St Albans Conservative association to decide whether Anne Main should be able to stand as their MP at next election.
The Tories face further embarrassment over expenses today as a backbencher fights a deselection bid.
The St Albans Conservative association's 300 members are to decide whether Anne Main should be able to stand as their MP at the forthcoming general election.
This evening's meeting follows allegations that Main's daughter lived rent-free at a flat paid for by the taxpayer.
The row is another headache for David Cameron, with Alan Duncan, the shadow leader of the Commons, battling to hang on to his job after complaining that MPs were being forced to "live on rations".
The Tories have a majority of just 1,361 over Labour in the St Albans constituency, with the Liberal Democrats close behind in third place.
It is understood that Main, who won the seat from Labour in 2005, will address the meeting before an association spokesman does likewise. Members will then be asked to vote on whether to deselect her.
If the bid to remove her is successful, the 52-year-old backbencher will remain a Conservative MP but will not stand as the party's candidate at the next general election – though she could stand as an independent.
A Conservative party spokesman said simply that the issue was a "matter for the local association".
The claims against Main are being investigated by parliamentary sleaze watchdog John Lyon. The Conservative party's scrutiny panel has deferred ruling on Main's expenses while the probe is ongoing.
A number of MPs have announced their intention to stand down following the expenses scandal, while Labour barred five of its MPs from seeking re-election.
Scores have also been ordered to repay money they claimed, while a new independent body has been established to govern MPs' pay and perks.
"These attacks have no place in our workplaces - immigration raids should not be accepted by anyone, particularly because of the fear that raids cause among workers, frightening them, terrorising them," says RMT union activist Clara Osagiede.
She is referring to the increasing trend of bosses colluding with the UK Border Agency and calling in immigration agents on their own workers.
Osagiede points out that "migration is not a crime when companies want to exploit workers, but it becomes a crime when workers start to organise and demand a union."
"This exploitation is based on the fact that people will keep quiet. But despite my employers' threats of calling the police, it was important not to be afraid"
Jose Stalin Bermudez is a UNISON rep who was victimised and sacked by bosses at the School of Oriental and African Studies after leading a campaign to end poverty wages among cleaners. He confirms that companies are stepping up deportation threats against "foreign workers who stand up for their rights.
"When I first came to Britain I worked as a kitchen porter and in other such jobs in restaurants that migrant workers do. I didn't speak English and no-one cared who I was because migrant workers are invisible workers," he says.
But Bermudez insists that "more and more migrant workers are refusing to remain invisible."
Unite shop steward Edwin Pazmino, who was sacked by Mitie after organising his colleagues as part of the union's Justice for Cleaners campaign, emphasises that, as migrant workers fight back, "the bosses are retaliating more and more.
"After we won the London living wage, the company changed our shifts to make us work at night, but workers with children couldn't do that, so the bosses used this as a reason to sack us," he explains.
The company's management then called in an immigration raid against the remaining workers soon after, shattering what remained of union organisation among the cleaners.
Osagiede insists that the testimonies of migrant workers on this page highlight how crucial it is for unions to develop a strategy "to resist this racist offensive.
"Unions must fight back against the companies that collude with immigration agents to systematically arrest and deport black workers, Asians and Latin Americans," she says.
The names of the three migrant workers who have given their stories to the Morning Star have been changed to protect their identities.
Last month, Mitie managers in Willis sent a letter of invitation to the two shifts of workers for a chemical training course, and some had to go in at 5am.
Workers from the night shift were receiving the training when immigration officers raided the room and detained the undocumented workers.
At 8.30, other police detained more cleaners as they arrived at the building from Liverpool Street station.
I had had an ominous feeling about the timing of these meetings. When we went in, everyone was looking around at each other, some asking each other what was happening.
Not even 15 minutes had passed when police started to enter from doors on either side of the room, saying they were from immigration. No-one moved.
One of the police had a file, which only had the names of the illegal workers and photocopies of their documents, but not the names of the legal workers.
They called the workers' names one by one and interrogated them, asking where they had got the documents and where they lived.
Many workers were scared and some were crying. Some were told to sign papers that they hadn't even read, but they didn't know what they were signing.
The legal workers were allowed to leave, but the others were left behind until they were taken away and put in two vans.
As a result of this raid one Ecuadorian, five Bolivians and one Brazilian were arrested, taken to a detention centre and deported on July 15.
Cristina
I had lived in London for two years, working as a cleaner in a hotel and as a factory worker - usually several shifts a day.
But my visa expired so I became 'illegal.'
In the hotel I was paid in cash and the supervisor took a cut of the wages, so I left and I took a new cleaning job where the company deliberately took on staff without papers.
I worked for three months, but received no wages.
The supervisor was Latin American too, so he talked with the workers in Spanish and told us: 'You have no right to work, so no right to be paid,' but I complained and was sacked.
The company threatened to call immigration, but I said to them that I wasn't going to walk away and would get my wages. They were surprised because they thought they were big and they thought I was nothing.
I became involved with the union and the Latin American Workers Association and won this fight for the wages I was owed. Then I found out that other workers were experiencing the same problem as me and I tried to tell them about the union.
