Ed’s inbox – May 23rd

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

Is Labour a feminist party? – Progress
By Kate Green MP

‘Is Labour a feminist party?’ asked a woman attending Saturday’s Progress conference. If we’re not, we certainly should be. The Tory-led policies of the government are fundamentally inimical to women’s interests, and Labour needs to speak out.

From the impact of the spending cuts, hitting women twice as hard as men, to the changes to the benefits system, designed to discourage women in couples from the workplace, to Ken Clarke’s crass remarks about rape, to asking whether the Equality Act should be abolished as part of the government’s ‘red tape’ review (red tape! How dare they?), and I could go on and on with a host of other government policies, it’s clear the government doesn’t take women seriously. Labour women must fight back. – Read more.

Let’s talk about rape – The Honeyball Buzz
By Mary Honeyball MEP

Throughout recent weeks the UK press has been unusually dominated with stories relating to rape, infidelities by powerful men and the sex industry. The stories have ranged from a leader of an exceptionally prominent organisation being arrested and charged for sexual assault, a British minister finding himself tripping over both of his left feet into a pit of indignant fire for trying to distinguish between “proper rape” and, well, that other kind of rape, to an insurance industry rewarding its employees with prostitutes.

Between them however these stories have exposed the myriad complexities, prejudices and myths which continue to pervade both in the press and the public conscience about rape and about women. Which is why I think now is a good time to talk about rape. So, let’s talk about rape. – Read more.

Why Labour should continue demanding Ken Clarke’s resignation – Liberal Conspiracy
By Sunny Hundal

Harriet Harman has written an open letter in the Guardian today, criticising Ken Clarke again. On Saturday, Ed Miliband was asked about Clarke and once again he defended his call for the resignation.

Some media commentators have disagreed with this. Steve Richards on Thursday, Andrew Rawnsley yesterday and Jackie Ashley today. But Labour should carry on criticising Ken Clarke.

The ideological* and political reasons behind calling for Ken Clarke’s resignation are quite straight-forward in my view. – Read more.

Is Scotland’s relationship with Westminster about to go nuclear? – Left Foot Forward
By Ed Jacobs

Could the next row to erupt between Westminster and Holyrood be over the future of the UK nuclear deterrent? Just days after defence secretary Liam Fox announced the government was giving the green light for work to begin on designing a new generation of submarines to carry nuclear weapons, Scotland on Sunday has reported that the Scottish Parliament will “soon” be asked to back a motion calling for the removal on nuclear submarines from Scottish bases such as Faslane. – Read more.

Tory MP Greg Hands in “parliament rule breach” over cash-for-tours – Political Scrapbook
By Political Scrapbook

It seems Tory MP Greg Hands has been implicated in charging for access to the Houses of Parliament. As disgraced Tory Jonathan Sayeed discovered, being linked to an organisation collecting a fee for a tour of the “mother of all parliaments” can land you in a whole lot of trouble. Indeed, the Speaker’s website states clearly that third parties should not benefit financially:

“MPs can sponsor tours of Parliament for constituents who would like to visit. Tours are given to constituents free of charge, and must NOT be sold for profit to third parties.” – 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.