Ed’s inbox – April 7th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

If Ed Miliband could only read five blogposts each day, he’d read these ones…

Labour party general secretary: some tips for hopeful applicants – Labour Uncut
By Peter Watt

Last week the party finally decided to set a timetable for the selection of a new general secretary. Not before time. Ray Collins has been a good general secretary. But once he had announced his departure and taken his seat in the Lords the timetable should have been set. The delay will, inevitably, have been destabilising for the party organisation.

To hold office as the general secretary of the party that created the NHS, established a minimum wage, legislated for civil partnerships and created the open university is a tremendous responsibility and enormous privilege. It is also incredibly hard and demanding work.

So I thought, having been there, that I’d try and give some inside tips to those thinking of applying. – Read more.

BNP meltdown: party loses 70% of candidates in heartland areas – Political Scrapbook
By James Dixon

Yesterday we showed how the British National Party was running out of money, today we can reveal that it is running out of candidates as its activist base is decimated by defections and infighting. Research by Political Scrapbook shows the party has lost 70% of its in its candidates in target “heartland” areas. – Read more.

Clegg: “I didn’t even spend that much time campaigning on tuition fees” – Left Foot Forward
By Shamik Das

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has made the extraordinary claim that scrapping tuition fees was not one of his main manifesto priorities. He makes the comments in a wide-ranging interview in the latest edition of the New Statesman in which he talks about his relationship with his boss, his relationship with his party and foreign policy.

The deputy prime minister says:

“I don’t even pretend we can occupy the Lib Dem holier-than-thou, hands-entirely-clean-and-entirely-empty-type stance. No, we are getting our hands dirty, and inevitably and totally understandably we are being accused of being just like any other politicians…

“I have a rather old-fashioned belief that you’ve got to stand by what you’ve done and take the consequences, good or bad; I didn’t even spend that much time campaigning on tuition fees.” – Read more.

Why does the paid interns debate always have a London bias? – Liberal Conspiracy
By Jennifer O’Mahony

Yesterday, in a massively generous concession to the youth workforce currently suffering a 20%+ unemployment rate, the Lib Dems have said they will now pay for lunch and travel expenses for their parliamentary interns.

But a major problem with MPs isn’t just that they are often middle or upper-class millionaires who don’t live with the problems of the struggling majority, but they also seem unable to conceive of the idea that some people don’t actually live in the Greater London area. – Read more.

Wisconsin supreme court election amazing result – Michael Tomasky
By Michael Tomasky

‘Nonpartisan’ but liberal-leaning JoAnne Kloppenburg leads the conservative incumbent in Wisconsin. Wow

So now, says the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

In a race still too close to call, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg took a paper-thin lead over Justice David Prosser in the state supreme court race early Wednesday, capping a race marked by massive voter turnout, Governor Scott Walker’s union bargaining plan, and record spending by outside interest groups. – Read more.

Our suggestions for Ed’s inbox are limited by what we read – so if you’ve seen a blogpost that should be in Ed’s inbox, let us know.