Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

fred - same place as you get any other politician's tax returns, beneficial trusts and similar :-)

70% of Labour candidates for 2015 election have links to unions: Unite targets seats to help exert influence on Miliband

47 of 67 candidates so far selected by Labour for 2015 are linked to unions
27 are affiliated to Unite through membership, sponsorship or employment
Unite leader Len McCluskey reportedly refers to senior Labour politicians he approves of as 'Unite MPs'

Seven in ten Labour candidates for the 2015 general election are linked to trade unions, figures revealed last night.

More than half of those are affiliated to Unite, the giant Left-wing union which is targeting as many seats as possible to exert maximum influence over Ed Miliband.

Yesterday former home secretary David Blunkett warned Labour was in danger of becoming a ‘party of the graveyard’ if it tilted too far to the left.

He told Mr Miliband to avoid the bitter internal divisions that locked Labour out of power in the 1980s and 1990s.

But 47 of 67 candidates so far selected by Labour for 2015 are linked to unions, with 27 affiliated to Unite through membership, sponsorship or employment. This is 40 per cent of the total.

Party sources say Unite leader Len McCluskey has begun referring to senior Labour politicians he approves of as ‘Unite MPs’.

Unions have given 80 per cent of the money Labour has received in donations under Mr Miliband.

And Unite’s support propelled him to a surprise victory over his brother David in the 2010 party leadership election.

Mr Blunkett said Labour MPs would not be able to accuse the Conservatives of being driven by vested interests until they scrutinised the influence trade unions had over their own party. ‘Perception really matters, I’d be daft to suggest that it doesn’t,’ he said.

Unite

The union bought Labour memberships in bulk for residents in the Scottish constituency, so they would be eligible to vote for the candidate and select the one preferred by Unite.

At least one person complained that membership was bought for them without their consent. When staff questioned the batch of membership forms accompanied by a cheque from Unite, they were allegedly told to process the forms and backdate them.

Labour banned the new ‘members’ from voting.

However they have refused to publish the results of an inquiry.

Mr McCluskey has threatened to take legal action, claiming that Unite is being ‘smeared’.

But minutes of the Unite executive council meeting in December 2012 show that the union believes the drive in Falkirk is ‘exemplary’.

boasted of the ‘direct impact’ it has had in securing candidates in Peterborough, Norwich South, Harlow, Hastings, Tamworth, Crewe and Nantwich.

Last night, Unite said it was convinced that 150 party members had been disenfranchised by the ban.

It vowed to try to overturn the decision when Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee meets this month.

In a statement, the union said it was ‘at best an extreme over-reaction, at worst, the product of an anti-union agenda’.

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said: ‘Day by day, an unaccountable and unelected union baron is strengthening his vice like grip on the Labour party.

‘If Ed Miliband won’t stand up the likes of Len McCluskey in his party, there’s no way he could stand up for the interests this country.’

Labour activists have also called for Mr Miliband to rein in his campaigns supremo Tom Watson.

Karie Murphy, Mr Watson’s office manager, was Unite’s preferred candidate for Falkirk.

Mr Watson is also a former flatmate of Mr McCluskey, and his links to the union have made Labour modernisers uncomfortable.

cynic
You were asking about the Egyptian army's loyalties. They are essentially secular in practice due to years of Mubarek's ties with the US. The Muslim Brotherhood was a proscribed organisation in previous years as it was in a number of other westernised ME countries such as Tunisia. Mubarek took control via a military coup as did Nasser. The military is heavily involved in most businesses in Egypt as owners. The senior military wants a good economy and that meant no Muslim Brotherhood as they were making things worse. There seems to be still a high degree of corruption in government. It appears that many in the military are involved in the largest companies, such as energy, oil and transport.

Laughable.

When the Labour party sprang out of unionism.

But if there is abuse of rules they should be exposed and dealt with.

But compared with the tory party, who are mountains out of a molehill, with the puppeteer Aschroft and a few others manipulating the con party and arranging its PR and policies from outside the country it is a minor problem.

Also, with the lower paid, women and unemployed being scapegoated and paying the bills of corrupt capitalism I would have expected such actions would have happened early.

