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We need a new Government': Former Conservative MP Mark Logan defects to Labour

30 May 2024, 

Mark Logan has said he is backing Labour at the General Election. Picture: Getty/Alamy

By Kieran Kelly @kellyjourno

Former Conservative MP Mark Logan has said he is backing Labour at the next general election, saying the party could "bring back optimism into British life".

Mr Logan, who represented Bolton North East for the Tories until Parliament dissolved on Thursday, said Labour had been on a "journey" and now offered "centrist politics".

He told the BBC the Tory Party was "unrecognisable" from the party he joined a decade ago.

He said his application to join Labour was "going in today", describing Sir Keir Starmer's party as having been on a "journey" and now offering "centrist politics".

He told the broadcaster: "I believe, as a politician, it's incumbent upon me to be able to say, to look people in the eyes in Bolton and say that I believe that a Labour government is going to serve you better, your interests better, it's going to be better for your pockets, it's better for the economy, it's going to be better for the UK."

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Mark Logan is the former Conservative MP for Bolton North East. Picture: Alamy

It follows a series of defections during the last Parliament, including the former MP for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, who was on the right of the Tory Party.

Meanwhile, Dan Poulter - another former Tory MP - quit the Tories and crossed the aisle to Labour over the current state of the NHS.

Read More Rishi Sunak challenged over Partygate by factory worker whose mother died during pandemic

Read More: 'No reason' why Diane Abbott can't stand in general election as Labour MP, says Angela Rayner

Mr Logan won his seat from Labour in the 2019 general election with a narrow majority of just 378, making it one of the most marginal in the country.

He was a junior member of the Government, a parliamentary private secretary to ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions.

The defection comes as a row over whether the Labour veteran Diane Abbott will be allowed to stand for the party at the upcoming election

It was reported earlier this week that Ms Abbott had the Labour whip restored but would not be allowed to stand under the party banner.

Ms Abbott confirmed this, but the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said "this is not true" and that "no decision has been taken".

The row deepened earlier today when Sir Keir's deputy, Angela Rayner, said she sees no reason why Ms Abbott cannot stand now the Labour whip has been restored.

Mark Logan: Who is the Tory Bolton North East MP who has defected to Labour?

Tom Belger

 30th May, 2024

Conservative MP Mark Logan, who has defected to Labour.

The Conservative MP Mark Logan has announced his defection to Labour, suggesting “things can only get better” under a Labour government led by Keir Starmer and signalling he was unhappy with the government’s stance on Gaza.

The MP posted a statement on Thursday night, in a development Labour figures will hope starts to shift the news agenda away from bitter internal rows over candidate selections and what critics dub a “purge’ of the left – after Faiza Shaheen and Lloyd Russell-Moyle were deselected and Diane Abbott’s future hangs in the balance.

Logan said he had “consistently lobbied the UK government” over Gaza, and said he wanted an immediate cessation of hostilities and recognition for Palestine.

Logan has represented Bolton North East since 2019, when he won the “red wall” seat from Labour, and his defection is likely to be seen as another blow for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s chance of holding onto voters persuaded to vote Tory for the first time by Boris Johnson in 2019.

Logan only had a majority of just a few hundred votes, however, and on current polling is likely to have lost his seat.

It follows the defection of Natalie Elphicke a few weeks ago, which sparked a significant backlash within Labour, and it remains to be seen whether Logan’s defection could also spark fresh tensions.  He has said he will not contest the seat at the general election.

Logan’s page on the Conservatives’ website, now deleted, previously said his working life included working as a diplomat in China. “Immediately prior to the election he worked in the private sector where he is involved in international business – an important skill as we leave the European Union and export ‘Global Britain’ to the rest of the world,” it once read.

His own website, which also now appears to be down, previously said he is “not a career politician having worked in business before and after serving the UK in the Foreign Office”. He was a “senior executive in a multinational company, and was most recently a senior director in a leading management consultancy”.

It said he “believes too many people in parliament have worked in the political and London bubble for too long, and thus are detached from the realities of life in modern Britain”. The MP “wants to serve every person and family in Bolton North East so that people are heard and can live their lives in peace and prosperity”.

It also said he was committed to bringing extra police, NHS and school funding, entrepeneurs and foreign investment to Bolton.