But those who I spoke to were afraid to speak out and told me they'd rather keep quiet. This exploitation is based on the fact that people will keep quiet. But despite my employers' threats of calling the police, it was important not to be afraid.
But the management of this company did tell the police about me and I was arrested.
The only certainty from all this is that we should not be afraid to denounce those who exploit immigrants.
Having courage is essential and we must unite and defend our rights, even if sometimes we are scared.
Cristina was deported to Chile at the beginning of August.
Joana
School of Oriental and African Studies managers carried out a raid on the very day that people were protesting about the sacking of union rep Jose Stalin Bermudez.
Not long before, the ISS cleaning company had signed a union recognition agreement for the cleaners at SOAS.
At 6.30am on June 12, ISS called a meeting for all cleaners. After we arrived, a manager was calling out names and checking certain people and within minutes the meeting was raided by 50 immigration agents, even wearing riot gear, who entered through the fire doors and detained everyone.
The police surrounded us - the ones on the list - with two or three to each person. I knew what was happening, but it was a big shock.
Following the raid, the cleaners were locked in the room and one by one they were led into another room, where their immigration status was checked.
No-one was allowed representation or a translator. A union representative was also refused access to the room.
ISS requested this police action. I know because two SOAS managers were present during the raid and talking and laughing with the police.
Those detained had been working at SOAS for many years - they had settled in London. Deportation will be devastating not only for them but also for their families.
They wanted to show that they are more powerful than the union because the union had been pushing very strongly for our rights.
The union has been making noise and they want to silence this.
If you have no papers you are always afraid, but the union had been organising anyway and we had won the living wage when this happened.
Three Colombians, two Bolivians, a six-months pregnant Brazilian, a Nicaraguan and a Venezuelan were deported on June 13.
David Cameron today refused to axe Alan Duncan after he was caught complaining that MPs are forced to live on 'rations'.
But the Tory leader publicly slapped down the multi-millionaire MP and said Mr Duncan had made a 'bad mistake' in moaning about how MPs have been treated following the expenses scandal.
Mr Cameron told reporters in his Oxfordshire constituency: 'I spoke to Alan Duncan yesterday and made it clear in no uncertain terms that when it comes to the mess of expenses, the words we use, just as the actions we take, have got to demonstrate completely that we share the public's real fury at what went on in parliament.
'Alan made a bad mistake and he has acknowledged that, he has apologised and withdrawn the remarks.'
Mr Cameron went on: 'He's withdrawn those remarks he shouldn't have made, and I think we should leave it at that.'
Mr Duncan, who is thought to be worth £2.1million, had been secretly filmed claiming no 'capable' person would want to enter Parliament when MPs are treated 'like s***'.
Mr Duncan is the face of the Tory Party on issues of MPs' expenses, making his outburst all the more embarrassing for David Cameron.
Mr Cameron arrived back in his Oxfordshire constituency today after a ‑10-day break in Brittany.
His holiday was disrupted yesterday when he authorised a damage-limitation exercise by aides over the affair.
Although Mr Duncan initially claimed his remarks were a joke, Mr Cameron treats the subject of MPs expenses 'very seriously', one ally said, and took a 'dim view' of the shadow minister’s secretly-filmed comments.
Mr Duncan is one of only two Conservatives on the House of Commons Commission, the body which oversees the expenses regime - and has the task of cleaning up the failed system.
But there are suspicions Mr Duncan's comments simply reflect the attitudes held privately by many MPs.
While they have appeared apologetic on the surface, it is feared many feel aggrieved by the public backlash against what they believe were reasonable expenses claims.
As Alan Duncan’s future hangs in the balance, another Tory MP, backbencher Anne Main, was preparing for a deselection vote by her constituency party tonight.
Ms Main, the MP for St Albans, was exposed earlier this year for allowing
her grown-up daughter to live rent-free at her taxpayer-funded second home.
Her case is being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards but some local Tories believe her 1,361 majority could be wiped out by the allegations.
A meeting of St Albans Conservative Association’s ‑‑ members has been called to decide whether Ms Main should be able to stand as their MP at the forthcoming general election.
It is understood that the 52-year-old MP, who won the seat from Labour in 2005, will address the meeting before an association spokesman does likewise.
Members will then be asked to vote on whether to deselect her.
A Conservative Party spokesman said that the issue was a 'matter for the local association'.
Mr Duncan's remarks were recorded by Heydon Prowse, an activist who dug a pound sign in Mr Duncan's lawn earlier this year in protest at his £4,000 expense claims for gardening - which he was forced to repay.
Mr Duncan invited Mr Prowse to Parliament in July as a goodwill gesture but did not know he was being filmed.
Mr Duncan said: 'No one who has done anything in the outside world, or is capable of doing such a thing, will ever come into this place ever again, the way we are going. Basically, it's being nationalised, you have to live on rations and are treated like ****.'
The comments threaten to undermine the hardline stance taken by Mr Cameron, who has ordered his MPs to pay back thousands of pounds in expenses and barred some from standing again as Tory candidates.
One senior insider said: 'Nobody knows what the future holds. But David is taking a very dim view of this.'
Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell, who sits on the ruling Commons Members Estimate Committee with Mr Duncan, later lambasted him as 'arrogant and out of touch'.
'Not only has Alan Duncan been a roadblock to reform, he has now shown how arrogant and out of touch he is,' he said.
'How can David Cameron keep him in a job so closely involved with MPs' pay and allowances?
'Cameron talks a tough game on expenses but it is clear there's one rule for the Tory backwoodsmen and another for his friends in the Shadow Cabinet.
'I will be writing to the Speaker of the House pointing out the difficulty of Alan Duncan remaining in his position as chair of the Audit Committee when his personal views are contrary to those of the majority of MPs who want to see the system cleaned up.'
Mr Duncan - who is on holiday - yesterday issued a swift apology. In a statement, he said: 'The last thing people want to hear is an MP whingeing about his pay and conditions.
'It is a huge honour to be an MP and my remarks, although meant in jest, were completely uncalled for. I apologise for them unreservedly.'
But it was not the first time he has been forced to grovel over the expenses scandal - leaving him open to charges of hypocrisy.
The MP for Rutland and Melton, who made his fortune as an oil trader, has claimed close to the maximum allowed under his second home allowance - despite once owning his home outright.
He was also ordered by Mr Cameron to pay back more than £4,000 in gardening expenses after it emerged that he tried to claim for expenses such as repairs to his ride-on lawnmower.
But Mr Duncan also appeared unrepentant about those claims during the short video published yesterday on the website of Mr Prowse's magazine, Don't Panic.
He said: 'I spend my money on my garden and claim a tiny fraction based on what is proper. And I could claim the whole bloody lot, but I don't.'
Asked how much he spent on the garden, Mr Duncan replied: 'About £2,000 a year and this was £1,000 a year on expenses, you know. It's just, I'm afraid the world has gone mad.'
Fellow Conservative MP Nigel Evans was also caught joking that he couldn't survive on the MPs annual salary of £64,000.
Commenting on sandwiches which he was eating, Mr Evans said: 'I made these myself. It's my second job! Got to have a second income mate, couldn't survive on 64.'
Mr Duncan, who is in a civil partnership with his partner James Dunseath, is fast turning into a political liability for the Conservative Party.
Earlier this year, he caused uproar after he joked that he would like to murder Miss California for making homophobic remarks on the BBC show Have I got News for You.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson last night seized on the comments as proof that the Tories were privately opposed to reforms of the expenses system.
He said: 'I don't know what sort of joke he is trying to make in private.
'I think, rather more seriously, he, as the Shadow Leader of the House, has not exactly been helpful - and I say this frankly about him - in bringing about the reforms that the Government has tried to introduce.
'I must say, Alan Duncan is very fond of speaking a good game publicly, but in private talking and acting quite differently. So I'm not surprised he has been found out.'
Mr Prowse, 28, filmed Mr Duncan on a secret buttonhole camera which he had activated in the House of Commons' toilets.
He said: 'What we captured was the general prevailing attitude in the Commons that he didn't take the whole expenses scandal particularly seriously. For a man who is leading the Tory charge on expenses, he didn't seem bothered about the whole thing.
'He seemed to think that MPs have been persecuted and have done nothing wrong.'
Labour MP John Mann said: 'The idea that MPs are somehow paupers is frankly laughable and it shows the rather deluded grandeur of some MPs that still continues.'
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker said that Mr Duncan's comments had exposed the 'hypocrisy' of the Tories over the expenses scandal.
'While they claim in public that they want to clean up politics, they let their true feelings show as soon as they - mistakenly - believe the cameras have been switched off,' he said.
Unions have attacked Tory claims to be the "progressive" party after David Cameron's number two boasted that his government would let privateers take over health and education.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne told BBC radio that the Conservatives were "the progressive force in British politics now" because only they were truly committed to the privatisation of public services.
He called for an end to the "state monopoly" on free education, claiming that sending profit-hungry privateers into Britain's schools would drive down costs.
Mr Osborne declared: "It is the Conservatives, as the progressive force in British politics now, who are thinking seriously about how you change the way you deliver public services so that they can improve the quality of service delivery even in a period of budget restraint."
The top Tory went on to praise Sweden and the US for part-privatising their education systems, a decision which he claimed had led to better contracts for computers, textbooks and land and lower overall costs.
But National Union of Teachers general secretary Christine Blower pointed out that "the privatisation in Sweden and in some states of America has led to an increase in social selection and therefore a widening gap in access. Social cohesion has been damaged rather than advanced.
"No-one - least of all a teachers' union - would want to see cuts in the education service budget, but increasing the use of the private sector is not the answer," she said.
"Education should be for the benefit of children and not for the benefit of shareholders and company proprietors.
"There is no evidence that private companies provide a better service, as we have seen from the academies programme that already exists."
Public-sector union UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: "Once again, the Tories aim for a soft target.
"Instead of tackling the real culprits who reap huge rewards for failure, they turn their guns on the very public services that people rely on to get by in the recession.
"Shadow chancellor Osborne's claims to have 'progressive' ideas are nothing but cheap window-dressing."
