Milishuffle

Foreign Secretary to be dealt a duff hand?

The Foreign Office played down a German newspaper report on Sunday that Foreign Secretary David Miliband would move to Brussels to become European Union foreign affairs chief.

The German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, citing unnamed “high-ranking EU diplomats”, reported that Miliband was set to become the EU’s next high representative for foreign and security policy next year, succeeding Javier Solana.

Makes you wonder if the “Brownies” are trying to shuffle the South Shields MP out of the way, just in case there’s a leadership election this autumn. Anything would be possible to save Gordon’s skin, rule nothing in, and rule nothing out!

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Mandelson upsets Irish

EU Commissioner target of opposition to treaty in Eire

The face of the European Commissioner for Trade now adorns thousands of placards and “Stop Mandelson” posters as Irish opposition to the EU treaty grows ahead of a referendum next month.

Oh, to be Irish on June 12th as they become the only European state to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. It seems odd to be lauding one of Europe’s smallest nations for having the largest heart and the greatest amount of courage in enabling and empowering it’s people, by allowing them to have a say over the Constitution enabling reform treaty that the rest of us have been forced to accept by it’s client governments. It’s unfortunate that Mandelson has become embroiled in an argument about ‘protectionism’ but at least they are willing to have that debate in Ireland.

Mandelson’s bete noir Gordon Brown did a nice body swerve to ensure that we in the UK wouldn’t even get the chance to be involved!

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Liberated from Europe?

High Court challenge

If Stuart Wheeler is succesful we may yet get the chance to liberate ourselves from the bureaucratic chains of Europe, and Gordon may get another bloody nose for refusing us the referendum that was promised. Yay!

We live in hope.

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Shut Up!

New EC directive to keep us quiet

Carnival time in the past has been happy (if a little noisy) in South Shields, I can remember carnivals as long ago as the old Sports Week parades, and we always enjoyed the sound of marching bands and jazz bands, and military bands. Sadly our annual parades have already become subdued affairs lacking any real decorated floats and reduced to a walking show to satisfy the edicts of the “Elf ‘n’ Safety” mandarins.

Things can only get better in our little island state operating under the strictures of our masters in the EC, as a new directive is likely to make our annual spectacle an even bigger shambles. We only have one major pipe band to shout about these days, the South Tyneside Pipes and Drums will be told to “pipe down” and to get below 85 db to meet the requirements of the Brussells bureaucrats, the same rules will apply no doubt to Boys Brigade bands, rock bands and performers at the Customs House, South Shields and various other venues in the borough.

I dread to think how this will be received in Scotland.

Sometimes you just wish you could turn around and tell the EC to pipe up!

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Finnish Foreign Minister

Alex Stubb (best male model this week)

This had me creased and in tears, I found it on a little trip to Mr. Eugenide’s place it’s hilarious!

Alex Stubb is Finlands new Foreign Minister, you must see his website, especially the photo gallery. The only thing missing are the props. Where is the Ikea furniture?

Don’t you wish we had politicians like this in South Shields? (Not)

Gazprom in new energy threats

BP under renewed political pressure in Russia

I have been warning for almost a full year about the political and economic aspirations of Russia’s energy giant Gazprom, as it steadfastly buys up vast supplies, production facilities, distribution networks and pipelines for Eurasian and European gas and energy markets.

Smaller neighbouring states of Russia have felt the enormous weight of pressure when they have become involved in political disputes or arguments with Vladimir Putin’s oligarchic state, Russia simply increases the cost of gas supplies or turns off the tap! Yet, the march to dominate the continental gas market continues apace, with western Europen leaders failing to heed the threat to their domestic consumers.

Now it seems that BP is feeling the flames licking below their feet, ostensibly over a visa dispute ;

BP owns half of TNK-BP, Russia’s third-biggest oil company. The remainder belongs to a consortium of oligarchs – Mikhail Fridman, Viktor Vekselberg and Len Blavatnik. A lock-in agreement that prevented the Russians from selling expired at the end of last year and there has been speculation that Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled gas monopoly, wants to acquire an interest in TNK-BP.