NI-born Tory MP: I’m backing Labour at General Election


Mark Logan MP.



Brett Campbell  Today

A Northern Ireland-born former Conservative MP is backing Labour at the General Election after claiming Sir Keir Starmer’s party could "bring back optimism into British life".

Mark Logan, who is from Ballymena and was sworn into the House of Commons in Ulster Scots, represented Bolton North East for the Tories until Parliament dissolved on Thursday.

He told BBC News Labour had been on a "journey" and now offers voters "centrist politics" while taking a swipe at the Conservative Party which he described as "unrecognisable" from when he joined a decade ago.

Mr Logan, who won his constituency seat with a majority of just 378 back in 2019 making it one of the most marginal in the UK, said his application to join Labour was being submitted today.

The Brexit supporter is standing down at this election.

However, he won’t be running as a Labour candidate in his former constituency as the party has already chosen a candidate, but he is hoping he can run for Westminster elsewhere

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"The time has come to bring back optimism into British public life," he said while explaining his decision.

Mr Logan compared the mood of the country to New Labour's 1997 election campaign and subsequent landslide victory.

"When I look back to my teenage years, in 1997 when Labour came to the fore at that time and we obviously heard the song Things Can Only Get Better, I feel that we're at that point again in British politics and British history," he said.

"For my constituents and for the country, it's right that we get some stability back into the UK, we get optimism, we get new and fresh ideas."

The former businessman and diplomat did not criticise Rishi Sunak who he backed to become Tory leader and said the prime minister could "leave politics with his head held high" if he loses the election.

"It's more about not the push factor of Conservatives, but the pull factor of Keir Starmer, the new cabinet that would come in, the fresh faces, the fresh ideas," Mr Logan said.

The outgoing MP admitted he had been considering backing Labour "for quite a long period" and felt that now was the right time to publicly support the party "because the electorate did vote me in as a Conservative MP".

“I believe as a politician it's incumbent upon me to be able to say, to look people in the eyes in Bolton and say that I believe that a Labour government is going to serve you better, your interests better, it's going to be better for your pockets, it's better for the economy, it's going to be better for the UK,” Mr Logan added.

it comes just three months after he broke ranks with his party to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza conflict after accusing Israel of going “too far".

Labour shifted its position to back an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, following pressure on the party around the same time.

When asked if Sir Keir has now got it right on the conflict, Mr Logan said he believed Labour was "best placed to deal with what's going to come down the track".

Two other MPs, Natalie Elphicke and Dan Poulter, defected from the Tories to join Labour earlier this month and briefly sat as Labour MPs before the dissolution of Parliament.

Analysis

Defecting Tory may be at odds with the government - but he isn't quite Labour either

Mark Logan made the shock announcement on Thursday and is now thought to be seeking a seat under Sir Keir Starmer's banner.

Jon Craig
Chief political correspondent @joncraig
SKY NEWS
Thursday 30 May 2024 




In a Sky News interview after then Tory MP Christian Wakeford defected to Labour in 2022, Mark Logan was asked if he planned to join him.

At the time, he laughed and replied jokingly: "I'm not planning to defect - to the Democratic Unionist Party."
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Yet two years later, Mr Logan has indeed - like Mr Wakeford, Dan Poulter and Natalie Elphicke in the parliament that has just ended - abandoned the Conservative Party and switched to Labour.

Follow live:
Corbyn accuses Starmer of 'intervening' with left wing 'purge'

In his shock statement announcing his defection, Mr Logan said he had done "much soul-searching throughout my first term in parliament".


Not many politicians admit to that sort of self-doubt. But then Mr Logan has never been tribal like the more bombastic and shouty members of the Tories' 2019 intake. You know who you are!

Nor is he a divisive figure like the most recent previous Tory defector to Labour, Natalie Elphicke, whose welcome from the party leadership appalled some Labour MPs and activists.

And though he won his seat from Labour's Sir David Crausby, who represented Bolton North East from 1997 until 2019, it's not a Red Wall seat.

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It was represented by the Conservative Peter Thurnham from 1983 until he became an independent, before joining the Liberal Democrats in 1996.

So Mr Logan is not the first representative for Bolton North East to quit his party and join a rival.

