MPs get three hours to debate ICWC franchise

Rosie Cooper has secured a three hour parliamentary debate on the award of the West Coast Main Line franchise to First Group.

The Backbench Business Committee has granted a debate from 16.30 on Monday 17th September following a request by the Labour MP for West Lancashire.

Expect more heat than light as ministers claim they are unable to reveal details of the winning bid due to commercial confidentiality and the involvement of m'learned friends.

Still, it all adds further to the general gaiety of the nation!

But what a way to run the railway.

Someone jumps the gun on IEP award?

Oh dear!

Following the ConDem's decision to leak almost all the details of the HLOS days before it was announced in Parliament, someone has taken it upon themselves to jump the gun on announcing the first order for IEPs.

According to ITV News...

Train company, First Great Western, is expected to announce a billion pound order for new trains which are to run between Paddington and Swansea.

The ITV piece even includes a nice video about constructing the new trains filmed in errrr... Japan (shurely Newton Aycliffe? Ed).

So presumably the DfT's own dire strictures against anyone saying anything before the 20th July no longer count?

And as for suggesting that First Great Western will announce it - talk about spin - this is a DfT project thru and thru!

Which may explain why, even though preferred bidder status was granted as long ago as 2009, the final confirmation of an order for the unpopular rolling stock will actually be announced just days AFTER the Commons had risen for the Summer Recess. 

How convenient! That should stop any embarrassing question being asked about the deal in Parliament.

Come on Speaker Bercow, give 'em hell!

Transport Select Committee News

Eye understands that it is proving somewhat of a challenge to recruit the full complement of MPs to some Select Committees.

In yet another unintended consequence of the Wright Reforms MPs are proving backwards in coming forwards to take on roles.

Westminster insiders suggest that restrictions on MPs travel allowances and reductions in staffing budgets mean that some older hands are unwilling to shoulder the additional workload. Especially where Select Committee's meet on Mondays or Fridays

This means that many of those elected to serve on the new Select Committees are also new to Parliament.

Take for instance the Transport Select Committee.

Conservative Home provides a list of those who have been elected to serve as Tory members of the TSC.

Conservative members: Angie Bray (Ealing Central & Acton)*, Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne)*, Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys)*, Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South)* and Julian Sturdy (York Outer)* Members marked with an asterisk are new to Parliament*:

Not one old hand amongst them..

Reassuringly, according to Labour Uncut, the opposition party's nominees include some older and therefore perhaps wiser heads, including former Transport Minister Tom Harris:

Labour members – Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South)*, Tom Harris (Glasgow South), Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) and Angela Smith (Penistone & Stocksbridge) Members marked with an asterisk are new to Parliament*:

Meanwhile from the LibDem's not a murmur.

Apparently the coalition party hopes to confirm which of their MP's have been elected to which Select Committees by Wednesday of this week.

Expect formal confirmation of Transport Select Committee membership week commencing the 4th July.

With the Labour Shadow team somewhat thin on the ground Eye hopes TSC Chair Louise Ellman (Liverpool Riverside) has already booked Petrol-head for a grilling.

The disturbing case of the missing Shadows

Don't expect too much excitement in Parliament over the thin gruel for Transport contained in today's Programme for Government.

With the LibDems joining the Tories on the government benches it leaves only Labour MPs to hold ConDem transport ministers to account.

Fortunately Labour MPs that previously held transport portfolios moved seemlessly into Shadow roles once the new administration took office.

At least they would have moved seemlessly if there were any left.

Of Labour's four former transport ministers at the General Election one is in the Lords (Andrew Adonis), two were defenestrated by the electorate (Clark and Mole) leaving just one remaining in the Commons (Sadiq Kahn).

Having one Shadow in the Commons to face off a team of four ministers, including the Secretary of State, is less than ideal.

In the normal course of events this democratic deficit will be addressed when Labour selects its new leader at Party Conference, whereupon the division of Shadow spoils can recommence.

However, that's four months away and clearly today's Shadow Transport Light is neither good for scrutiny of the executive nor for users of Britain's transport network.

It's not even as if there is any shortage of Labour MPs who are knowledgeable or passionate about transport; why four even turned up at King's Cross yesterday to welcome an Adelante!


So quickly beefing up Labour's transport team in the Commons shouldn't be a problem.

Perhaps Ms Harman might care to address soonish?

