Gordon's guarantee - does he mean us?

Gordon Brown's election launch included "a direct guarantee to every single citizen of Britain" on public services.

Many of these services are run by devolved governments in Scotland and Wales, which may lead you to wonder whether the "direct guarantee to every single citizen of Britain" is worth the paper it wasn't written on.

This is what the PM said outside No 10: "I want to give a direct guarantee to every single citizen of Britain that when you need the police, when you need help with cancer care, when you need your GP at the evenings or at weekends, when you need as a child to have personal tuition in your school, then these public services will be there, directly guaranteed to you as an individual citizen when you need them and accountable to you and your family."

Your GP at evenings and weekends? Personal tuition? These sound like England-only pledges, available only to some of the citizens of Britain. Labour certainly cannot guarantee them in Scotland.

This is the more carefully-worded text version of what he said, from the Labour website: "I pledge this guarantee, a personal guarantee for you - that when you need to get in touch with the police, when you need cancer care, when you need access to a GP in the evenings or at weekends, when you need one to one tuition for your child, our public services will be there guaranteed to you and accountable to you and your family."


We will have to wait for Labour's Welsh manifesto, written by the Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant, to discover how the party squares the circle between what Mr Brown said and what he can actually deliver.

Gordon Brown celebrates St David's Day

How are you celebrating St David's Day?

The House of Lords has been debating whether March 1 should become a public holiday.

Government spokesman Lord Davies of Oldham, who himself has Welsh roots, deflected calls for a day off on St David's Day:

"The decision is quite clear. The Scots decided they would opt for St Andrew's Day, the Welsh Assembly Government has not made as yet a bid in the present programme for a public holiday for St David's Day. Of course, if such a bid comes forward, we will consider it."

Labour activist Sally Bercow (Mrs Speaker) likes the idea of a day off, but Labour have argued that an extra bank holiday would cost industry dear. It is, as I understand it, still official policy for their coalition partners in Cardiff Bay, Plaid Cymru. Conservatives in the Welsh Assembly present it as party policy between elections but it seldom reaches the status of a manifesto commitment.

Gordon Brown has his own take on what we get up to on St David's Day: "I know that today, from Bangor to Builth Wells and beyond, you will be celebrating your nation and its achievements in many ways - by attending Eisteddfods, dressing your children in national costume or by taking part in parades."

We must look forward to the Prime Minister's take on St Andrew's Day, should he still be in Downing Street by then. In the meantime, I must dash - got to rush home and dress the kids in national costume before the eisteddfod starts.

Brown - I didn't kill Archie Mitchell

Greetings from Swanea, where a Labour conference fringe breakfast on the Barnett formula is barely half an hour away.

In other news, Gordon Brown's shorter-than-usual speech yesterday went down well and, as far as I can tell, he didn't lose his temper with anyone while west of Offa's Dyke.

(Former First Minister Rhodri Morgan says the temper thing is down to the PM not getting enough sleep. Mr Morgan had a decent quip in his conference speech about how while his MP wife is out knocking on doors, he's at home hanging doors.).

There was one reference in the Brown speech to the bullying allegations: "The only thing I haven’t been accused of recently is killing Archie Mitchell in The EastEnders (sic). For the press here: I promise you, I didn’t even lay a finger on him.”

So Gordon Brown is innocent, ok? A nice joke, although only someone who doesn't know much about life in Albert Square would refer to "The EastEnders".

Earlier, the PM dropped in at a bungalow in Llanelli, for a "home visit" - a new campaign device where he gets to meet community activists, who then presumably pass on by word-of-mouth their improved views on the leader.

In Llanelli, those assembled included councillors, someone from the Asda Foundation (Llanelli shoppers are very generous apparently), an expert on breast cancer and a brain surgeon.

It took nine seconds from entering Sharren Davies's conservatory for Mr Brown to bring up Wales's Six Nations defeat against France the previous evening. Don't mention the score - how to enter a room and engulf it in gloom, lesson one.