He was born in Ballymena in County Antrim and graduated from Queen's University, Belfast, before doing master's degrees at the London School of Economics and Wadham College, Oxford.

Before becoming an MP he was a Foreign Office diplomat at the British Consulate-General in Shanghai. He's fluent in Mandarin and has learned Japanese since being elected in 2019.

In the 2017 general election, he fought East Antrim, the seat represented by the DUP's Sammy Wilson, for the Conservative Party and came sixth with a derisory 963 votes.

But the Brexit-backing candidate won Bolton North East by just 378 votes in 2019, and has faced the relentless stress of representing a seat with a tiny majority.

The seat has a large Muslim community and Mr Logan has been a strong advocate for Gaza, while being a bitter critic of Israel and its response to the Hamas attacks on 7 October last year.

But he hasn't just been a Gaza rebel. He quit as a parliamentary private secretary, the lowest rung on the ministerial ladder, to Northern Ireland ministers in 2022 in protest at Boris Johnson's "partygate" and the Chris Pincher "groping" scandal.

When Rishi Sunak became prime minister, Mr Logan became a PPS to Department for Work and Pensions ministers.

Sunak ally Mel Stride, the secretary of state, won't be pleased by his defection.

Now he's backing Sir Keir Starmer for prime minister, he hopes to be a Labour candidate.

But his views on Israel and Gaza, as well as being at odds with the Conservative government, are not quite mainstream Labour either.

UK

Alleged Ticketmaster hack breaches half-a-billion customer details

The collective has also been behind other high-profile data breaches

HACKERS ALSO DEMANDED A RANSOM FOR THE DATA NOT TO BE RELEASED

TICKETMASTER

LOLA CHRISTINA ALAO

Ticketmaster is investigating a hacker collective's claim that it obtained the personal details of more than half-a-billion customers – which would be the largest security breach ever.

Shiny Hunters has claimed on the dark web it had the personal details of 560 million Ticketmaster customers available for a one-time sale of $500,000 (£393,000). Names, addresses, emails, phone numbers and the last four digits and expiration date of credit cards are what it claimed are for sale.

It also demanded a ransom for the data not to be released. 

Prof Matthew Warren, an expert in cybersecurity, told the BBC the advice was never to pay a ransom for stolen data, as it could increase the risk of future attacks.

“Once the data has been stolen from the organisation, there is nothing that the organisation can do to protect the data. If the organisation had encrypted the data, then if the data had been stolen, it would have been unusable by the hacker,” he said.

The collective has also been behind other high-profile data breaches, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars to the companies involved.

In 2021, the group sold a database of stolen information from 70 million customers of US telecoms firm AT&T.

In September last year, almost 200,000 Pizza Hut customers in Australia had their data breached.

It comes after BreachForums was recently relaunched, a site on the dark web where other hackers buy and sell stolen material. 

Though the domain was shut down by the FBI in March 2023, leading to the arrest of its administrator Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, the site reappeared. 

Users of the forums often exaggerate the scale of their hacking to attract attention from other hackers.

"If Ticketmaster has had a breach of this scale, it is important they inform customers but it is important to also consider that sometimes criminal hackers make false or inflated claims about data breaches – so people should not be overly concerned until a breach is confirmed," security researcher Kevin Beaumont told the BBC.

In 2020, Ticketmaster admitted it hacked into one of its competitor sites, and agreed to pay a $10m (£7.9m) fine.

While in November, a cyber attack created problems selling tickets for Taylor Swift's Era's tour.

Australia's Department of Home Affairs says it is "working with Ticketmaster to understand the incident". The FBI is also understood to be offering its services.

The American website Ticketmaster, one of the largest online ticket sales platforms in the world, has yet to confirm whether it has experienced a security breach.

The Standard has contacted Ticketmaster and owner Live Nation for comment and is awaiting a response.

 UK

Union activists attack government’s ‘dehumanising’ rhetoric

By John Pring on 30th May 2024

Disabled union activists have attacked the government’s demonisation of disabled people and its “disgraceful discriminatory language”, at a conference that began less than a day after prime minister Rishi Sunak finally announced the date of the general election.