Mr Prentis cited today's UNISON-commissioned survey, which showed that the British public support keeping their services under public control.
I don’t believe it the Yankees are criticising our NHS I think that they should get their own house in order before they accuse us what about the untold stories of poor people living in poverty as their record out number ours in the UK.
I do agree that the US they need change just as much as we do but do not use our NHS to promote negative feelings as our NHS workers do a wonderful service. I put the questions to the people of the USA how many of your comrades comes to the UK to use our NHS each year!
The National Health Service has become the butt of increasingly outlandish political attacks in the US as Republicans and conservative campaigners rail against Britain's "socialist" system as part of a tussle to defeat Barack Obama's proposals for broader government involvement in healthcare.
Top-ranking Republicans have joined bloggers and well-funded free market organisations in scorning the NHS for its waiting lists and for "rationing" the availability of expensive treatments.
As myths and half-truths circulate, British diplomats in the US are treading a delicate line in correcting falsehoods while trying to stay out of a vicious domestic dogfight over the future of American health policy.
Slickly produced television advertisements trumpet the alleged failures of the NHS's 61-year tradition of tax-funded healthcare. To the dismay of British healthcare professionals, US critics have accused the service of putting an "Orwellian" financial cap on the value on human life, of allowing elderly people to die untreated and, in one case, for driving a despairing dental patient to mend his teeth with superglue.
Having seen his approval ratings drop, Obama is seeking to counter this conservative onslaught by taking his message to the public, with a "town hall" meeting today at a school in New Hampshire.
Last week, the most senior Republican on the Senate finance committee, Chuck Grassley, took NHS-baiting to a newly emotive level by claiming that his ailing Democratic colleague, Edward Kennedy, would be left to die untreated from a brain tumour in Britain on the grounds that he would be considered too old to deserve treatment.
"I don't know for sure," said Grassley. "But I've heard several senators say that Ted Kennedy with a brain tumour, being 77 years old as opposed to being 37 years old, if he were in England, would not be treated for his disease, because end of life – when you get to be 77, your life is considered less valuable under those systems."
The degree of misinformation is causing dismay in NHS circles. Andrew Dillon, chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), pointed out that it was utterly false that Kennedy would be left untreated in Britain: "It is neither true nor is it anything you could extrapolate from anything we've ever recommended to the NHS."
Others in the US have accused Obama of trying to set up "death panels" to decide who should live and who should die, along the lines of Nice, which determines the cost-effectiveness of NHS drugs.
One right-leaning group, Conservatives for Patients' Rights, lists horror stories about British care on its website. An email widely circulated among US voters, of uncertain origin, claims that anyone over 59 in Britain is ineligible for treatment for heart disease.
The British embassy in Washington is quietly trying to counter inaccuracies. A spokesman said: "We're keeping a close eye on things and where there's a factually wrong statement, we will take the opportunity to correct people in private. That said, we don't want to get involved in a domestic debate."
A $1.2m television advertising campaign bankrolled by the conservative Club for Growth displays images of the union flag and Big Ben while intoning a figure of $22,750. A voiceover says: "In England, government health officials have decided that's how much six months of life is worth. If a medical treatment costs more, you're out of luck."
The number is based on a ratio of £30,000 a year used by Nice in its assessment of whether drugs provide value for money. Dillon said this was one of many variables in determining cost-effectiveness of medicines. He said of his body's portrayal in the US: "It's very disappointing and it's not, obviously, the way in which Nice describes itself or the way in which we're perceived in the UK even among those who are disappointed or upset by our decisions."
On Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel, the conservative commentator Sean Hannity recently alighted upon the case of Gordon Cook, a security manager from Merseyside, who used superglue to stick a loose crown into his gum because he was unable to find an NHS dentist. The cautionary tale, which was based on a Daily Mail report from 2006, prompted Hannity to warn his viewers: "If the Democrats have their way, get your superglue ready."
The broader tone of the US healthcare debate has become increasingly bitter. The former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin last week described president Obama's proposals as "evil", while the radio presenter Rush Limbaugh has compared a logo used for the White House's reform plans to a Nazi swastika. Hecklers have disrupted town hall meetings called to discuss the health reform plans.
David Levinthal, a spokesman for the nonpartisan Centre for Responsive Politics, said the sheer scale of the issue, which will affect the entire trajectory of US medical care, was arousing passions: "It's no surprise you have factions from every political stripe attempting to influence the debate and some of those groups are certainly playing to the deepest fears of Americans. There's been a great deal of documented disinformation propagated throughout the country." Defenders of Britain's system point out that the UK spends less per head on healthcare but has a higher life expectancy than the US. The World Health Organisation ranks Britain's healthcare as 18th in the world, while the US is in 37th place. The British Medical Association said a majority of Britain's doctors have consistently supported public provision of healthcare. A spokeswoman said the association's 140,000 members were sceptical about the US approach to medicine: "Doctors and the public here are appalled that there are so many people on the US who don't have proper access to healthcare. It's something we would find very, very shocking."
Tory plans to hand medical records over to Google and Microsoft could put personal information at risk, campaigners warned yesterday.