But the first person with whom he raised the rugby didn't matter at all - he was English. Perhaps Gordon Brown's luck is finally changing.

Must dash - I can smell my Barnett breakfast cooking.

Pre-election tension and Gordon's guarantee

You may well have noticed that yesterday's historic vote in Cardiff Bay to allow the people to have a vote on the Welsh Assembly's powers failed to register during Question Time at Westminster today.

I was too busy to notice whether this oversight led to gasps in the public gallery, a gallery still recovering from Sir Paul McCartney's appearance to watch last night's debate on voting systems.

Sir Paul is himself now doubtless composing a ditty to mark the Alternative Vote Referendum - or maybe not.

Perhaps it was the imminence of the general election, but MPs confined themselves to issues such as the economy and jobs rather than constitutional affairs during the 30 minutes they get each month to question the Secretary of State for Wales.

Perhaps the MPs took the Plaid Cymru line (before yesterday's debate) that a referendum is a "tidying-up exercise" rather than today's Plaid line that the 53-0 vote was a major constitutional event.

Peter Hain did his best to distract attention from #triggertuesday by comparing Wales with Rwanda to make his point that Wales remains a relatively wealthy country.

The 30 minutes MPs get to question Gordon Brown were largely devoted to a very loud shouting match about how to care for elderly people in England.

The Prime Minister tried to attack the Conservatives for failing to match Labour "guarantees" on NHS treatment (again in England).

Mr Brown promised a modern health service with "personalised services available to people and tailored to their needs."

He then told David Cameron: "I cannot for the life of me understand why the Conservative party is rejecting the cancer guarantee that would allow people to see a specialist within two weeks. I believe that that challenges its very commitment to the health service."

Does Gordon Brown believe that any party that doesn't apply the cancer guarantee has a dubious commitment to the health service?

He may need to be cautious with his pre-election rhetoric lest others highlight a Labour-led administration in Cardiff that, as far as I know, won't operate the same enforceable guarantee.


But enough excitement for one week. MPs are off until February 22 - and so am I. Bye for now.

Class war: the ciabatta csar

He's not exactly promising free sun-dried tomatoes on the NHS but Gordon Brown's weekend appeal to the middle classes was pretty brazen.

So there were lots of references to "New Labour" (which is 15 years old now) and talk of aspiration, one of those words that politicians use but voters don't.

"And this is the next project for New Labour, our next generation project," he told his audience. "The coming decade will provide the UK with more middle class jobs than ever before."

But what is a middle-class job? Is the £60-an-hour plumber middle class? The £100,000-a-week footballer with no GCSEs middle class? Neither is part of what New Labour would call the knowledge economy.

Suspicions that Labour has until now been running a core vote strategy mean the Prime Minister is having to bend over backwards in the least subtle of ways to appeal to the middle classes.

Perhaps the middle classes feel neglected by the special policies targeted at the more vulnerable. Perhaps Mr Brown should offer a Commissioner for Middle Class People who could deliver fundamental middle class rights such as parking spaces at Waitrose, a freshly-baked ciabatta guarantee and lattes for all. Stand by for the ciabatta csar.

Keeping Calm and Carrying on?

Is the snow plot melting? Although it's true that Ministers have not been rushing to sing Gordon Brown's praises, it's been difficult to discover much support for the Hewitt/Hoon plot among even the usual suspects on Labour benches.

Among the MPs we've spoken to, verdicts include "completely bloody daft", "completely bonkers", "nonsense" and "insane".

Former Minister Don Touhig has e-mailed both Ms Hewitt and Mr Hoon angrily to let them know what he thinks - the word "unforgiveable" just about sums up his view.

Wales Office Ministers Peter Hain and Wayne David are turning down interviews rather than risk fuelling what they say is an annoying distraction. Of course, they could be plotting but on this occasion I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

There is a genuine sense of bewilderment at the timing of a coup attempt that follows improved Labour poll ratings, better public performances by the Prime Minister, and confusion in Conservative ranks over their policies.

