Well, it's the last day of the year, and during the course of 2009 I have writteen 2,256 blogposts (an average of 6 per day) - around three quarters of a million words. Here are a few of what I think have been my best blogposts of 2009. You, of course, may disagree! Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed reading at least somewhat what I have written this year. And if you haven't, feel free to get your money back!

January
My hopes & fears for President Obama
Choosing when to rebel

February
Fisking Peter Hitchens
25 random things about me
Banned by Derek Draper
25 more random things about me
Geert Wilders is an amateur Leni Riefenstahl
The Draper slo mo car crash continues
Rwanda: The shame of Donald Steinberg

March

Is Twitter for twats?
An email to Damian McBride
Why the expenses issue has to be addressed now
Obama saw my sister's beaver

April

Why I Can't Accept the Orwell Prize
My Part in the Fall of the Dock Labour Scheme
The start of Smeargate

May

Fortune favours brave chipmunks
How can we revive Parliament?
David Cameron will need to beat the forces of conservatism

June

Should I have questioned Gordon Brown's state of mind?
Paul Goodman is a sad loss to Politics
Bloggertariat v Commentariat

July

An open letter to Ben Bradshaw & Chris Bryant
April Pond has a moat!
How to attend a Count and lose gracefully (I think)
Andrew Mackinlay quits Parliament
Why the left have got it in for Trevor Phillips

August

Killing speed
We should obsess about the nation's health, not the NHS
In defence of Lord McColl & private healthcare

September
Visit to Armenia
Labour's Foreign Policy: Appeasement First
If Brown is ill, he deserves our compassion, not insults
Fisking James Macintyre
The worst kind of gesture politics
Fun with the Fabians

October
The hateful Daily Mail
Reflecting on Bracknell & moving on
Gordon Brown's Top 10 dithers
All women shortlists: not in my name
Thoughts on candidate selection
Why Liz Truss must pull through

November

If Lisbon is ratified what's the point of a referendum
Why Cameron deserves the party's support over Europe
We mustn't be afraid of risk

December
X Factor goes political
Letter to my 16 year old self

1. James Macintyre takes a Brown-tastic retrospectivee view of 2010.
2. Tory Rascal publishes the final part of his interview with Nadine Dorries.
3. A Very Public Sociologist lists the Top 100 Tweeting Bloggers.
4. Fraser Nelson on what Peter Moore has missed about Britain.
5. Heresy's Corner finds Johann Hari's hero a little difficult to stomach.
6. Mr Eugenides announces the Scotblog awards.
7. Archbishop Cranmer offers some new year's predictions.
8. Will Straw goes all Mandy Rice Davis and predicts 2010 will be the Year of the Left Blogosphere.
9. Guido is seeking nominations for his 2009 Sh*t of the Year.
10. Dizzy says lets spend like it's 2017.
11. Harriet Harman is one of Michael White's 6 politicians of the decade. [laughs uncontrollably]
12. Daily Referendum has some new Conservative campaign poster suggestions.

Lazy Hyena does a great job in exposing the hypocrisy of Jack Straw's article in The Independent this morning on party funding. He rails against big donations to the Conservative Party ... on the very day in which Subrosa reports...

Labour's campaign war-chest has been given a £2.25m top-up ahead of the general election.

The boost from three wealthy Labour backers comes ahead of a new year fundraising drive assisted by David Blunkett. The latest large donations to Labout came from Lord Sainsbury, the former science minister and financiers Nigel Doughty and Sir Ronald Cohen. Sainsbury and Doughty gave £1m each while Sir Ronald donated £250,000.

In September Labour's debts of £9.8m were more than double the Tories £4.2m.

A new internet fundraising initiative is also set to go live after New Year. Gordon Brown must hold an election by June at the latest. Blunkett said: "We know that those with a vested interest in the election of a Conservative government are pumping money into the Tory coffers.

"Our job is to ensure that the voice of the people, not just those with the power of privilege, is heard through to polling day."

The fact of the matter is that all political parties compete on an even basis for donations. People have all sorts of reasons for donating to parties. Some do it out of conviction. Some do it because they see which way the political wind is blowing. Others do it for less salubrious reasons. But there is no reason why the Liberal Democrats, for example, shouldn't be able to raise as much money as the Conservatives or Labour. Or is there? :)

Charles Clarke, in his inimitable manner, has just sent this article to selected friends, one of whom thought I might be interested. I imagine has has also given it to various journalists for tomorrow's papers. Whatever his motives, it's difficult not to agree with much of his analysis of Brown's position. The question is, will others in the senior echelons of the Labour Party act on his advice, or emulate the courage of a pink blancmange. I think I know where my money would go.

Dear friend,

FINDING THE KILLER INSTINCT

The Labour Decade

We are now reaching the end of Labour’s only, ever, full decade in office. As we do, we face an electoral defeat which could well give the Conservatives the next decade and more.

It may seem easier, and possibly less risky, to do nothing to change our position. But unless Labour acts now we are likely to spend the next ten years reflecting on the consequences from the impotence of opposition.

Since 1997 Labour has built a stronger and fairer society and transformed the lives of millions of people for the better. Our record is one to be proud of. But we have also failed to exploit many opportunities to chart a progressive path for the future. And, worst of all, over the last couple of years we have frivolously and foolishly discarded our dominant position in British politics, possibly permanently. During the last year Labour’s poll ratings have hit historic lows, and the dismal European and local elections translated this into actual votes.

Senior Party members know and well understand Labour’s true position but, for a variety of reasons, have so far decided to take no action. A conspiracy of silence has protected the Party leadership.