The Russian environmental agency added to the pressures on BP last week when it began an inquiry into TNK-BP’s Samotlor oilfield. The investigation is being led by Oleg Mitvol, the rumbustious head of the RosPrirodNadzor state agency. Mr Mitvol also headed the inquiry into Shell’s gas development on Sakhalin Island in eastern Siberia, which carried a threat of large fines and ultimately led to Shell’s loss of control of the project and the transfer of a majority stake to Gazprom.

Russia’s President - Elect is Dmitri Medvedev, who just happens to be Chairman of Gazprom.

With such a single gigantic operator gobbling up huge chunks of the market capacity it is little wonder that European wholesale gas prices are rocketing as alternative sources begin to dwindle. So in a few years time as we all sit and freeze in South Shields because we cannot afford to heat our homes, try asking David Miliband what he did to halt the march of Gazprom!

Database “creep”

Cross border speeding fines

“Big Brother” is speaking in Brussells.

EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot says cracking down on four offences will change road safety. It seems that drivers across Europe are not paying their fines for speeding, jumping red lights, and failing to wear a seatbelt. He is calling for an electronic network which would identify the owner of the vehicle and enable penalty notices to be sent to home addresses outside the country where the offence was committed.

Does this mean that all of those great big databases that the UK government is building (mugshots, DVLA, PNC, NI Numbers, health records, DNA, etc.) will be made available to our European “Big Brother” co-states, after we’ve been told that they will be safe, secure, and watertight in the bowels of Whitehall?

Yeah - for sure! 

Lib Dems in a flap!

Not Clegg’s finest hour

So the people of South Shields and Jarrow will not now be able to partake in a referendum over the EU Reform Treaty, courtesy of Nick “cluck cluck” Clegg, who ordered his Lib- Dem MPs into a flap by directing them to abstain in the Commons vote this evening. His sham excuse of wanting an “in or out vote” on the EU was nothing more than a smokescreen to hide his intentions of denying us a referendum on a treaty which less reforms than creates a new European super federalist ideal with a treaty so like the constitution rejected by the French and the Dutch that they could have been twins.

Clegg’s capitulation “leadership” resulted in three of his front bench team tendering their resignations and ten of his backbenchers joined David Cameron’s Conservatives to vote in favour of a referendum. Of the three main parties, the Conservatives are the only one to have honoured their promises to the electorate at the last election, Labour and the Lib-Dems both promised us a referendum and both reneged!

This has not been Clegg’s finest hour in his short term as leader!

Other blog reactions

• Well done to the 13 LibDem MPs who voted for a referendum. Glad to know that 20 per cent of LibDem MPs have the courage of their convictions. Shame about the rest - Iain Dale’s Diary
• Last night’s Paxman interview was excruciating, Clegg at one point attacked the Labour Party for “reneging on its commitment to a referendum”. The government uses exactly the same sophistry as the LibDems. So he was condemning himself by those words. - Guido Fawkes
• How long before another leadership contest? Third time lucky for Huhne? - Dizzy Thinks
• Through no fault of my own, my own political party turned me in to a liar. I told fibs on doorsteps, not deliberately, but because I was under the misapprehension that the Liberal Democrats would be true to the manifesto that was published. - (Lib-Dem) Norfolk Blogger
• The guilty men:
• Gold prize for guilt: Brown and the vast majority of the parliamentary Labour Party for breaking their election manifesto promise.
• Silver prize: Nick Clegg for putting his pro-Europeanism before his party’s traditional commitment to democracy. 13 LibDem MPs defied Clegg’s instruction to abstain.
• Bronze prize: The five Tory MPs who said they were voting against the people having a say. - Conservative Home
• The public can see this rank hypocrisy and deceit for what it is, and whilst some Lib Dems may not be able to break their word and will vote with the Conservatives today, the public have seen their party for what its is: dishonest, unreliable, hypocritical and deceitful. - Man in a Shed
• Lord what fools these mortals be! If you kept your word and said what you mean you wouldn’t get into these difficulties, Mr Clegg. Does he really think these contortions are the way to help restore faith in politicians? - John Redwood
• The burning question is of how much damage has been done to the Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems. - The Coffee House
• As the full scale of the Lib Dem revolt becomes clear, it didn’t go unnoticed that Vince Cable (who harbours his own doubts and has appeared on an Open Europe platform) chose not to take his customary seat next to Nick Clegg on the Liberal Democrat front bench, but chose to sit in the row behind… - Red Box
• The Liberal Democrats want to be everything to everyone - to the left of Labour for disillusioned Labour voters, and just enough to pose on the centre-right to attract disillusioned Conservatives. It is easy indeed to promise paradise on earth when you know there is no chance you will ever have to deliver. - Cranmer