Adonis and Buy-us - the transcript

No doubt readers have seen the extraordinary piece about Stephen Buy-us in yesterday's Sunday Times?

£5,000 per day and boy, did National Express get their money's worth!

According to the Sunday Times 'a source close to Richard Bowker, who was chief executive at the time, said that the Byers version given to the undercover reporter was “pretty accurate”.'

Unbelievably Eye has come across a transcript of the very meeting between Buy-us and Adonis at which the future of NatEx was discussed!

It went something like this...

'Andrew, good to see you again. Look, you know that Richard Bowker's in a bit of a tight fix. You know a bit dicky on the cash flow and he's been a slightly reckless boy.'

'Well, we must help him out, Stephen, he really is too valuable to lose and Natex is a really great company. What do you suggest?'

'Andrew, I am not sure but just give him a bit of a bung. Nothing much, a couple of hundred mill will tide them over nicely.'

'Good as done Stephen me old mate, I'll get the cheque signed tomorrow.'

'Andrew, thanks a million, no pun intended,and by the way can I get Jo Moore to do a press release for you?'

'That's a great idea Stephen.'

You couldn't make it up.

UPDATE: This from Lobby Fodder...

It gets better.

Buy-us now claims that:

"I have never lobbied ministers on behalf of commercial organisations and have always fully disclosed my outside interests."

How does he reconcile this with his previous claim to the Sunday Times and Dispatches hacks that he had struck a secret deal with Lord Adonis last year on behalf of National Express?

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

So Buy-us now claims that he lied about striking a deal with Lord Adonis on behalf of National Express.

Unless of course he is lying when he says he lied - if you get my drift.

Which makes him a liar which ever way you look at it.

Do MPs still have to resign when they are caught lying or doesn't it matter now?

And if Buy-us is lying about lying where does that leave Lord Adonis?

UPDATE: This via Radio 4's World at One...

The DfT has confirmed that Lord Adonis and Stephen Byers did speak about the National Express franchise.

UPDATE: Guido launches an on-line petition...

Asking the Queen to strip Stephen Buy-us of his Privy Council Membership

UPDATE: Lord Adonis on Byers...

Adonis confirmed this afternoon that he had had a brief conversation with Byers.

But, he said, "I had no intention whatsoever of renegotiating on favourable terms with the company; such a move would undermine the franchise system and would not be in the interests of taxpayers."

"I have had no communication with Mr Byers since, I have not the faintest idea why he said what he said to the undercover reporter."

UPDATE: This from Ithuriel...

Adonis confirmed this afternoon that he had had a brief conversation with Byers.

But, he said, "I had no intention whatsoever of renegotiating on favourable terms with the company; such a move would undermine the franchise system and would not be in the interests of taxpayers."

Oh really?

According to DfT notes of a meeting between The Thin Controller and NX on 9 June 2009 obtained under an FoI Request:

"AA noted that for NXEC if RB said it had to come back at the end of the month and the DfT had to step in, a management contract or Section 30 would need to be put in place. The DfT would need to get its skates on to get this in place."

So in June Lord Adonis was clearly receptive to the idea of a management contract.

What changed his position and made him determined that NX would never darken another franchises door again?

Perhaps it wasn't Richard Bowker who wound him up but Byers!

UPDATE: Tom Winsor on Radio 4's PM programme....

"Some have said Stephen Byers has an ambiguous relationship with the truth".

Not a view, Tom made clear, that he shared!

After all the former Rail Regulator has first hand experience of Byers' absolute commitment to the truth, gained when the then Secretary of State for Transport forced Railtrack into Administration.

Gaspaccio anyone?

Parliamentary language explained

This from the Noble Lord yesterday...

Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat)
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much subsidy, if any, has been paid to the operator of the West Coast Main Line franchise since 2005.

Lord Adonis (Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Labour)
The Department for Transport routinely publishes details of contracted base franchise payments and receipts for individual franchise when they are let. Details for the west coast main line franchise is set out on our website and can be found at http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchiseswestcoastfranchiseagreement.

Is this Parliamentary language for "My officials can't be arsed to answer your question"?

UPDATE: This from Sir Herbert Gussett (Rtd)...

Lord B asks Lord A for the subsidy paid to Virgin West Coast & Lord A refers him to an old press release.