Just before Christmas this mood seemed to change. Newspaper reports and interviews pointed to serious doubts held by Cabinet members and others. There is the possibility that Labour’s underlying position in the polls and the failures of the Queens Speech and the Pre-Budget Report may now bring matters to a head.

The Polls

Labour’s underlying poll position is disastrous. The UK Polling Report calculates the current average at 40-28-19, which implies a Conservative overall majority of 36 seats. This is significantly worse than a year ago, just before the London G20 summit, when Labour was in the mid-30s and 4/5 point Tory leads were routine. Moreover, many Labour-identifying voters say that they are not prepared to vote Labour at the coming election; a big pool of lost Labour voters now back other parties and Labour supporters are more likely than Tory ones to be considering switching sides or not voting.

All the evidence suggests that Brown’s leadership reduces Labour support, that alternative leaders would improve our ratings, and that an election determined by voters’ answers to the question “Do you want Gordon Brown to be Prime Minister for the next five years?” would further shrink Labour support.

In these circumstances some clutch, bizarrely, at the straw of an occasional poll showing ‘only’ a 9 point lead for the Conservatives (even when intermingled with 17 point leads). Others hope that the Conservatives might not achieve an overall majority but merely be the largest party in a hung parliament.

But in fact such a hung parliament would offer no political respite for Labour. David Cameron has used his New Year message to signal willingness to work with the Liberal Democrats and Nick Clegg has already made it clear that he would feel bound to permit the Leader of the largest party to form a Government. Though senior Liberal Democrats have privately indicated that this situation might change if Labour’s leadership changed, there’s little joy for Labour here.

Policy and Political Direction

The poor political impact of the pre-election Queens Speech and the Pre-Budget Report, as well as the November European Council and other events, have reinforced awareness that Labour currently has no strategy for escaping the deep political trouble it is in.

These were moments where a clear and articulate approach could have changed the mood. Instead they were used just to recycle old political ‘dividing lines’, which reflect a deep defeatist fear of discussing both our past approach and our future plans. We offered no account and no explanation of the past and, even more seriously, no constructive sense of direction for the future.

This ‘class war’ approach is explicitly designed to rack up ‘core Labour’ votes in core Labour areas and to protect the position of the current leadership.

Labour cannot win on this basis. We have to remain a Party with the widest possible appeal, which does not rely for support simply upon one particular group, faction or social class. Since 1983 Labour’s conventional wisdom has recognized that Labour has to seek to win marginal parliamentary seats, many of them in the South of England. Those most involved in formulating the electorally successful post-1994 ‘New Labour’ strategy recognize that this winning approach is now being deliberately abandoned.

Why the Silence So Far

A small group amongst the Labour leadership, inside and outside the Cabinet, believe, genuinely, that, if the economy improves and the Tories begin to implode, the public will rally to Gordon Brown as the General Election approaches.

Others believe that the election campaign could be fought in a way which diverts attention from our leadership (“It’s policies not personalities”). Unfortunately the recent confirmation of the campaign TV debates makes this just about impossible to imagine.

However most senior Labour leaders have had little faith in Gordon Brown’s leadership for a considerable time but over the last year have remained silent, and even professed support. They have done this for a variety of reasons.

The greatest concern is that, under current constitutional arrangements, there is no clear process through which a Party leader could be forced to stand down. They fear that his stubbornness would see off any challenge and precipitate chaotic internal conflict which in turn would reinforce Labour’s image of ineffectiveness and division, possibly without succeeding in changing the Leader. They feel that success requires ‘overwhelming force’.

Others worry that, without a clear challenger/successor, a change of leader might simply be a step from the frying pan into the fire. They think that the unpredictable uncertainties of a leadership election could be damaging. In fact a 21-day campaign is quite possible and would refocus attention on what Labour has positively to offer.

There is also fear of the perceived personal costs which could arise from antagonizing the leadership. The Damian MacBride style of politics is not dead – shortly before Christmas a senior Cabinet member warned me personally to take care ‘because Gordon’s spies are everywhere’.

A deeper pessimism, fed by the MPs’ expenses catastrophe, has led to fatalism. Too many accept defeat for Labour as inevitable. They do not perceive the personal consequences for themselves as shattering. They expect to hold their seats (almost no Cabinet members now have marginal seats) and then adjust to a life in Opposition in the new Parliament. Furthermore, only a third of the current Cabinet were in Parliament before 1997 and so have any direct Parliamentary experience of the 18 years of Tory Government before then.


There are also more ignoble motives for inaction. Some are actively preparing for post-defeat Labour politics and laying down markers for their own leadership ambitions. Others are looking to their future business careers, which they think will be less possible if they are seen as ‘troublemakers’. Others, probably mistakenly, hope for the Prime Minister’s patronage in securing their membership of the House of Lords after defeat.

What is to be done

The net effect of this conspiracy of silence and inaction has been that Gordon Brown has so far been able to see off all challenges to his leadership.

As we reach 2010, rightly described by Ed Balls as ‘the most important General Election for a generation’, the implications of the status quo are crystal clear – a smashing defeat for Labour and poorer lives for the people we seek to serve.

Yet the General Election is eminently winnable for Labour under a new leader. We still have the overall policies and approach which are best suited to meet the challenges of both the current crises and the future, even though we have not recently been successful in communicating them clearly.

Moreover the Conservatives have failed to establish themselves strongly. Their threat comes only from Labour’s weakness. Their only strength is the petty point-scoring of partisan oppositionist politics, based on vigorous and misleading attacks and clever phrase-making. They are deeply divided on policy issues of the greatest significance; their demeanour is increasingly introverted, provincial and backward-looking, notably so in the international arena; they offer no policy or political vision for themselves and they inspire no confidence in their own team of political leaders.

