According to today's Edinburgh Evening News, Lewis Moonie, who once said he couldn't bring himself to rebel against his party, has joined a rebellion on the issue of organ donors.

ROBIN COOK last night led a rebellion of 19 Labour MPs who defied the Government to vote for a move to presume everyone had consented to the use of their organs in transplant operations unless they had specifically opted out.

Although the bid was rejected by MPs, the former Foreign Secretary and Leader of the Commons was joined by fellow ex-Cabinet minister Clare Short in supporting the move brought forward by Liberal Democrat Evan Harris.

Linlithgow MP Tam Dalyell - the longest serving member of the Commons; Kirkcaldy MP Lewis Moonie (a former defence minister); and Dunfermline West MP Rachel Squire joined Mr Cook in the revolt. Under the current system people have to choose to opt in to give their organs to others after death.

But the National Health Service is facing a growing shortage of hearts, livers, kidneys and other organs.

...

While the Tories and the Liberal Democrats gave a free vote on the issue Labour imposed a whip on its MPs - which the 19 defied claiming this was a conscience issue.

Nice to see that my MP won't just support any old Labour policy.

I've been noticing a few people linking to this blog with the name 'Lewis Mooney'. Thanks for the links! But, uh, not to be pedantic or anything, it's M-O-O-N-I-E.

Darn, that comments limit is annoying, isn't it?

In the absence of any Lewis Moonie news, I'd been thinking of asking you bunch for some Moonie anecdotes or rants. Cos there were a couple when I said that I began this blog on the Jonblink messageboard.

Kirsty's started it for me. Not realising that the comments have a limit of 1000 characters, she typed out this real opus:

This is completely unofficial, and should I ever make something of myself in the world, i reserve the right to revoke the following comments.

Politically-speaking, (and, for that amtter, in all other respects) Dr Moonie is a complete twunt. I base this fleeting judgement upon a visit he made to my school a few months ago, in which he not only made many feeble attempts to win the s6 audience over with his cool, arrogant veneer - bragging of his unflailing confidence that he would have a parliamentary career forEVER, he also showed himself to be somewhat of a political renter - admitting to having been a socialist, then a tory, then a member of the Labour party, finally reaching the conclusion that he was of no particular political affiliation, but this, unlike the attainment of power, is inconsequential.

Of course, all of the above can be justified and defended very easily through reference to life experience, open-mindedness etc etc etc. His contrary approach to answering questions presented by a not particularly motivated or incisive audience, however, cannot. I charge him with the offence of being a vile, measley cretin on the following grounds:

1. His appallingly supercilious and dogmatic manner. I refer in particular to his repsonse to a question regarding the provsion of services for young people. Admittedly, the question was kind of crap, but even so, the dissmive-cum-'why-are-you-shitting-out-my-grandmother-you-disgusting-creature' tone of response adopted by moonie was unwarranted.

2. His flagrant use of incomprehensible political jargon when asked to comment on the suggestion that britains involvement in iraq was contrary to the nature of democracy, given that public opinion was so strongly against it.

3. His assorted downright condractory statements. Unfortunately, it is late and i am unable to quote him, but im sure he said something about saddam hussein not being a direct threat to his family, then saying that he posed a very real threat to people like us,then saying that he didnt think it was the duty og politicians to tackle the issue of drugs (surely, one must ask, peddlars pose an immediate threat on out streets?)

Anyway, I know Duncan is a bit Labour and has created this site, therefore probably wants up Moonie's bum, and I am also aware that there *IS* an argument FOR the war in iraq, which Dr Mooney never successfully presented. Therefore I am being brutally honest when I say that I was sure I could see something growing out of Moonie's forehead, and I'm almost certain it was a cock.

Do you think her thesaurus has a spine left? Some more measured and mature stories are very much welcome!

This is not directly related to Lewis Moonie, but will be of interest to some people in the Kirkcaldy constituency.

According to last week's The Fife Free Press, John MacDougall, the current Labour MP for Central Fife, has been selected by the Labour Party to contest the new Glenrothes seat. Glenrothes constituency will include Cluny, Chapel and Boreland, which are all currently part of the Kirkcaldy constituency.

You can visit John MacDougall's website here.

[I struggle to understand why Chapel has been shaved off the new Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency, as Chapel is very obviously in Kirkcaldy, albeit on the outskirts - as is Boreland.]

According to the Fife Today website, marketing company Acxiom has named Kirkcaldy as the third poorest town in the UK, just below Cumnock in Ayrshire and Bellshill in Lanarkshire.

The nationwide survey looked at 14 million people across 600 towns. It shows that 15% of Kirkcaldy's residents live on less than £100 per week. Some are blaming the government.

Lewis Moonie responds:

Kirkcaldy has come a long way since I was first elected in 1987 despite having had to cope with the closure of our pits and the GEC Telecomm factory with thousands of job losses.

