call him number one - the story continues

Mr Howarth, as any fule kno, is the proprietor of an outfit called Public Impact, of which erstwhile Reading West Labour MP Martin Salter was a founding director, and Salter's wife, Natalie O'Toole, was a director much more recently, may still be for all I know.

One of Public Impact's clients is Berkshire Women's Aid. Fair enough, although that organisation just happens to have been awarded a Reading Borough Council grant of £110,258 for 2010/11 and £74,100 for 2011/12. This information is available on Reading Borough Council's website for all to see.  So Reading's Labour council has been channelling council taxpayers' money Howarth's way through a voluntary organisation. Well, plus ca change...

Another major Public Impact client is the World Wildlife Fund.  It appears that the Head of Public Affairs at WWF-UK from August 2006 to August 2012 was one Margaret Ounsley, Reading Labour councillor in the 1990s. So, nothing cosy going on here. No public money going to enrich your mates, hein? Just saying. No wonder the EU gravy train beckons. Howarth has made a career out of trousering such monies.

call him number one? I don't think so

Was had this to say as a comment on the previous post:

I don't know about "debts paid" but I did notice when going through the 2010 General Election expenses that Public Impact charged the local Labour Party a higher amount for producing an election tabloid than I was charged at commercial rates.

However, it is a fact that Mr Howarth used to inform Reading Labour Party that he was giving us a discount as a donation to party funds. So that was a lie.

Have a look here at the endorsements (gif) Mr Howarth has published. Now I know the electorate for this is Labour Party members, and he wants to be first on the list, but the individuals are hardly diverse, are they? A bunch of Reading councillors for the most part, and a Sheffield MP with very little brain. No citizen activists, of whom the South-East has many, no-one from an ethnic minority. Instead, there is the dog-whistle girl.

dog-whistle girl
 

 Word is that Mr Howarth and Mr Salter are no longer bessie mates, and this may be why the photograph of Salter is at least 20 years old. Oh and the Natalie O'Toole who offers an endorsement is Salter's wife. She was for a long time, may even still be, a director of Howarth's company, Public Impact.

But hilariously, the endorsement from Salter says "We need someone who knows how communicate". Quite, and that someone is clearly not the barely literate Mr Howarth.

Pity. It was all going so well. But if the Labour Party do put him first, and he gets elected, none of which is impossible if he lies loud and long enough, I'll try and offer the hand of friendship, which all newly elected members can benefit from. Perhaps we can show him round Strasbourg. There are plenty of good things to see here. OK John?

they wanna be elected!

The Labour Party has chosen its candidates for the European elections. Party members are to be given the opportunity to vote on the order in which they would like the names to appear on the list. This is, I believe, radical, and is not to be encouraged. We can't have ordinary party members getting ideas and expressing opinions, Ed - do buck your ideas up. Anyway,  here is the list of names for the South-East, as publicised by LabourList. As I said, we don't know yet in what order they will appear. But oh, what fun it's going to be. Spot anyone familiar?

South East

New candidates
Anneliese Dodds
Maggie Hughes
Karen Landles
Farah Nazeer
Emily Westley
Phil Bloomer
John Howarth
Del Singh
James Swindlehurst
James Watkins

a questionable assessment

A certain John Howarth (prop. Public Impact Ltd, remember "Your Better Off With Labour"?) has published, inter alia, what is below, on the subject of the role of his MP, and the man he worked so hard to elect, Rob Wilson (Con, Reading E).  Leaving aside the tiresome grammatical and punctuation errors we have come to expect from Mr Howarth, there are some stunning logical lacunae here, which I leave readers to spot for themselves, knowing that readers of this blog are a fairly clever bunch.  I just wonder aloud here if Mr Howarth has in fact asked his MP these questions, as he is entitled to do, and also whether Mr Howarth has any idea what a Parliamentary Private Secretary actually does, and what that person's role is.  I answer the second question by noting that Mr H's protege and stooge, Martin Salter, made a spectacular balls-up of that role when he briefly had it, and was sacked after five weeks in the job.