In Parliament and elsewhere an overwhelming majority of Labour opinion believes that in this position Labour’s chances would be significantly improved if Gordon Brown were to stand down.

Over Christmas there have been signs that this strength of opinion is understood in the Cabinet. The New Year will be the time to ensure that the overwhelming feeling which does exist is turned into the action which brings about the necessary change. The price of failure is just too high.

Doing nothing now may seem the easiest option. But Labour should learn from the Tories, who have had many whole decades in power: political parties need the killer instinct to hold on to office. David Cameron’s Conservatives are relying on Labour failing to learn that lesson.

From the beginning of 2010 we need a renewed Labour Party which can offer the people of Britain a genuine and positive choice at the ballot box.

Charles Clarke MP

I shall look forward to what LabourList, LabourHome and Left Foot Forward have to say about this rather interesting intervention.

Labels: Charles Clarke

Here are some more of the 'awards' voted by 2,200 of my blogreaders over Christmas.

Politician of 2009

1. Dan Hannan
2. David Cameron
3. Peter Mandelson
4. Boris Johnson
5. Vince Cable

Minister of the Year

1. Peter Mandelson
2. Andrew Adonis
3. Alistair Darling

Shadow Minister of the Year

1. William Hague
2. Michael Gove
3. Philip Hammond

Junior Shadow Minister of the Year

1. Damian Green
2. Ed Vaizey
3. Justine Greeing

Worst Minister of the Year

1. Ed Balls
2. Bob Ainsworth
3. Harriet Harman

Here are some more of the 'awards' voted by 2,200 of my blogreaders over Christmas.

Best Conservative MP of 2009

1. Douglas Carswell
2. Iain Duncan Smith
3. David Davis
4. John Redwood
5. Ann Widdecombe

Best Labour MP of 2009

1. Frank Field
2. Kate Hoey
3. Tom Harris
4. Jon Cruddas
5. Bob Marshall-Andrews

Best LibDem MP of 2009

1. Vince Cable
2. Charles Kennedy
3. Lynne Featherstone
4. Chris Huhne
5. David Laws

Best Minority Party MP of 2009

1. Alex Salmond
2. Dr Richard Taylor
3. Bob Spink

Best MEP of 2009

1. Dan Hannan
2. Nigel Farage
3. Caroline Lucas

Peers of the Year 2009

1. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi
2. Lord Mandelson
3. Lord Lawson

Graham Dines of the East Anglian Daily Times has the exclusive that John Gummer is to retire from Parliament at the next election. By announcing his retirement before the end of the year, he saves his Suffolk Coastal constituency from having a three person shortlist imposed on them. Gummer is almost certain to get a peerage, and is going to concentrate on his environmental work.

Following Michael Lord and Richard Spring's departure, Gummer becomes the third Suffolk Tory MP to quit. Tim Yeo and David Ruffley are hanging in there. So far!

Full story HERE.

Labels: John Gummer

1. Nile Gardiner lists his Top Ten Conservative movies of the last decade.
2. Nich Starling has a go at the Daily Mail over defending Labour and China.
3. Melanchthon gives 10 predictions for Britain in 2010. As does Tory Politico and the Kingdom of Wrong.
4. LibDem Voice on how Channel 4 can win the election debates.
5. Tory Rascal gets insomnia, and turns to Hansard for solace.
6. Another Green World on a poll which predicts a Green win in Brighton. Further analysis from PoliticalBetting.com.
7. Richard Willis on speed cameras. He wants Reading to look at whether it should follow Swindon's lead.
8. Sunny Hundal is right on class war. And everyone else is wrong, you see. He's always right. So he says.
9. Alastair Campbell says 'Here's to you Iris Robinson'.
10. Michael White says it is hypocritical to criticise China. Something he has in common with the Daily Mail, then.
11. Douglas Carswell asks: who elected Kier Starmer?
12. Guido accuses John Prescott of being an apologist for China.

Source: Radio 4 Day by Day (scroll to 2.42)

A couple of weeks ago Baroness Ashton was appointed as High Representative of the European Union. This is the most powerful foreign affairs position in the EU. You might therefore have thought she would have a view on the execution of a British citizen in China. You might have thought she would have made that view public. But as a commenter said in a previous thread...

Why hasn't Baroness Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy had anything to say?

Is it because:

1.Her job is irrelevent
2.She is a non-entity
3.She is incompetent
4.The EU couldn't give a toss about one of its citizens being executed
5.All of the above

I have done a Google search and looked at several major news sites, but I can find no record of any utterance from Baroness Ashton on the subject, even today. What's the point of her job if she had nothing to say on this?

Discuss.

Labels: Baroness Ashton

1. Andy Murray will reach the Wimbledon final
2. The Conservatives will win the election with a majority of between 20 and 50
3. VAT will go up to 20% at some point this year
4. Britain will lose its AAA credit status
5. West Ham will not be relegated
6. Ed Miliband will replace Gordon Brown as Labour leader
7. Tom Harris will be elected to the Shadow Cabinet
8. Jeremy Paxman will leave Newsnight to take over as host of Question Time
9. Iranian nuclear facilities will be bombed by either Israel or the USA
10. England reach the World Cup Final with three West Ham players in the team. Again.

Here are some more of the 'awards' voted by 2,200 of my blogreaders over Christmas.

Most Irritating Soundbite/Slogan of the Year

1. Labour Investment, Tory Cuts
2. I'm getting on with the job
3. It was within the rules

Speech of the Year

1. Dan Hannan
2. Peter Mandelson's conference speech
3. Nick Clegg on the Gurkhas

Pollster of the Year

1. YouGov
2. Angus Reid Strategies
3. ICM

Here are some more of the 'awards' voted by 2,200 of my blogreaders over Christmas.