A series of five emergency motions approved by delegates at the TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference in Liverpool condemned the Conservative government’s repeated attacks on disabled people’s rights, particularly through its social security reforms.

There were also calls for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to be enshrined into UK law.

One of the motions said Sunak and his government’s actions effectively “declare war on disabled people”.

Austin Harney, a delegate from the PCS union, which represents many Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff, attacked DWP for issuing “disgraceful benefit sanctions on disabled claimants”.

He called for unions to pressure a Labour government “to get rid of these sanctions once and for all”, and he accused the government of committing “what you could call corporate manslaughter or political murder” because of the impact of its DWP policies on disabled people.

He said: “It’s also terrible how this war on disabled people is not being taken very, very seriously and it’s time for all of us trade unions to stand together to do something about this.”

Kevin Daws, from the University and College Union, said he was “angry that the government are demonising disabled people and treating them as undeserving citizens”.

Criticising Sunak’s claim that there was a “sick note culture”, he said: “The level of statutory sick pay is so low that people go to work when they are sick because they have no choice, as we witnessed during the Covid pandemic.”

And Falyn Waterman, from USDAW, told fellow delegates: “Rishi talks about a sick note culture, tells us that we as a country can’t afford to have this many people sick, when he and his government are responsible for making us sicker and making us poorer and poorer.”

Moving the “war on disabled people” motion, Unite’s Sadia Mirza (pictured) told the conference: “We all know that real change comes from the top and will only come once the [UNCRPD] is enshrined into UK law.

“Disabled people are not outcasts. We are an important minority and deserve our basic rights.”

She said the government’s failure to send a minister to Geneva in March to defend its disability rights record in front of the UN’s committee on the rights of disabled people “showed the lack of priority towards the rights of disabled people”.

Lee Starr-Elliott, a delegate from the Communication Workers Union, moved an emergency motion that condemned the government’s “systematic violations of disabled people’s rights”, as demonstrated by the UN committee.

He was one of the union activists who joined the delegation of disabled people who were in Geneva in March to hear a civil servant defend the government’s record.

He told fellow delegates that it was “no surprise” to see the government and mainstream media ignore the UN’s subsequent report or even challenge it, but he added: “What was even more concerning was the lack of trade union support for disabled activists who have fought to highlight the abuses and hold government to account.”

He said: “The election is a golden opportunity for the TUC and its affiliates to lead Labour forward and ensure the UN’s recommendations are carried out and going forward we have a joined up collective approach to making Deaf and disabled people feel a valued part of society… now is not the time to be silent.”

Natasha Hirst, the first disabled activist to be president of the National Union of Journalists, said the government’s rhetoric on disabled people had been “designed to dehumanise us and to shift public opinion towards the narrative that tells us that our lives are worth less, that we are a drain and a burden and that we are evading playing our part in society”.

Hirst was another of the union activists who joined the Geneva delegation in March.

She was critical of the mainstream media for its lack of coverage of the UN report and the government’s benefit reforms, and she moved an emergency motion that attacked the “inaccurate negative and unethical coverage of disability issues” by the media.

She told the conference: “Policy changes to social security have made it impossible for most people to understand and access the support that they are entitled to unless they have an expert advocate by their side.

“The inequalities and injustices that we experience as disabled people are a direct result of political choices and these are choices that are made by people who have never experienced oppression, who have never experienced the sharp end of our social security system, an incredibly demoralizing experience to go through.”

She added: “The government is not being held to account or shamed for its failures, and it empowers them to continue with their agenda.”

All five of the emergency motions were overwhelmingly passed by the conference.

Picture by Natasha Hirst Photography

Disabled union activists warn Labour: If you break your promises, we will come for you

By John Pring on 30th May 2024

Disabled trade unionists have warned that they will hold Labour to account on the promises it makes to improve the rights of disabled workers, if the party wins power at July’s general election.

They have also called for activists to exert pressure on Labour during the election campaign to persuade it to expand its existing pledges on disability employment.

And they called on the party to include in its general election manifesto all the measures in the Disability Employment Charter, which aims to address the widespread disadvantage disabled people face in their working lives.

The charter was founded by organisations including Disability Rights UK, the public services union UNISON and the Disability@Work group of academics, who have played a significant role in raising evidenced concerns about the Conservative government’s policies on disability employment.

