The Top 100 most influential Left-wingers (UK)

[Tom McReen]

In the last days of New Labour, there is one member of the Cabinet who is truly indispensable.

As they meet at their party conference in Brighton , Labour’s members know that an unelected politician, who has twice resigned in disgrace, now holds the government together:

Baron Mandelson, of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of Hartlepool in the County of Durham, First Secretary of State, Lord President of the Council, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and the most powerful man on the Left of British politics.

Never before in The Daily Telegraph’s annual survey of the British political elite has Gordon Brown been off the top spot. But these are extraordinary times. When Brown brought Mandelson back into the Government, it was presented as the return of an experienced minister, In reality, it was the return of a political manager.

In a crisis, Mandelson stays calm, gives instructions, offers advice and issues threats to those who need to hear them. When Brown’s leadership was most heavily challenged, in the wake of the expenses crisis and the meltdown in the European elections, it was Mandelson who kept him in office. If he walked tomorrow, the government would not fall – but the remaining confidence in the future of brand Labour, as currently constituted, would disappear.

There is another reason for Mandelson’s supremacy: he is the only minister offering a coherent narrative of how Labour might win the next election, based on a return to the New Labour project of making policy that sits comfortably with middle England (hence Brown’s recent, and almost certainly doomed, attempt to portray himself as the champion of the middle classes).

Yet he has not had it all his own way. Alistair Darling’s stubborn refusal to be consigned to the dustbin of British politics kept both Mandelson and Ed Balls out of the Treasury, while his insistence that retrenchment would be necessary, given the scale of the fiscal disaster we face, helped puncture the Prime Ministerial fantasy of Labour “investment” vs Tory “cuts”.

Darling climbs 19 places accordingly. Similarly, while David Miliband slips due to his vacillation over the leadership, his refusal to leave the Foreign Office limited Brown’s scope for reconstructing his government and again demonstrated the limits on the Prime Minister’s power.

Yet the dramatic changes on our list since last year do not just reflect convulsions within the leadership – they demonstrate a wider malaise on the Left of British politics.

Of course, our survey, put together with the help of a panel of experts, is not scientific – that is part of the fun. But while the succession of ministerial resignations – including Hazel Blears, once tipped for a top job in government and party; Caroline Flint, a former rising star who thought herself “political window dressing”; and of course Damian McBride, number seven on our list last year – have created openings, there have been few new faces demanding a place at the high table.

The unions have improved their rankings overall, and some old faces have come out fighting: John Prescott, with the help of his son David, has used the internet to rally the troops and extend his political life, as has Alastair Campbell, and Charles Clarke has kept his profile high with a series of biting attacks on Gordon Brown. But who else?

James Purnell, last year’s golden boy and a major player in those bloody days of June, slips back a little. Yes, he was the only Cabinet member to summon the courage to resign on principle – but his resignation was not the knockout blow he expected, indicative of the extent that Brand Blair has declined in relevance, as many within Labour have lost faith in the one virtue that kept the project alive for so long – election-winning.

Purnell is now doing some hard thinking about Labour’s ideological direction at the think-tank Demos, Of his former colleagues, Harriet Harman has been a big winner, keeping the parliamentary ship afloat, holding the party together and positioning herself for life after Brown.

Of the Miliband brothers, it is Ed, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, who came out of the expenses scandal and the leadership crisis best off.

Generally, the Brownite loyalists have slipped back as the Prime Minister’s authority receded: Ed Balls is down eight places, Douglas Alexander down seven, though Balls’s wife Yvette Cooper continues her slow creep up the rankings. By the same token, the prime minister’s advisers – McBride apart – might have done their jobs well, but those jobs have become increasingly difficult, hence their slide down the rankings.

So a vacuum has certainly opened up, but who is filling it? The old Left has climbed – Dennis Skinner enters our list at 68, for example – but not nearly as much as they should have done. Whenever Labour has lost power before, whether in the 1930s, 1950s or 1980s, there has always been a strong and coherent Left-wing position, critical of the governing wing of the party and ready to make its case after a defeat.

Yet the sheer scale of the party’s plight seems to have shocked them into silence: Jon Cruddas (up 61 places) and co have raised their voices, but have yet to produce a credible alternative to the existing agenda on the really big issues (even though they are well-positioned for the carnage the next election will bring about).

It has been left to lower-profile figures such as Jessica Asato at Progress and Richard Reeves at Demos (whose position on the Left is nominal at best) to make the running on issues like constitutional reform. Indeed, apart from the arguments about public expenditure, this is the only area in which clear Red water has developed.

Admittedly, in the current economic and fiscal environment, it is hard to see what the domestic agenda of a resurgent Left would really look – another stimulus package, paid for with even higher direct taxation on the rich? Yet globally, the state is back, a liberal sits in the White House and the recession is slowly responding to various forms of fiscal stimulus (or emerging from the cycle as it would have done anyway, depending on your economics). It should be a time of dynamic new entries to the list. But the great thinkers of the Left seem strangely muted, while the younger generation seems to be keeping its head down and waiting for the election.

There are very few fresh faces on the scene, very few new ideas surfacing. The Left is treading water as the sharks on the right circle and wait for the kill. By the next year, the corpse will have been picked clean, and not many of the people at the top will remain relevant. The question most of our 100 names are spending rather too much of their time thinking about is who will replace them.