Lord Mandelson, one with the power to break Gordon Brown's Government, said: "No one should over-react to this initiative. "It is not led by members of the government. No one has resigned from the
government." (At least not yet, despite rumours yesterday that at least one was rushing for the exit)

"The Prime Minister," said the Business Secretary, "continues to has the support of his colleagues. We should carry on government business as usual."

The snow is starting to settle at Westminster but the plot may well be melting.

Remembering

Gordon Brown and David Cameron were not the only politicians to get themselves photographed in the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey, although other politicians managed to get snapped without so much fuss.

Conwy Labour MP Betty Williams was photographed as she planted a cross in memory of the citizens of Conwy who lost their lives in conflicts.

She told her own website: "It was a privilege once more, and for my final time as MP for Conwy, to be able to plant a cross in the Field of Remembrance in the grounds of Westminster Abbey today as an act of remembrance for citizens of Conwy constituency who gave their lives to secure our freedom."

An Abbey spokesman told me: "We don't have a problem with that but if high-profile politicians come we would like a bit of notice".

"I had to wait 10 years too"

Given the Prime Minister's current unpopularity, you might think Carwyn Jones is taking a risk by including the above photograph in a leaflet being sent to party members ahead of the Welsh Labour leadership election.

The photograph, snapped on Welsh night at Labour's conference in Brighton, was taken before Rhodri Morgan announced his retirement plans so any suggestion, counter-productive or not, that the PM was endorsing the Welsh Counsel General is wide of the mark.

Apparently, via what looks like an unusual handshake, Mr Brown was actually thanking Mr Jones for all the hard work he'd done in Wales. Alternatively, the Prime Minister may have been empathising on what it's like to wait in the wings for years before acquiring a top job at a politically inopportune moment.

Alternative caption suggestions welcome.

Biscuitgate: New Labour split

I'm grateful to my BBC colleague Martha Kearney for putting Welsh Secretary Peter Hain on the spot on the big issue of the week.

Gordon Brown may have sidestepped a grilling on his preferred biscuit, but Mr Hain could not escape the Westminster studio while a guest on The World At One today.

Mind you, he did seem in two minds. His favourite biscuit? "Mine's an oatcake."

He then added: "I quite like Ryvita too".

These politicians, they want to have their biscuit and eat it.

Staying neutral

Wherever two or three Welsh Labour politicians are gathered in the hotel bars or on the conference fringe, the talk turns to.....LCOs and the Barnett Formula.

Well, possibly. At Welsh Night, two of the would-be candidates to succeed Rhodri Morgan pressed the flesh with fervour as their supporters span lines to passing hacks.

Carwyn Jones exchanged warm greetings with Gordon Brown (who hasn't a vote) while filmed by another AM from the Jones camp.

Others are trying to stay out of the fray. Peter Hain told me on The Politics Show Wales: "I'm not backing anybody. As secretary of state for Wales I am staying entirely neutral on this, as you'd expect."

Ditto, his deputy Wayne David. There's no law that says Ministers have to stay neutral - and indeed they didn't in the past, Mr Hain backing Ron Davies and Alun Michael against Rhodri Morgan. Perhaps it's the bruises of past battles that explain why studied neutrality is the stance of choice this time.

Mr Hain's neutrality didn't stop him questioning the sustainability of the Welsh Assembly Government's policy of free hospital parking.

Just as well, perhaps, that Health Minister and potential candidate Edwina Hart doesn't appear to have made it to the Sussex coast.

Another PR triumph

Who said Labour were obsessed with spin and image? Tonight, the party banned television cameras from a Welsh Night reception here in Brighton.

So viewers won't get to see Gordon Brown's tribute to the retiring Rhodri Morgan, or hear his campaigning message delivered to delegates.

The decision to ban the cameras incensed AMs, MPs and Ministers present at the bash, never mind those of us who depend on pictures to tell news stories.

Gordon Brown is the first Labour leader to ban cameras from the event. It's not as if he turned up, told a few blue jokes and drank 17 cans of Tennant's Extra before being grilled on his latest NHS prescription.

