Media observations about Newcastle East

Newcastle Journal, 11 December 2009

Editorial: The day will come

THE reopening of the scandal over MPs' expenses could not have been more badly timed for a nation seeking a way out of the economic downturn.

The venality of some of those in whom the public put its trust is no secret. Nevertheless, this is an open sore that is painful and frustrating to endure.

There will come a day when voters can deliver their verdict on the claims and errors that led to orders for repayment. Then, hopefully, the trust and respect leaders ought to inspire will displace the contempt so widely felt today.

The Times, November 16th 2009

Labour's cash-strapped party machine is quietly abandoning up to 60 vulnerable seats to divert resources to defend constituencies in its heartlands, according to MPs. It is the first sign that some senior Labour figures accept that defeat is inevitable and are switching resources to defend seats with larger majorities to prevent a rout next year

Yorkshire Post, 5th November 2009

Major changes were also recommended for food allowances.For years MPs could claim anything up to £250 for food without a receipt and the expenses scandal revealed that Newcastle East and Wallsend MP Nick Brown claimed £18,800 in four years.

The Kelly report states receipts or other documentary evidence should be required for all claims.

Newcastle Journal, 1st October 2009

Labour's leaders know they are under serious attack here from the Liberal Democrats and the Tories, both of whom believe they can capture seats from them at the next election.

To compound the ruling party's difficulties, its support base is riven by apathy and disengagement thanks to its long-term refusal to do more than pay lip service to the region's needs.

BBC Radio 4 The World Tonight 25 September 2009

"Labour voters in Newcastle began to seem like an endangered species. I contacted the spokesman for one constituency here and asked if he could introduce me to some still loyal Labour supporters. Two days later he got back to me to say he hadn't been able to find any."

Northern Echo, 25 September 2009

Dr Nick Randall, senior lecturer in British politics at Newcastle University, said the Conservatives have a mountain to climb to win in the North-East.

Dr Randall said: "If we look at the Conservatives in the North-East, this is not a party with great strength on the ground.

"The Labour margins are diminishing in the North-East, but the problem for the Conservatives is the Liberal Democrats.

"Many people might find it easier to vote Liberal than Conservatives.

Peter Oborne, Daily Mail, 25 September 2009

For if Brown had sacked Baroness Scotland for failing to keep proper records concerning the employment of staff, he surely should have done the same to his close ally Justice Secretary Jack Straw or his bosom crony Chief Whip Nick Brown (to name but two) both of whom were extremely cavalier with their expenses receipts.

While the Blair and Brown governments have been allowed to get away until now with this moral corruption, I am sure the tide is swiftly turning.

Northern Echo, 24 September 2009

"Minister for the North-East" Nick Brown will be knocked over in Newcastle East - or so I'm told.

The reason for this confidence is obvious, a belief that Labour's vote will collapse in a perfect storm of Brown-hatred and recession blues. It may happen. Certainly, Labour are extremely nervous in a swathe of seats across the North, constituencies it has taken for granted for so long.

Guardian, 19 September 2009

Clegg suggests the argument that his party would make the tax system fairer than Labour is the way to get under the skin of the people of places like Byker.

While Clegg's strategy may see him soak up one-time Labour seats, the situation is complicated by the party needing to convey a message that helps them keep seats in the south. Clegg is dismissive that his party needs different messages to secure both groups.

"Let's just think about the message. If you say to someone in Newcastle, or in Liverpool: do you believe in fairer taxes, do you believe people at the top should pay more; do you believe that corporations should get away with not paying stamp duty? That goes down as well in rural Cornwall as it does in inner city Newcastle"

Newcastle Journal, 19 Sep 2009

Lib Dems are upbeat about winning more seats in the region on top of Berwick, which is held by veteran MP Sir Alan Beith. Top targets include Newcastle North and Durham City, while campaigning could also focus in Newcastle East and Wallsend, Blaydon and Wansbeck. All the seats are currently held by Labour.