Smearing, by party lightweights Cameron, Osborne and camp followers like Hays will have little effect in the long run, but it might bring attention to public dissent to the abuses being acted out by the present government.

When I was a student, I had a public school boy as flat mate.

It didn't make me a tory, or a homosexual, but we did remain friends and I would help him if he would benefit from my help.

Print the names of the financiers of the tory party and let us see the level of bribes.

The importance of the Unite trying to control Labour is that it has uncovered the way that unions work and how corrupt it is.

It is such a joy to see the comeuppance of the Holier than Thou Tom Watson. More corrupt than any hacking journalist.

Watson shared a flat with McCluskey and the guy who was being installed as candidate in Falkirk worked in Watson's office.

Think it was a women and was watsons' office manager! Know what I mean!

It gets WORSE

Karie Murphy, Tom Watson's office manager who also happens to have been Len McCluskey's girlfriend.

Bet Dave Milliband is laughing his cock off, wonder if he's been able to resist uttering those immortal words to gobshite Ed 'Don't say I didn't warn you' LOL!

Hays whats your poison tonight???? Whiskey is bad for you. Pickled liver old boy and blue nose, mind thats just right for you. Id personally brand you aswel, pink body stocking and yellow wellys. Im sure thats what big Len Mcluskey has got lined up for you when labour win the next election with a left wing agenda.

Been needed for ages, all partys are too much like each other these days.

Hays I wouldnt be too cocky if I were you.

Opinion up on twitter seems about 50 /50 divided down the middle with a lot of conservative supporters who are also Unite members deplored at the PMs antics in PMqs the other day.

Not only that but Osbourne is being called a posh boy joker by the people who voted for him. His laughfing fit on wed coupled with the one he had agains Balls and his lisp has turned a lot against him.

Apparently their is a poll out tomorrow just before mid morning.

As soon as its out Ill post it.

Chris and golf is a game for posh poofters. .........wink.

Fishing in your man made pond has addled your brain GF, or is that the Stella? Keep the red flag flying .... wink.

Come on you pair of winkers.. sort it out -):

Unite's McCluskey attacks Labour over Falkirk selection

The leader of Labour's biggest union donor has said he has "no trust" in the party's handling of a growing row over the selection of a candidate in Falkirk.

Len McCluskey denied Unite tried to influence the choice by packing the local party with its members, saying an internal inquiry was a "disgrace".

His comments came after MP Tom Watson quit as Labour's election co-ordinator.

Mr Watson's office manager Karie Murphy was the union's preferred candidate.

it certainly looks that LMcC doth protest far too much

Miliband feels pressure as Unite battle becomes one he cannot afford to lose

Labour leader cherishes party unity and dislikes factionalism, but, many argue, has turned a blind eye for far too long

Unite? Labour in crisis as angry union chief, Len McCluskey, turns on Ed Miliband

Labour's biggest donor and Unite leader accuses party leader of a 'smear' and a 'stitch up' as Tom Watson resigns from Shadow Cabinet

Labour: Election strategist Tom Watson quits as Ed Miliband goes to war with Unite

He said he was not quitting over the Falkirk selection row but admitted briefings against him over the “mess” by anonymous colleagues did not help

Unite’s plot for 40 Labour seats

A SECRET plot by Unite to fix the selection of Labour candidates in more than 40 seats was revealed last night.
A leaked dossier shows the union’s “furious” attempts to get its Left-wing candidates chosen.

Labour has already been forced to take over the selection process in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, after Unite members swamped the local party.

What is different between the looney right plotting their escape from Europe and the looney R/right of the con party planning a retreat from Europe.

I would thinking plotting and scapegoating is a necessary gene for the tory party renowned for the "night of Long knives" and plotting against their leaders.


What was the downfall of Thatcher and the plottings against Major about, Expose some the plotting and scheming at the local Con Club.

==========

When does hidden plot become known strategy and a known plan of action.

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Bonkers.

Stan, its OK mate me and chris are good online freinds really.

Just take the pith out of each other.

Nothing malicious.

TORY POSH BOYS............ the Poll is out.

WHERES HAYS????????????????????????????????????