Clearly Lord A is such a master of his brief that he forgets that since then track access charges nationally were re-based & a significant element of the high charge for using the WCML is now paid directly to Network Rail.

Virgin is now paying "a small premium" to the DfT (Source Tony Collins as quoted in Modern Railways).

Perhaps Lord B should now ask the following:

a) How much extra is the DfT now paying NR for the use of the WCML, despite the fact that it is so unreliable that Virgin is now the worst performing TOC!

and

b) Why Lord A is talking out of his ars... (Eye reserves the right to shorten reader comments due to pressures of space. Ed)

New Olympics - New Danger

This from the British Journal of Photography...

Police forces are planning to use Section 44 stop-and-search powers across all underground and railway stations in the UK during the 2012 Olympics.

The powers, which have been found to be illegal by an European Court, are increasingly being used against photographers.

You have been warned.

Meanwhile if you see your friendly Bobby overstepping the mark - record it on your camera-phone.

They can't arrest all of us... can they?

European Rail Timetable is a Security Risk - Official

This from UK.Railway on Google Groups...

Once a year I buy a Thomas Cook European Passenger Timetable.

Today tried to buy one from (WH Smiths) Luton branch. They would not sell me one unless I either produced my passport (yeh I really do carry that with me to buy a book) - or some other identification - and even then give personal details.

They said this is now company policy for security reasons.

Is there no end to this hysteria?

How in God's name did we ever survive the 70s and 80s when the Fenians were on the loose?

UPDATE: This from Reuben over at Thomas Cook (no less)....

Just a couple of points about that....

1. He tried to buy it from the Foreign Exchange counter at the Thomas Cook branch, not WH Smith as they don't sell the Timetable in their high street shops.

2. The assistant that served him had unfortunately misunderstood a Cook's policy regarding FE sales where as part of a drive to cut down on money laundering it is company policy that anyone exchanging money must have ID. It has been communicated to all Thomas Cook stores that this policy does NOT apply to the sale of guide books and Timetables!

As well as being available at the FE counters of many Thomas Cook store, both the European and Overseas Timetables are of course also available to purchase online (where you get a discount!) or directly over the 'phone by calling 01733 402002.

Hope that clears this up!

Peak Rail - dissent will not be tolerated

Good to see that freedom of speech is alive and well at Peak Rail.

As may be seen from this interesting email marking the demise of the Peak Rail discussion forum on Google Groups...

From:
To: Peak Group
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 7:21 PM
Subject: {Peak Rail topic:551} Closure of this Discussion Group

Dear All,

Today, I mistakenly let a posting through the moderation process which would have normally been moderated out.

This was caused by me not reading to the end of the post when using my Blackberry. It was a human error. I have been instructed by Jackie and Roger to reframe from moderating any further emails to this group and to "shut it down until further notice".

I would like to take this opportunity to aploligise for allowing such an inaccurate post to be published. This is therefore the last post to the 'Google Group'. I hope you, like me, found the open and transparent debate both enjoyable and informative.

With Best Wishes,

What wickedness could the offending post have contained?

Merely this:

To return to the original topic, what is the state of completion of the various stages of the legal framework we will need to connect with NetworkRail and operate into Matlock? The December Bulletin Board firmly stated that preparation work would begin in January.

From an examination of the site it appears that a shoulder of rock on the old quarry site will need to be removed. Has the permission of the landowner been obtained?

I have obtained a copy of the letter sent by NetworkRail to our M.P. in December. He seems to have sent out a number of copies. This sets out the list of outstanding agreements which they require to have completed; it has the potential to be a complicated affair which will require a lot of hard detailed work to get through. It will not be solved by a meeting or a few letters.

NetworkRail make it plain that they will have costs which they expect to recover from us. Is there an estimate of these costs and is the money to hand?

How deeply shocking!

Surely the letter from Network Rail to Patrick McLoughlin MP is not that contentious?

NR to McLoughlin 14-12-09

Eye readers are invited to draw their own conclusions.

Hunt the Sir Humphrey

Good to see that Lord Adonis remains committed to the principles of Open Government and transparency.

These weasel words given on the 18th January:

Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat)
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Adonis on 16 December 2009 (WA 233), how many civil servants were seconded to the private sector in the transport industries during 2008 and 2009.

Lord Adonis (Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Labour)
In instances where there are five or fewer occurrences, it is Department for Transport policy not to release information on grounds of confidentiality

Can you help Lord Bradshaw with his question?

