Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

The Tory leader will have to console himself with less illustrious friends back home – such as lapdancing club owner Peter Stringfellow. The ageing lothario helped to swell the Tory leader’s election coffers with the donation of a dinner for six at his London venue. The “prize” sold for several thousand when it was auctioned [...]

David Cameron has reportedly given up on his office’s desperate efforts to get him an audience with President Obama in time for a vote-boosting handshake before the general election. The pair met over a cup of tea at the American ambassador’s home in London last April. But since then all pleas for a meeting in [...]

Prince Charles has raised hackles at the Department of Health, just one of several Government departments the heir to the throne has been bothering with hare-brained schemes for running various bits of the country in the absence of a proper job. Busy Secretary of State Andy Burnham and senior civil servants have had to divert [...]

According to the Tories’ “attack document” entitled Labour’s Two Nations, women under 18 are “three times more likely to fall pregnant in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas. In the most deprived areas, 54 per cent are likely to fall pregnant before the age of 18, compared to just 19 per [...]

Doctor Who aficionados who feel the series was pants in the 1980s may have to think again. It seems that the Time Lord was at war with an enemy far more fearsome than the Daleks: Margaret Thatcher. According to Sylvester McCoy, who played The Doctor at the time: “Doctor Who used satire to put political [...]

Jack Dromey would be a more than adequate MP. But this doesn’t mean he should do it. It would look as if he had got the job because of who he is married to. It would look as if he had lined himself up a nice post-retirement life because he had the connections. It would [...]

In a move rather less interesting than recent events in the Democratic Unionist Party, Northern Ireland’s SDLP elected a new leader this week. Under new leader  Margaret Richie, the party hopes to find new life as an opposition to the Sinn Fein/DUP stitch-up that is the ruling executive. Some commentators still think it will collapse [...]

Right-wing blogger Tory Bear (otherwise known as Harry Cole) has shot himself in the foot. He started a highly unsuccessful twitter-based campaign to hound Labour MP Kerry McCarthy out of Bristol East, ostensibly for having “pissed him off”. Having gained little in the process, aside from adding to a reputation for personal nastiness, the creepy [...]

This can’t be right, can it? Gordon Brown has said Tony Blair will play “a key role” in the 2010 general election campaign. On whose side? Has the former Prime Minister been persuaded to endorse David Cameron? That ought to be worth a few votes for Mr Brown. However, while memories of Mr Blair can [...]

Has Labour found a new electioneering technique? Gordon Brown tearful with Piers Morgan, Alastair Campbell blubbing to Andrew Marr: is it a pitch for the sympathy vote? Perhaps Labour canvassers should be issued with onions when they hit the campaign trail to ensure free-flowing waterworks  and see if there are any “pity points” to be [...]