The Times – Brown to allow Iraq protests: Gordon Brown is to make a symbolic gesture to critics of the Iraq war by allowing antiwar protesters to demonstrate and march outside parliament. This will reverse legislation introduced by Tony Blair two years ago to restrict the rights of people to camp on Parliament Square and install banners criticising the government.
Guardian – Brown to lift protest restrictions: The Sunday Times said it had seen a memo from Sir Richard Mottram, chairman of the joint intelligence committee, indicating that the change in the law was to be accompanied by plans to bolster defences at key Westminster sites with walls and bollards.
Rikki’s not buying it, but it’s an imperfect report to start with (the ridiculous SOCPA law bans all forms of protest at many locations, not just those pertaining to Iraq… and it’s pretty much left up to the police to decide what gets targeted and what doesn’t).
I’ll reserve judgement until the move is clarified or actually made.
Besides, this morning we have a far more important issue to deal with… will Brown call a snap election? will Brown be as reliant on Murdoch as Blair?
It’s no fun watching your PM getting bitch-slapped by a foreign media owner over crime/immigration/EU/etc. – and that’s the price for collusion with Murdoch.
And, of course, the not-quite-a-leak about the possible lifting of protest restrictions comes to us via a Murdoch publication.
Now, where was I?
Oh, yes… will Brown call a snap election? will Brown be as reliant on Murdoch as Blair?
Well, let’s ask the girl on Page 3, shall we?
Today, Nikkala (24, from Middlesex) looks positively startled as she congratulates Gordon Brown on becoming leader, expresses ‘her’ view that a snap election is a great idea and says; “An election victory would be the ideal way to stamp his authority on the country.”
Remarkably, this opinion matches perfectly with the following front-page article:
The Sun – Brown: Election within a year: Gambler Gordon Brown will call a General Election inside a YEAR. The most likely date is next June, but he could shock the nation with a snap poll this autumn. Mr Brown was crowned Labour Party leader yesterday before he takes over from Tony Blair as PM on Wednesday. But he already wants to secure a fresh mandate from the British people within 12 months.
Sadly, the Sun Says editorial is reserved for some Harriet-bashing, but at least they used the word ‘fresh mandate’ in their lead article.
It was fun watching the Tories run around insisting that Brown had no mandate when they knew very well that they had to abandon their ‘Vote Blair, Get Brown’ campaign slogan when they realised that this was exactly what Labour activists were saying on doorsteps around the country during the 2005 election.
[Also today in the Sun… the red menace goes green, as promised. If I were paranoid, I would assign significance to their using a winking loggerhead turtle as one of the three cuddly endangered animals in the relevant TV advertisements for the campaign.]
27 June 2007