So why the ban? He warned delegates "we are up against the media" which may explain the camera shyness.

Otherwise, he was relaxed, fluent and cheerful, doing a passable impression of a human being. What a shame you won't get to see that for yourselves.

Greetings from Brighton

Another Sunday by the seaside. The circus has moved on, from Bournemouth to Brighton, for another of those crucial make-or-break, to borrow a cliche or two, political conferences.

This time the talk is of leadership, of this being possibly the last conference for someone who's been at the top for years.

But enough about Gordon Brown, apparently this could be Rhodri Morgan's farewell conference too.

As late as this morning, colleagues were in the dark about Mr Morgan's retirement plans. He had apparently considered making his announcement to delegates here but then thought an English gathering might not be the best venue.

It has been just like old times here in Brighton. Peter Hain has been impossible to avoid on air or in print.

He found time to offer advice via the Sunday Times to the Prime Minister: "He should have a chance to allow himself to sleep more and take a break a bit more."

When you get that sort of advice from a famously workaholic Cabinet Minister, not averse to e-mailing staff before the rest of us get up, it really is time to slow down.

Networking

There was a time in New Labour's recent history, when any slight deviance from the party line would be punished with a form of internal exile.

Collective responsibility - or at least the leader's diktat - ruled, in opposition as well as in government.

These days Ministers take to online networking sites to highlight Cabinet divisions:

This suggests Peter Hain, having been recalled by a Prime Minister in need of his campaigning skills, feels more confident in his second Cabinet career to question government policy, confident enough even to contradict the Home Secretary.

Others will have their own views on what this says of the strength of Gordon Brown's position at the moment.
UPDATE: A spokesman for Mr Hain tells me: "The link was accidentally uploaded without Peter Hain's knowledge and has now been removed".

True Brits?

Good news. MPs are sobering up.

Don't take my word for it; this is the analysis of Patrick Hannan in his new book A Useful Fiction: "The men seem to be a lot less drunk than they were in the days when I spent a lot of time at Westminster and, as far as it's possible to tell, less lecherous".

I suspect Patrick is right, if only because MPs no longer have to hang around until the small hours regularly waiting to vote. It's one of many enjoyable insights in a book whose subtitle is "Adventures in British Democracy".

Britishness means different things to different people, of course, whether for example you're an Islamic fundamentalist or a Scottish Prime Minister of a devolved United Kingdom. The book sets out to explore "the illusions and deceptions that lie behind the word itself" and what it means in "a nation in the grip of doubt and change" as the back cover blurb puts it.

Hannan argues that Britain is still recognisably what it was 40 years ago despite ever-present change, much of which has gone un-noticed, particularly by the people of England.

Change is not exclusively a recent, devolved phenomenon. "That in time of war, however inflated a war is to describe the Falklands campaign, a member of the public could go on television and rattle the Prime Minister over the sinking of the Belgrano, officially an enemy ship, showed you how much the world had changed", he argues. That televised rattling of Margaret Thatcher took place a year after the Falklands conflict but you get his point.

He is never afraid to point out when he feels an emperor is a bit short on clothing, in his usual entertaining way. The Prince of Wales won't enjoy the Hannan analysis of his views (perhaps Patrick should hide his MBE next time the Prince is in town).

He questions whether devolved administrations that lack the power to raise funds can call themselves "governments" even if they carry out tasks performed in England by the UK Government.

He writes of the Welsh Assembly debating chamber: "of an afternoon it's quite possible to find yourself alone in the press gallery, often an entirely appropriate reflection on the quality of debate on offer."

The book takes a timely dip in the Barnett formula waters, raising questions of accountability for institutions that can always blame others for perceived funding shortfalls. (Ed Balls, one of Gordon Brown's closest allies has made the case for giving the Welsh Assembly tax-raising powers to close that accountability gap).

Without some of the chippiness sometimes seen in the debate, he notes how sparsely news outlets other than the BBC cover Wales. One of the paradoxes of a growth of Welsh identity has been a stubborn reluctance to buy newspapers that feature Welsh news. The Western Mail now sells fewer than half the copies it sold a quarter of a century ago.