Lola Oyewusi, a UNISON delegate, told the TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference in Liverpool: “To win for disabled workers is very paramount to the success of a Labour government.

“If Labour does not deliver for disabled workers, we will definitely hold them to account.”

And she warned Vicky Foxcroft, Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people, who had spoken at the conference the previous day, that – if she becomes minister for disabled people – “we will surely make sure she delivers”.

Anong the policies described by Foxcroft in her speech – many of which are in the charter – was a pledge to force larger employers to report on their disability pay gaps; reform of the Access to Work scheme; action to make it easier for disabled workers to secure reasonable adjustments; and reform of the government’s much-criticised Disability Confident scheme.

Lee Starr-Elliott, a delegate from the Communication Workers Union, told the conference: “It is now imperative that we rid ourselves of the Tories.

“However, it’s just as important that the Labour party is held to account and do not repeat or continue the mistakes that the current government are making.”

He added: “Attacks on Deaf and disabled people and workers must be stopped, and we need a Labour party that embraces and works with disabled people and groups to make the change for the better.

“Access to Work, disability benefits and many other programmes must be fixed, and the rights of disabled people and workers must be strengthened, especially in employment, where we are seeing the biggest number of attacks from both the employer and the DWP.

“Labour must also be held to account and commit to being a leading figure in disability issues, both nationally and internally.”

Philip Blundell, a Unite delegate, called on the Labour party to stand with the union movement.

But he added: “Don’t do it and you’re part of the enemy and we will come for you.”

He told delegates: “Go back to your workplaces, ask people to vote Labour, then we’ll hold them to account.

“And if they don’t bring in, within the first 100 days, what they said they were going to do, we will hold them to account. We will march.”

Alison Gaughan, from the University and College Union, told fellow delegates: “I want to see the back of the Tories as much as anybody.

“However, I’m sceptical about how much will change when Labour come to power.

“I welcome the promises that we’ve heard from Labour. I hope they will come to pass, but I’m not holding my breath.”

She added: “We know that we live in a system where if the needs of disabled people come up against the interests of capital, capital will win.

“We shouldn’t forget that the Labour party has committed to the same economic rules as the Tories adhere to.

“Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has repeatedly emphasised her commitment to so-called fiscal responsibility, and she cosies up to business leaders.

“The TUC must hold Labour to all their promises on disability, and more.

“We want full equality for disabled people and a full commitment to the Disability Employment Charter and the UNCRPD*.”

Ian Thomas, from the PCS union, pointed out that only two of the unions represented at the conference had signed up to the charter themselves, despite 187 organisations backing it.

He said: “If we all… go back to our own unions and say, ‘Why haven’t you signed it yet?’ that action alone would really boost the visible sign that we as trade unions are signed up to the Disability Employment Charter, that we want to see a workplace where disability employment rights are recognised by the employers that we are negotiating with.”

Dougie Johnstone, a delegate from the bakers’ union BFAWU, told the conference that although he was looking forward to “getting rid” of the Conservatives, he also had “some concerns” about the Labour party.

He pleaded with Labour to ignore the “nice headlines you’ll get in the Tory rags” and “be the party that says, ‘I will stand up for everyone.’”

The motion was passed with only a handful of abstentions.

*UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Anger and frustration after unions refuse to back disabled people’s manifesto

By John Pring on 30th May 2024

Disabled union delegates have been accused of failing to support the disability movement after refusing to back a motion at their annual conference that called on political parties, and the TUC, to support a manifesto drawn up by disabled people’s organisations.

Opposition to the Disabled People’s Manifesto appears to have started with the refusal of the influential National Education Union (NEU) and the NASUWT teachers’ union to support its demands on inclusive education.

The manifesto, put together by DPO Forum England and supported by 40 disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), calls for a “right for every Disabled and Deaf student to get appropriate support to attend and remain in a fully inclusive mainstream education setting”.

It also lays out a “radical reform programme” across the areas of representation and voice, rights, independence, and inclusion, which is aimed at tackling “disablist policy making and systemic oppression and injustice”.

Despite DPOs expecting a motion supporting the manifesto to be approved, it was opposed by NEU, NASUWT and even the TUC disabled workers’ committee, the body elected annually by disabled delegates to the conference, and which advises the TUC on disability policy.