One individual who cannot escape serious questioning on this is Mr Hunt’s PPS, the Reading East MP, Rob Wilson, who happens also to be my MP. I should say I bear Mr Wilson and his family no personal malice, I just usually think he’s profoundly, politically mistaken, prone to vacuous exercises in ‘spin’ and has real questions to answer, namely: did he advise Mr Hunt or was he in fact consulted by the Secretary of State on this matter? If so what scientific evidence was he personally made aware of by Civil Servants and did he express a view to the Secretary of State? Was the whole thing his idea or did the Secretary of State come to him with the notion? Does he, or did he ever agree with his Secretary of State, given what he now knows of the view of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists? Parliament and Mr Wilson’s constituents have the right to ask these questions.

Mr Wilson’s role is a kind of advisor and assistant to Mr Hunt – a role he also held while Mr Hunt was Secretary of State for Culture and Sport, or to some in the media and opposition benches ‘Minister for Murdoch’, so it isn’t as if they have only just met in the month since the re-shuffle. In fact Rob Wilson reportedly rejected a move to the whip’s office to remain Mr Hunt’s Aide de Camp (Reading Chronicle, 5 September 2012). If his advice was not sought either on the substance or the tactics of the announcement how can he remain in his junior role with any degree of self-respect? And if his position is no longer tenable without sacrificing any personal credibility, how can he justify to himself supporting a Secretary of State who has so blatantly neglected his duty to seek and give due weight to appropriate scientific advice.

it gets better - Mr Salter engages in dialogue!

he has commented on the Chronicle story referred to - like this:

Just for the record. My solicitors were contacted by officers from Operation Weeting earlier this month regarding some phone records that had just come to light and which are currently the subject of investigation. Ms Griffiths is of no relevance to the attempt to bribe a police officer in 2000 in the wake of my spat with the NoW over their Sarah's Law campaign and only of passing relevance to impersonation incident in 2004 which was a follow up by the NoW to her Mail on Sunday deselection allegations.

Along with other former MPs I agreed to provide Tom Watson with examples of illegal behaviour by News International to assist his evidence to the Leveson Inquiry. I remain convinced, as I said in my statement, that there was a culture of criminality in parts of News International which had a corrupting effect on our public life. I await the outcome of the three police enquiries and Leveson with considerable interest.

Martin Salter 


I'll refrain from fisking for a little while, would be interested in what readers think.  It is not his usual prose style, especially the missing article in line 4, would simply point out that if he was seeking to provide Tom Watson MP with examples of illegal behaviour he has not done so.  It was not illegal to go to his house and try to speak to him.  Oh and Mr S - why did you not sue?  Especially over the fraudulent housing allowance claims 1997-2001?  Hein?

We're not racist, says Ed Miliband

In a shock move today some days ago (this is the dead trees we are talking about), Labour leader Ed Miliband rushed to distance himself from the furore over Reading Labour's despicable desperate racist dog-whistle campaign in Church ward.  His "We're not racist" denial was reported in the Chronicle, so it must be true. 



"We're not racist"



dog-whistle girl

So that's all right then.  The Rt. Hon. The Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition has denied that there is a racist dog-whistle campaign going on. Good.  Excellent.  Feel better now, Mr Howarth (prop. Public Impact Ltd, remember "Your Better Off With Labour"?)?  On to new triumphs, hein?

the Geordie loser loses it big



born and bred, not from Pakistan

 Fresh from his triumphal penning of the racist dog-whistle leaflet for Church ward in south Reading, pictured, in tandem with Mr Salter (of whom more below), Mr Howarth (prop. Public Impact Ltd, remember "Your Better Off With Labour"?) peppers the cybersphere with barely comprehensible semi-literate ramblings on the subject of education in east Reading.  He says he is the parent of three children and something in the same sentence about east Reading - his war with the English language is turning into a bloody rout, so it is hard to see what he meant to write through the miasma of pleonasm and linguistic barbarism - and me a professional editor.  Well, maybe so, but I know for a fact that at least two of his children were driven to school in "wealthy" Wokingham  from his then home in south Reading.  He has started a new family since, I am told.  Whatever. 

Though whatever the opposition to the school, the likely opposition to the prospect of the concreting over of a key green space in east Reading’s urban environment, one which Labour politicians including myself and the former MP, Martin Salter, in his time as a local councillor pledged to protect is likely to be even greater. I wish east Reading residents well in this battle and certainly hope, whatever the outcome on the Technical Academy, the current generation of Labour politicians will honour the pledges of their predecessors.

