Kate Hoey about to join the Conservatives?

[sexton]

I know its dull, but let's return to reality!

Kate Hoey has not said that she supports Boris policy, nor reccommended that anyone should vote for him. What she has agreed to do is to act as an advisor on sporting matters, should he get elected. Her political views are about as far removed as they could be from those of Boris (Second Choice for BNP Voters) Johnson.
She was an effective Minister for Sport, and has been a formidable advocate on sporting issues locally, so at least he will have one advisor who knows what she is talking about! Remember, our Prime Minister, appointed the Conservative industrialist-peer Sir Digby (now Lord) Jones to be Minister for Trade, because he believed him to be the best man for the job.

I am a Labour voter who lives in Vauxhall and would like to see a Labour member returned to Westminster, because - despite the aberrations of some members of our party (who will surely be off to join another one when times get nard again!) - I think that it still provides the best answers to many of our problems.

Kate Hoey has been our MP for all my voting life and most voters in this not very affluent constituency feel that she looks after them well and trust her. Not many favoured the war in Iraq and fewer still care a damn about foxes. [If you own a cat, chances are that he got those flees from a fox, and the mangey animals are forever raiding our estate dustbins!]

I don't want Caroline Pigeon as my MP still less Val Shawcross (Why didn't she run for Streatham where she would definitely have won the selection?) or Steve Reed, who failed to convince even Streatham Labour Party members that he was up to that job, and whose record on assisting individual constituents in his ward is not exceptional!

Kate Hoey is a decent woman who does right according to her lights. She works hard for her consituents and champions causes which are not always popular, but are, generally, just. That is what most normal people want from their MP.

This country would be a better place if we had more representatives like her.


"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."

(Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate)

 

[William of Walworth]

ahhh of course the prime reason for the creation of the labour party was nothing to do with creating a more equal society - it was all about banning fox hunting.
excellent

Sorry to go a bit off topic but this bit got my goat.

You rightly imply that Labour has been moving away (and agreed it's been moving well away to say the least ) from righting inequalities etc.

So Kate Hoey obsessing about foxhunters' "freedom" to carry on their minority pastime is helping egalitarianism and old school Labour values how, precisely?

All this shit from deep cover' Countryside Alliance types (hello marra! ) as well as overt ones, their crocodile tears about all the time wasted in Parliament on the foxhunting thing.

ALL of that timewasting came from obstructive filibustering timewasting Tories and other CA types like Hoey. Bill could have been passed in a moment if majority opinion in Parliament about that specific subject hadn't been harassed and hassled for several timewasting months.

Countryside Alliance suck foul cheesy Tory cock and so does Hoey. And they take a tediosouly long bloody time doing it.

 

[William of Walworth]

fewer still care a damn about foxes.

I'm willing to bet they care even less about the 'rights' of Tory foxhunting scum to slaughter animals in cruel perverted aristo rituals. Kate Hoey may be generally hardworking, can't really say about that for sure not being her consitiuent, but her wasting time being CA chair and getting the bit between their teeth about an issue (foxhunters' 'rights') that her voters aren't exactly spontaneously agitating about, is a dereliction of Vauxhhall-relevant duty on her part.

The issue that's TRULY irrelevant to her area isn't banning foxhunting in itself. An issue which as I said above could have been very quickly sorted in far less Parliamentary time without a long drawn out and timewasting CA war of filibustering attrition. The irrelevancy comes from MPs like Kate Hoey obsessing over and timewasting on an an issue her constituents couldn't, I bet, give two shits about.

 

[sexton]

Well, WW, for most of us, you know, fox hunting is an irrelevance, and with barbed wire, motorways, and increasing numbers of farmers and local authorites who refuse to allow hunting on their land, it would probably have come to an end without legislation. What offends many of us is that, having stated in the Party's manifesto that we would put an end to it, MPs delayed for four years, before passing an absolutely useless Act, which has permitted it to continue.

At least Kate Hoey has been honest, and many of us find her stance on this issue much easier to stomach than her colleagues stance on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

[marra]

wow ive never been accused of being in deep cover before!
To clear up what i meant - i always assumed foxhunting and an MPs views on it is rather like abortion - up to their individual conscience and not a party issue - so you could be a right wing tory and opposed to fox hunting (i.e alan clark) or a right wing labour mp and supportive of it (ie ms hoey)
for her to somehow be regarded as right wing or un-labour because of her views on foxhunting seemed slightly potty to me

 

[dream_girl]

ahhh of course the prime reason for the creation of the labour party was nothing to do with creating a more equal society - it was all about banning fox hunting.
excellent

was that aimed at me?

i didn't leave over fox hunting - i left over her support for the witch hunt against the left.

 

[marra]

not aimed at anyone in particular!

 

[dream_girl]

not aimed at anyone in particular!

OK

 

[agricola]

Well, WW, for most of us, you know, fox hunting is an irrelevance, and with barbed wire, motorways, and increasing numbers of farmers and local authorites who refuse to allow hunting on their land, it would probably have come to an end without legislation. What offends many of us is that, having stated in the Party's manifesto that we would put an end to it, MPs delayed for four years, before passing an absolutely useless Act, which has permitted it to continue.

At least Kate Hoey has been honest, and many of us find her stance on this issue much easier to stomach than her colleagues stance on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As another Vauxhall resident, I agree with this - she at least admits the views that one disagrees with.

 

[brix]

Steve Reed... whose record on assisting individual constituents in his ward is not exceptional!