It seems to me that the complete failiure of the Blair/Brown "model" has now become discredited. This leaves the way open for a true socialist backlash, for Labour (not new Labour) to present the country with a true alternative to the "your turn my turn" acceptance in British politics. One of the first acts of a new government should be to make voting in the UK compulsory to try and defeat the don't care attitude of the British people. Successive governments are elected by a fraction of the public and this leaves the door open for extremist parties. Also immigration must be tackled and tackled with a firm but fair hand. The simple fact of the matter is that Britain is faced with mounting tension and "Rivers of blood" are becoming more and more of a possibility. Now is the time for a socialist revival.

Ian Griffiths
on September 29, 2009
at 06:16 AM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...t-wingers.html

[Tom McReen]

With the help of a panel of experts, Iain Dale and Brian Brivati explore where power lies on the Left of British politics. As the Labour Party gathers for its annual conference, these are the people who will influence the party's policies and strategy ahead of the next election - and shape its course after its probable defeat.

100 (-4) Michael Foot
Former leader of the Labour Party

The greatest political essayist of the age remains a player on the Left despite his 96 years. To many, he is the personification of the Old Left values of state intervention, trade union power and nuclear disarmament, but his real influence now is in the world of letters and the connection he represents to the prose of Hazlitt, Byron and H G Wells. No list of influential British Lefties could ever exclude him.

99 (-) Phil Woolas
Minister of State, Home Office

Woolas is now best known – rather unfortunately – for the moment when Joanna Lumley confronted him in the BBC’s Westminster Office, forcing him to concede on camera that several rejected Gurkha residency applications would be reviewed. Before then he had kept a relatively low profile since joining Parliament in 1997, but has been steadily working his way up through numerous committees and ministerial positions.

98 (-) Sadiq Khan
Minister of State for Transport

Tooting MP Khan was touted as one to watch when he arrived in Parliament after the 2005 election, and has worked hard to raise his profile since then. He made history by being the first Muslim invited to attend Cabinet meetings, when he was made Minister of State for Transport in Gordon Brown’s June reshuffle earlier this year.

97 (-) Peter Hain
Secretary of State for Wales

Hain has returned from exile after resigning his office in 2008, when it emerged that he had not declared donations made while he was campaigning to win the Labour Party’s deputy leadership the previous year. He will no doubt have been hugely frustrated by the 15 months he spent on the back benches, so he can be expected to pursue an intense programme for helping his party to win re-election next year.

96 (-) John McFall
Chairman, Treasury Select Committee

The MP for West Dunbartonshire has been a parliamentarian for over 20 years, and has chaired the Treasury Select Committee since 2001. He was responsible for the inquiry into the banking crisis and the credit crunch in 2008.

95 (-) Alex Smith
Editor, LabourList

Smith recently returned from the United States, where he spent a lengthy period of time working as a volunteer in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. He became the editor of LabourList earlier this year, when his former boss Derek Draper resigned over his plans to smear several Tory politicians. Rescued the site from a seemingly inevitable death.

94 (-) Chris Leslie
Director, New Local Government Network

A former minister in the Cabinet Office and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Leslie became director of the New Local Government Network (a policy think-tank) in 2005, having lost his seat in Parliament at the general election that year.

93 (+6) Tom Harris
Labour MP for Glasgow South

Tom Harris is not a politician of whom many outside Westminster have heard, yet his profile is steadily rising due to his very popular political blog. Recently voted Labour’s leading blogger, this ultra-Blairite Scotsman has taken to the medium like a duck to water.

92 (-82) Tom Watson
Labour MP for West Bromwich

Many will be surprised to see a former junior minister so high up this list. But there are a handful of people who Gordon Brown speaks to every day. Tom Watson is one of them. A loyalist to the last, Watson is a doughty defender of the Prime Minister. He is also one of the few Labour MPs who understands the power of the internet in political campaigning.

91 (+9) Charles Clarke
Former Home Secretary

The ex-Cabinet minister and Blairite enforcer still has the power to embarrass the leadership with his ability to say what everyone else is thinking. Most recently, this meant criticising Brown and his team for making the “misleading and incredible proposition” that the choice at the general election would be between Labour investment and Tory cuts, and suggesting that Brown step down.

90 (-39) Trevor Phillips
Chair, Equality and Human Rights Commission

Phillips’s position gave him sweeping powers and influence and led to him being dubbed the “Political Correctness Czar”. A great survivor, he has developed some well-thought-out views on the failures of multiculturalism which have made him enemies on the Left. His stock has fallen this year, however, over the criticism he received when several of his commissioners resigned, citing his leadership of the EHRC as the principal factor.

89 (-) Mick Leahy
General Secretary, Community

Leahy was General Secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) when it merged with a number of other unions to form Community.

88 (-2) Ray Collins
General Secretary, Labour Party

The former TGWU man was a key element in the formation of the mega-union Unite and a managerial trade unionist. He found himself in hot water earlier this year when he was forced to admit that he had attended meetings with Damian McBride and Derek Draper, shortly before it was revealed that they had planned an anti-Tory smear campaign – Collins said he had absolutely no knowledge of it and condemned the plans.

87 (-) George Galloway
Leader, Respect

Few politicians have courted as much controversy as George Galloway. Expelled from the Labour Party in 2003 following an outspoken attack on the Iraq war, he revels in the limelight, and has never been averse to a heated debate.