The committee told the conference in a statement that it supported the “vast majority” of the manifesto, but that the document “does not call out the resourcing and funding crisis facing schools when it comes to the delivery of SEND*”.

It also said it was concerned that the manifesto’s wording was “still subject to change” and that it did not want to commit the TUC and its affiliated unions to “a manifesto that could be altered”.

There was frustration and anger from disabled activists this week at the actions of union delegates at the conference in Liverpool.

Simone Aspis, a lifelong campaigner for inclusive education, and a former policy and campaigns coordinator for The Alliance for Inclusive Education, but speaking on behalf of her consultancy Changing Perspectives, said she was “angry” and “very disappointed” by the unions’ actions and their failure to support the manifesto.

She said: “Ever since I have been involved with the disabled people’s movement, I have never really felt that unions have really supported disabled people in terms of advocating for their rights.”

But Aspis, who attended a segregated special school herself, said she would not have expected the unions that represent school teaching staff to vote any other way “because they are worried about their workers losing their jobs in segregated provision” and have a “vested interest” which should be examined.

She added: “It will take some very brave union to actually say, ‘This is where we want to go and some workers will lose their jobs, but we really want an inclusive society.’”

Bob Ellard, a member of the national steering group of Disabled People Against Cuts, said: “Solidarity of the left with disabled people only seems to apply when organisations want something from us, but not when we ask them to do something for us.

“Again and again over years, disabled people have been let down by people who style themselves fighters for social justice.

“Are we surprised by this? No, we’re used to it.”

And Professor Peter Beresford, co-chair of Shaping Our Lives, said: “There isn’t a public service which hasn’t been damaged and subverted by the privatising and small state politics of at least the last 15 years.

“We know that well-thought-through and well-resourced inclusive education is in the best interest of all school students, properly implemented.

“We know that successive Conservative administrations have shown no commitment to the diversity of children’s educational needs and have done little to support truly inclusive education, more often the opposite.

“But knowing this does not mean that we lose sight of the principles of inclusive education or our long-term commitment to them.

“There is now real hope for ideological change in the UK; now is the time to recommit ourselves to disabled people-led inclusive education, not to weaken our support for it.”

Jonathan Bellshaw, a member of the disabled workers’ committee and a Communication Workers Union delegate, had spoken against the manifesto at the conference.

He told the conference that “we have to be very careful when we say let’s use mainstream for SEND”, and he told delegates that when he had been a school governor there was a disabled pupil “who was not suitable for mainstream school”.

Among his other concerns was that the manifesto’s two-week timeframe for dealing with requests for reasonable adjustments was not realistic because, he said, Brexit meant it now takes more than two weeks to obtain specialist chairs from Europe.

Kat Downs, from NASUWT, questioned the demand for accessible housing in the manifesto, because she said it wasn’t clear who would decide whether housing was accessible, and she did not trust “the government and the planning laws”.

She said that, as an autistic teacher, she supported “the right for anybody to choose where they want to be educated”.

She said: “Class sizes right now, in some schools, are way in excess of 30, 34, 35.

“If I was an autistic person sat in one of those classrooms right now, I would not be maintaining mainstream education.”

Kevin Daws, from the University and College Union, had led support for the motion, and told delegates that the document “reaffirms our commitment to the social model of disability” and is “a manifesto for change, a manifesto which provides a new deal for Deaf and disabled people”.

He said: “The manifesto is a call to arms, it’s saying that we as disabled people are proud.

“We’ve had enough of the warm words. We demand a change. And the manifesto is a tool with which to engage with us.”

Austin Harney, a delegate from the PCS union, seconded the motion, and told the conference that it was important to “build alliances” with disabled people’s organisations by supporting the manifesto.

In response to concerns raised by NEU and NASUWT, Daws told delegates: “We should remember that having segregated schools for people with special educational needs is actually based on a medical model of disability and is designed to isolate those people, exclude them from mainstream education.”

And he pointed to government evidence that found that greater inclusion in mainstream settings “can improve the academic achievement for children and young people with special educational needs”.

