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Welcome to the Weblog of Austin Mitchell

Austin Mitchell has been the Labour MP for Grimsby since 1977.
 

Austin started out on the right of the Labour Party, but in recent years it has moved so far right behind him that he is now the extreme left.

Considered a dangerous revolutionary because of his belief in equality, public spending and state intervention in the economy and in markets and in full employment, which is basic to socialism.

 

Not Old Labour- positively geriatric!
 

He lives in Grimsby, though most of his time is spent driving between Grimsby- London - Halifax.
A former Parliamentary Private Secretary, Opposition Whip, Member of the Treasury, Civil Service Select Committee and Front Bench Spokesperson on Trade and Industry, he currently sits on the Public Accounts Committee.

 

His interests include housing; the economy; fisheries policy and New Zealand.  Austin is also a keen photographer and, as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Photography, organises the annual Jessops Parliamentary Photography Exhibition.   Austin is a member of many All-Party Parliamentary Groups, as well as being the chair of the Council Housing Group of MPs.

 

Previously he was an academic (Nuffield College Oxford and New Zealand Universities) and a television journalist (BBC and Yorkshire Television).

 

He presented 'Target' with Norman Tebbit on SKY from 1989 to 1998. He writes for The House Magazine, Accountancy Age and is the author of various books, some of which are collaborations with the late, great Richard Whiteley.

 

Austin's Calendar

February 2010
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Latest Articles
Electoral Reform: Let the people decide

 

Next week we’re to vote on a referendum on electoral reform but only on the alternative vote. That is, change for those who don’t want change. It doesn’t change anything much. It’s right to consult the people but not on something they don’t particularly want.

 

Read more...
 
If you don't like Tory policies they'll change them

 

It’s impossible to tell what the Tory party policies are. They change so often.
 
Sure Start: First scrap them. Then cut them. Now keep them.
 
Spending cuts: First massive and immediate. Then less and more drawn out. Since Monday apparently none for a year.
 

 

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Don't Strut and Cut

Hardly surprisingly that the Labour’s years in power have made the UK more liberal in social attitudes but less socialist economically.

We’ve not preached the virtues of greater equality and efficient state regulation. We’ve preached the virtues of the market, rewarding initiatives and attracting talent and business on a world market.

The Conservatives couldn’t have done it better

 

 

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God Bless Belize

Where is the money coming from for the big Tory election campaign now prematurely launched in Grimsby & Cleethorpes? There’s a confetti of leaflets, big posters telling us the Tories are coming (next week bubonic plague) and flights over the town to film the rubble it’s been reduced to by years of Labour neglect. From that height you can’t see the new Sure Starts, schools, medical centres, the auditorium or the Riverhead shopping centre.

My guess is it’s coming from Belize through the vast coffers of Lord Ashcroft. It’s illegal for political parties to receive donations from individuals not on the UK electoral register. Only companies registered in the UK can make donations, subject to some provisos. The Electoral Commission is now investigating Lord Ashcroft’s contributions to local Conservative associations through Bearwood, which effectively disguise the real source of money.

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House Diary

 

HOUSE DIARY

AUSTIN MITCHELL

 

Happy New Year. Though it won`t be. It’ll launch my new record “Things can only get worse” (on the Legg Label - all proceeds to the Fees Office) but it already has. Linda’s got breast cancer. I’ve had a begging letter from Legg, Shakedowns Inc. Gordon’s getting missives from suicide emailers. And there is no health in us. Not in me at any rate. Bad cold. All it needs now is for Gordon to produce a new plan for halving the deficit in 12 weeks and we’re finished.

*        *       *       

Saturday l9 December  To Hull to complete the filming of our living in a tower block programme. Letters to the newspaper in Grimsby recommend that I should go to Hull and stay there. Hull opinion is that I should get the hell out because envy will cloud my vision. 

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