Political Communicator of the Year

1. Dan Hannan
2. Boris Johnson
3. David Cameron

Political Campaigner of the Year

1. Joanna Lumley
2. Guido Fawkes
3. Heather Brooke

Campaign Group of the Year

1. Gurkha campaign
2. Taxpayers' Alliance
3. No2ID

Think Tank of the Year

1. Adam Smith Institute
2. Centre for Social Justice
3. Policy Exchange

Sixty Minutes from now, the Chinese government will kill a mentally ill British citizen.

Wars have been started over less. Little has been heard from the British government and what they have done to persuade China to show restraint. All we have had is a junior Foreign Office Minister urging the Chinese to desist. I am sorry, but Ivan Lewis is not a name to strike fear into the hearts of the Chinese government.

Let's hope that even at this late stage, wise counsel prevails.

I don't normally highlight individual blogposts nowadays, but THIS ONE merits it. If you cannot abide the oleaginous wannabe, Sunny Hundal, you'll love it. Devil's Kitchen rips him and and his indentity-obsessed politics apart. Deliciously. And comprehensively. And without too much bad language.

Labels: Devil's Kitchen, Sunny Hundal

As regular readers may REMEMBER, I have had my differences with Iris Robinson. But it is a great shame that chronic depression has forced her to announce she will be standing down from parliament at the next election. I count myself very lucky that no matter how bad things have ever got for me, I have never suffered from depression myself, and perhaps it is difficult therefore to empathise properly with people who do, but knowing several people who do have bouts of depression from time to time, I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I hope that stepping away from the pressures of political life will make it possible for Iris Robinson to find a little more happiness.

UPDATE: Stephen Glenn makes a very aposite remark...

I do wish Iris a full recovery from her depression. I also hope that through this experience she may also learn that some of the things from her public life are utterances that may have led others to a similar state.

1. SNP blogger Calum Cashley gives his new year predictions.
2. James Forsyth on what the Met can learn from New York's plummeting murder rate.
3. Richard Normington isn't closed for lunch.
4. Devil's Kitchen takes Sunny Hundal to task over his class war. And that's putting it mildly.
5. On the first month anniversary of her blog, Walaa Idris explains why she does it.
6. John Redwood isn't impressed by the Today Programme guest editors.
7. Kiwiblog has a link to a report on how New Zealand parties used new media in the 2008 election.
8. Daily Referendum has created some anti Labour & LibDem election posters.
9. EU Referendum on the lucrative sidelines of the IPCC chief.
10. Tory Politico agrees with Michael Howard on the need to tackle the BNP head on.
11. The Conservative Blog on how borrowing is now at 17% of GDP.
12. Paul Vickers visit's Hawarden, Gladstone's home.

The Daily Mirror have been up to their old tricks again. They have failed in a rather tawdry tempt to entrap Tory candidate Norsheen Bhatti. Until earlier this year she was the LibDem candidate for Chelsea & Fulham but in April she defected and now represents the Conservatives in Stoke on Trent Central.

Last week, Norsheen's theatrical agent got an email from someone called Ryan Parry (pic right), using a Googlemail account. Norsheen, I should have mentioned, is rather a good belly dancer. Her agent, though, thought it a bit odd that Mr Parry had used Noreen's surname in the email, as her 'stage name' is purely 'Noreen'. He googled Mr Parry, and, whaddaya know, he is a Daily Mirror journalist!

The agent emailed back to see how far the Mirror were prepared to go and was then told that Mr Parry wished to book her for a "private party" for his father.

Presumably, if the event had gone ahead, Mr Parry and his colleagues would have indulged in some form of rather unpleasant entrapment. I could speculate as to what they might have tried to do, but I won't. This is, after all, a family blog :).

What is odd, is that Norsheen has never kept it a secret that she is a semi professional belly dancer. Indeed, why should she? It's nothing to be ashamed of. Unlike working for the Daily Mirror... So if it wasn't a secret what possible reason could the Daily Mirror have for this form of subterfuge unless they were trying to entrap her into doing or saying something harmful to her political prospects or the Conservative Party?

I put all this to the Conservatives tonight and a source said: "This is yet another feeble and amateurish attempt by the Daily Mirror to deceive party members. They should try proper journalism for a change."

Of course, this isn't the first time the Daily Mirror have tried this sort of thing. Remember THIS from July 2009? Or THIS from August 2007? This isn't journalism, it's entrapment. If the Police did this, the Daily Mirror would be the first to complain. It just shows what a despicable newspaper it has become. Kevin Maguire, Jason Beattie, James Lyons, Bob Roberts, you must be so proud to work for such a publication.

Here's the email exchange...

------Original Message------
From: Ryan Parry
To: London Belly Dance
Sent: 22 Dec 2009 16:03
Subject: bellydancer

Hi
I am looking to hire a belly dancer for a party next year, maybe early February and was wondering whether you can help with one in particular. A friend of mine often goes to a Moroccan restaurant called Souk Medina in Covent Garden, and he has recommended a beautiful bellydancer called Norsheen Bhatti who danced there. He said she was mesmerizing and an amazing dancer. It was a while back, but at the time I remember finding Norsheen on your website, but she is no longer there. Does she still work at the restaurant or even for you?
Thanks
Ryan

On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 4:08 PM, London Belly Dance <londonbxxxx@googlemail.com> wrote:
Hi Ryan,

Thanks for your email.

I know Norsheen well & yes she does still dance at Souk.

She is very much in demand as a dancer & now usually only takes bookings from people she knows. You could try approaching her on the night if you see her dancing. The restaurant can tell you when she is dancing next if to call them. Please say hello to Norsheen and Souk from Johara.

