The rise of Dame Bryony Rudkin goes further and faster. The so-right-wing-its-a-puzzle-why-they’re-still-in-Labour pressure group “Labour First” have put her on their slate for the National Policy Forum, at least according to Luke Akehurst, an arms trade lobbyist (and you can’t be more New Labour than a merchant of death).

Will the Campaign for Social Democracy, SDP, Manifesto Group, Tory Reform Group get the treasure of Bridge ward up to yet another place where she does not need to deal with our mundane worries? And what do the Balls backing Ipswich Labour Party think? Will we ever see those photos of her government sponsored trip around South Africa? And why on earth is Bridge Ward News the best source of gossip about the Ipswich Labour Party?

There will be more thrilling instalments as they happen.

So John Cook the defeated candidate for Norwich North is back in his old stomping ground of Ipswich, as I predicted he would be before the election. It’s not online but he’s been doing some good old fashioned stirring about the fact that Ben Gummer’s office although functioning (I’ve had some dealings with them) does not yet have a shopfront office, like the Labour MP for Rochdale.

I also understand from a Labour mole (no, not that Mole) that he is now the agent for Ipswich.

Surely his first love was Norwich North? For the life of me I can’t understand why a failed Parliamentary candidate would hang around a constituency without a nominated candidate where the incumbent majority is just over half of his old constituency. That’s a real puzzler. Maybe Chris Mole, David Ellesmere or Bryony Rudkin would be able to answer this? I bet they love a bit of competition.

How would you fancy a Norwich season ticket holder as your next MP?

I don’t know who slapped the Miliband campaign down, but there are a number of prospects. It seems that their claim that Dame Bryony Rudkin is the leader of Ipswich council has been removed.

Before

Leader of the Council? Really?

After

As to who did the slapping it could have been Liz Harsant, the real leader of Ipswich Council, David Ellesmere, the leader of the Ipswich Labour group or Sandy Martin who defeated her as the leader of the Suffolk Council Labour group. But we don’t care.

The question we must ask is how much time has been spent working on the Miliband campaign and how much time has been working in Bridge ward. Was that a reason why no Labour councillors bothered to represent Bridge when the police priorities were set?

I was at the South West Area forum yesterday. It was quite far away, in the Triangle Church in Dickens Road, but there were issues that affected Bridge being discussed there.

Sadly there were no councillors from Bridge there. No newly re-elected Jim Powell, no soon to stand for re-election Philip Smart and no double County and Borough councillor Bryony Rudkin. For shame.

The other two county councillors from the area were present and there were councillors from the other three wards in the area. There was a debate in which the policing priorities were set for the South West area of Ipswich. Not surprisingly Bridge did very poorly in this. Last year it was generally remarked upon by other councillors of both parties that Bridge was being better represented as the councillors were scared that they could lose to the Tories. It’s now been commented that as Labour thinks Bridge will be in the bag next year that the Bridge councillors are returning to their bad, self indulgent habits of quango hunting and wittering on about pet subjects. I didn’t want to believe it, but when the bread and butter of local representation is neglected like this, then what can you believe?

This is why Bridge must never revert to being a safe Labour seat.

When we were a bit children we all tried to impress our friends by telling them that our dad was more important than he was. Then we tried to tell our friends that our job or achievements were more important than they were. Middle age is the time when we sadly realise that potential is not the same as achievement, and we’ve probably achieved less than we are capable. So with this in mind I felt that I should go a bit easy on this, where she anoints David Miliband as her preferred candidate for the leadership:

Leader of the Council? Really?

Liz Harsant, the real life leader of Ipswich Council, may have something to say on this. The Conservative group may welcome Bryony with open arms (she’s second favourite to defect among Tory activists) but I’m not sure they think she should be leader yet. Perhaps David Ellesmere, the leader on the Labour Group, may also want a word.

Dame Bryony has many, many jobs, but not leader of Ipswich council.