86 (-3) Ieuan Wyn Jones
Leader, Plaid Cymru

It may be mere opportunism, or the example of what the SNP has achieved, but Plaid Cymru’s leader has turned on his coalition partners to good effect this year. His attacks on Labour for having lost its way ring true in a Wales that has benefited from devolution and Labour governments but often not as much as the Scots seem to. There have been as many false dawns for Welsh nationalism as there have been general elections since the Second World War, but maybe this time, with Labour in meltdown and Jones in charge, their time has finally come.

85 (-) James Macintyre
Political Correspondent, New Statesman

Macintyre has won acclaim for a great number of his New Statesman articles since becoming the magazine’s political correspondent, but recently caused a stir with a blog post stating that he believed the Conservative Party was institutionally racist.

84 (-) Chuka Umunna
Labour candidate for Streatham

Not yet even an MP, Umunna has already been touted as a future Labour Party leader at the tender age of 30, while tentative comparisons with Barack Obama have also been drawn. Purportedly a very impressive lawyer, he is expected to be fast-tracked into what will probably be the shadow cabinet, should he be successful at the coming election.

83 (-) Johann Hari
Columnist, The Independent

In 2008, Hari became the youngest ever winner of the George Orwell prize for political writing. A journalist, author and playwright, Hari seems to court as much abuse as he does praise, his website proudly listing the number and nature of attacks he has received in print.

82 (+2) Chris McLaughlin
Editor, Tribune

McLaughlin has so far kept the ageing Left-wing weekly afloat in difficult circumstances and made it more relevant to the day-to-day politics of the Labour movement. Though hardly known outside the party and the trade union movement, Tribune remains the in-house paper of the British Left, and was recently saved from closure when bought by businessman Kevin McGrath.

81 (-1) Pat McFadden
Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

A leading member of New Labour’s Scottish mafia, McFadden has moved seamlessly from being an apparatchik in No 10 under Tony Blair to being an MP and middle-ranking minister. He was made a Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when the Department was created in June this year. He has so far failed to brighten up his media image, which may impair his chances of further promotion.

80 (-3) Keith Vaz
Chairman, Home Affairs Select Committee

With human rights and law and order – especially as they relate to terrorism – at the top of the domestic agenda, at least when people have time to look away from the economy, Vaz is always there with a campaign or a soundbite. The most influential backbencher on law and order, he is an essential feature of smooth legislating in the areas he cares about.

79 (same) John Kampfner
Chief executive, Index on Censorship

Kampfner’s departure from the editorship of the New Statesman was a shock to all on the Left, especially as he had overseen a highly successful redesign. He has developed a niche as a media pundit and freelance commentator and in 2008 took on the job of running the Index on Censorship under the chairmanship of Jonathan Dimbleby.

78 (-) Jessica Asato
Director, Progress

A former chair of the Young Fabians and a researcher at the Social Market Foundation, Asato’s work with Progress involves promoting discussion and debate of progressive ideas among Labour Party members.

77 (+1) Hilary Benn
Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

The complete and utter failure of his dismal deputy leadership campaign in 2007 has led to him become a marginal and peripheral figure. Still respected and liked, Benn was one of few MPs to come out well from the expenses scandal, but he is finding it increasingly difficult to drive forward his agenda at Defra.

76 (-40) Kevin Maguire
Associate editor, The Daily Mirror

Kevin Maguire is known as the journalist closest to the PM and has not lost his bite since Brown came to power. His power and influence on the Left is based not only on his ability to break stories himself but to leak key things that the PM wants out. He was approached by Brown to be his communications chief but said no. Unpopular with some, he was blamed for coming up with the idea to paint the Tory candidate as a toff in the Crewe & Nantwich by-election.

75 (-16) Nicola Sturgeon
Scottish Deputy First Minister

Has the highest public profile of any SNP politician apart from Alex Salmond. Feisty in debate, she is tenacious in interviews and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. First elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, she is now seen as Alex Salmond’s inevitable successor.

74 (-25) Rhodri Morgan
First Minister for Wales

Morgan is a political survivor, but he has yet to develop into a political statesman. He doesn’t have the same powers as the Scottish First Minister, but what he lacks in power he makes up for in volubility. His position as First Minister is highly tenuous, being dependent on the goodwill of Plaid Cymru. His influence on the Left is on the wane as he has made clear he will stand down before the next Assembly elections.

73 (+16) Ken Livingstone
Former Mayor of London

Initially the way Livingstone hung around City Hall watching Boris looked silly, but gradually it has made more sense – and kept Livingstone in the public eye in London. His single-minded dedication and some U-turns from the Mayor have also contributed to a gradual return to the limelight.

72 (same) Mike Danson
Owner, New Statesman

Danson has more or less delivered the Statesman for the government, including a new editor who does not understand politics as well as the arts, and the sacking of an outstanding political editor, Martin Bright. The magazine was always going to suffer with the swing of the pendulum to the Right, but its survival looks assured.

71 (-35) Shami Chakrabarti
Director, Liberty

Despite being a thorn in the flesh of Home Office ministers, Chakrabarti has been one of the few voices able to articulate a real civil liberties agenda. She’s one of the few chief executives of a pressure group whose calls will always be taken by Cabinet ministers, but her overexposure has lead to many criticisms lately from within Liberty and beyond. She spreads herself thinly and therefore her effectiveness has suffered greatly this year.