Unemployment in the area has fallen by a third and around 2170 local people are in work thanks to our flagship New Deal programme...

Marilyn Livingstone and her colleagues are doing a great job of increasing skills through their lifelong learning policy. When you complement this with Gordon Brown's highly successful stewardship of the economy then you have the seeds from which a prosperous Kirkcaldy can grow, but it will take time...

I have not seen the survey quoted by the media and question the validity of the conclusions drawn.

Despite everything we have been through in the last twenty years, Kirkcaldy is still a great place to live.

Meanwhile, Kirkcaldy's constituency MSP, Marilyn Livingstone, said:

Many of the towns featured in the poll's top ten communities with the lowest income are former mining communities or towns with a heavy reliance on manufacturing. It has been Labour's priority since 1997 to address issues of poverty and deprivation and whilst we have achieved some success, there is still a lot to be done.

Many thanks to Jon for notifying me.

I'm thinking of extending this blog into one which covers everybody who represents Kirkcaldy in any shape or form. [In case you were wondering, that's 1 MP, 8 MSPs, 16 councillors and 7 MEPs.] This is partly because I think Lewis Moonie's alright, and partly because why the hell should all those other politicians get away? There's bound to be at least one crook amongst them.

I'll also be taking a look at the next Labour candidate for this constituency - some guy called Gordon Brown, although not quite yet to the same extent.

This could become complicated and might put the blog out of focus.

Any thoughts?

[Psst. I know, just about everybody who's visited so far came through Bloggerheads. But this is only a day old; more Lang Tounians are bound to come soon ........ hopefully.]

...well, not a lot actually (hmm).

Instead, I'll have a look at the most recent Moonie-related news.

Way back in February, Lewis Moonie caused a stir by calling for an end to state funding for faith schools. This meant that Lewis Moonie had no plans whatsoever to be an MP here any more (but we knew that anyway). Inevitably, a backlash from the Catholic Church resulted.

Tony Finn, headteacher at St Andrew's High School in Kirkcaldy, dismissed the comments and invited Dr Moonie to visit the school and see for himself the work by staff and pupils.
St Andrew's performed well above the national average in exam league tables for S4 and S5 pupils published last year.
He said: "I would be happy for him to come to the school and see for himself we are strongly opposed to divisiveness and indoctrination.
"Indeed, our emphasis on good learning and on Christian values of tolerance and understanding is now attracting a very large number of pupils from very diverse religious backgrounds.
"Consequently, we believe that our existence certainly cannot be used as an excuse for sectarianism."

Moonie defended his comments though.

"I think the education system should be secular for all children.
"They (faith schools) have no part in the education system and nor should they.
''The vast majority of people in Scotland have no affiliation to any church or religious group.
"Therefore it should not be the job of the state to provide them, because religion has nothing to do with education.

See the full story on the Fife Today website.


Almost a month ago now Lewis Moonie appeared on the Today programme to talk about the photographs which were published by The Daily Mirror. This is out-of-date now, but it's nevertheless interesting to note what the former Defence Minister said.

"We have never attempted to deny that there might have been cases of abuse.

"Every one of them has been investigated. There was absolutely no need for this kind of gratuitous publication of material, which clearly had not been checked out, and which has turned out to be false.

"The fact is that this paper has published something which has put the lives of our troops at risk.

"At the very least, they should apologise for it, and try to, in some way, to set the matter right. If they don't do that, then I think the editor should go."

Read the full London Evening Standard piece on This is London.

Meanwhile an Associated Press piece (which you can read in full from Guardian Unlimited) has been doing the rounds with Moonie talking about Blair's future.

"It would be a lie for me to suggest that people are not talking about whether he is likely to carry on or not," former Defense Minister Lewis Moonie told British Broadcasting Corp. radio on Friday. "There is a lot of general talk, but not to the extent that people are saying that the prime minister ought to go."

Well, that's the design sorted out anyway. I think I can officially unveil this to the world now. To be honest, I'm not too sure whether this blog will be a hit or not. A bottle of Coke would win here if it stood for Labour. But in a way, that's what makes things like this more important.

I have a confession to make though. I am rubbish at keeping up with local news. So I'd like you to help. Even if it's just to notify me of something. Or perhaps you have a problem with Lewis Moonie or Labour in Kirkcaldy which you'd like to make that bit more public. Use the comments feature to your advantage. This blog needs you to make it a success.

If you don't think you can help, I can assure you that you can. Get the word out. Let people know. Link to me.

If you think you could help this blog along long-term, please contact me and perhaps this could be made into a team blog.

Right now though I need to hit the sack.

