Alan's dream date
8 June 2007 - 1:51am — Kevin ArmstrongPolitics is strange sometimes, as this week proved. Alan has been busy building support everywhere from Party hustings to speed-dating sessions, all to try and get a job that has consigned John Prescott to a hospital bed. Get well soon John, by the way.
As a friend and firm supporter, I’m sure that John Prescott was happy to see Alan push on with the campaign. I only hope that he was able to tune into Radio Five for one of the highlights of the campaign so far - speed-dating with Simon Mayo.
All of the candidates tried to win over the studio panel, but Alan’s charms had an unexpected effect. After listening to Alan’s six minute stint, campaign rival Hillary Benn said: “I would probably vote for Alan to tell you the truth”. In fairness to Hillary, he had just been asked who he would support if he was not running himself, but it clearly indicates who his second preference is. Any Hillary supporters should take note.
Alan continued his search for more admirers afterwards, and he got a good reception at the TULO hustings in London. He reiterated his stance on social housing (find out more here) and discussed ways of improving standards on our rail network too. Covering a range of topics, he also talked passionately to members about improving the rights of temporary and agency workers - not just in the UK, but across Europe.
Alan will be campaigning in Cardiff on Saturday, and I’ll hope to see him at the youth hustings in Oxford on Sunday. Then we’ll only be two weeks away from the moment that all the candidates must be dreaming about – the election result on 24th June. Let’s hope that John Prescott is better by then.
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Great time at Newcastle hustings
4 June 2007 - 6:33am — Stuart BruceI might be slightly biased as I grew up in the North East (until I was 14 and my parents moved back to West Cumbria), but I think yesterday's Newcastle hustings was the best so far. It was a really friendly, lively audience that asked some really good political questions.
All of the deputy candidates gave some good answers and I received some great feedback from people about Alan's performance. I talked to several people who had already decided their first preference for another candidate, but weren't sure about their second preference - until they heard or met Alan.
What's really good is Alan appears to be picking up second preferences from supporters of all five candidates. The two common themes appear to be that nearly everyone is impressed by Alan's honesty and the second is that he genuinely is the unity candidate.
He refuses to tack left, right, up, down, simply to win votes. He sticks to telling it like it is. That's why he's got support from MPs like John Grogan who fought him over tuition fees, and Gerry Sutcliffe who opposes Alan on PR, but is impressed enough to run his campaign (I'm also in that camp, as I'm definitely not a big fan of PR).
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"Housing should be based on need" – Alan
25 May 2007 - 4:37pm — Kevin ArmstrongAlan was in Basingstoke yesterday for the BBC’s Question Time programme, where he discussed national security, grammar schools, social housing and the deputy leadership contest.
He reiterated his stance on social housing, saying: “Only 1% of social housing is occupied by foreign nationals. The problem is the amount of social housing that’s available. We’ve increased the amount of new build by 50%, but we need to go much much further, particularly in the South and South East where there is a real mismatch between supply and demand. So this is not an issue about immigrants taking social housing. It’s an issue about ensuring that we have enough social housing to fulfil the need.”
You can read more about the deputy leadership candidates’ comments on housing here.