70 (-) Ben Bradshaw
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The MP for Exeter since 1997, Bradshaw has cut an increasingly public figure over the last couple of years, facing some criticism as a Minister for Health, but ultimately gaining promotion to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in June this year. One of the first openly gay MPs, he was formerly a BBC journalist, who got a lucky break when he was posted to Berlin shortly before the fall of the Wall in 1989.

69 (-21) Wilf Stevenson
Friend of Gordon Brown

Given a host of jobs to do, Stevenson has become a key presence in No 10, but there are mixed views about his influence and competence. In the wake of the expenses scandal, he took a leading role in the National Council for Democratic Renewal, which disappeared without much trace soon after it was announced.

68 (-) Dennis Skinner
MP for Bolsover

A fiercely Left-wing campaigner, Skinner will have been an MP for 40 years by the time of the next general election. Nicknamed “the Beast of Bolsover”, he has a reputation for being a rebellious and boisterous member of the House of Commons, He seems to be enjoying a new lease on life since his recovery from cancer and is a forthright and honest critic of the government and champion of the Labour Party.

67 (-1) Peter Tatchell
Human rights campaigner

Peter Tatchell, a civil rights activist, has worked for decades at raising awareness of gay rights issues in the UK through direct action and a good eye for publicity. His influence rests in his ability to get often ignored issues talked about by the media, for example human rights in Zimbabwe. Has had a typically tireless year.

66 (-47) David Muir
Director of Political Strategy, Number Ten

Who would have David Muir’s job? Presenting poll numbers like these to the Cabinet and being expected to have a solution is an entirely thankless task. Yet he keeps at it and retains his optimism that the tide will turn. He has endless energy and drive, and it is difficult to see how anyone could have done the job differently, given the circumstances. Massive slide down our list indicates just how difficult the job is.

65 (+8) Diane Hayter
Former Chair of Labour’s National Executive Committee

Diane Hayter is a career political activist, well liked in the party and completely loyal. Hayter’s role in the chair at the NEC during the leadership crisis was crucial. While rebels demanded nomination papers be sent out, Hayter delivered an unanimous vote against such a move, ensuring that there would be no contest. The importance of the NEC has grown over the last year of Labour decline, and it will continue to do so.

64 (+11) Billy Hayes
General Secretary, Communication Workers Union

Hayes has had a generally good year and is ready to work with the government when it is in his members’ interests. However, he is also ready to oppose and will be a key player in the winter showdown on public expenditure.

63 (+8) Bob Crow
General Secretary, RMT

Crow calls strikes where others consider talks. He has challenged the government over and over again. He will continue to do so. The most effective Left-wing union leader in the land.

62 (+6) Lord Sugar
Entrepreneur and enterprise tsar

The businessman turned TV star has outspoken views and an ego to match. He made the headlines earlier this year when it was announced that he might stand as the Labour candidate against Boris Johnson in the next London Mayoral election, and was in the spotlight again when Gordon Brown made him a peer and hired him as his “enterprise tsar”. Apprentice-style headlines predictably ensued, along with accusations of governmental gimmickry, but beneath the headlines there is a serious man trying to contribute something.

61 (-) Baroness Kennedy
Labour Peer

A barrister born and raised in Glasgow, Helena Kennedy QC is a staunch campaigner for women, human rights, social justice and civil liberties. Often described as “The nation’s favourite Portia”, Kennedy is also a well-known writer and broadcaster, and has been chair of both the London International Festival of Theatre and the British Council, not to mention the Power Inquiry into reinvigorating democracy.

60 (-) Richard Wallace
Editor, Daily Mirror

The Mirror still sits as the lone voice for Labour in Fleet Street. A lively paper, it has circulation problems, but Wallace will keep it on side and in return will expect some exclusives over the months to come.

59 (-4) Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Columnist, The Independent and Evening Standard

Still the best radical voice in print and broadcasting, she has had a relatively quiet year but remains essential reading. Guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of anyone vaguely on the Right, Alibhai-Brown is a popular guest on most current affairs programmes, largely because she will invariably provoke a row.

58 (+1) George Monbiot
Environmental campaigner and writer

His media savvy remains intact and as the Copenhagen summit has neared so his influence has increased. His long, earnest articles in the liberal press are duly published, though it is not clear how often they are read. But it is in broadcasting that he makes the bigger impact. He should concentrate on it more, because the Green case needs all the help it can get on the airwaves.

57 (+5) Iain Gray
Leader, Scottish Labour Party

As Salmond has slipped, so Gray has gained a little ground. He cannot compete with Salmond’s flair, so he does not try, and it is beginning to pay some dividends. With the recession and the referendum both topping the list of key issues in Scotland, Labour might need a better campaigner – or they might have the antidote to flamboyance that will see them through.

56 (-) Kirsty McNeill
Adviser in charge of external affairs, Downing Street

McNeill was recently promoted by Brown, having previously worked as his speechwriter, a move which caused some consternation among senior Labour Party members. She is famous for supposedly shouting at Tony Blair, in a protest against his education policy: “Are you Thatcher in disguise?” The quality Brown is said to like in her is that she still believes in him and in the possibility of serious politics coming through over spin. Whether that belief is what is needed in this key role as an election approaches remains to be seen.