He said the manifesto “actually includes a demand to commit an extra three billion pounds per year for education support to fund SEND; in other words, properly-funded special educational needs within mainstream schools”.

And he reminded Bellshaw that the demand for a response to reasonable adjustment requests within two weeks was current TUC policy, and had been approved by the disabled workers’ conference in 2022.

The manifesto has been put together by the country’s leading disabled people’s organisations, and disabled activists had hoped that backing from the TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference would help pressure the Labour party ahead of July’s general election.

But opposition from NEU – whose delegates wore “disability pride” tee-shirts to the conference – NASUWT and other unions, meant a motion supporting the manifesto was defeated by 67 votes to 52, with 20 abstentions.

A spokesperson for DPO Forum England said: “We are disappointed the motion in support of our manifesto did not go through.

“However, we are grateful and proud that 52 representatives voted for it.

“We will build on this support, recognising a huge need for DPOs and the unions to work together to create spaces for solidarity among disabled people.

“We know there are fundamental disagreements and we urge the unions to work with us to create opportunities where campaigners for inclusion can be at the table, explain their vision and be heard.”

*Special educational needs and disabilities

Picture: Delegates voting against the motion

 

Media watchdog files ICC case over journalists’ deaths in Gaza

AFP

May 27, 2024

The ICC said in January it was probing potential crimes against journalists since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas - Copyright AFP/File CARL DE SOUZA

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Monday it had filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court over Palestinian journalists killed or injured in Gaza.

RSF said it was asking the ICC’s prosecutor to investigate alleged war crimes committed by the Israeli army against at least nine Palestinian reporters since December 15.

The ICC said in January it was probing potential crimes against journalists since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, which has cost the lives of more than 100 reporters.

RSF said it had “reasonable grounds for thinking that some of these journalists were deliberately killed and that the others were the victims of deliberate IDF (Israel Defence Force) attacks against civilians.”

This specific complaint — the third the RSF has made — concerns eight Palestinian journalists killed between December 20 and May 20, and one other who sustained injuries.

“All concerned journalists were killed (or injured) in the course of their work,” RSF said in a statement.

Antoine Bernard, RSF advocacy and assistance director, said: “Those who kill journalists are attacking the public’s right to information, which is even more essential in times of conflict.”

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan last week asked the court to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes and crimes and humanity.

Israel has strongly denied the allegation and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that to draw a parallel between Hamas and Israeli leaders was “despicable”.

– ‘Deadliest period for journalists’ –


The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 107 journalists and media workers have been killed during the Gaza war, the “deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992”.

The RSF complaint includes the case of two Palestinian journalists killed in January while working for Al Jazeera.

Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria, who also worked as a video stringer for AFP and other news organisations, were killed while they were “on their way to carry out their duty” for the channel in the Gaza Strip, the network said.

The Israeli army told AFP at the time it had “struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops”.

It added it was “aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit”.

The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,984 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

OpenAI’s Johansson gaffe pushes voice cloning into spotlight


AFP
May 27, 2024

Scarlett Johansson voiced an AI in the film 'Her', a movie liked by Sam Altman - Copyright AFP/File ANGELA WEISS
Joseph BOYLE

OpenAI was forced to apologise to actor Scarlett Johansson last week for using her voice –- or something very similar –- on its latest chatbot, throwing the spotlight on to voice-cloning tech.

Although OpenAI denied the voice they used was Johansson’s, their case was not helped by CEO Sam Altman flagging the new model with a one-word message on social media — “Her”.

Johansson voiced an AI character in the film “Her”, which Altman has previously said is his favourite film about the technology.

Right from the start, AI voice cloning has proved problematic.

Last year, British firm Elevenlabs went viral for all the wrong reasons when it released its voice-cloning software.

Internet pranksters immediately began pushing out deepfaked celebrities — Harry Potter star Emma Watson was shown reading Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone.

The technology has developed rapidly in the past year becoming far more realistic and nuanced.

Danish entrepreneur Victor Riparbelli, CEO of British AI firm Synthesia, told AFP it was largely down to a program called Tortoise that was released two years ago.

The program’s developers threw thousands of hours of voice data into their model in an unstructured way and discovered it not only learnt what to say but how to say it.

“That was a pretty big paradigm shift,” Riparbelli said on the sidelines of last week’s VivaTech conference in Paris.

