A new row involving the governments advertising arm, the Central Office of Information, is brewing after it emerged pre-election spending hit a record high.

Unpublished figures reveal that central Government advertising in January 2010 was the highest ever January on record, burning through a massive £30 million of taxpayers’ cash in that month alone.

Ministers have refused to publish details of the advertising and marketing campaigns that are being run at taxpayers’ expense in the run up to the General Election – pledging only to release the data in annual accounts in August 2010.

Defending it decision not to disclose the cost of current campaigns the head of COI, Mark Lund, said it would incur “disproportionate cost” to release the details.

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Earlier this month Shadow Health Minister Stephen O’Brien challenged the Government to come clean about attempts to lock in wasteful NHS IT contracts. Speaking about the Department of Healths attempts to reset the £12.7 billion contracts by the end of March, tying the hands of both taxpayers and the next Government, O’Brien said:

“It is devastating for taxpayers to watch the Government sign away billions more pounds on a failing IT Programme and tie the hands of the next Government”, Stephen O’Brien said.

“Labour claims it is making efficiency savings but cutting the deal with suppliers by as little as £600 million does not reflect the scale by which they have failed to deliver. After 6 years, only 13 NHS hospital Trusts have basic IT systems in place and over £6 billion has been spent – that’s around half a billion per NHS Trust.”

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Ian Kirby of the News of the World has a fascinating exclusive that shows just how far Charlie Whelan is willing to go to keep is old friend Gordon Brown in power.

Whelan, who after leaving Downing Street ensconced himself in the Unite trade union as their Political Director, is masterminding the unions marginal seats operation in the hope of denying David Cameron victory.

And according to the News of the World’s political editor, the funds he has at his disposal are far bigger than that of the Conservatives, with the union dedicating £5 million to the marginals war compared to the Tories £3 million.

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Yesterday evening Gary Gibbon posted a rather interesting piece on the Channel 4 News Snowblog, which outlined a potential timeline for the General Election. While interesting it didn’t take into account the prospect of Gordon Brown calling a snap election.

So how could things shape up if the Prime Minister goes to the country on March 25 instead of May 6? Well this is how things could pan out.

Under the timeline which sees the election being held on the 6th, it’s widely believed that Alistair Darling would deliver the Budget on 24th March.

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The spirit of McBride lives on in Downing Street. According to the Telegraph Downing Street spinners have turned their guns on Samantha Cameron:

“Briefing against her has already begun,” discloses my man in Gordon Brown’s bunker.

Astonishingly, Labour officials claim that David Cameron’s wife, who transformed the fortunes of the Mayfair stationer Smythson while raising three children, is “lazy”.

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Following hot on the heals of Labour’s half-assed personal attack on David Cameron, it appears that Labour HQ are set to launch a dedicated website aimed at continuing their character based attacks on the Conservative leader.

All round techno geek Dizzy has found that Labour’s online spin team have registered five domain names which play on the parties latest ‘David Camera On/David Camera Of’ messaging. The names that have been picked-up by labour for the site are: continue reading

Following a series of Freedom of Information requests, the Conservatives have unearthed evidence of how Labour Special Advisers have used Civil Service resources to make party political attacks, in breach of Whitehall rules.

The new documents show how civil servants have been instructed by Special Advisers to produce attack material to be used in the media against the Conservative Party.

Whitehall rules prohibit government resources being used for Party political purposes, this is outline in the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, which states: continue reading

Harriet Harman has today returned to Labour’s class war tactic, announcing the introduction of an “inequality bible.”

Making the announcement in a speech ahead of the publication of a government-commissioned report that puts the inequality question at the forefront of Labour’s general election campaign, the Labour deputy leader and minister for women and equality said: “Persistent inequality of socioeconomic status – of class -overarches the discrimination or disadvantage that can come from your gender, race or disability.

The question of equality is not just rooted in our traditional values and linked with our past, it’s essential for the future. The public want an equal society, one where there is not a yawning and growing gap between the bottom and the top.”

The 420-page report, chaired by professor John Hills, will say that despite 12 years in office, the Government has failed to root out inequality and that more needs to be done to combat discrimination in the UK.

Following the failed coup to unseat Gordon Brown two weeks ago the prime minister was forced to rein in those in his Cabinet advocating fighting the election campaign along class lines, but it is still expected to play a part in Labour’ strategy.

Responding to Harriet Harman’s speech Shadow Minister for Women, Theresa May said:

“Less than a week after Gordon Brown claimed that his party are not embarking on a class war, Harriet Harman has come out and done exactly that.

“The truth is that under Labour social mobility has stalled and the gap between the rich and poor has grown to a record high. We cannot go on like this. Labour’s failure has been a result of their one-dimensional approach. Unlike Labour we will deal with the causes of poverty and inequality including educational failure, family breakdown and worklessness.”

Labour’s Failures.

Record Inequality. Inequality is now at a record high according to The Gini Coefficient – a commonly used internationally recognized measure of income inequality – it is now above the level that Labour inherited in 1997 and at the highest level since 1961.

Social Mobility Stalled. Despite Gordon Brown’s rhetoric, his policies have failed to improve social mobility. According to the Government’s very own report, Cabinet Office, Getting on, getting ahead, “Although social mobility did not fall between 1970 and 2000, policy did not succeed in increasing it”. Independent research by the highly respected Sutton Trust has found that Britain has one of the lowest levels of social mobility in the developed world.