I'd you require further assistance, please let me know.

Best wishes,
Johara
www.LondonBellyDance.com

Sent using BlackBerry® from OrangeFrom: Ryan Parry <rlparry@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:15:25 +0000
To: <londonxxxxxx@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bellydancer


That's brilliant Johara, I'll give the restaurant a call. Do you happen to have any pictures of Norsheen while dancing, would be most helpful to get an idea for the party, also very curious to see what my friend is raving about!
Thanks again


-----Original Message-----
From: London Belly Dance <londonxxxxxx@googlemail.com>
To: Ryan Parry <rlparry@gmail.com>
Sent: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:25
Subject: Re: bellydancer

Hi Ryan,

You could try Googling "Norsheen" & "Celebrity Come Dine With Me".
Earlier in the year Norsheen provided belly dance entertainment for Lynne Franks. There may be some video or photos. She was wearing a baby blue costume.

Best wishes,
Johara
www.LondonBellyDance.com

On Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 10:42 AM, <norsheen@uk> wrote:
Hi Ryan,

Johara from london belly dance kindly forwarded your email onto me so I just thought it would be easier for me to email you directly.

Please thank your friend for the nice remarks although it must have been a while ago since they saw me dancing as I haven't danced in Souk recently, I've been really busy with other parties and Christmas etc.

When are you planning your party for and is it for a particular occasion i.e. wedding or birthday?
Do get back to me if you are still interested in having a belly dancer at your party and booking me.

Happy Christmas,

Norsheen

-----Original Message-----
From: Ryan Parry
To: norsheen@xxxx.uk
Sent: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:43:28 +0000
Subject: Re: norsheen belly dance

Hi NorsheenThanks for getting in touch, the party is either going to be on Jan 30 or Feb 6, at a venue yet to be confirmed, but it will be in central London. Are you available on those dates? The occasion is my father's birthday party so I'm keen to get the best. Also do you have any pics of yourself dancing as I would very much like to show my father what you look like.
Kind regards
Ryan

I am sure some Daily Mirror apologist will try to suggest this could all be entirely innocent. Sadly, this theory is rather blown out of the water by an email sent by Mr Parry today.

From: Ryan.Parry@mirror.co.uk
To: London Belly Dance
Sent: 28 Dec 2009 15:03
Subject: Norsheen Bhatti


Hi Johara
I'm a journalist with the Daily Mirror and was wondering whether there was any way you could get a message to Norsheen Bhatti and ask her to give me a call. My number is 0207 293 3773 or 079681487xx.
Regards
Ryan Parry

Er, that would be a no, then.

Sorry to spoil your story, Mr Parry. Prat.

UPDATE Midnight: Ankd THIS is the rather pathetic story the Mirror have come up with. And to think, it used to be called a newspaper.

You know how it is, you’re looking forward to a quiet night of vegging in front of the TV and then your partner utters the dreadful words, “right, we’re switching over so I can watch a programme I want for a change.” Your heart sinks, knowing that the next hour is to be spent enduring Casualty or some other God awful medical drama. And do it was that on a Sunday evening I’d be compelled to watch the ITV series Wild at Heart. I may have been compelled, but it wasn’t long before I found it compelling. I’m spending much of Christmas catching up on the first two series of the programme. How sad is that?! For those who haven’t seen it, it features a vet and his family who leave behind their life in Bristol to start a new life in the wilds of southern Africa. Even the fact that is starred Amanda Holden didn’t quite put me off watching it. It’s a feel good, uplifting story and it makes you think.

Every so often I have wondered about doing something completely different. Leaving behind the world of politics and the media. No more blogging. No more Sky News paper reviews. No more EDP column. What would it be like to leave it all behind and go and discover a completely new life?

As we are about to enter a new year I suspect I am not alone in thinking deeply about what 2010 holds for me, my loved ones, my business and my country. And politicians will be no different.

If you’re David Cameron you know 2010 will be the most important of your life so far. You will either become Prime Minister or be consigned to the ever growing list of Tory leaders who didn’t quite make it. If he fails he will go through the rest of his life wondering what might have been, and what he could have done to bring about a different outcome.

Imagine you’re Gordon Brown. You’ve finally got the job you’ve craved for years and then seen it all crumble around your feet. You approach 2010 trying to shut out what the commentators regard as the inevitable. And yet, and yet. There’s still that sliver of hope that something might turn up. Events might somehow provide the political game changer that you need. You just never know.

And if you’re Nick Clegg, well, you know you’re not going to be prime minister, but you might just be able to get your hands on a bit of power. You know that even if your party loses seats, it could still hold the balance of power. That excites you. You want to turn your party from being a pressure group into a real party which can change things. And yet you know there will be elements of your party who shrink at the prospect.

So as you all indulge in our own individual forms of escapism this Christmas and wonder what the future holds for us all, spare a thought for our politicians. They haven’t had a very good year, it is safe to say. 2010 will give them an opportunity to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and try to rescue their tarnished reputations. Will they grab the opportunity or kick the reputation of politics further into the gutter? Cynics will no doubt think the latter, but as it’s a time of peace and goodwill to all, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, shall we? Just this once? No, thought not.

Anyway, must rush, another episode of Wild at Heart to watch.

(From my EDP column on Boxing Day)

Here are some more of the 'awards' voted by 2,200 of my blogreaders over Christmas.