The Conservatives say the internet service will give patients greater freedom over health data, allowing them to check and even edit their NHS record online.
But critics, backed by the British Medical Association, claim the information could be vulnerable to hackers and the plan would make it harder for doctors to access information in an emergency.
Tory vision: NHS patients could soon be accessing their own health data using their personal computers via Google or Microsoft
Critics have questioned how close David Cameron is to Google Former shadow home secretary David Davis, now a privacy campaigner, has said Google was 'the last company' he would trust with sensitive data.
Questions have also been raised over whether Conservative leader David Cameron is too close to the company. His adviser Steve Hilton is married to Rachel Whetstone, Google's vice president of global communications and public affairs.
But the Tories say it would be up to primary care trusts to decide which of the rival systems to use and Google will not be the only option. The company has pledged not to use any information handed to it, for instance to advertise drugs that records show a patient could benefit from.
The Conservatives also say the voluntary plans will be more secure than Labour's centralised scheme, which will be accessible to thousands of NHS workers.
Under the Tory plans only patients and local GPs will be able to see information online. The Government's Connecting for Health system is four years behind Google has been linked to privacy concerns, such as with their StreetView photo-mapping project schedule and will not be operating until 2012, at a cost of £12.4billion.
Under the Tory online proposal, records will be accessed securely via personal computers in the same way as bank account details.
Patients will be able to note symptoms and side effects and update their records with blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Tory health spokesman Stephen O'Brien said: 'Giving patients greater control over their health records is crucial if we are to make the NHS more patient-centred. Labour's attitude to our personal data is misguided. They seem to think they own it and have been appallingly careless in looking after it.' The BMA is concerned the system could put patients at risk.
Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of science and ethics, said: 'The security of web-based medical systems is of great concern, as are the implications of data being held by the private sector.
'We are concerned by the suggestion that healthcare staff could be restricted from accessing important clinical information.'
A Tory councillor's wife has been jailed after speeding at 90mph the wrong way down a dual carriageway in a botched suicide attempt. Dawn Collins, who was more than twice the legal drink-drive limit, hurtled along the fast lane of the A1139 in Peterborough before colliding head-on with another vehicle. The driver, Robert Hoogstraten, suffered serious injuries in the horrific smash on March 7 this year, and Mrs Collins was left with injuries including a fractured pelvis, knee and elbow.
Suicide attempt: Dawn Collins (left), the wife of Tory councillor Mark Collins, has been jailed for 18 months after drunkenly speeding at 90mph the wrong way down a dual carriageway Mrs Collins, the wife of Conservative councillor for Peterborough's East ward Mark Collins, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment at Peterborough Crown Court after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol in her blood. The court heard how she stormed out of her home in Paston, Peterborough, following an argument with her husband and made the decision to 'end it all'. Mrs Collins then drove the wrong way round a roundabout linking the A1139 with the A1 before heading on to the fast lane of the Fletton Parkway dual carriageway. The prosecution described how two drivers were forced to swerve out of the way as Mrs Collins' silver Ford Escort ‘flashed’ straight towards them at 80 to 90mph. But as motorist Mr Hoogstraten pulled out into the fast lane to overtake a lorry Mrs Collins ploughed into his silver Mazda 6, causing massive damage to both cars. He was trapped in his car for 90 minutes before being cut out by firefighters and was taken to hospital with a broken hand and severe bruising.
Mr Hoogstraten has also started receiving treatment for heart problems brought about by the impact.
When Mrs Collins was interviewed by police the following month, she claimed she had been travelling in the right direction.
Nicola Devas, mitigating, said Mrs Collins had intended to drive into crash barriers rather than another motorist.
She said: 'She had made a fairly impulsive decision to commit suicide.
'She had no idea that she was on the wrong side of the road.'
Mrs Devas said Mrs Collins had been suffering from 'moderate depression' and was so full of remorse she had vowed never to drink or get behind the wheel of a car again.
Sentencing, Judge Sean Enright said he had reduced the jail sentence from the two-year maximum because of Collins' remorse and guilty plea.
He warned the sentence could have been higher if drink driving legislation allowed for greater penalties.
He said: 'It does not seem to me that the penalty for dangerous driving of only two years is sufficiently great, but there it is.'
Mrs Collins was also banned from driving for seven years.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has expressed sadness and anger at the outcome of the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi and has referred to the trial as a sham. He has also called for further international sanctions against the Burmese regime.
'I am both saddened and angry at the verdict today, 11 August , following the sham trial of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The news - that she has been found guilty and sentenced to three years hard labour but that this has been “mitigated” to a suspended sentence of 1.5 years under house arrest - is further proof that the military regime in Burma is determined to act with total disregard for accepted standards of the rule of law and in defiance of international opinion.
This is a purely political sentence designed to prevent her from taking part in the regime’s planned elections next year. So long as Aung San Suu Kyi and all those political opponents imprisoned in Burma remain in detention and are prevented from playing their full part in the political process, the planned elections in 2010 will have no credibility or legitimacy. The façade of her prosecution is made more monstrous because its real objective is to sever her bond with the people for whom she is a beacon of hope and resistance.