He added the party would be staking its claim to ground surrendered by Labour, which had left "the field wide open" in terms of the key issues of the economy and trust in politics.

Mr Clegg said: "What everyone in the North East knows is that we are the main challengers to Labour and more than that by doing what we have done in Newcastle City, we have shown we can do things differently and do things better.

Evening Chronicle, 17 September 2009

Party leader Nick Clegg will use his party's annual conference, starting this weekend, to persuade voters to back him at the General Election.

"It is an important opportunity for us to say to people, look Labour is finished, it's time's up, it is at the end of the road, it's exhausted. And the Conservatives just think it is their turn.

"This conference will be an opportunity for us to say it doesn't have to be like this - that we can do something different and that we have got some very big challenges ahead of us as a country - the economy, the environment, lack of social mobility, a Westminster Parliament on its knees," said Mr Clegg.

Blasting David Cameron's Tories, he added: "They are phoney, they offer fake change and if you want to do something different, I think you have got to vote for a different party and the Liberal Democrats are different."

Newcastle Journal, 11th September 2009

The political environment in the North East has never felt more fluid as the electorate seeks to make sense of the rapidly changing world around them.

After years of 'business as usual' politics, new allegiances have placed some levers of local power in different hands and the signs are that the changes might not be finished yet.

That will certainly be the hope of Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg who used his visit to the region to sketch out a plan to tackle unemployment among young people. Imaginative and graced with plausible potential, the plan is intended to cement the Lib Dems impression of themselves as the "party of youth".

No election was won or lost yesterday, but the people of the North East were reminded that there is more than one way to govern a country."

Public Whip

Public Whip (TheyWorkForYou.com):

Nick Brown MP's record

Voted strongly against a transparent Parliament

Voted very strongly for introducing ID cards

Voted strongly for introducing student top-up fees

Voted strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws

Voted very strongly for the Iraq war

Voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war

Voted very strongly for replacing Trident

Voted moderately for laws to stop climate change

Never rebels against their party in this parliament

Has spoken in 6 debates in the last year - well below average amongst MPs.

Has received answers to 0 written questions in the last year - well below average amongst MPs.

Is a member of 0 select committees (0 as chair).

Replied within 2 or 3 weeks to a medium number of messages sent via WriteToThem.com during 2008, according to constituents.

Daily Mail, August 8th 2009

Gordon Brown's self-styled Geordie crony, Chief Whip Nick Brown, has spoken out.

'It breaks my heart. He hasn't made a go of it. He should call it a day, hand over to somebody who can make a go of it,' he said. He was talking about Newcastle United football club owner Mike Ashley. Pity he hasn't the guts to say it to his beloved PM.

Peter Oborne, Daily Mail, 25th July 2009

"Gordon Brown claimed to be 'appalled' by the expenses scandal. Yet he continues to employ as chief whip Nick Brown, who ... was a notorious milker of the allowance system"

Newcastle Journal, 8th July 2009

Labour's traditional North East heartland could change for ever with nearly a third of MPs quitting at the general election. Liberal Democrats could snatch seats and change the political landscape as younger and more women MPs break through.

Voters could also reject sitting MPs over the expenses crisis, which would hit Labour hardest, at the next election which must be held within 12 months.

Alan Watkins, Independent, 31st May 2009

"I have spent my life writing largely about politicians and their ways. But I did not have any idea why Mr Nick Brown, for instance, the Labour Chief Whip - who necessarily spends much of his time in an already subsidised House of Commons - was able to claim between £300 and £400 a month for groceries. I always thought that people had to buy their Maltesers, if that was what they liked (one of the commodities listed in recent reports) out of their own taxed income."

Peter Oborne, Daily Mail, 20th May 2009

"It looks very much as if the Prime Minister is punishing only the least important expenses cheats and trying to save the rest. This impression is greatly reinforced by the fact the Nick Brown, his chief whip, has been given a vital role in deciding which Labour MPs face Gordon Brown's so-called 'Star Chamber' which will have the power to de-select MPs guilty of breaking the rules over expenses.

