Last night, while punditing on Sky News with Iain Dalecroft, Sky brought in spread-betting millionaire and Tory donor Stuart Wheeler to get his thoughts on the Mayoral debate. After facing Dale, Andrew Gilligan, Boris Johnson's sister and then Sir Stuart Wheeler, I have to say I was feeling a little embattled.
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With uncertainty over Thursday's election results - which won't be clear until Friday afternoon - the Westminster bubble if abuzz with speculation of a reshuffle, possibly as soon as the weekend.

This is a crunch year for Labour in local government. Whilst most of the media focus has been on the battle for control of London, we face a tough set of elections across the country defending more seats than any of the other parties. The Labour councillors and candidates I've joined on the campaign trail over the past few months have been working hard to persuade their communities that our party best represents their interests.

Writes Local Government Minister John Healey
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For those who are interested, I'll be on Sky News tonight and on the Sky website from 7.30pm to 10pm, providing live commentary on the Mayoral debate.

I'll be joined by some Liberal and by Tory bloggerIain Dale

There is some suspicion that Tory spokesman Andrew Gilligan of the Evening Standard will also be there.

This is Ken's new online message, launched exclusively on Labourhome before any other website (except Youtube of course!).

Next week I'll be recording a video interview with Ken. Leave your questions here or email them to me at alexhilton@gmail.com

Click here to vote for the best London Labour election videos on YouTube.

Some of them are just pant-wettingly funny

Sheffield Hillsborough MP Angela Smith has threatened to resign as a junior Treasury Minister over the abolition of the 10p tax band.

According to this article, she has received assurances from the government and will not be resigning.

A flurry of phone calls this morning has shone light on the possibility that the new General Secretary, David Pitt-Watson, has changed his mind about the wanting the job before he has even started.

Gordon Brown has announced that he will not buy an aeroplane for state use.

While the headline is one of frugality - and perhaps a minor sideswipe at his predecessor - the proposal for a dedicated plane was actually a Gershon suggestion for a long-term saving, negating the need for charter flights and wholesale bookings of first-class sections of commercial flights.

"Trot" is a term bandied about, generally, perjoratively, in the Labour Party. I have been called a Trot, but then I have also been called a "NuLab flunky" so I figure it all balances out in the end.

(from the Local Government Chronicle)

Tories poised for victory in traditional Labour areas

The Conservatives stand to make gains deep in Labour's heartlands in May's local elections, research conducted for LGC has revealed.

Iain Dale will be verbally duelling with me on Question Time Extra this Thursday (BBC News 24 11.35pm)

If you're watching QT anyway, please do email the show amusing questions that will give me the opportunity to remind Iain that Tories are evil!

The link to submit questions is here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/6994949.stm

In gratitude for your support, I shall organise a Karaoke night in April.

Thanks

Alex Hilton
07985 384 859
alexhilton@gmail.com

Former Assitant General Secretary David Pitt-Watson has been appointed GS by the NEC. Pitt-Watson has a track record in private sector finance and I have acquired the biog below from the Labour Finance & Industry Group. Pitt-Watson is believed to have been the Prime Minister's preferred candidate for the position.

After Tory MP Julian Brazier proposed a Bill in parliament to make MPs the ulitimate censor, I wrote this piece on the Guardian's commentisfree site.

The responses have been uncharacteristically coherent.

In a move brokered by Amicus Unite Deputy General Secretary Tony Dubbins, the Grassroots Alliance has agreed to back Mike Griffiths for General Secretary, having secured the withdrawal of "wildcard" left-wing NEC candidate John Wiseman, the Labour candidate in Westmoreland & Lonsdale.

Wiseman has used the pages of Labourhome.org to present a platform that a number of left-wingers have found attractive, and which is known to have caused concern among Grassroots Alliance figures, who are not presenting "celebrity" candidate Walter Wolfgang for a further two-year bid - and who fear a split in the left-wing vote.

While John Wiseman should be proud to have secured from the Grassroots Alliance an undertaking to be more democratic in two years time (at the next NEC election) a further concession the left-wing slate has made is a promise to support Amicus Official Mike Griffiths' application for General Secretary of the Labour Party.

The Grassroots Alliance may well save a seat on the NEC through this deal - and I certainly hold no brief against Griffiths - but is this really the best way to recruit a General Secretary for the party in difficult times?

John Wiseman's announcement can be read here.

Contender for Labour Party Treasurer, Mark McDonald, has written this article on the Guardian's commentisfree site explaining why the party needs to raise it's game.

Please do take a look. From the comments, it seems to have attracted the attention of some people whose values are so twisted that they're considering voting Tory because Labour hasn't been left wing enough!

The Party has published the latest tranche of parliamentary selections, including Clare Short's seat Birmingham Ladywood. Ladywood will be selected by All-woman shortlist.