David Miliband got an unimaginable boost to his campaign when our very own Dame Bryony Rudkin announced that she would anoint him as her candidate for the leadership of the Labour Party. Former councillor John Cook, who seems to find any excuse to come down to Ipswich, is spreading the gospel for wounded candidate Ed Balls (as is Tory Councillor Paul West).

So who are Ipswich Labour party supporting? Ipswich Labour Party’s strength and abiding weakness is that they have stayed tribal when the rest of the country is far less tribal than it was a generation ago. This is why they didn’t see Ben Gummer’s challenge until it was too late. However it also means that they should be able to keep the whole show on the road and not implode after government as other Constituency Labour Parties seem to be doing.

Ed Balls image as a “no compromise with the voters” candidate should appeal to the Ipswich Labour Party. That is, however, the Ipswich Labour Party’s problem.

I was full of anticipation when Gordon Brown announced his list of peers, but I’m afraid that Bridge Ward has been cheated.

It seems that in a typical act of short sightedness Dame Bryony Rudkin is not Lady Bryony. Why is there no peerage for Bryony? If there can be peerages for Floella Benjamin and Guy Richie’s mum, surely the treasure of Bridge Ward deserves her emine. Lady Bryony of Tuddenham Road has a nice ring for the treasure of Bridge Ward.

I suppose the recession, the deficit, the European Constitution and the sale of gold at the bottom of the market are all worse marks against the most disastrous Prime Minister since the War of the Roses, but not by much.

Labour activists have a strange attitude to the white working class. This was shown when Gordon Brown called an innocent Labour voting pensioner a “bigot” for daring to ask him questions about the effects of Eastern European immigration.

This will be placed as a question of the Prime Minister’s two-faced nature and his temper. Perhaps it will stretch to questions about Brown’s, ahem, mental stability or the judgement of Labour MPs like Chris Mole who know Brown one hundred times better than we do and who still wanted him as leader of their party. Those are all questions that should be asked, but frankly they are not the most worrying question.

The fact is that middle class Labour activists treat the white English working class with horror. They may think that they speak for them, they may depend on them for their votes and they may even pretend to be like them.

However they can not stand the views of the working class, and they genuinely do regard them as bigoted. This is especially so with immigration. What is in effect a narrow sectional interest – a desire for cheaper restaurants, gardeners and nannies – is transformed into a moral crusade and everyone else has to knuckle down.

When this hurts the loyal white working class, then there is no real sympathy. Obviously if you have been on the doorstep you know that the feeling is intense compared to ten years ago, and curiously non-racial. There is just a feeling that unchecked immigration has lowered wages, raised rents and put a strain on services.

When the white working class complain about immigration they are not calling for an all white Britain but some control over their circumstances. The problem is that from Corder Road or Severn Road this looks like bigotry. In most cases when the class interests of the representatives differ from the clearly expressed interest of those that they wish to represent, the representatives knuckle down and, well, represent.

This has been turned on its head. The people have to be “led”. God help them.

Whenever I mention Mama Rudkin, I always get a reaction. You’re an unhealthy lot.

We all know that Labour are hoping to regain control of the Borough Council next month. It looks as it will come down to seats in Sprites, Whitehouse and Alexandra ward.

If Labour do sneak back control might they replace their current leader with our own Bryony Rudkin. For all her faults Bryony does have personality and charisma. I would have said presence, but we can’t really say that about Dame Bryony south of the river.

It has long been a mystery to some Ipswich Tories how she was overlooked for the parliamentary seat against a drab Chris Mole. It will appear just as strange if, having regained control of the Borough, Labour continues with the sixth-form (sorry to all the sixth formers reading this) leadership of David Ellesmere and the champion nit picker, Martin Cook. The consensus is that these two gentlemen, although relatively effective opposition nuisance makers, are light years behind Dame Bryony in terms of leadership ability and personality. So if the council does switch back to Labour will it be sixth form prefect or international stateswoman who is handed the torch?

I’ve sent this to Dame Bryony:

Dear Councillor Rudkin,

James Spencer

Edit: I have been honoured with a response from Mama Rudkin:

Dear James,

Bryony