Found on the door of a loo in parliament today…
Watch Neo-Guido on Gordon Brown on the Daily Politics this lunchtime.
Labour are so proud of their new One Nation policy document that they have snuck it out online with absolutely no fanfare or promotion on a Thursday afternoon. Skimming through the 63 pages of dry wonkery, Guido did stumble upon one line summing it all up:
Honesty is the best policy…
One other word of advice: if you’re going to come up with a policy on “English language learning”, you should probably try to spell it correctly:
That went almost as well as Ed’s big speech on Monday…
You can read the whole thing here, if you really want to.
Click to enlarge.
A leaked internal Tory memo advises MPs on how to get away with exploiting their unpaid interns without breaking the very same minimum wage laws those MPs insist other employers adhere to. Unpaid intern campaign website Graduate Fog has got hold of the memo which urges MPs to seek out loopholes in their own legislation:
Swap the phrase “You will be expected to…” for “The kind of activities it would be great to get some help with include…”
– Don’t mention ”work”, “worker”, “tasks” or “hours” – but instead ask applicants to offer their “help” with “campaigning administration”
– Instead, use the words “volunteer” and “volunteering”
– Take care only to reimburse expenses for actual bought items, as opposed to a flat rate per week. This is because “regular payments of expenses are likely to give the volunteer the right to the minimum wage” and create a “risk” that they will be “classed as a worker” and therefore must be paid.
So the Tories tell employers that they must pay employees doing work the minimum wage, yet advise their own MPs on how to dodge the rules. Which has to win the hypocrisy of the day award…
UPDATE 21 March 2014: The above video was removed from the BBC iPlayer archive at Gordon Brown’s insistence. This is a copy hosted on our own offshore server rather than any third party provider.
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Since 2010 Gordon Brown has submitted more Press Complaints Commission complaints than he has delivered speeches in the House, meaning you won’t read about the financial affairs of the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown in the papers. So Guido was pleased to have the opportunity to share the story with a wider audience on the Daily Politics this lunchtime.
- Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown has £10,000-a-week expenses
- Not a registered charity, two thirds of funds raised spent on expenses
- Less than £1 million given to charity out of over £3 million raised
- Vanity project lets Gordon and Sarah enjoy jet-set premier life-style of first class flights and five star hotels
Brillo asked the pertinent question of Gordon: “Mentally, is he out of it?”
Randy Rennard has just released this statement giving the LibDems – mainly Tim Farron – the following ultimatum if they don’t fancy a bloody court battle:
“There will be no court action if the party simply follows its own rules, or if there is a realistic prospect of mediation succeeding. In the meantime, Lord Rennard is still waiting to see the report of Alistair Webster’s investigation, as was promised to him. He was, however, informed by Alistair Webster personally that the report’s only decision was that there should be no further action, as there was insufficient evidence to hold a disciplinary hearing. Any lawful party action and any mediation will have to reflect this.”
Clegg says no apology, no whip. Liable party president Farron is keeping quiet this morning. Popcorn…