I have always made clear that the United Kingdom would respond positively to any signs of progress on democratic reform in Burma. But with the generals explicitly rejecting that course today, the international community must take action.
The EU has agreed to impose tough new sanctions targeting the economic interests of the regime.
I also believe that the UN Security Council - whose will has been flouted - must also now respond resolutely and impose a world wide ban on the sale of arms to the regime. My thoughts today are with Aung San Suu Kyi - the human face of Burma’s tragedy - and with the people of Burma who suffer on a daily basis.'
During an interview with the Radio 4 Today programme this morning, Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis referred to the outcome of Aung San Suu Kyi's trial as ' a tragedy for Burmese people', and he backed the Prime Minister's call for sanctions against the regime in Burma.
The Conservatives have denied that they have a secret scheme to increase VAT to 20% if they win the next election.
"There are absolutely no plans for such a rise and there's never been any discussion about it," claimed a Tory spokesperson. But we’ve heard similar denials before: remember the 1992 general election?It was the election the Tories first produced the “tax bombshell” poster (since revived by David Cameron). It was also the election the Conservative manifesto pledged that they had:"no need and no plans to extend VAT".The following year they announced a VAT increase on domestic gas and electricity bills to 8% for 1994 and 17.5% in 1995.
David Cameron no doubt remembers it well – he was a "special adviser" to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury at the time. Who knows, he might have even been in the chamber when the then Leader of the Opposition, John Smith, described that budget:“a shameful budget from a cynical government that has broken its election promises”.In fact the history of VAT is one of Labour reducing it and the Tories increasing it. Not just recently to help reflate the economy, but since the Tories introduced it in 1973. While the subsequent Labour Government reduced it, Thatcher and Major increased VAT twice, more than doubling the rate.During the 1979 election campaign, Lord Howe declared that he had: “absolutely no intention of doubling VAT”.
They had in fact secretly agreed to increase it from 8 to 15 per cent.The Tories also have a history of extending the scope of VAT including (but not exhaustively): hot takeaway food and drinks; building alterations; civil engineering works; newspaper advertisements; non-residential construction and property development; airport car parking; protective boots and helmets; fuel and power; water and sewerage services to business; travel and car hire insurance; and even incontinence pads.
The party who had “no need and no plans” to increase VAT in 1992, broke that promise, and now has no credibility when it denies plans for VAT increases to 20%. No wonder Stephen Timms MP is skeptical of today’s Tory denials, telling Labour Matters that Cameron needs to come clean on his VAT plans.Labour has never increased the general rate of VAT, although that would change if the VAT rate returned to the 17.5% as planned on New Year’s Day next year. Labour has nothing to be ashamed of it does, though an extension would be welcomed by business. Cameron’s Conservatives, however, have a massive credibility problem when even a denial in their manifesto can’t be believed. VAT is a Tory tax, and a 20% VAT rate is a Tory tax bombshell just waiting to explode.
There is still a lack of opportunity in the media for young ethnic minority talent. When will the industry enter the 21st century?
In a BBC radio interview broadcast yesterday, Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer denied there was any colour bar preventing black and Asian broadcasters becoming regular presenters on his station.
While his intentions are honest, the reality is that out of 104 regular presenters listed on Radio 4's website just two are Asian, and none are from African or Caribbean backgrounds. In contrast to the station's reputation as the voice of comfortable Middle England, the latest Rajar figures show that in a typical week one in eight Radio 4 listeners were of a visible ethnic minority compared to a total population of over one in ten.
Damazer did not do himself any favours by rhetorically asking which of his current presenters he should take off air to bring in ethnic minorities, and that his primary concern is "excellence". This completely misses the point. As licence-fee payers, diverse communities are not being served by Radio 4, while the subtext of Damazer's comments tells black and Asian journalists that they are not good enough.
Why does this matter? Well for one, there is simply no reason why ethnic minorities should be directed towards music or more "popular" discussion shows as opposed to high-brow output. Although Five Live has a good diversity of presenters, there are people in every community with an appetite for more intellectual speech-based programming, which is Radio 4's remit. Damazer was responding to a story on Operation Black Vote's blog, which criticised Radio 4's lack of diversity. Yet this is a problem right across broadcasting and print, as Media Guardian explores today.
Mainstream newspapers in particular are lagging behind many other industries, such as the City, which realise that in a global economy, failure to reflect society is simply bad for business. In 2003, equalities chief Trevor Phillips challenged business leaders to thaw their "snowy peaks", referring to the concentration of ethnic minorities at lower grades. Much of the media have snowy lowlands as well. How many Westminster lobby correspondents are from visible minorities in the whole of Fleet Street? Last time I checked there were none, yet politics matters every bit as much to those communities.
The Guardian's Media Monkey column recently reminded us how Michael Grade's career began, when his father told him "get a pencil and paper … go to see Hugh Cudlipp, he's the boss of the Daily Mirror. He'll interview you and give you a job as a sports writer." Sadly not much has changed since then. Entry into the profession relies heavily on "old boys networks". There are ethnic minorities, for sure, but all too often they are casuals and freelancers, not fully-fledged staff correspondents.
