the 158 stench pipes there are (apparently) dotted around Lambeth, only about six of which the council and Thames Water actually know the location of.

So I'm publishing a picture to give a general indication, in case anyone bumps into one (not literally I hope). They are taller than lamp posts, Victorian in design and probably looking a bit the worse for wear since they have been forgotten about. So support your local stench pipe, if you can find it first.