Ed’s inbox – May 13th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

Tory minister who tried to throw female MP out of lift exposed – Political Scrapbook
By Political Scrapbook

On Wednesday Scrapbook reported the sorry tale of a Tory MP who attempted to throw a younger female colleague out of a lift reserved for MPs. The old duffer concerned has now been exposed as Conservative defence minister Andrew Robathan.

Presumably assuming the 34 year-old Walthamstow MP was a lowly parliamentary staffer, Robathan chastised Stella Creasy for using the members-only facility and demanded to see her pass: – Read more.

Germany and France leave UK in the growth slow lane – Left Foot Forward
By Will Straw

New figures out today show that the UK is slipping behind its major competitors in the growth stakes. Germany reported growth of 1.5 per cent for Q1 2011 while France reported 1%. By comparison, the UK grew at just 0.5 per cent in the same period and much (if not all) of that was due to the snow bounce meaning that British growth has been flat over the last six months. – Read more.

Failing to confront Islamist extremism – Progress Online
By Paul Richards

The government’s strategy for preventing violent extremism is in danger of becoming a shambles. On Monday the resignation of Pauline Neville-Jones as Home Office minister for security and counterterrorism minister came as no surprise.

The former chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee had been Cameron’s closest adviser on counter-terrorism in opposition, but had found working in government as a minister in the Lords tough going. Far from being allowed to work to her strengths, she found herself occupying the more familiar role of Lords ministers: being the workhorse across every area of home office legislation. Despite the cordial exchange of resignation letters, she was plainly an ex-spook in a round hole. It raises yet again the question why the British system of government fails to adapt to anyone with experience or expertise in anything other than the grubby business of politics. – Read more.

Revealed: how the Yes2AV campaign malfunctioned behind the scenes – Liberal Conspiracy
By Andy May

The first ever national UK referendum on our voting system was always going to be a difficult affair. But the size of the loss cannot just be attributed to the political environment we were in. Those who ran the Yes campaign must take a long hard look at themselves.

From the very start the self interest of the major funders and the senior management’s lack of creativity, lack of experience and inability to listen to staff and activists’ concerns had a very negative impact on the chances of success. These are just some of the contributing factors. – Read more.

Nothing to add to my Iraq Inquiry evidence – Alastair Campbell
By Alastair Campbell

As with previous inquiries, I decided on being called as a witness to the Chilcot Inquiry that I should say nothing beyond my own evidence. That was harder when earlier inquiries were going on, because I was still working for the government, and regularly briefing the media, but it is straightforward enough now. I have given my evidence, as have many others, and the inquiry is now preparing its report. Whatever the media may wish to do with the evidence from Major General Laurie published on the inquiry website yesterday, I see no purpose in giving a running commentary. – Read more.

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