Yet Nick Brown's own expense claims - he claimed a massive £18,000 for food in his Newcastle flat over a four-year period - do not bear inspection. Furthermore, he played a central role in blocking reform to the allowances system in a Commons vote in July last year. He has a mass of questions to answer - and it looks very much that he is being protected only because he is one of Gordon Brown's closest allies."

Michael White, Guardian, 8th May 2009:

Loyal to his old friend Gordon he may be, but that does not save [Nick] Brown from being bawled out by the PM when things go wrong .... Is his first loyalty to Labour or to Gordon? Probably to Gordon, old friends claim: Nick must fear it's all over and will want to protect him.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 8th May 2009:

"Mr Clegg said he was convinced his party could build on the work done by Lib Dems in Newcastle to mount a challenge for key Labour seats in the upcoming General Election. Particular attention is being paid to Nick Brown's Newcastle East and Wallsend seat, which Mr Clegg believes could be theirs for the taking as voters grow fed up of the Labour Government. And with thousands of votes for them at the last General Election, they are seen by many to be the only real alternative to people wanting to remove a sitting Labour MP in many parts of Tyneside."

Peter Oborne, Daily Mail, 8th May 2009

"As far as I can discover, the only person consulted [on MPs expenses] by Brown was his chief whip Nick Brown, his longest-serving crony and the man behind that shameful Commons stitch-up last July. Relying on the advice of a man like Nick Brown over such a vital matter of political integrity is like consulting the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs on going straight."

Martin Kettle, Guardian, 30th April 2009:

"Nick Brown talks a big game but he is ­struggling to deliver when it counts."

Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 26th July 2008

Mr Brown, MP for Newcastle East & Wallsend, had a majority of 7,565 at the 2005 general election but following boundary changes the seat will be more vulnerable next time and the Liberal Democrats are expected to launch a strong challenge. Wallsend moves into neighbouring Tyneside North and Jesmond comes into Mr Brown's constituency.

Asked whether one of the messages is that there is now no such thing as a safe Labour seat, including his own, Mr Brown said: "There's isn't, I accept that. My seat is very different, 40% of it is new.

"Three wards are Labour-controlled and six are Liberal Democrat-controlled.''

Martin Kettle, Guardian, 3rd May 2008:

"Or look at Newcastle East, the seat of the former agriculture secretary Nick Brown. Three years ago, he had a 21-point lead over the Liberal Democrats in the general election. Newcastle East is the 187th most marginal Labour seat. Yet on Thursday, the Lib Dems beat Labour by 13 points in Brown's seat. It could be time for Brown to press for a peerage before it's too late."

Guardian, 2nd May 2008

"In northern constituencies such as Newcastle East and Derby North, where the Liberal Democrats are running second, our analysis shows voters have rallied to them. Before this week's elections some within Labour were warning about southern discomfort. But in the event, the discomfort has arrived in the north and the south alike. The MPs who would lose in the seats we have studied are the transport secretary Ruth Kelly in Bolton West, universities secretary John Denham in Southampton Itchen and deputy chief whip Nick Brown in Newcastle East."

Daily Telegraph, 27th Jan 2004

"Among the [student top-up fees] rebels, however, there was fury at Nick Brown's behaviour. A hard core of MPs, many of them from the centre-Left rather than hard-Left, had spent more than a year arguing the case against top-up fees.

They said they could never accept the idea of a "market" in higher education and believed Nick Brown was similarly principled, and would fight with them to the last.

Young backbenchers like Paul Farrelly, the first member of his family to go to a university, had invested huge effort, and probably sacrificed a career in Government, for a principle.

The rebels' anger was all the greater when they discovered that Nick Brown's claims to have wrung great concessions from ministers fell way short of the initial billing."