The news that McBride’s book will upset Labour conference has caused a flutter today. Many of his old allies have popped up to help the re-branding exercise. No doubt they will be salivating at the prospect of the serialisation rights, hence why no one has noted that the deal will earn Mad Dog far more than the royalties he has pledged to give away. Looking back at his recent blogposts shows the level of detail we can expect about the Brown years; one thing stuck out about his latest musing though:

“As our internal polls used to tell us, there were a number of Tory leaders who could potentially have beaten Tony Blair in 2005, and Hague was arguably one of them.”

You have to wonder what a Civil Servant at the Treasury was doing having access to “internal polls” in 2005. What internal polls? Surely the Treasury were not polling this sort of information? A Labour source familiar with that particular period does not recall any Labour Party poll commissioned on the subject. Was this done by that famous impartial charity the Smith Institute? If not, who paid for it and was money declared? What else will Damian let out of the bag about doing Gordon’s leadership dirty work on the taxpayer? 

The maths does not look great for anyone except Labour in the rotten borough of South Shields, but then that’s what was said about Rotherham where UKIP managed to come second last year. A spokesman for the party was boisterous about their chances in the seat.

“UKIP expect the momentum that has been gathering over the past year to become apparent in South Shields, where we will be selecting a candidate who will work hard to highlight how the ordinary people of South Shields have been let down by the old three parties and Labour in particular. Those who want to send a message to both front beches know the best way to do it, and that is to vote UKIP.”

Sources in the party are hopeful of a second place: “it is well within our grasp”. And the bookies agree…

UPDATE: Keep an eye on John Tennant’s  website. He works for UKIP MEP Derek Clark and fancies his chances as the candidate:

A great opportunity for #UKIP to bring its message to the North East, #SouthShields #UKIP #DMiliband—
John Tennant (@johnukip) March 27, 2013

There is one obvious candidate already being punted to replace David Miliband in South Shields:

Assuming Tony Blair can't be persuaded to stand, it has to be @Kevin_Maguire for South Shields #KM4PM—
James Chapman (Mail) (@jameschappers) March 27, 2013

A strong local born candidate, loyal to the party and an excellent media performer. It’s time for Kevin Maguire to make his love of Labour official and throw his hat in the ring. It would mean taking a pretty hefty pay cut mind though…

UPDATE: 

Boost for #KM4SS campaign. Constituency bigwig tells Sky candidate must have local links and not be 'parachuted in' like DMil @Kevin_Maguire—
James Chapman (Mail) (@jameschappers) March 27, 2013

UPDATE II: Adam Boulton has tipped our Kev live on Sky News: “He may be a metropolitan trendy these days, but he is a local boy born and bred.” Big Kev has the big mo.

So Eddie Izzard has finally gone on the record with what he has been telling people for yonks: that he wants to be the Labour Mayor of London. Guido reported this nearly a year ago. The transvestite comedian hardly has a good track record when it comes to campaign though. Recently his friends expressed an interest in Hampstead, before he was promptly stopped in his tracks by an All Woman Shortlist. Not even his skirt could get round that.

Izzard played a key role in helping the yes team lose the AV referendum, having previously campaigned for Britain to join the Euro, and was just about the only celebrity to enthusiastically back Gordon Brown in 2010. He also stumped with Ken last year, putting the final nail in the coffin of that campaign. His Mayoral rivals like Seb Coe, David Lammy and Sadiq Khan should not be too worried.

The cynics amongst you might think it’s an interesting time for CCHQ stalwart Nick Park to jump to the private sector.

The Tory head of research and attack crafter is off to energy giants Centrica.

The loss of the best part of decade’s experience is a blow for the Tories.

Meanwhile Labour are beefing up their attack team for the coming digital battle. Obama’s rapid rebuttal unit “backroom Brit” Matt McGregor:

“McGregor was responsible for the digital rapid response unit that attacked Mitt Romney relentlessly, ensuring that any statement by the Republican was picked over and rebutted, often within minutes or hours.”

Could get bloody…

Rachel Sylvester has coined a useful term in this morning’s Times to describe the hard-left online wing of the Labour Party: “Digital Bennism”. She says Miliband is facing his biggest challenge yet in standing up to his very noisy lefty critics:

Unite, is threatening to withdraw funding amid a vitriolic campaign on Twitter and blogs from leftwingers who oppose the Shadow Cabinet.

