Compass’ decision to ballot its members on whom it should support for Labour’s deputy leader has raised hackles in the party. And it’s not hard to see why.
Not only is membership of Neal Lawson’s thinktank open to non-members of the Labour party, meaning that potentially Lib Dem or even Conservative supporters could be deciding a collective position on an internal Labour party matter. The Compass management committee appear to have made up their mind before the ballots have even been counted.
‘A clear majority of management committee members are recommending support for Jon Cruddas,’ proclaimed the statement announcing the ballot on 22 January. ‘Jon’s politics are very closely aligned to those of Compass, and he is the only candidate who has made it clear he is standing for the deputy leadership and not to become deputy prime minister.’ So much for having a ‘full and open debate’ on the issue.
Unsurprisingly, the initiative has garnered a mixed reaction from the declared candidates for John Prescott’s replacement. While Cruddas and Harriet Harman were happy to take part in a husting organised by Compass in January, and offered statements soliciting its members’ support, the three cabinet members, Hilary Benn, Peter Hain and Alan Johnson, have kept their distance, issuing a joint statement saying they would not take part in any joint hustings until after May’s elections.
Their refusal provoked a cryptic response from management committee member Cllr Miranda Grell on the Compass website. ‘I hope all Compass members will turn out for the Compass ballot and vote for the candidate who has made an active effort to engage them instead of ignoring them,’ she says. ‘I think it’s quite obvious who that candidate is.’ But who could she mean?
Results of the totally free and impartial vote will be announced on March 7. Tanked up, as always, is on tenterhooks.
Education minister, Beverley Hughes, aroused controversy with her recent suggestion that flexible working rights should be extended beyond parents to cover all employees in the UK.
Her comments are made in a new ippr book, Politics For a New Generation: The Progressive Moment, to be published in May. The minister suggests that all 29 million UK employees should be able to work part-time, on flexi-time, from home or as part of a job share unless there is a sound business case for them not to do so.
The government introduced the right to request flexible work in 2003 for parents with children under six. This April, the right will be extended to the 2.8 million people who care for elderly or sick relatives. So could Hughes intervention be preparing the ground for a radical extension of the right under a new Labour prime minister?
Britain’s business community, however, urges caution. ‘I think there is a danger of going over the top where the realities of business are ignored,’ says Stephen Alambritis, head of parliamentary affairs at the Federation of Small Business. ‘The needs of business have got to be respected.’ Given his efforts to gain the support of the business community to date, such warnings are unlikely to go unheeded by Labour’s likely new leader.