Yes, well spotted, people.  Mr Howarth has been spending so much time with Mr Salter lately that he cannot resist mentioning his name, despite the fact that it is irrelevant to the "issue" under discussion and that Mr S was never, despite his protestations to the contrary, the MP for east Reading.  Mr Howarth knows this very well, which is why he mentions Mr Salter's time as a local councillor in east Reading - a position he left more than 16 years ago.  Current Labour politicians must, he says "honour the pledges" of their predecessors.  Unto the seventh generation?

the headless man!

headless man flyer

perhaps I have a nasty mind, or a long memory, but putting out a picture of a headless man* is a little, er, insinuatory, hein?  Even if they are too callow or stupid to have meant that - and I do not think Messrs Salter and Howarth are either thing -  the fact that they did not want even to attempt a representation of the man they are talking about speaks volumes in itself.  I remember in John O'Farrell's very amusing book Things Can Only Get Better, about growing up a Labour supporter in the 1980s, he refers to the humourlessness of the time - no cartoon or picture could be created of any non-white person, because that would be racist.  Of course, he and his friends did not personally know anyone who was not white and middle class.  The 1980s is the decade Messrs Salter and Howarth have never left, politically and in other ways.  Fortunately, others have moved on, even in Reading politics.  Now, let's get factual on yo asses: I worked with Azam Janjua for several years, when he was a Labour councillor and I was a Labour MP.  He used to join me at surgeries in the ward, which the other two councillors could not be bothered to do, and I saw him hard at work there all the time.  I remember one time a woman came in to see me, and when she saw Azam Janjua was there, she said to me "Oh, it's OK, I'll talk to the councillor, he knows how to get things done."  Back when Church ward was Labour the other two councillors were Christine Grieve and Chris Goodall.  Despite his reputation Goodall did come out with me on occasion, and he did do some work when approached by residents.  Grieve however could not be bothered.  She was usually at choir practice in Caversham when anything needed doing.  Well, Grieve is history, I am glad to say.  The residents think so too.  "Stuck-up cow" and "bossy-boots" were some of the nicer things they had to say about her.

For the record, Azam Janjua worked hard for the people of Church ward for many years.  He treated people with courtesy and respect at all times, and they voted for him, and have continued to do so, as a result. I watched him work, and he was not a big fan of paperwork.  He was still working as a taxi driver then, long hours, and he used to say that time spent filling in forms was time he couldn't spend talking to people and trying to help sort out their problems.  The only criticism Messrs Salter and Howarth can find is that he doesn't fill in enough forms.  And as for changing parties, why then is it OK for their candidate in Redlands ward, Tony Jones, to go from Labour to Independent and back again when it suits him, but not for anyone else to change parties?

The insinuations being made are gross, disgusting and backed up by NOTHING.  If there is evidence then let it be made public.  Nothing ever has been.  These therefore are filthy slurs.  I don't know the Labour candidate in Church ward.  I do know she didn't write this stuff.  She has made a mistake in standing, because this filth is being sent out in her name.  She deserves to lose, and, win or lose, she will have a lot of ground to make up with decent people in south Reading and elsewhere.

*headless man: code for sexual misdemeanours.  There is or was a famous photograph of a man whose head could not be seen,  I'll spare you the rest.  The Guardian won't.

look at this (if you're one of us)

John Howarth's company's services

for which I am indebted to Was, who is good at this stuff.  I wonder (silly old me) why in the box in the centre of the page the word "labour", clearly intending to refer to the Labour Party, has a lower-case initial letter, when higher up the page, and in all other conventions, it is upper case?  Just asking, still, remember "Your better off with Labour"?  Anyway, Mr Howarth's company is still providing these services, because it gets a credit for printing Labour Party leaflets, calling cards and so on to this day.  The text is usually worked on by himself and Mr Salter, who decide the line to take.  The line they decided on for Church ward for this election was the line I have heard them both express many times, namely that the people who live in Church ward in south Reading are racist.  This is presumably why they decided on the "one of us" leaflet you see below.  I don't know how the people of Church ward are going to vote on May 3rd, and what the figures will look like, but I do know that this leaflet has had an effect - and not in a good way for Messrs Salter and Howarth

the racist dog-whistle leaflet

oh and the "one of us" story has now appeared on His Master's Voice's website here and the comments are mostly not mad, but rather considered, and, I submit, do give an idea of what readers of that organ are thinking.