The book was completed just before the juiciest detail of the MPs' expenses scandal emerged, but Hannan presciently dwells on the issue and links it to the development of a burgeoning political class and the growing distance between the elected and the electors.

A distance reflected by the inability of many MPs who "couldn't see that not breaking the rules was not enough, that it didn't mean there was no sharp practice involved". (A fair point, even if it risks driving some of these sober, monastic legislators to drink.)

In theory, a discredited parliament opens up a gap in the people's affections for a new institution they can trust. Hannan quotes Peter Hain in pointing out that 80 per cent of registered under-35s didn't vote in the last Welsh Assembly elections. I still find that figure staggering; perhaps it will fall next time if people turn away from Westminster politics over expenses.

So where will the adventures in British democracy end? The book concludes with an analysis of Enoch Powell's views and career, including a very funny explanation of how Powell managed to appear to speak Welsh in TV studios.

He argues that despite Powell's apocalyptic predictions of violent racial tensions, the former Tory MP would still recognise today's Britain as the same country in which he made his notorious "rivers of blood" speech in 1968.

Northern Ireland, where Powell found a political home, is offered as an example of the riskiness of political predictions, but it's a fair bet that should the UK Government change hands next year Hannan will be able to pack his bags for fresh adventures in a Britain where, as he puts it, "the builders are still at work".

A Useful Fiction by Patrick Hannan (Seren, £9.99)

Summertime

The MPs have left Westminster, some for the beaches, others for Closer magazine.

For the hacks left behind, there is the odd crumb of a story - Esther Rantzen's political career is taking off again today - and a chance to muse on the issues of the day.

You may think that it's summer and life is too short to discuss the Barnett Formula, but before the Cabinet awayday to Cardiff is forgotten I thought I'd share the Prime Minister's views on the way the devolved institutions are funded.

This is Gordon Brown's take on the formula in the light of recent reports suggesting it is too generous to Scotland but short-changes Wales:

"The principle of spending allocation in the UK is that we allocate resources according to need. The Barnett formula has been the traditional means that we do it. If any changes are needed in the Barnett formula as a result of these reviews, we'll look at this. But I think Rhodri Morgan has said himself that spending in Wales by the Assembly has doubled over the last few years.

"And we've made it possible for wales to have better health pieces, better schools and better spending on the infrastructures of transport and policeing on which we depend, and so we will continue to ensure that spending is allocated fairly according to need."

That was Mr Brown's answer to the second question in a two-question "interview" he gave at the end of the awayday. His definition of "need" would be challenged by many critics of a population-based formula.

So what will change? He doesn't appear in a hurry to rush to his constituents to explain why they should get less public spending to help the under-funded Welsh.

The Conservatives, who hope to take power within a year, have occasionally made noises about changing the formula but despite the imminence of a general election have yet to spell out what they would do in this area, as in so many others.

At this rate, the formula will outlive the sprightly Lord Barnett himself.

Hey Big Spender

As if a billion pounds for a new electric rail line were not enough, Gordon Brown has also promised to sponsor my friends and colleagues Jamie Owen and Louise Elliott in their Cardiff half marathon run.

They've promised to let me know if the Prime Minister doesn't cough up the cash.

Trainspotting

Gordon Brown let the train take the strain this morning as his Cabinet arrived in south Wales for their awayday.

The big announcement, trailed yesterday, is the go-ahead for electrification of the rail line between London and Swansea.

Everyone sees it as good news, although the Tories have questioned the cost - would they scrap the plan if they win power?

Plaid Cymru have been trying very hard - perhaps two hard - to persuade us that it was their Transport Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones, who persuaded the UK Government to cough up the cash.

Mr Jones was at Cardiff Central for the arrival of the prime ministerial express, bearing UK Transport Secretary Lord Adonis.

The two enjoy a good working relationship and were soon deep in conversation on platform three. They'd left their anoraks at home but there was an air of trainspotters' convention about the meeting.