55 (+6) Matthew Taylor
Director, Royal Society of Arts

Taylor’s departure from Downing Street left a hole in the politics of the Left which is yet to be filled. A deeply serious thinker, he has energised the RSA and his analysis of contemporary society and politics remains acute and influential. The coming of a Conservative government might yet tempt him back into the front line.

54 (+22) Paul Kenny
General Secretary, GMB

Kenny has warned the government that cuts will mean strikes. A vocal critic of the Prime Minister, he has positioned the GMB well for the coming battle. There are rumours of a merger with Unison, to make the largest union in the country, Kenny will be a key player in the merger and beyond.

53 (-) John Rentoul
Chief political commentator, Independent on Sunday

Rentoul gives lectures on contemporary history, is a former Independent leader writer, and has also written well-received biographies of Tony Blair. He is said to have admired the former Prime Minister much more by the end of his stint in No10 than at the beginning, a position that must put him in a considerable minority. His opinion of Brown, perhaps unsurprisingly, is rather more conventional.

52 (-20) Joe Irvin
Political director, No 10 Downing Street

Brown’s main political fixer has had less influence as fear of his boss wanes. So many heads have needed to be banged together so often that he has been stretched. He keeps a low profile and will be in the forefront of the battle in the end game. Notably, the trade unions have not misbehaved excessively over the year and that is where he wields more influence.

51 (-19) DAN CORRY
Head of the No. 10 Policy Unit

Corry is the doyen of special advisers. He’s managed to stay out of trouble, and largely out of the headlines, aside from one unfortunate memo about the political views of the King’s Cross rail disaster survivors. Corry has held a succession of key jobs – Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and Head of the New Local Government Network among them. His current position enables him to influence government policy across the board.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...rs-100-51.html

[Tom McReen]

Iain Dale and Brian Brivati reveal the top 50 most influential left-wingers as the Labour Party begins its conference.

50 (+38) Phil Collins
Chair, Demos

Blair’s former speechwriter has had a busy year. In demand as a commentator (and Times leader writer), he has also helped Demos become relevant again. His other former boss, James Purnell, is now, technically, working for him on a project about the future of the Left. Collins is a vocal and influential critic of the Prime Minister who has had a lively year.

49 (+8) Jim Murphy
Secretary of State for Scotland

Alex Salmond’s dip in influence is in part at least because of the arrival of Jim Murphy. This most dedicated of Scots has built a mountain from nothing. From the small politics of usurping Salmond’s headlines, to the bigger politics of the coming referendum, Murphy has been there. A politician going from strength to strength.

48 (+18) Brendan Barber
TUC General Secretary

Despite the absurdity of the boycott of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, an illustration that the worst kind of gesture politics lives on for the Left, this year’s TUC conference was moderate and engaged with the real world. Barber has positioned the TUC well for the future and as a candid friend of the government carries more weight than for many years.

47 (same) Jack Dromey
Deputy General Secretary of Unite and Treasurer of the Labour Party

It is rumoured that Harriet Harman’s other half is actively seeking a safe Labour seat. One of Labour’s power couples would then be in a position to shape the party in opposition. For now, he campaigns hard on housing and has, thus far, kept his union more or less on side.

46 (+22) Steve Richards
Chief political commentator, The Independent

Steve Richards has bucked the trend of his colleagues this year and managed to keep writing interesting, well-sourced and considered pieces. He is not slavishly anti-government, which gives him an edge on many of his colleagues, and has never gone in for the hysteria of others about a Conservative government. A fine journalist, at the top of his game.

45 (-22) Jackie Ashley
Columnist

The Left-wing columnists come down the rankings this year (apart from Steve Richards at 46) partly because there only so many anti-Gordon Brown columns anyone can write. Ashley has written many of the best, but she and her colleagues desperately need a new story. Her credibility has been tarnished by some astonishing flip-flops.

44 (-1) Alan Rusbridger
Editor, The Guardian

How does he do it? Year after year, the Guardian survives and continues on its mission to hold a mirror up to the received wisdom of the Left in Britain. There is no liberal dogma too tired or anti-war rhetoric too clichéd that it cannot find a place in Guardian’s pages, or the online columns. No better, no worse than last year, the beauty of Rusbridger’s paper is that it never surprises and therefore always delivers.

43 (-) Amartya Sen
Economist

Sen remains the key thinker in the development policies of the PM and DFID, and in the thinking of the Foreign Secretary. His books, speeches, articles and personal advice have shaped policy on both sides of the Atlantic, and no matter what happens in the domestic politics of the UK, two things are clear. First, that the legacy of his premiership that matters most to Gordon Brown was shaped by the ideas of Amartya Sen, and second, that Sen’s ideas will continue to be heavily influential on the Left globally.

42 (+12) Mark Serwotka
General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union

With 100,000 civil servants already having lost their jobs, no area is more frightened of the impact of public expenditure cuts than the public sector. Serwotka is the cheerleader for his members, who fights through the media and on the detail of every attempt to reduce his potential membership. If the winter sees a confrontation between unions and the state, he will be in forefront, as he has been over the year.

41 (-) Baroness Royall
Leader of the House of Lords and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

In a difficult parliamentary year for the government, the House of Lords has been relatively quiet and moderately well-behaved. Though slightly demoted in June, when she had to give her title of Lord President of the Council to Lord Mandelson, Jan Royall musters the Lords well, a job which occasionally resembles herding cats.

