Bright's Blog

Out of the bunker

At a time of national crisis, it seemed there was only one man with the experience and steadfastness of purpose to see us through these dark times. This had been the mantra since Gordon Brown's Manchester speech and, as the economy unravelled, it was beginning to gain purchase. It's spin. Of course it is. But there is a time and a place for propaganda, as the cabinet's latest addition, Peter ... read more

I had the honour of appearing on a panel at the American University in Washington DC with whistleblowers Katharine Gun and Daniel Ellsberg on October 24.

I have to pay tribute to the audience who sat patiently through two hours of speeches on the subject of whistleblowing.

If you want to see what kept them there, the whole symposium was filmed by the Real News Network and is ... read more

I might have been mistaken but I'm sure I saw Peter Mandelson having breakfast with Lord Sainsbury on at least two occasions at Labour conference in Manchester. Did anybody else see them together at a rather grand round table in the Radisson Edwardian hotel or is it just my fevered imagination?

Since the appointment of the single most divisive politician in recent Labour history to the Cabinet of Labour's most ... read more

The return of Peter Mandelson to government is great news for British journalism. The man who has twice been brought down by the media has just issued an open invitation to Fleet Street's feral beasts by accepting a job with Gordon Brown.

There is no doubt he will bring some much-needed steel to the Labour operation. But he comes with such baggage that he may simply remind the voters of ... read more

No credible alternative

Smug is the default facial expression for the shadow chancellor. So it was clearly with some difficulty that George Osborne stifled his habitual self-satisfied grin during his conference speech this year. He knew he had another rabbit to pull out of the hat in the form of a two-year freeze on council tax (and what an ingenious piece of populist trickery it was). It didn't quite compare with the inheritance ... read more

Brown’s big moment

Never underestimate Gordon Brown. That would appear to be the lesson to take from this year's Labour conference by his political enemies inside and outside the party. The Prime Minister began the week in Manchester as the architect of Britain's economic downturn, besieged by challengers to his authority. He ended it by making a credible case, in his party's eyes at least, that he is the only man for the ... read more

It's been a good week for the New Statesman, with loads of pick-up of the interview with James Purnell and some good coverage of the Prescott/Campbell campaign for a fourth term for Labour. We were also delighted to carry the Progress article by Alan Miburn.

But the most interesting piece by far, was by Bernard Donaghue, the former adviser to Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. It's called Jim's Lessons ... read more

The fluffy hairdo in the photo is the giveaway. This was the cover "sell" for an interview Blair gave in July 1996 and he was talking about rumblings concerning his own leadership. But I guess the advice to the Labour Party is as good as it's ever ... read more

Such is the viciousness of the briefing about the Labour leadership that it's all too easy to jump to conclusions. It all got very nasty last week, especially when details of a harrassment complaint about health minister Ivan Lewis were leaked. So it was that I found myself in conversation with a former cabinet minister and champion of Gordon Brown about David Cairns, the Scottish Office minister who resigned on ... read more

As the increasingly fractious Labour tribes gather for the party's annual conference in Manchester, the air is heavy with the poison of regret. What if Gordon Brown had called a snap election 12 months ago, before the polls and the economy engulfed him? What if Brown's critics had stood a candidate in last year's leadership election? What if Tony Blair had faced down the challenge from rebels over the summer ... read more

It's fair to say James Purnell divides opinion. Depending on where you stand on the political spectrum, the 38-year-old Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is either the saviour of the Labour Party or a smug Thatcherite fifth columnist undermining the very principles of the movement. He has been tipped as a future leader by the Sun and the Spectator, while a recent focus group in the Times suggested ... read more

It was a difficult balancing act, keeping abreast of the Liberal conference (no one mentions the Democrat bit any more) while watching the Labour Party tearing itself apart.

Andrew Rawnsley did his best to sum up the situation for Nick Clegg and the implications of a Liberal Democrat drift to the right for Labour.

This we can say for certain. The repositioning of the Lib Dems ... read more