Galloway is pretty fly for a white guy, he says

One J. Howarth (prop. Public Impact Limited, responsible for the racist campaign literature in Church ward, Reading) has had this to say about the Bradford West by-election victory for George Galloway. A little light fisking.

George Galloway won Bradford West because he was the best candidate by a country mile. Does that always happen John? If not why not? That doesn’t mean he will make the best MP, of course. The two things are very different. No shit, Sherlock And for the terminally warped trolls in Web World who think that means I agree with Mr G on lots of things – it doesn’t. A little thinking and all the ingredients for an upset were present. In brief here’s why:

• Where do you disagree with him John?  On Jews?  Gaza?  What?
• ...Some communities from the 50s-60s wave of immigration engage or otherwise with UK politics on a UK level, but in many Pakistani populations the politics of ‘the old country’ and the Muslim world still matter a lot. Bollocks.  That's not the problem. Councils handing responsibility over to the mosque committees instead of working for jobs and training for ethnic minority youth has caused this....
• Bradford West’s community politics is by no means unfamiliar. Having represented an area with a substantial Pakistani population myself, and run away from constituents as soon as anything got difficult I would question whether a candidate being Pakistani embroiled in the internal politics of the ‘community’ is necessarily an advantage? So candidates should be selected on the basis of ethnicity not suitability should they?  Oh. Imran Hussain lost in Bradford West because he was Pakistani?  Not because Galloway was the best candidate, as you've just said?  No.  It's about race.  We see. Not always.
• It is also a sad fact that there remains, though some don’t like to admit it, a section of the white population who prefer not to vote for a Muslim. Ethnicity again.  This really matters to  you, doesn't it John?. The former MP, Marsha Singh, was a Sikh. He still is a Sikh.  A secular, non-turban-wearing one.  And thousands of Muslims and white people voted for him...

• Though frequently dismissed as “loony”, “egotist”, “not very nice”, etc., Mr G is, in many respects, a class act. He can manipulate the media extraordinarily well, he is a seriously good TV performer who always gives as good as he gets, he knows he will be attacked and he is superb at dealing with it.
• Mr G is an opportunist in the sense that he spots opportunities. Many politicians try to. Mr G is good at it.
• Mr G is a former election organiser and he knows his stuff.
• Mr G is a minor celebrity in a country mildly obsesses with celebrity.
• Mr G is not without charm ‘on the doorstep’.
• Mr G is also famously litigious, dismissive of journalists who notoriously ‘don’t like it up ‘em’ and seen is by some as rude and aggressive – others would see it as honest and passionate...

his real opposition was Labour and the contrast (on the regional Sunday politics programme) couldn’t have been worse for Mister Ed’s party. Mr Hussain may be a decent man, I don’t know, but on this programme he was incoherent and inarticulate, nervous and shifty. Ah yes, the shifty, sly Asian.  We can't have THAT now can we...So Mr G was perfectly placed. A ‘friend of Muslims’ playing to the ‘Brothers’ but not involved in ‘community’ in-fighting, a White guy who other White guys can vote for instead of voting for a Muslim Ah, here we go again, you don't see White upper-cased usually, why, John?..., 

• when under attack from a viable fringe candidate there has to be an effective counter attack. Ignore them and they prosper. Labour needs to firmly dispense with the lunatic idea that the best way to fight election campaigns is merely by “knocking on a lot of doors” definitely never do that.  Eh John?  I remember you watching the football while others went out and knocked doors for you in Park ward.  Including me. as a substitute for having something coherent to say. Where is that policy written down?  This is just treating your readers as stupid.

Elsewhere in the piece Mr Howarth uses American English, without giving reasons.  Apparently there has been panic buying of something called "gasoline".  I know Mr Howarth has an ongoing difficult relationship with the English language, but this is pitiful stuff.  Still, at least the mask has slipped so we can see what is underneath.  Nothing about Galloway's policy views (which found a lot of favour in some sections of the Bradford West electorate)  why not? No, GG is a "White guy".  So that's all right then.  "One of us".  "born and bred" in the UK, hey John?