40 (-12) Dave Prentis
General Secretary of Unison

The troubles with Unison’s own pension scheme have diverted some of his attention this year, but he remains one of the bigger union barons. He has played a careful hand with the government, but is ready to challenge them when the axe starts falling.

39 (-) Geoff Mulgan
Director of Young Foundation and Chair of Involve

For real ideas about progressive renewal – without the over-ideological or party posturing of Neal Lawson – there is Geoff Mulgan. The fertile mind of Tony Blair’s former director of policy remains the best source of new ideas that the Labour Party has; whether the party is in or out of government, Mulgan remains the policy wonk’s policy wonk.

38 (-) Baroness Kinnock
Minister of State for Europe

With the Cabinet and ministerial ranks having shed women over the year, the appointment of Glenys Kinnock might have been dismissed as window dressing. But that would be to massively underestimate the drive and intellect of the former Labour leader’s wife. People working closely with the new minister have asked why on earth better use had not been made of her sooner. She has impressed civil servants and, more importantly, made a good impression on visits and in meetings abroad. Her experience of the European Parliament and her access to the top both help her portfolio. If Labour should manage a miracle recovery, she would be well placed to play a bigger role.

37 (+2) Shaun Woodward
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

The Tory defector has proven stubbornly loyal to Gordon Brown over the last year and emerged as a key player in the government. His willingness to tour the studios in defence of the PM has pushed him into the front rank of ministers. Said to have fallen out with Lord Mandelson, though, which may not be his wisest career move.

36 (-11) Andrew Rawnsley
Journalist

The energy in the media is shifting from Left to Right as the story shifts from the government to the opposition. A number of the key Left-wing journalists have therefore slipped down the poll this year, but Rawnsley was riveting at the key moments over the past year and remains among the best Sunday political columnists. Will he have so much to say about the next government?

35 (+10) Neal Lawson
Chair, Compass

Lawson has positioned the Compass group well to benefit from the defeat of the Labour government, an event he seems keen on speeding up by continued attacks on Gordon Brown and his ministers. Very powerful in formulating his critique, he lacks real depth in terms of alternative policy suggestions. Though the wilderness might suit him, it is not clear how much he has to offer a Labour Party fighting to get back to power.

34 (+30) Richard Reeves
Director, Demos

Though included in No 10 policy wonk meetings, Reeves is actually a liberal, and Demos has made many overtures to the Conservative Party. Nevertheless, the constitutional reform agenda that has emerged from the expenses crisis has been influenced by his ideas. How far these affect the government is not clear, but in the battle of ideas, Demos under Reeves’s direction has regained its sense of purpose.

33 (-7) Douglas Alexander
Secretary of State for International Development

Alexander is the legacy minister for the Prime Minister. If all else fails, there will still be aid spending, and here the achievements have been huge. Though his department is subject to much informal criticism in the NGO world for wasting millions, it remains the biggest funder, and few are prepared to bite the hand that feeds. Alexander has kept his budget intact – a major triumph for departmental minister in these times – but seems to have lost influence over Labour’s electoral strategy.

32 (+33) Sunder Katwala
General Secretary of the Fabian Society

The Fabians continue to play a role in the battle of ideas within the Labour Party and Katwala is everywhere. The combination of hard research and political analysis has pushed the Fabians up to the top of the Labour think-tank table. Katwala thinks in entire paragraphs, a skill which can occasionally leave lesser mortals wondering what he is actually saying.

31 (same) Deborah Mattinson
Managing Director, Opinion Leader Research

The lack of yeast in the government’s numbers makes Mattinson’s work more, not less, important. But it is the citizen’s jury programme that became a little more flavour of the month this year which also kept her in the game. It remains to be seen if she will be back for the general election number-crunching.

30 (+4) Liam Byrne
Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Byrne has one of the toughest jobs in politics. He has to sell the government’s idea that it can increase service delivery while also cutting spending and getting Britain out of recession. He mixes overt partisanship with command of a brief to great effect. In any other circumstances, he would tipped for the top, but in a crowded field, if Labour lose, he will be hard pushed to come through.

29 (+11) Yvette Cooper
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Cooper got her first big department earlier than expected and has done a good job so far at the worst time for unemployment figures in New Labour memory. Though embroiled in expenses stories, she came through, and remains part of the inner circle around the PM, alongside husband Ed Balls.

28 (+22) Caroline Lucas
Leader of the Green Party

With the Copenhagen conference on climate change looming and the European elections going well – though they could have gone better – Lucas continues to position the Green Party effectively. The slow professionalisation of the Greens and their concentration of effort in target seats will mean that she is front and centre come the election. With voter volatility at unprecedented levels, this could be their big chance.

27 (-1) Baroness Vadera
Special adviser to the G20

Shriti Vadera, for years Gordon Brown’s representative on earth, last week quit her ministerial role to become a special adviser to the G20. In government, she had a mixed reputation as an enforcer of the PM’s will, and her move to the G20 reflects something of the priorities Brown is working on in what look like his final days in office – even if he loses the UK, he and his closest advisers might yet save, if not quite inherit, the world.

26 (+11) Frank Field
Labour MP for Birkenhead

Field has had a classic “backbench member of the awkward squad” kind of a year and edges ever closer to replacing Tony Benn in the pantheon of political mavericks. As the government and the Labour Party decline, Field marches from strength to strength. Publishing his full expense claims on his website was only one of many classic moments.