LabourList has been inundated with comments calling for Mr Byrne to resign or be sacked. “Byrne should burn,” said one, while others condemned him as “delusional”, an “idiot” and “the weakest link”. Mr Miliband was accused of abandoning Labour’s core principles by failing to stand up for “those who are being victimised” and allowing his party to be “hijacked by new Labour or Tory lite”. At one point John Reid, the Blairite former Cabinet minister, intervened in the online discussion to ask: “Is this a Labour Party website or have I clicked on a SWP one by mistake?”

Blogs, Twitter and Facebook give this deluded faction a much stronger platform than they used to achieve with a banner and a crap chant. It’s worth noting that most of the leading left-wing blogs are “proudly sponsored” by union gold…

All sides are claiming victory this morning, with the exception of the press. Given that the concessions were reportedly made by Letwin in Ed’s office, in the wee hours, just hours before the prospect of a Commons defeat, the Tories are starting the spin battle from the bottom of the hill. Maria Miller insists Dave has won and that there is no statutory underpinning:

“There is no statutory underpinning for the approach that we are taking. There will be no statutory underpinning. What we’re talking about here is simply reiterating the fact that there can be no change to the charter as we move forward. I mean, this is already incorporated into the charter and has been from the beginning … This is not statutory underpinning, it is simply making sure that there’s no change – it’s a no-change clause. What has been accepted by all the parties is that the prime minister’s royal charter should go ahead, and that importantly we’ve stopped Labour’s extreme version of the press law, which now, as part of any deal, the Labour party would actually vote against.”

Harriet Harman says there is:

“There is a an amendment going forward into the enterprise and regulatory reform bill which says that where a charter says in that charter it can’t be dissolved or amended without a two thirds majority in both Houses, then that should have the force of law. There is a little bit of statute. Hacked Off will be very pleased by the outcome.”

What do you think?

Ed Miliband is lurching to the right:

“One of the things we didn’t get right was immigration, and that’s why I’ve got a new approach. Millions of people in this country are concerned about immigration and if people are concerned about it, then the Labour Party I lead is going to be talking about it.”

Just yesterday Shadow Public Health Minister Diane Abbott blustered under the headline “There must be no right turn on immigration”:

“Sadly, immigration has served as a proxy for race in the British political narrative for so long, that it is still not possible to totally deracialise it.

There is no path to victory for the Labour Party in 2015 through the thickets of anti-immigrant politics and I am confident that Ed Miliband knows this.”

On message as ever.

At the height of the Healthcare Bill’s passage through parliament former Labour Health Secretary Andy Burnham was left looking like an idiot when he declared that the were just “two weeks to save the NHS”. The Bill became an Act and healthcare in Brtiain remained massively centralised and free at the point of entry. Well he’s back, and this this time he “means it”:

2 weeks to save the #NHS (& this time we mean it): Mon 18th March set for Lords debate & vote on s75 regs. Lab tabled 'fatal' motion.—
Andy Burnham (@andyburnhammp) March 04, 2013

So was it just spin and bluster last time?

Burnham all but went to ground during the fallout from the Francis Report. Given what happened on their watch up in Staffordshire, he should probably avoid using the words “fatal” and “Labour” in the same sentence. But it’s fine, he really means it “this time”.

The Eastleigh by-election has reached that point where every word the candidates have ever uttered is dredged up and thrown back at them. John O’Farrell got it in the neck about his views on the IRA and Thatcher at the weekend, Maria Hutchings apparently once called Dave a sell-out and the LibDem bloke’s voting record does not match his leaflets. For his two cents, the Brighton bomb quote was not the only bit of O’Farrell’s 1998 autobiography Things Can Only Get Better that caught Guido’s eye:

“I was able to stay in the Labour Party while it ceased opposing privatisation, ceased to support unilateral nuclear disarmament, ceased voting against the Prevention of Terrorism Act and went back on just about every policy I believed in to get itself elected in 1997.”

O’Farrell has fired up the Labour Twitterati and got some boots on the ground, but aside from his comedic running commentary from the stump, he has not really said very much. Has he changed his mind on privatisation and nukes?