I can't speak for other constituents but I live on Brixton Hill and Steve Reed is my local councillor. I've been to him with problems a few times and he has always been really helpful. On that basis I was sorry that he wasn't selected as the Labour Party candidate for Streatham.

 

[Bob]

According to Rosa Prince (ex Mirror journalist, now at the Telegraph) Hoey's considered standing as an independent.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/threelinewhip/april08/borisjohnsonforlorninthedrizzle.htm

I’m told that the Vauxhall MP recently sidled up to the local Liberal Democrats in her area, asking if she would have their support if she quit Labour and stood as an independent.

The answer was a resounding no.

It seems that if she wants to remain an MP, Hoey is stuck with Labour. And if Labour wants to remain in Government, the party needs all the MPs it can get.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

The fact that Brian P is prepared to publicly declare her 'bonkerz' speaks volumes. She was , afterall, the local MP when he was heading up Brixton police station.

 

[sexton]

Can't sleep. (Nice neighbours partying - son and wife visiting from Canada.)

Reading this blog again, I am struck by its petty nastiness and stupidity.

Don't Labour Party members want a Labour MP in Vauxhall?

Kate Hoey is deservedly popular among her constituents - because of the time and effort that she devotes to dealing with their problems.

Hunting is not an important issue for the couple living on the Cowley Estate, bringing up three young children, who might be better off if they gave up work and went on benefit, and she can't find much time to indulge in it herself!

Her political views - which are certainly not right-wing - are probably much closer to those of such constituents than many of those contributing to this blog.

She surely can have no time for toffy Boris's crazy right wing views which makes him so attractive to members of BNP!

I wonder if it has occurred to anyone that one of the reasons why she might have accepted his offer to work as an advisor on sporting matters could be because this just might lead to more facilities becoming available for young people in places like Vauxhall?

 

[Bob]

Here's Kate Hoey's letter to the Vauxhall Labour party:

Dear Member of Vauxhall Labour Party,
The Members of this Party are its lifeblood and so I wanted you to be the first to know that I have now agreed to be the Mayor of London's Commissioner for Sport.
I have been asked to develop the London legacy plan for sport arising from the unique opportunity that the 2012 Olympics gives us, and to help increase grass roots sport participation and access to sporting opportunities across London.
As you may know, for my whole political life I have been passionate about seeing that the power of sport be used to change the lives of our young people. Sport crosses all political divides and just as the Prime Minister appointed non-Labour MPs to advise on issues such as housing, I too feel that on some issues the "big tent" approach to politics is in all our interests.
I will not, of course, be involved with any other aspect of the Mayor's administration and nor would I ever want to be. I do see substantial benefits for this and neighbouring constituencies and am confident that I can make a difference in this unpaid role.
Of course just like a Minister, my duties and responsibilities as a Labour MP will always come first. I look forward to explaining this in more detail either at a ward meeting or at the GC but as I said, I wanted you to be the first to hear the formal news today.
On a personal note, I would add that I am all too aware of how this news first came out and how upset some of you were and are. It is a matter of deep regret to me. I share your sorrow at the loss of the Mayoralty. In campaigning across the constituency I saw just how hard so many of you were working.
But we are now where we are and I know that the people who elected me to serve in Parliament are very supportive of politicians from different parties working together for the common good. Our challenge in Labour is to work together in the coming years to win for Labour in Europe, again in Lambeth in 2010, and after again in Parliament. I look forward to serving you, and working with you.
Best wishes & see you soon. Please do email me or call me if you would like to discuss this issue further - I would be delighted to hear from you.
Kate

 

[knatchbull]

Here's Kate Hoey's letter to the Vauxhall Labour party:

Hoey's appointment was announced today by Johnson- See http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/3305

and the letter to members was featured on Labour Home - http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/15/85411/4244

I guess its better that Johnson has someone who actually knows about sport advising him - Government of All the Talents and all that !

 

[Brixton Hatter]

and here she is fiddling with Boris's balls (or something)

 

[Bob]

Hoey's appointment was announced today by Johnson- See http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/3305

and the letter to members was featured on Labour Home - http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/15/85411/4244

I guess its better that Johnson has someone who actually knows about sport advising him - Government of All the Talents and all that !

I find it a bit strange when Labour people get wound up by this - however mad Hoey is she's quite right to point out that this is exactly what Brown did last summer when he gave jobs to Lib Dems / Tories.

 

[pooka]

I find it a bit strange when Labour people get wound up by this - however mad Hoey is she's quite right to point out that this is exactly what Brown did last summer when he gave jobs to Lib Dems / Tories.

Isn't the issue not so much that she's accepted this appointment but that she was in discussions whilst the elections were ongoing - thereby giving the impression that she thought her party's defeat was a distinct possibility. This is quite a different circumstance to the Brown position.

She could easily have responded to Boris Johnson "Get in touch if you win".

I understand that, in Labour circles, Hoey's distain of Livingston is no secret which may have played a part.

 

[Bob]

Isn't the issue not so much that she's accepted this appointment but that she was in discussions whilst the elections were ongoing - thereby giving the impression that she thought her party's defeat was a distinct possibility. This is quite a different circumstance to the Brown position.

She could easily have responded to Boris Johnson "Get in touch if you win".

I understand that, in Labour circles, Hoey's distain of Livingston is no secret which may have played a part.

Fair point.

I suppose she also made it harder for them to argue that Boris would be a disaster....

 

[agricola]

Fair point.

I suppose she also made it harder for them to argue that Boris would be a disaster....

You would have thought their extremely-well-evidenced habit of bring about disasters would have already made it very difficult to argue.