25 (+15) Andy Burnham
Secretary of State for Health

Burnham emerged from the wreckage of June as Secretary of State for Health just as the NHS went to the top of the political agenda, yet again. His proposals on GP choice and other ideas that will come between now and Christmas look unlikely to become policy, but will keep the focus very much on the health service. A competent minister, Burnham is emerging as a gifted campaigner.

24 (-22) Nick Brown
Chief Whip

With the return of Lord Mandelson, Nick Brown’s importance in the Prime Minister’s machine slipped a little, but he remains a key player. When the desks were banged in support of the PM in that crucial party meeting in June, and Charles Clarke’s attack was heard in silence, it was Brown’s legwork and patience with the troops that the PM had, in part at least, to thank.

23 (-7) Polly Toynbee
Journalist

A cheerleader for the removal of Brown in June, Toynbee remains the doyenne of Left-wing columnists. Her attacks on Brown and the machismo that surround him are based on an abiding belief in feminism and social justice, and they infuriate No 10 as much as they are celebrated amongst the Guardianistas. It is hard to resist the feeling that she is looking forward to a Conservative government so she can really let rip.

22 (+31) John Denham
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Denham’s job, since replacing Hazel Blears, has been to bring some coherence to the government’s response to the new localism agenda. As with his previous brief at Innovations and Skills, and before that at the Home Affairs Select Committee, he has been organised and intelligent in his approach. Many wrote him off following his resignation over Iraq, but this transformed his reputation as a Blairite overnight. That resignation and his quiet rise since them make him a good outside bet for the leadership, or at least a leading role one day.

21 (+6) Tony Woodley
Joint General Secretary, Unite

Woodley remains further down the list than his colleague Derek Simpson, in part because he doesn’t have the same media profile or influence. But he is quietly effective and his influence has certainly not diminished over the year.

20 (+9) Alastair Campbell
Former Government Director of Communications

Campbell, like Prescott, has used the internet to improve his profile, but he remains a figure with influence behind the scenes. Brown is rumoured to have failed to persuade Campbell to take over general election planning, but he is advising people. A dream ticket for the campaign would have Campbell running the communications, Ed Miliband and Douglas Alexander providing the ideas and Peter Mandelson and Lord Gould, the pollster, developing the strategy. It still might happen, but for now Campbell influences from the outside.

19 (-) Tessa Jowell
Cabinet Office Minister, Minister for London, Minister for the Olympics, Minister for London and Paymaster General

Jowell’s return to the front rank of government is based on both competence as a minister and the need for more women in the front line after the departure of Hazel Blears and Caroline Flint. But it is competence more than anything else that has put her back in place, and her openness to think about radical constitutional reform while keeping the Olympic preparations on line have consolidated her position with the Prime Minister.

18 (-) Lord Adonis
Secretary of State for Transport

That it was the liberal Lord Adonis who turned out to be the only Labour minister to nationalise anything except a bank during the year amused many. The arch-Blairite, the ultimate technocratic minister, did what needed to be done over the East Coast route: he would have privatised the stations if that had been the policy he believed would have worked. His philosophy on education, where he pushed through city academies, is in tune with Michael Gove’s, so his policies – and his career – seem more likely to survive an election than most of his colleagues’.

17 (-) John and David Prescott
Former Deputy Prime Minister and son

After a period of quiet activity on the international stage, John Prescott returned to domestic politics via the internet skills of his son David. The base still loves him and his impact has been huge at grass-roots level. As full-time campaigning kicks off this autumn, he is set to play a central role in the heartlands and in cyberspace.

16 (-3) Jack Straw
Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice

Straw remains doggedly interested in policy and governing, though other ambitions seem to have faded. He has been remarkably quiet over the year, hence his slipping down the rankings a little, while his department has been very busy. He remains a Labour big beast and could well be an influential kingmaker, but his essential seriousness of purpose will keep him out of the plotting to come.

15 (-7) James Purnell
Labour MP for Stalybridge & Hyde

Many members of the Cabinet wanted to do it, but only Purnell was brave enough to stab Caesar in the front. It did not kill. Purnell, initially quiet, finally came out and gave interviews in which he tried to talk about the ideological future of the Left and instead got trapped into defending himself. His project at Demos, while interesting, will not be enough to build him a hinterland in the wider party to mount a challenge for the leadership, so his position remains ambiguous and his future uncertain – either a return to the front bench under a new leader or an exit from politics altogether seem the more likely options.

14 (-2) Tony Blair
Former Prime Minister

With President Obama calling the shots within the Quartet on the Middle East, the former PM has had more time on his hands. He has focused this on a possible run for President of post-treaty Europe and working with Lord Stern on climate change. His legacy still shapes the landscape of the left but his influence on domestic politics is slowly ebbing away.

13 (-8) Ed Balls
Secretary of State for Children, Schools & Families

The sight of Ed Balls and Lord Mandelson working closely together has amused many, given their mutual animosity in the past, but it shows Balls’s continuing loyalty to Brown and the party. A mixed year as a minister finally came together with the opening of 28 new schools at the beginning of term, only to fall apart again with the announcement of education cuts. Still not a confident speaker, he slips back in these ratings but will still be a key player – if not communicator – come the election.