Electorate (1999): 49653

2001 General Election:

Lewis Moonie	Labour	54.1%
Shirley-Anne Somerville	SNP	22.2%
Scott Campbell	Con	10.7%
Andrew Weston	LibDem	10.1%
Douglass Kinnear	SSP	2.9%

Labour Majority: 31.8%; Turnout: 54.6%

Kirkcaldy's most famous son is Adam Smith, widely seen as having invented free-market economics (indeed, he is seen as having invented the science of economics itself). Despite this, the seat has been held by Labour since 1935. Kirkcaldy is the 165th safest seat of the 654 in the country.

The constituency currently stretches along the south coast of Fife from Burntisland to Buckhaven. It stretches as far north as Thornton. You can view a map of the constituency in PDF format from The Boundary Commission for Scotland's website.

However, this will be changing at the next general election, as a result of the boundary changes in Scotland. The new Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency will be made up of Dalgety Bay, Cowdenbeath, Kelty, Ballingry, Lochgelly, Aberdour, Burntisland, Auchtertool, Kinghorn, Invertiel, Kirkcaldy and everything else in between. You can view a map of the new constituency here (PDF format, from The Boundary Commission for Scotland's website).

Kirkcaldy's constituency MSP is Marilyn Livingstone (Labour), who gained 46.7% of the vote ahead of Colin Welsh's (SNP) 24.7%.

See what BBC News Online has to say about the constituency:
2001 - General Election
2003 - Scottish Parliament election

...and here's what Labour say they're doing for Kirkcaldy.

LangToun Online - A decent website about Kirkcaldy.
Wikipedia entry for Kirkcaldy

Lewis Moonie has been Kirkcaldy's MP since 1987. In that period he's been Defence Minister (yes, during the Iraq war), aswell as being an opposition spokesperson on broadcasting and the media, trade and industry and science and technology. He is a member of the Co-operative Party, ASTMS and T&G. He is also a Non-Executive Director of AEA Technologies and Mining Scotland.

He studied Medcine at St Andrews University. He is married with two sons, and his main leisure interests include walking, fishing, golf and bridge.

Politically, Lewis Moonie grew up as a Conservative, then became a Communist before settling in to Labour. He seems to regard himself as more 'old' Labour than 'New Labour', although he rejects these terms. There is an interesting quote in his BBC News Online profile:

Lewis Moonie was unexpectedly omitted from Tony Blair's first government when Labour came to power in 1997... During his unexpected years in the cold, he exhibited some coolness towards New Labour which even membership of the government does not seem entirely to have eradicated.

More recently, the Kirkcaldy Co-operative Party condemned Tony Blair for not offering Moonie the role of Energy Minister as expected. Ever since, Moonie has been a backbencher. Despite all this, Moonie describes himself as a loyalist, saying he cannot bring himself to vote against Labour.

Lewis Moonie will be standing aside due to the boundary changes in Scotland. The Labour candidate for the new Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency at the next General Election will be Gordon Brown.

There are quite a few profiles out there, but most of them are pretty out-of-date. The best one seems to be the one from the Scottish Labour website, but I've already nabbed most of the stuff from that.

You can try some of the following profiles, but take them with a pinch of salt as they are mostly out-of-date.
Guardian Unlimited Aristotle
Labour
Political Links
Scottish Politics
Wikipedia

Telephone numbers:
Constituency: 01592 564 115
House of Commons: 020 7219 4097

Fax number:
Constituency: 01592 561 085
House of Commons: 020 7219 5472

Constituency address:
Suite D
Carlyle House
Carlyle Road
KIRKCALDY
KY1 1DB

Commons address:
House of Commons
LONDON
SW1A 0AA

Email address:
lgmoonie@kirkcaldy31.freeserve.co.uk

This is an unofficial weblog, casting an eye over Dr Lewis Moonie, Labour MP for the Kirkcaldy constituency. This blog is not affiliated with any politician or party.

I am one of Lewis Moonie's constituents. I'm not upset with my MP, and this blog is not necessarily meant to be negative. But I believe that accountability is necessary in a democracy.

This blog was set up after I read this article about MPs' blogs on Bloggerheads. Tim Ireland, whose site Bloggerheads is, believes very strongly that blogs are an important tool. He thinks that every politician should have a blog. I agree.

Most politicians get away with just posting a couple of leaflets through the door near election time. At best, many will have a website which isn't updated very often. Politicians need to get in touch with their constituents more than that. A blog is the perfect way to do this. You can read what Tim thinks here, but in brief, blogs can let politicians get in touch with constituents, and in turn constituents can get in touch with their politicians.

Everybody knows how important the internet is nowadays. Who do you think comes up as the top result for a Google search for Labour MP? Tony Blair? Nope. Infact, it is Tom Watson, the first blogging MP.

As far as I can make out, Lewis Moonie doesn't have a website, and he certainly doesn't have a blog.

I appreciate that it may be a bit late in the day for Lewis Moonie, as he will not be standing in the new Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency at the next election due to the boundary changes. But this isn't just about Lewis Moonie. All MPs need to be accountable, and if the MPs themselves won't let it happen, their constituents can.

Coming soon.