Blog Personality of the Year

1. Guido Fawkes
2. Mike Smithson
3. Tim Montgomerie

Centre Right Blog of the Year

1. Guido Fawkes
2. Conservative Home
3. Spectator Coffee House
4. John Redwood
5. Tory Bear

Left of Centre Blog of the Year

1. Tom Harris
2. Labour List
3. Alastair Campbell
4. Tom Watson

LibDem Blog of the Year

1. Norfolk Blogger
2. LibDem Voice
3. Lynne Featherstone
4. Mark Reckons
5. Liberal England

Best Individual Blogpost of the Year

1. Guido Fawkes - Live by the smear, die by the smear
2. Devil's Kitchen - Climategate emails
3. Alastair Campbell - The real lessons of McBride

Political Website of the Year

1. PoliticalBetting.com
2. UK Polling Report
3. PoliticsHome

Best Twitterer of 2009

1. Boris Johnson
2. Tory Bear
3. Paul Waugh
4. Nadine Dorries
5. Eric Pickles

This summer Andrew Mitchell, the shadow international development secretary, returned to Rwanda for the third year to lead a group of 100 Conservative volunteers on development projects. In this diary, he records an inspiring, moving and occasionally hilarious fortnight.


Saturday July 18
We descend through a stormy sky into Kigali, the capital of this lush, verdant country of lakes and rolling hills. Piling out of the plane, we load our boxes of English dictionaries and exercise books on to waiting trucks. Around the airport perimeter are children with lime-green wind-up laptops, given by international donors as part of a scheme to connect Rwanda to the internet. They are here because the airport is one of the few places with free wi-fi. When our boxes are safely loaded, we drive off into the dusty Kigali night. I'm staying at Solace Ministries, a guesthouse run by Rwandan Christians. It's good to be back.

Sunday July 19
We visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial site, one of the biggest mass graves in the world, where 300,000 victims of the 1994 killings are buried. Bodies are still being recovered. In 90 days of that terrible year, a total of around 1 million Rwandans were murdered across the country - most dispatched by knife or machete, with a ferocity and speed that even Adolf Hitler did not match. Most of those who died were from the Tutsi minority; their killers were extremist militia from the Hutu majority. The inter-ethnic hostilities that led to genocide had been formented under Belgian colonial rule and worsened under a guerrilla war in 1990. It is impossible not to be moved by the memorial. Many of our volunteers are in tears. I meet Sifa, a woman of 83 who saved the lives of 43 people during the genocide, mainly children, by hiding them in her house and facing down gangs of Interahamwe, a Hutu militia. She must be the bravest person in the world. For many of our volunteers, Rwanda is a life-changing experience. We're here as part of Project Umubano - the Kinyarawandan word for friendship, partnership and co-operation. The project aims in its modest way to assist Rwanda's schools, health service, legal system and private sector. Education in particular is a powerful tool to dispel ignorance and intolerance, resolve conflict and reconcile people - as well as lifting children out of poverty. Equally, if its economy is to grow, Rwanda must attract private-sector foreign investment - something it will only do if it has a strong, independent judiciary with robust property and contract law. We are here to learn how Rwanda is shaping a peaceful future for itself and to gain a greater understanding of international development. Rwanda represents the worst and the best of Africa; we hope that in office the lessons Conservatives have absorbed here will help us on a wider scale. Everyone on this trip is a volunteer - teachers, lawyers, doctors, politicians and people from the private sector who have responded to our invitation. Everyone pays their own way.

Monday July 20
I awake at 5am, nervous. Today is my first day in the classroom. Forty-five of us are teaching 1,500 Rwandan primary teachers from all over the country. They are here to learn English grammar, vocabulary and comprehension, to expand their conversational abilities and - most importantly, how to pass on those skills to their fellow teachers and their pupils. I spend two hours re-reading the two-week syllabus agreed with the Rwandan authorities. My respect for teachers has always been huge, but never more than now as I contemplate holding the attention of a class of 50 Rwandan teachers aged between 22 and 54.

Tuesday July 21
So far, so good. We're getting along well in my class. But not as well as Rob Halfon, our prospective parliamentary candidate for Harlow, who is powering ahead next door. Today he got his class to compose love letters - a good way to help with grammar, vocabulary and comprehension in one exercise. Shamelessly, I plagiarise his idea. The most moving letter in my class comes from the oldest woman and is addressed to her husband of 28 years. Her words are tender and surprisingly fresh - more what one would expect from a teenager than a woman in her third decade of marriage. Few Rwandans have been untouched by the appalling events that overtook their country in 1994. That they retain the ability for love, affection and family life is all the more astounding, as is their energy and their hope that they can reconstruct their country. We prepare for a general knowledge quiz. 'What is the name of the leader of the British political opposition?' I ask. Four hands shoot up. 'Yes?' I say. 'Tony Blair,' says one, confidently. Er, not exactly! Thankfully, some in the class know David Cameron's name. Our message must be getting across.

Wednesday July 22
After school, I head off to the National Stadium where Alistair Burt, Conservative MP for North East Bedfordshire, and Les, a Football Association coach, are training hundreds of coaches and youngsters in the art of football. Today they are handing out kit given by the FA and others to the tired but delighted kids. Children here know their English football. Arsenal and Man United shirts are eagerly seized on. As MP for Sutton Coldfield, I enquire of the whereabouts of the Aston Villa strip. It must have been left on the plane...

Thursday July 23
We head off to meet President Paul Kagame, another Arsenal supporter. He is generous about Project Umubano, saying: 'Many people give us money and tell us what to do, but very few come here, roll up their sleeves and get involved - and for three years running.' We have a frank discussion about how to make progress in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, from where my colleague Mark Lancaster, shadow minister for international development, has just returned. We have a lively discussion about Rwanda's recent dispute with the BBC, in which the corporation's local service was accused of broadcasting interviews likely to inflame tensions. We also talk about the rights and responsibilities of the opposition in a democracy.