12 (-9) Alex Salmond
First Minister of Scotland

Master of all he surveyed a year ago, Salmond has tumbled a little. The debate over the release of the Lockerbie bomber and the impact of recession worked against him. However, the announcement of a referendum bill on independence and the relative invisibility of Labour keep him firmly placed as the dominant figure in Scottish politics.

11(-) Sarah Brown
Wife of the Prime Minister

There must be times when Gordon would rather give it all up, cash in his status as World Statesman of the Year, and go and run the World Bank or the UN. That he has not done so speaks volumes about his personal ambition and sense of duty, but also about the support he gets from his family, and most importantly his wife. She has emerged over the last year with a policy agenda and a presence which have softened his image, as well as helping some important causes. They will fight the election together and we can expect to see even more of her over the next eight months.

10 (+1) Derek Simpson
Joint General Secretary, Unite

The union barons are back and their potential to rock the government has been clear over the last six months, as the need for public expenditure cuts has become more evident. The possibility of a winter of discontent remains real if the government moves to begin cutting without the likes of Simpson on board.

9 (+5) Alan Johnson
Home Secretary

Johnson’s loyalty and the effective way he has taken on the Home Affairs brief contrasts with Miliband, and might well see him overtake the younger man next year. He remains haunted by his admission that he does not think he is up to the top job. The Home Office has been a nightmare post for the last few years, but Johnson seems to have calmed things down. He has a real opportunity to shine in the general election if he keeps this post.

8 (-6) David Miliband
Foreign Secretary

Miliband will be discussing during this year’s party conference how foreign policy can help win elections. The trouble is that it tends not to – and will certainly not this time round. Should he have followed his friend James Purnell by resigning, and brought down the Prime Minister? It might have been political suicide, but it reinforced questions about the extent to which he has the steel to finish the job. Slips down a little, but is by no means out of the game.

7 (+4) Charlie Whelan
Director of Communications, Unite

While money does not determine the outcome of British general elections, it does have an influence. Whelan’s job is to keep the unions on board in the run-up to the election and to try to maintain unity in the face of the public expenditure cuts to come. He has managed that over the last year, but that was before details of where the axe must fall had emerged. That job has got a lot harder in the last few weeks.

6 (+61) Jon Cruddas
Labour MP for Dagenham

The leading member of the Left, popular in the party and developing a line in candid honesty that endears him to party members as much as it infuriates Number 10. While he is not a Tony Benn, suddenly repudiating everything the Labour government has done as soon as it faces defeat, his critique resonates and will see him become a key figure in a future leadership election. He needs to be careful, though: Labour hates disloyalty even in the face of extinction, and if he overplays his hand, a more loyal Leftie might just take the crown.

5 (+19) Alistair Darling
Chancellor of the Exchequer

So he is still there, still fighting his corner and getting ready to take the economic battle to the Tories in the general election, unless Brown risks all in a Götterdämmerung reshuffle just before the election. His stubbornness has enhanced his reputation, but the challenge of presenting the cuts that need to come in a way that makes sense to the Labour base remains. But that the “c-word” is now out there, and that in the next six months the internal struggle will be what and where, is largely thanks to the way Darling has won those arguments internally.

4 (same) Ed Miliband
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and manifesto co-ordinator

The Copenhagen summit on climate change should be Ed Miliband’s finest hour to date. He has mastered the Sunday-night news cycle, a lesson learnt from his old boss Gordon Brown in opposition, and regularly leads the most watched news broadcast of the week on climate change. Squeaky clean in the expenses scandal, he is pulling together the party’s manifesto, and the intellectual dexterity with which he makes nuclear power sound green illustrates his potential. Only time will tell if he has the stuff to make it to the very top.

3 (+3) Harriet Harman
Chairman and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Minister for Women & Equality and Leader of House of Commons

Harman’s reinvention goes from strength to strength and her standing in the party, if not yet the country, steadily improves. Her ideological swings have settled into a broadly Left of centre posture with a streak of sensible New Labour attachment to choice and the private sector. This might be enough for her to inherit the poisoned chalice of the leadership of the Labour Party after the next election. The real question is: why would she want it?

2 (-1) Gordon Brown
Prime Minister

Even as he strides across the world stage, his stock declines at home. Brown is presiding over his own fall and yet clings to the view that he is a victim of circumstances beyond his control. His poor performances at Prime Minister’s Questions, his resolute belief that big policy rather than smart presentation matters, and his increasing bunker mentality have seen him dig an ever deeper hole, even as the economy shows signs of recovery. His chosen spade – coming in at No 1 in our list – might yet dig him out, but it looks highly unlikely. Another Labour victory in the worst recession for 80 years, after 12 years in government, was always highly unlikely – but could any other leader have taken the party down to 15 per cent of the vote in an election? Probably not, and yet he remains a world statesman and – at least in his own mind – the most talented policy-maker of his generation. Irony and tragedy in equal measure.

1 (+80) Lord Mandelson
First Secretary of State, Lord President of the Council and Secretaryof State for Business, Innovation and Skills

When he returned to the Cabinet in October 2008, he also returned to the heart of the government. After the reshuffle in June 2009, and his assumption of the role of de facto Deputy PM, he became the heart of the government. If Labour wins the next election, he will get the credit. If Labour loses in a less than crushing defeat, he will get the credit. If Labour is annihilated, Gordon Brown will get the blame. Even the defeat of this government will not, one suspects, be the last we hear of the great survivor of British politics.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...gers-50-1.html