If you find a Sir Humphrey lying around your railway company perhaps you could let Lord B know.

UPDATE: This from Sinoda...

With reference to the mysterious whereabouts of the Sir Humphreys amongst the TOCs, perhaps the answer is that they are all invisible.



As this advertisement says "Watch out, watch out, there's a (Sir) Humphrey about!"

The Fact Compiler observes - "birds dipping their beaks" - those were the days!

Wolmar suffers annoying pile - Shocker

Or should that be Pyle?

The shocking details on Comrade Scribbler's very own blog.

Just because you're innocent doesn't mean you're not guilty...

RT: BBC Caves in to Carter Ruck Threats Over Trafigura Film

Reposted from Ian Dale's blog...



Carter-Ruck have succeeded in persuading the BBC to remove all reference to the Trafigura story from its website, according to the New Statesman. They really don't learn do they - Carter Ruck or the BBC. You cannot suppress things like this in the modern media age. If one organisation caves in, there will the dozens more only to willing to step up to the plate.

So do enjoy this Newsnight film, which I really wouldn't bother to have posted had the BBC caved in.

Could I encourage every single UK blogger to embed this video in their blogs too?

Footnote: For the history of this sage click HERE.

Done - ta.

Steve Bell tells it like it is...

This from the Grauniad...


'Nuff said... (with a bowler tip to Dan)

This for Lord Mandy of Unelected and Freebie

With a bowler tip to Guido

Nobody elected Eurocrat

Lady Who-wot appointed to post of High Representative


She rose without trace.

Aslef gives Lilley a good kicking

Oh dear!

Peter Lilley, the MP for Harpenden, has upset the brothers by criticising FCC ‘militants taking coordinated action to prevent trains running’.

Arkwright Road's finest don't pull any punches!

The union is pleased that Peter Lilley is not having to suffer like his constituents. This is because in 2007/08 he claimed the full Parliamentary £23,083 ‘second homes’ allowance – which is understandable as otherwise the train journey from his constituency is either a whopping 27 minutes from Harpenden to London or a massive 34 minutes from Hitchen. A rail season ticket would have cost the taxpayer £3,640.

There's more...

Or maybe (Lilley)... just doesn’t like trains. Last year he claimed £2,353 in car mileage. But at least we know Peter drove on sensible routes, as he claimed £109.94 for a Tom-Tom sat nav - with western Europe included.

Ouch!

But you know, they sort of have a point...

DNA database

So our elected masters have decided to retain the DNA records of innocent citizens for six years.

Eye fervently hopes that Mr Plod will hasten round to the Palace of Westminster to swab all those crim's who cheated on their expenses?

Fat chance!

Just because you really are innocent doesn't mean you're not guilty in the eyes of the state.

Troughing news - £13,837 of our money!

Good news from the mother of Parliaments...

Former transport minister Tony McNulty has apologised to the House of Commons 'without reservation' and agreed to repay £13,837 of expenses he claimed towards his second home.

Well that makes it all better then.

UPDATE: In his statement to the House McNulty says its time to move on.

Indeed it is.

Directly to gaol without passing go.

On whose say so?

No, no, no, no, no!

EU representatives have said that if Mr Blair became President of the EU Council he would expect to travel in a cavalcade and all local traffic to be halted when he made a 'state visit' to member countries.

And when, pray, did we get a say in any of this?

Grauniad gagged - threat to Bill of Rights

This is an absolute disgrace.

Ian Dale has the story here.

Whilst Guido, who is offshore, furnishes further details.

Log on, get outraged and reclaim our ancient rights!

UPDATE: It was the web what won it!

Via Twitter...

@arusbridger: Victory! #CarterRuck caves-in. No #Guardian court hearing. Media can now report Paul Farrelly's PQ about #Trafigura. More soon on Guardian..

@arusbridger: Thanks to Twitter/all tweeters for fantastic support over past 16 hours! Great victory for free speech. #guardian #trafigura #carterRuck

UPDATE: Grauniad story here:

Gag on Guardian reporting MP's Trafigura question lifted

UPDATE: And here is the BBC Newsnight story on Trafigura.

Dirty tricks and toxic waste in Ivory Coast

With a bowler tip to Carter-Ruck for bringing this to everyone's attention.