Friday July 24
After class, I catch up with volunteers who are producing a handbook for new Rwandan graduates. Many students had their education interrupted by the genocide - they now need help making the transition from classroom to work.

Saturday July 25
Umuganda is a Rwandan tradition where on the last Saturday of the month everyone is expected to do community work. No one is exempt - President Kagame planted banana trees - and we're talking legally enforceable hard graft here, not a little light charity fund-raising. Around 80 of our volunteers join a team of thousands in downtown Kigali, building a drainage ditch. Flanked by the Minister of Finance and the Minister for Infrastructure, I inexpertly wield a pickaxe. The star of the day is Desmond Swayne, parliamentary private secretary to David Cameron, who organises the transfer of tons of stone into our ditch. We go home nursing minor cuts and bruises. I wonder for a moment about introducing a similar scheme in my constituency, but think better of it.

Sunday July 26
For the third year running, we play cricket against a Rwandan team. The ground is at the Ecole Technique Officielle - where 2,500 Rwandans were killed, a massacre portrayed in the film Shooting Dogs. This year we lack Francis Maude, the shadow cabinet office minister, and his batting skills. We also lack the support we had last year from the head of the Tony Blair Foundation in Kigali - to whom we gave asylum in the Conservative Party Cricket Team. We are thrashed by the Rwandans, who no doubt will soon embarrass the England national team. I sit and watch with the British ambassador thus narrowly avoiding the humiliation heaped on my colleagues. Last year I umpired, but dodgy decisions have relegated me to the boundary. To play cricket on this infamous site is an emotional experience. But it is also a sign of optimism, confidence and hope in a country now forging ahead - and likely to join the Commonwealth soon. In colonial days, Rwanda was ruled by the Germans and Belgians, and has few past associations with Britain. That is changing.

Monday July 27
I head off into the countryside to see our medical team in action. While I'm away for two days, my class is taken over by my 18-year-old daughter Rosie, who is one of our volunteers and currently on her gap year. Embarrassingly, when I return they say they would rather keep her. 'When is Rosie coming back?' they ask. Not only has she captivated our class, but she is also much stricter than me, insisting on hard work and discipline. So much for easy-going youth.

Tuesday July 28
The doctors are extraordinary. Their leader is David Tibbutt, a Conservative councillor in Worcester and a retired cardiologist who has been coming to Africa for 30 years. Malaria cases are more prevalent this year, but most of their work is muscular-skeletal - injuries caused by backbreaking work in the fields in the daily battle to subsist. Amazingly, Project Umubano doctors have treated more than 5,000 Rwandans in the three years we've been coming here - as well as helping to train numerous nurses. Next I travel to Nyanza, south of Kigali, to meet some of our lawyers collaborating with the Institute of Legal Practice. The rector praises the work of our barrister Suella Fernandes and her colleagues - not only while they are here, but also through the links they're forging with British legal institutions. A leading City law firm is providing training, law books and funding. From there on to Butare, Rwanda's second city, where we have a big team of teachers and lawyers led by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the shadow minister of state for international development, and Nick Hurd, shadow minister for charities and son of Lord (Douglas) Hurd. Teaching English is more challenging here than in cosmopolitan Kigali because people have less exposure to the language. Nevertheless the predominantly young team is rising to the challenge - as the Rwandan head teacher organising 300 teachers in one of Butare's schools, tells me enthusiastically.

Wednesday July 29
I get a call from David Mundell, the shadow secretary for Scotland, who is leading a group of our legal volunteers in Sierra Leone as part of Project Umubano. He describes the hair-raising eight-mile journey from the airport across the shark-infested sea to Freetown, the capital. Volunteers plumped for a half-hour boat ride in an overloaded boat over choppy waters under stormy skies, scarcely comforted by the flimsy but colourful life jackets. The other options were an old Isle of Wight hovercraft, an ex-service Ukrainian helicopter or a four-hour car journey over a muddy 'road'. Once they made it to Freetown, volunteers found their slightly shaken skills and experience were in high demand.

Friday July 31
Time to say goodbye to my class. The class captain - elected on the first day - makes a touching presentation. 'I can use so much that we have done together with my own pupils,' he explains. I have spent nearly two weeks learning about Rwandans' lives as well as trying to boost their English. As always, I'm impressed by these teachers' tenacity, resourcefulness and ability. They're incredibly hard working, and determined to better themselves and their country. Without doing down our own schools, I'm struck by the way students and teachers in developing countries embrace education - it is the best way to lift their communities out of poverty. In Rwanda, they think it is a privilege to be in a classroom - they are hungry for knowledge.
My two weeks have been humbling and inspiring. We shake hands and hug each other as we say goodbye. I choke back the tears. Friday night is the final project dinner. Ninety of us gather at a restaurant overlooking the Kigali skyline. Before we eat, speeches are delivered, but unusually for a Tory Party function, there is no raffle. My team are thanked for their organisational prowess and finally there is a speech by Christopher Shale, the grandfather of Project Umubano who led the team producing the handbook for graduates. He encapsulates everything we feel: 'All our lives have been changed by our time here.'

Saturday August 1
We pack up and prepare to leave. No one pretends we can achieve more than a modest amount in a fortnight. But we have made a small contribution to this beautiful, tragic country. And within the Conservative Party our project helps ensure there are even more people passionate about international development - who have tasted the reality of life in a developing country and are determined to tackle global poverty. We just need to improve our bowling.

Labels: Rwanda

Here are some more of the 'awards' voted by 2,200 of my blogreaders over Christmas.