Almost 1 million more in severe poverty. The Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the number of people living in severe poverty has risen by 900,000 since 1997.

Poorest Getting Poorer. According to the Department of Work and Pensions own report, Households Below Average Income 2007/08, the income of the poorest 10 percent of households has been falling for the past four years and is now £9 a week lower in real terms than in 2002. Over the same period the richest 10 percent of households have seen their incomes grow in real terms by £94 a week. The income of the poorest 10 per cent of households is the same now in real terms as it was in 1999.

Talent Wasted. The research director of the Sutton Trust, Dr Lee Elliot-Major, said: “Our findings suggest that social mobility could and should be higher in this country. There is too much waste of talent”.

Pensioner Poverty Higher than in 1997. There are 2.5 million pensioners living in poverty (defined as living in a household with an income below 60 per cent of median income, before housing costs), 100,000 more than in 1996-97.

The argument about when the general election will be held appears tonight to be over following a blunder by Chris Bryant.

Speaking to diplomats at Canning House, a diplomatic think-tank, the Europe Minister seemed to confirm the widely held belief that the poll will be held on May 6 – the same day as the local council elections.

Referring to recent tensions between Britain and countries in South America, Mr Bryant said: “I hope that by the time of the general election on May 6, relations will have improved.”

His loose lips will anger the Prime Minister and senior party strategists, as it’s common knowledge that ministers have been told not to talk in detail about when the election will be called, in order to keep the Conservatives in the dark and so not to help them plan for the big day.

Mr Bryant has a history when it comes to untimely disclosures. In October, he used Twitter to tell his 378 followers, and more importantly journalists, that he was “off to work with a new job.” This forced Downing Street to confirm that he had indeed been promoted from minister for foreign affairs to to the Europe job at the Foreign Office.

Earlier this month he also delivered an angry attack at the Eurostar service after being caught up in delays on the micro-blogging service.

Traveling back to the UK after two days of talks in Paris he posted: “I am rapidly developing a very severe hatred of Eurostar as we are travelling at about a mile a year.”

David Tennant has ventured into the election by coming out and endorsing Gordon Brown, saying he would “rather have Gordon Brown than David Cameron.”

The Doctor Who star insisted Brown was still a far better choice as Prime Minister, despite Labour’s “issues”.

Tennant said: “I would still rather have Gordon Brown than David Cameron.

“I would rather have a Prime Minister who is the cleverest person in the room than a Prime Minister who looks good in a suit.

“David Cameron is a terrifying prospect.

“He’s a regional newsreader who will jump on whatever bandwagon flies past.

“I get quite panicked that people are buying his rhetoric, because it seems very manipulative to me.”

The Scottish actor is a long standing Labour backer, so his declaration of support for the weakened PM is not surprising, he even appeared in the following 2005 party political broadcasts:

Labour have a history of getting celebrities to come out and back them with Tennant only the latest in a long line of celebrity endorsements which has seen the likes of Patrick Stewart, Eddie Izzard, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie espouse their support for the Labour party. Not to mention Tony Blair’s love-in with those who grace the pages of Hello and the NME.

Back in November the Times reported that the Conservative Party’s director of communications, Andy Coulson, was leading attempts court celebrity endorsements ahead of the general election:

“David Cameron’s director of communications has instructed all Conservative frontbenchers to inform him of any celebrity likely to endorse the party at the next election

The most promising targets are usually invited to dinner with Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, with “A-listers” offered the chance to meet Mr Cameron himself… While potential donors are typically introduced to the Tory leader in a Mayfair restaurant, the celebrity dinners are held in private houses, according to one of those involved in their organisation.

The explanation for the priority given to recruiting stars of light entertainment is revealed by research, available to all three parties, showing which social groups are most likely to switch their vote from Labour to Conservatives. The biggest group — identified by the Mosaic household profiling database, which uses credit data from its parent company, Experian — are single people and young couples living in new homes. They are also more than usually influenced by celebrity culture.”

But the paper also reported that celebrities are increasingly avoiding efforts from all parties to publicly back them.

“The elaborate courtship of celebrities by party leaders before the general election is being spurned.

Some of the noisiest and most publicity addicted people in Britain fall strangely silent when the subject of politics gets mentioned. Lily Allen, a pop star who is not usually shy of venting her opinions, told The Times: “It’s no one’s business how I intend to vote, which is the reason that voting happens in private booths.

Jamie Oliver, credited with helping the Government to improve school dinners, ruled out any form of partisan endorsement. He said this week: “The people I’m working with in schools, it’s so important to me, that I don’t want to go left or right. I’ve tried to remain apolitical. I actually haven’t voted for the past six years.

Myleene Klass’s manager, Jonathan Shalit, said: “It’s a no-win situation to come out in favour of one party or another.”

So does the public support form celebrities matter? On the plus side it does enable political leaders to reach younger voters, who generally speaking, do not consume the same about of news. One the down-side the words of support from TV and music stars can be perceived as simply words from fair weather friends.

Then there is the issue of what to do when thing turn sour. Back in 1997 New Labour got its fingers burnt with its “Cool Britannia” efforts. In the beginning Oasis and friends were all feted at Number Ten, but things soon changed when many of their showbiz backers fell our of love with Tony Blair, themselves not wanting to be tainted with a degraded and soiled brand.

So whilst celebrity endorsements can provide a easy and helpful headline in the short-term, in the long-term their value is much less significant and much harder to quantify. My advice to the the party leadership and strategists would be not to spend to much time and effort trying to get them.