Any guesses why the Liberal Democrats chose the colour yellow?

Redwood and Cash in last ditch battle

Raging against the machine

I take my hat off to Conservative MPs John Redwood and Bill cash as they table new clauses in the EU (Amendment) Treaty Bill. The government appears determined to use the might of it’s machine to steamroller the measures through Parliament regardless of the fact that they are signing more powers away to the EU, without consulting the public through a referendum.

Redwood reveals in his blog that the government’s timetable yesterday left only nine minutes to consider various clauses affecting 40 areas where the EU will receive enhanced co-decision making powers, it’s hardly the line by line scrutiny promised so many weeks ago. He adds;

“Clause 5 and the Schedules fared even worse than Clause 4, receiving no attention at all and passing the House without debate or vote. No wonder people think Parliament is doing a bad job, and are fed up with the way this government runs politics.”

The Redwood and Cash clauses attempt to enshrine within law the supremacy and sovereignty of our Parliament, on the basis that Parliament has granted the EU certain powers within the UK, so Parliament can modify or repatriate those powers at a later date if it wishes.

One hopes that they will find support amongst the group of Labour MPs who are similarly unhappy with the devolution of sovereign power to the bureaucrats in Brussels, in a battle which is quickly running out of time, this is almost a last ditch attempt to get the government to relent as the debate draws to a close this week.

We have seen in the past seven days the reaction of protesters and voters who have voiced their opinions about the Bill in London and in a series of mini referendums which clearly showed the lack of support for the measure outside of Whitehall.

Steve Richards’ article in this morning’s Independent will do little to placate the ambitions of the pro referendum groups, and has already drawn withering criticism at Dizzy Thinks, whilst Cassilis sees the opportunity for a well informed public debate seeping away. The gist of Richards argument is that governments will only turn to referenda when they know they can win the argument, otherwise they give empty promises to put debates on to the back burner.

Was this Tony Blair’s and Gordon Brown’s intent when they drafted the last Labour manifesto? I have repeatedly sought a reaction from members of South Shields Labour Party via this blog, they campaigned on that manifesto, Miliband was elected to represent South Shields on that promise, Hepburn made the same commitment to the people of Jarrow, but the party members appear to have been silenced. Please don’t labour the argument and underestimate the intelligence of your constituents by suggesting that the Treaty is vastly different to the originally proposed Constitution. We both know that that is not the case, as do the people you claim to represent.

88% want a referendum!

89% say NO to Lisbon Treaty

Graphic from BBC

The “I want a Referendum” campaign held a series of ten mini referendums in marginal UK constituencies last week and the turnout was larger than what we normally see in local government elections here in South Shields!

The results, as shown above, probably explain exactly why Gordon Brown’s Labour government DO NOT want us to have a say on the matter!

The whole issue comes before the House of Commons on Wednesday for a vote, expect the Lib-Dems to save Labour’s embarrassments as a small group of rebel Labour MPs vote against the government.

Sadly, Labour will abandon more national sovereignty and delegate more powers to the Brussels bureaucrats and help achieve a federalist constitution that will supplant our own Parliament make the EU less popular than ever amongst British voters.