Things are changing, but far too slowly, even though the use of picture bylines for writers of colour gives the impression that newsrooms are more diverse than they actually are. And while some people, like Ludovic Kennedy, already think there are far too many black and brown faces on TV, he and others may be getting a more colourful picture than is the case, as
Lenny Henry has acknowledged.
There is certainly no shortage of ethnic minorities achieving media degrees, yet too many fail to get into local newspapers, the first rung of the ladder. And regional dailies, so often the springboard to "Fleet Street", also remain stubbornly un-diverse.
Yet there are still many black and Asian journalists approaching newspapers, belying the claim of editors that they would love to hire more ethnic minorities if only they could find them.
Editors are generally less aware of the talent banging on the door because black and Asian budding reporters are more likely to use normal approaches – sending CVs and calling section heads – whereas the more privileged come in via the "who you know" route, including dinner party connections.
And even when journalists do get through the door, their career trajectory is often unclear; promotion all too often based on preferment, not purely on ability.
Journalists were more likely than politicians to have gone to independent schools. The report added that "the typical journalist or accountant of the future will today be growing up in a family that is better off than three in four of all families in the UK." It is hardly surprising, then, the hiring practices of editors turns into an exercise in self-replication. Yet Britain's demographics are changing, and the media needs to keep pace with the 21st century.
Which brings me back to Radio 4's controller Damazer. He is right not to compromise on excellence. However, if there is an assumption that such excellence cannot be found among black and Asian journalists, that is utterly wrong. There are many quality broadcasters like Kwame Kwei Armah, Dr Robert Beckford and Henry Bonsu, whose intellectual approach dovetails perfectly with Radio 4.
Since OBV published our story, the BBC circulated an impressive-looking list of 32 black and Asian contributors, including the three I mention above.
Yet the fact remains that they are occasional contributors, presenting one-off programmes or, if they're lucky, a four-part series, often on subjects that could be described as "ethnic interest", from dog-baiting in the Asian community to anniversaries of urban disturbances.
There is a tokenism at play that relegates them to the second tier, while the regular presenters have all the benefits that come with a regular contract – higher income, more security – this club remains largely all-white and upper middle class; a non-entry zone to poor whites or ethnic minorities of any class.
And the proportion of non-white senior managers at the BBC has actually fallen to just 4.3% since the former BBC director-general Greg Dyke famously described the organisation as "hideously white" in 2001.
I am a firm believer in press freedom, but the self-regulatory nature of the media has led to foot-dragging on diversity and equality. There is a need for more programmes that give opportunities to young ethnic minority talent, and many others from all social backgrounds.
And while BECTU's Move On Up, which puts wannabe broadcasters face-to-face with senior industry figures, is a useful scheme that should be extended to the world of print and online journalism, there is a desperate need for an ongoing two-way conversation between decision-makers and black and Asian people in the media.
Because ultimately it is only this dialogue that will start to unpick the regressive assumptions and attitudes about what African, Caribbean and Asian audiences want, and allow us to finally move sections of the media out of the age of Empire, and into the age of hope and genuine equal opportunity.
The Funeral of Julian Webster will take place at St Augustine's Church, Birmingham, 7th August 2009 at 12:15pm
Julian Webster was the victim of what we believe to be suspicious unexplained death. This took place at the Pitcher and Piano night club in Manchester after a night out with friends. The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) initially arrested two doormen on suspicion of murder but they were later release on bail.
A memorial services was held by the family and friends of Julian Webster on the 30th May 09 outside the nightclub.
Maxie Hayles chairman of Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Unit (BRAMU) who are providing advocacy and support to the Webster family says
“There are serious questions to be answered in this case. Julian Webster died in extremely suspicious circumstances. It is right that the family should expect the highest degree of professionalism from GMP. Bramu will continue to assist the family in its search for the truth”.
I have to say that on this occasion that I have to agree with Khalid Mahmood MP when he says that by having a counter demonstration that it does bring trouble with fascist organisations and the best way to deal with them is to bring more legislation in place to stop fascist organsation to sreading their evil ideology.
If anyone required reminding of the true face of fascism they need look no further than events on the streets of Birmingham at the weekend.
The spectacle of far-right activists taking violent hate onto the streets of England's second city under the banner of the "English Defence League" should send a shiver down the spine of all those interested in the defence of true democracy.
But news that one of the central organisers of the demonstration is a British National Party activist also suggests another tactic could be coming into play - one that warrants vigilance and will require a concerted effort to combat.
Only a few months ago, the BNP was reported as having advised members to steer clear of running campaigns and websites under the party's banner.
The spin that accompanied the newspaper article lampooned the party as being embarrassed of cranks usurping its clean-cut image.
This may be true, but the BNP also advised members to set up campaigns which did not bear its name in order to promote its policies illicitly to people who wouldn't normally touch it with a bargepole.
Due to an agenda pursued recklessly by the right-wing media, phrases such as "political correctness gone mad," the demonisation of the democratic system - aided by a raft of self-serving and detached politicians - and the perception that some abstract concept of "Englishness" is under threat have entered the mainstream.