Tortoise was an open source program and Elevenlabs was the first to go to market using it.

OpenAI uses similar systems though they do not release any details.

– ‘Not very good’ –

Much of the controversy around voice cloning has focused on concerns over people misusing the software.

But the claim against OpenAI is unusual because it is the company itself accused of playing fast and loose.

“It was very unfortunate that OpenAI did that — really not very good,” Katya Laine, CEO of TALKR.ai, told AFP at VivaTech.

“If they actually cloned her voice without her knowing then I think that’s very very bad,” said Riparbelli.

The two entrepreneurs are among hundreds harnessing AI voice programs for uses that they argue will make companies more efficient.

Laine’s firm provides virtual voice assistants — essentially AI customer service agents.

She said her firm’s system could now resolve 25 to 30 percent of calls without any human involvement.

Synthesia specialises in video avatars, which Riparbelli said allowed any office worker to turn text or slides into a video performed by a realistic AI.

Both Riparbelli and Laine allow their clients to use their own avatars, off-the-shelf products or those supplied by the likes of OpenAI and Elevenlabs.

Riparbelli said Synthesia used actors whose likenesses and voices were licensed for two years with an option to renew after the initial period.

The problems arise if actors’ voices are used without their consent.

– ‘Odd precedent’ –

The fiasco overshadowed a developer conference in Paris last week when OpenAI was showing off a suite of new tools.

In front of a big screen in an auditorium, Romain Huet, OpenAI’s Head of Developer Experience, breezily chatted into his phone.

Seconds later, his short voice sample had been processed and could be heard commentating over a generated video — in five languages.

The demonstration showed how quickly the field is moving, but the headlines had already been written.

The Washington Post asked in a newsletter “How dumb is OpenAI?”, other commentators were suggesting wunderkind Altman was nothing more than a huckster.

Nonetheless, Riparbelli was open to OpenAI’s argument that they had used another actor who just sounded liked Johansson.

“If it’s not her but someone who sounds a lot like her… where do you draw that line,” Riparbelli asked.

“If they’re not allowed to use someone who sounds a lot like her, then it sets a very odd precedent.”

Rights court takes climate crisis hearing to Brazilian Amazon

By AFP
May 27, 2024

Brazil has been hard-hit by extreme weather events attributed to climate change, the most recent of which are the historic floods in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul that have left nearly 170 people dead and dozens missing - Copyright AFP Anselmo Cunha

Academics, activists and Indigenous people gathered Monday in the Brazilian Amazon to weigh in on a key legal question: What responsibility do states have in the face of climate emergencies?

The matter is one before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which was invited to Brazil to hold public hearings in a case that has drawn input from around the world.

The Brazilian Amazon, home to the world’s largest rainforest, is a “region of indisputable importance” when facing the effects of climate change, said the president of the Costa Rica-based court, Nancy Hernandez Lopez, at the opening of the session.

The case was brought in January 2023 by Chile and Colombia, who have asked the court for an advisory opinion on a country’s duties when “responding to the climate emergency under the framework of international human rights law.”

“We ask the court to consider states’ obligations to Indigenous peoples,” said Junior Anderson Guarani Kaiowa, from Brazil’s second-largest Indigenous community.

He said the region where his people live in Mato Grosso do Sul “is threatened by desertification, with no forest, no water, and no animals,” he said.

“In Guarani Kaiowa cosmology, the river and the forests maintain the balance of global warming. Pray that rivers contaminated with pesticides do not dry up later.”

The hearings are taking place from Monday to Wednesday in Manaus, the capital of Brazil’s Amazonas state.

The first hearings in the case took place in Barbados in April, before they moved to Brasilia last week.

Hernandez Lopez said the court had received more than 260 written contributions from civil society organizations around the world, “the largest participation in the history” of the court.

The advisory opinion is expected by the end of the year, a court source told AFP.

At the hearing in Brasilia, teenagers and activists from several South American countries warned that climate change affects young people “differently” with consequences for health, education, nutrition and hobbies.

Brazil has been hard-hit by extreme weather events attributed to climate change, the most recent of which are the historic floods in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul that have left nearly 170 people dead and dozens missing.