Political Gaffe of the Year

1. Gordon Brown saying "I saved the world".
2. Jacqui Smith's expenses
3. Gordon Brown gurning on YouTube

Political Hate Figure of 2009

1. Gordon Brown
2. Ed Balls
3. Nick Griffin

Political Moment of the Year

1. Dan Hann's speech attacking Gordon Brown
2. Joanna Lumley ripping into Phil Woolas
3. Day One of th Telegraph's coverage of the expenses scandal

Here are some more of the categories more than 2,200 of you voted for

Political Magazine of the Year

1. The Spectator
2. Private Eye
3. The Economist

Political Book of the Year

1. A View from the Foothills by Chris Mullin
2. No Expenses Spared - Daily Telegraph
3. Letters to my Grandchildren by Tony Benn

Political Humorist of the Year

1. Ian Hislop
2. Quentin Letts
3. Matt

"2010 will be election year.  After all the false starts and speculation, now we know forsure that the country will have a chance to vote for change this year.  Within days, the gloves will be off and the arguments will begin.  But as we enter this year of intense political activity, I think it's important for all politicians to remember something.  While those in the Westminster village might eagerly be limbering up for a frantic few months of speeches and launches and strategies and tactics - and all the hoopla of today's politics - most people in the country will be contemplating the prospect of months of electioneering with emotions somewhere on a scale between indifference and dread: and that is something we need to change.  But we'll only do that if we recognise the reasons why politics is broken. First and foremost it's because the expenses scandal is not a chapter that comes to a close as we move into a new year.  It is an ongoing reminder of a deeper breakdown in trust between politicians and the public.  And this has many causes. Politicians who think they have the answer to everything and just can't bear to leave people alone to get on with their lives. Politicians who can't bring themselves to recognise any good in their opponents and refuse to work together to get things done. Politicians who never admit they're wrong and never acknowledge that they've made a mistake.  A sense that Westminster has become so much about point-scoring, positioning and political dividing-lines that people and their real-life problems are completely left out.  

These are some of the reasons that politics is broken. I'm sure I've been guilty of these offences on occasions, and no doubt will commit them again.  But we shouldn't stop trying to get it right just because we don't always succeed.  Over the past few years, we've tried in the Conservative Party to do things differently.  We voted for Tony Blair's school reforms because we agreed with them even though we could have inflicted a damaging defeat on the Government.  We've encouraged our parliamentary candidates to set up social action projects in their communities.  We've opened up politics through open primaries to select potential MPs and held open Cameron Direct meetings all over the country where people from all parties and none can come and ask me questions.  We took swift action on expenses and were the first to pay money back where that was the right thing to do.  And we've consistently pushed for TV election debates, whether we've been behind in the polls or ahead in the polls.

But there's a huge amount more to do if we want to rebuild trust.  So let's try and make this election year the moment to start fixing our broken politics.  Let's bring real change to Westminster and the whole political system.  A big part of that is about policy: policies to reform expenses and the way Parliament works; policies to redistribute power from the political elite to the man and woman in the street; policies to make government more transparent and accountable. But it's not all about policy.  It's also about character, attitude and approach.  It's about how political leaders actually behave, the example they set and the lead they give.  It's about doing as well as talking - real social action in our communities, not just pontificating from an ivory tower.  And my resolution this new year is to work harder for a new politics in this country.  

I don't want to mislead people: there's an election campaign coming, and I think it's reasonable for political parties to point out the consequences of their opponents' policies, records and judgments as well as the benefits of their own.  The House of Commons - particularly on set-piece occasions like Prime Minister's Questions - is an adversarial place.  But let's make sure the election is a proper argument about the future of the country, not some exercise in fake dividing lines.  Let's at least recognise the good intentions of our opponents. Let's be honest that whether you're Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat, you're motivated by pretty much the same progressive aims: a country that is safer, fairer, greener and where opportunity is more equal.  It's how to achieve these aims that we disagree about - and indeed between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats there is a lot less disagreement than there used to be. 

Of course the area where there is greatest and most sincere agreement between political parties is our shared support for our mission in Afghanistan.  I know that we will never take for granted the bravery of our armed forces, and as we prepare to fight the political battles at home, we will keep in mind constantly the humbling courage of those who fight the real battles for us overseas.So let's make 2010 the year for a new politics.  Let's be positive about our own policies as well as pointing out the consequences of our opponents' policies.  

But above all, let's be honest about the problems facing the country and how we can solve them.  Yes, there will be an election this year: that much is certain.  And we can be certain too that the arguments will be fierce.  But let's make it a good clean fight.  And once the battle is over, we will need to rise above our differences and come together because that is the only way - strong, united leadership is the only way - we will sort out Britain's problems, halt our decline, and give this country the success that I know we can achieve."

Political Commentator of the Year

1. Fraser Nelson
2. Matthew Parris
3. Quentin Letts

Broadcast Journalist of the Year

1. Andrew Neil
2. Adam Boulton
3. Nick Robinson

Print Report of the Year

1. Paul Waugh
2. Andrew Gilligan
3. Andrew Pierce


Political TV Programme of the Year

1. Question Times
2. This Week
3. Newsnight

Political Radio Programme of the Year

1. Today
2. Any Questions
3. Week in Westminster

Welsh Politician of the Year

1. Rhodri Morgan
2. Nick Bourne
3. Adam Price
Over the last four days you have been voting in my annual end of year awards poll. Over the next few days I'll be publishing the results.


Scottish Politician of the Year

1. Alex Salmond
2. Annabelle Goldie
3. Nicola Sturgeon

Northern Ireland Politicians of the Year

1. Ian Paisley
2. Martin McGuinness
3. Sir Reg Empey

*As voted for by 2,200 readers of Iain Dale's Diary