The BNP and its ilk hope to capitalise on this common currency.
Now the same right-wing media outlets that gave the oxygen of publicity to the likes of Migrationwatch and its racially fuelled rantings on Britain being "full up" are giving equal prominence to the Taxpayers Alliance, a thoroughly reactionary grouping backed by big business and headed by a former Westminster councillor who left the Conservative Party because it wasn't right-wing enough.
As the full force of the banking bail-out hits home in the months and years to come, the self-styled Taxpayers Alliance is aiming to set the agenda in much the same way as Migrationwatch has helped drive the government's draconian pronouncements on immigration.
Its demand for year-on-year budget cuts of 3 per cent for the foreseeable future is a recipe for disaster. It would herald poverty, public service cuts and increasing privatisation, with all the suffering that this would bring.
Such cuts, coming hot on the heels of the already very real day-to-day hardship of working people and those without work who are being left to fend for themselves, would mean that the prospect of a perfect storm for the far-right in all its hues would loom even larger on the horizon.
But it is with the people of Britain that hope lies. It is with those who took to the streets of Birmingham who showed those spreading hate that such poison will provoke an instant reaction.
It is with the people whom the BNP is forced to hoodwink to promote its ideas under false banners. And it is via the trade union movement, the left and their alternative answers that the long-term antidote to far-right poison will be administered.
The challenge that we face cannot be underestimated. It will take the maximum unity around a common platform, it will take massive work on the streets and on the internet to reach out to those who currently hear only right-wing voices and it will take continuing pressure on government to force it to see the error of its ways.
There are no easy answers. There will, however, be a clear price for failure.
POLICE say more arrests are likely after 35 people were arrested as riots broke out in Birmingham city centre at the weekend.
Rallies by rival groups spilled over into violence in the main shopping area early on Saturday evening. Bystanders ran for cover as protesters from the recently-formed group, Casuals United, said to consist of many football followers, and Unite Against Fascism clashed in New Street, just before 7pm.
Casuals United had organised a demonstration against Muslim extremism, but anti-fascists then staged a rival rally.
Three people were injured as hundreds of police, some clad in full riot gear, struggled to keep the peace. At one point officers were forced to seal off New Street with a steel barrier.
Witness Emily Bridgewater was shopping when violence broke out. She said: “It kicked off very suddenly and there was stampeding and screaming.
“We ended up being herded into Primark, where they brought the shutters down to protect us. It was very frightening.”
Photographs and video footage from the running battles are being studied by police who may now apply for injunctions to bar some of the troublemakers from the West Midlands.
Chief Insp Mark Payne, of West Midlands Police, said: “To date there have been 35 arrests - the majority for disorder, but this figure may increase as investigations continue into the incident.
“Officers were deployed throughout the city centre to manage two separate protests which took place during the course of the afternoon.
“Isolated incidents of disorder occurred when small groups of protesters broke away and actively sought to engage in criminal behaviour.”
He added: “The events are a very rare occurrence and normal city centre life resumed within a short space of time. I want to reassure all members of the community that the city centre is, and will continue to be a safe place to live, shop and visit.
“It is important to be aware that West Midlands Police have no powers to ban or stop peaceful protests and would not seek to do so. However, if criminal acts or racially aggravated incidents are reported, then police will arrest and prosecute anyone found to be responsible.”
JUDGE Sonia Sotomayor will become the first Hispanic citizen and the third woman to serve in the 220-year-old US Supreme Court when she is sworn in on Saturday.
Ms Sotomayor, who is the first Democratic nominee in 15 years, was confirmed by a groundbreaking Senate vote on Thursday, despite intense conservative opposition.
Following the 68-31 confirmation vote, US President Barack Obama said: "With this historic vote, the Senate has affirmed that Justice Sotomayor has the intellect, the temperament, the history, the integrity and the independence of mind to ably serve on our nation's highest court."
Mr Obama said that the Senate had upheld US ideals of justice, equality and opportunity.
"They're ideals she's fought for throughout her career and the ideals the Senate has upheld today in breaking yet another barrier and moving us yet another step closer to a more perfect union," he declared.
Republican critics decried Mr Obama's call for "empathy" in a justice, arguing that Ms Sotomayor would bring personal whims and prejudices to the bench.
They criticised rulings in which, they said, Ms Sotomayor showed disregard for gun rights, property rights and discrimination claims by white workers.
And they repeatedly cited comments she had made about the role that a judge's background and perspective can play, especially a 2001 speech in which she said that she hoped that a "wise Latina" judge would usually make better decisions than a white man.
The National Rifle Association, which hadn't weighed in on previous Supreme Court nominations, strongly opposed her and threatened to downgrade its ratings of any senator who voted to confirm Ms Sotomayor.
But the National Organisation for Women (NOW) proudly celebrated Ms Sotomayor's "landmark achievement as the first Hispanic justice to sit on the high court and just the third woman justice."
NOW said that "Sotomayor's experience as a member of two groups who often experience discrimination in this country can only help to broaden the court's perspective on inequity and help advance the cause of equality and justice for all."