Any political trainspotters hanging around would have spotted Lord Mandelson and the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, getting off the train accompanied by various officials and spin doctors.

Gordon Brown left his carriage accompanied by Rhodri Morgan, a surprise to those of us who assumed the First Minister was based in Cardiff.

Apparently Mr Morgan was driven to Newport station this morning so he could have a chat with the PM on the train during the 17-minute journey to Cardiff.

Nothing to do with wanting to be captured on camera arriving alongside the PM.

I was on my best behaviour so resisted the temptationt to shout out: "Have you come far, First Minister?"

School's out!

Nearly there. Just a few more hours until MPs depart for 82 days of fact-finding, bonding with their constituents and the odd well-deserved holiday.

Are they demob-happy or simply relieved to reach the end of a pretty gruesome term for MPs? Gordon Brown has described the expenses affair as the most serious scandal to affect Parliament for more than two centuries. (Worse than Lloyd George selling peerages?)

That hasn't stopped MPs having a close look at media expenses. Ann Clwyd, whose one expenses claims are beyond reproach, asked in the Commons yesterday: "Is it not a fact that the BBC would have more money to improve coverage and content if it spent less public money on excessive salaries and excessive expenses?"

I nearly fell into my moat when I heard that question. My own expenses for July total so far £3.20, and I can't claim the money back until I reach the minimum claim of £20. Don't worry, I'll cope.

The Prime Minister appeared more relaxed than you might expect as he mingled among his guests in the Downing Street garden last night. You might think it's quite decent of him to invite the hacks in given the sort of press he's endured during the last year.

The No 10 garden is surprisingly large and now features not only a playhouse but also a large trampoline, probably for the Brown offspring, although I like the idea of the PM chilling out by bouncing up and down outside the Cabinet room. It may explain his relaxed state.

If he bounced high enough he could have spotted a protester from North Wales playing Patagonian Welsh music through a loudspeaker on top of his estate car during a tour of Whitehall.

The idea was to protest at the recent refusal to allow Patagonian Welsh learners to visit the UK. The music didn't exactly get MPs dancing in the aisles but they may have got the point.

Celebrity matters

It's more than two years ago since the end of the Blair era was marked by predictions that a cultural shift away from the age of celebrity was on the way.

Indeed, one of those hoping to take advantage of this shift, told The Guardian:

"I think we're moving from this period when, if you like, celebrity matters, when people have become famous for being famous. I think you can see that in other countries too - people are moving away from that to what lies behind the character and the personality."

People may well be moving away from that, although recent photo-opportunities with footballers and other appointments - Sir Alan Sugar as a business adviser - suggests the Prime Minister is embracing celebrity culture.

This afternoon it was revealed that Martha Lane Fox will become Britain's "digital inclusion champion".

Ms Lane Fox is be a successful businesswoman in her own right. You can hear her for yourself if you book her via Celebrity Speakers.

Perhaps celebrity matters after all.

Question Time

A silver lining amid the gathering storm clouds? Prime Minister's Question Time was not as bad as some Labour MPs feared and no Minister has resigned for, ooh, several hours now.

Gordon Brown was calm throughout his half-hour in the Commons, offering magnanimous words for his departing Ministers despite provocation from the opposition parties.

Hazel Blears' resignation offered David Cameron an open goal. He said what you'd expect him to say. It felt as if Mr Cameron was pulling the odd punch.

Perhaps the most worrying thing for Labour would be for the Tories to go soft on the PM in their desire to keep him in Downing Street rather than a more voter-friendly alternative such as Alan Johnson?

There are reports of MPs being canvassed about a "Gordon Must Go" letter that could be presented to Downing Street as early as tonight.

You'd think Labour MPs would be doing a different sort of canvassing today and I've failed to find a backbencher who's been asked to sign a letter.

That said, there are plenty of Labour MPs who are unhappy with Mr Brown's leadership. Expect more to say so publicly when the polls close tomorrow night,