Sunday, May 27, 2007

John Cruddas, Real labour?

It appears that the Mail on Sunday has got hold of this story about how John Cruddas MP for Dagenham, and critic of city academies and selection in school has bought a house in Notting Hill, around the corner from David Cameron, sent his child to one of the best Roman Catholic schools in London (as opposed to one in his constituency) whilst his constituency home is seldom occupied.

This is all grist to the mill. No doubt it will create a bit of a stir in Labour circles.

The question is where did the Mail on Sunday get it from? According to Iain Dale when he was doing the paper review on BBC News 24, it probably came from one of the other deputy leader camps.

By sheer coincidence and nothing more Hazel Blears has a puff piece in the Mail on Sunday about how when she were a lass, she appeared as a street urchin in "A Taste of Honey" when she was 5. (It also made the Evening Standard apparently or at least it is on their website)

As can be seen from the sad tale of Fiona Jones, politics can be a nasty game, which is a shame as it puts off a lot of decent people. Still it looks like Labour will start fighting like rats in a sack. Meanwhile I will sit back and watch.

Hat tip to Andrea for links to both stories, here and here on politicalbetting.com.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Embarrassing for Cruddas, no doubt, but parents who have faced similar issues will sympathise. As long as you have major discrepancies between schools in different areas, parents will do whatever they can for their children.

Cruddas's crime was to have a choice. Most don't.

Benedict White said...

Peter, Cruddas's crime is to be in a party that does not believe in parental choice because it favours the middle classes whilst he is in a cat fight, sorry election, with the sort of people who will do anything to win.

Anonymous said...

LOL! :-) Well put!

To the extent that the Labour Party does not support parental choice, it is wrong.

As for the cat fight, if this as bad as it gets we'll all be grateful!

Benedict White said...

Peter many thanks!

I don't know how bad the cat fight will get, I suspect it will get worse!