76. (NEW) PAUL KENNY
General Secretary, GMB
Kenny is a canny campaigner who used the private equity industry as an effective stick with which to beat a Labour government he felt was too close to the city. Like other Union leaders he is hedging about the next government while also calling on rebels to put up or shut up. He is the only big union boss close to Labour to actually call for a leadership election and his frustration with the antics of the parliamentary party is obvious.
77. (NEW) KEITH VAZ
Chairman, Home Affairs Select Committee
With human rights and law and order, especially as they relate to terrorism at the top of the domestic agenda - when people have time to look away from the economy - Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, is always there with a campaign or a soundbite. The most influential backbencher on law and order he is an essential feature of smooth legislating in the areas he cares about.
78. (-56) HILARY BENN
Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs The complete and utter failure of his dismal deputy leadership campaign has led to him become a marginal and peripheral figure. Still respected and liked, he is finding it increasingly difficult to drive forward his agenda at DEFRA. The rumour is that he may be a casualty of a Brown reshuffle.
79. (-54) JOHN KAMPFNER
Chief Executive, Index on Censorhsip
Kampfner's departure from the editorship of the New Statesman was a shock to all on the left, especially as he had overseen a highly successful redesign. He has developed a niche as a media pundit and freelance commentator and has recently taken on the job of running the Index on Censorship under the chairmanship of Jonathan Dimbleby.
81. (-11) PETER MANDELSON
Vice President, European Commission
That Peter Mandelson remains in this list is a feat in itself, but his role in the creation of New Labour is an enduring legacy, which will not easily disappear. He remains close to several members of the Brown Cabinet, even if the Prime Minister himself cannot bear to hear his name. His future role in Labour politics after his departure in eight months time from the European Commission remains a subject for much speculation.
82. (-10) SUNNY HUNDAL
Blogger, Liberal Conspiracy
There are few left of centre bloggers who could be described as ‘influential’. Sunny Hundal is one. His new group blog, Liberal Conspiracy, has become an agenda setting and influential website within a very short time. He’s an eloquent media performer and the very antithesis of the stereotype ranting blogger.
83. (NEW) IEUEAN WYN JONES
Leader, Plaid Cymru
It may be mere opportunism or the example of what the SNP has achieved but Plaid Cymru’s leader has turned on his coalition partners to good effect this year. His attacks on Labour for having lost its way ring true in a Wales that has benefited from devolution and Labour governments but often not as much as the Scots seem to have done. There have been as many false dawns for Welsh nationalism as there have been general elections since the Second World War, but maybe this time with Labour in meltdown and Jones in charge their time has finally come?
84. (-3) CHRIS McLAUGHLIN
Editor, Tribune
Chris McLaughlin has so far kept the ageing left wing weekly afloat in difficult circumstances and made it more relevant to the day to day politics of the Labour movement. Though hardly known outside the party and the trade union movement, Tribune remains the in-house paper of the British left, but for how long? Rumour is it may well soon shut down and become a blog.
85. (-10) SIMON WOOLLEY
Founder, Operation Black Vote
Woolley has done more to push black participation in politics than anyone else. His challenge has been to break out of the black and ethnic media and become a more widely known voice nationally.
86. (NEW) RAY COLLINS
General Secretary, Labour Party
The former TGWU man was a key element in the formation of the mega union UNITE and a managerial trade unionist who is skilful and well regarded. He needs to be. He came into the post of General Secretary of the Labour Party when it was close to £20m in debt. The fund raising and direction communications strategies have both stepped up a gear, though the by-elections continue to be lost. A worthy new entry but the coming year will tell us if he can turn the Labour machine around.
87. (NEW) NEIL KINNOCK
Former Leader of the Labour Party
In a very busy and active year, Lord Kinnock has re-emerged as a Labour elder statesman. In times of crisis Labour does not traditionally turn to the men in suits, in the way that the Conservative Party do. However Kinnock’s loyalty and silence are important factors – his power to cause significant harm to the PM brings him back into the top 100 as does the return to the political stage of his plagiariser Joe Biden as Obama’s running mate.
88. (NEW) PHIL COLLINS
Former speechwriter to Tony Blair
If the Blairites make a come back after Brown and win the fight for the party that will take place between what passes for the left these days and the “modernizers” still committed to the “project”, then Phil Collins will be in the vanguard. Collins was the first to openly articulate the depth of Blairite fear that Brown was squandering Blair’s legacy. When the fighting really starts after the next election, Collins will be in the thick of it.
89. (-82) KEN LIVINGSTONE
Mayor of London
Livingstone is this year’s most dramatic loser of influence, as he plummets down the list from lat year’s Number 7. Having lost the mayoralty to Boris Johnson he has embarrassed himself by continuing to hang around City hall like a ghost.
90. (NEW) MARTIN McGUINNESS
Deputy First Minister, Northern Ireland
With the business of governing back in the province, McGuinness has now eclipsed his colleague Gerry Adams. Constructive politics is a lot harder than endless opposition and McGuinness has had a reasonable year.
91. (NEW) DEREK DRAPER
Psychologist & Labour Party Adviser
A remarkable return for the reckless Draper who lost a string of jobs in politics and the media before reinventing himself as a shrink. A lot less dapper in dress and appearance than in this first incarnation, Draper’s phone has starting ringing again as the party search for an answer to their current malaise. It may only be a question of time before he implodes again, or, older and wiser, the potential that many saw in the young Draper may finally be realised. A surprise entry and very much a “watch this space”.
92. (NEW) LORD DARZI
The Iraqi born Armenian was appointed to a key health job by Brown and given £1m to do a comprehensive review of the NHS. The report received mixed reviews and is still being hotly debated, but Darzi has emerged in the politics of health as a key player.
93. (-23) NICK COHEN
Author & Columnist, The Observer
Cohen’s book ‘What’s Left’ has made him persona non grata in many left of centre circles. But at the same time it’s made him the talk of the Islington glitterati. His assertion that the left have at best been apologists for militant Islam has given him a profile and an influence he is making full use of.
94. (-16) STEVE RICHARDS
Columnist, The Independent
One of the most thoughtful columnists in British journalism, Richards is the antithesis of knee-jerk column writing. He was tipped to succeed John Kampfner at the New Statesman, but decided instead to stay put, but has lost his GMTV Sunday morning programme.
95. (NEW) ROBERT PHILPOTT
When Blair fell a lot of people thought Progress would disappear from the scene. Instead, under the quietly charming Rob Philpott, it has come out as a strong source of new ideas and a renewed presence on the web. In competition with Lawson’s Compass, Philpott’s Progress has if anything been more loyal to Brown’s leadership than the PMs old cheerleaders. The Progress manifesto groups, meetings and the journal have had a lively and interesting year.
96. (-1) MICHAEL FOOT
Former leader of the Labour Party
The greatest political essayist of the age remains a player on the left despite his 96 years. He is to many the personification of the old left values of state intervention, trade union power and nuclear disarmament, but his real influence now is in the world of letters and the connection he represents to the prose of Hazlitt, Byron and H G Wells. No list of influential British Lefties could ever exclude him.
97. (NEW) SALMA YACOUB
Respect Councillor
Though many would say she does not deserve to be on a list of lefties at all, being more at home with totalitarianism than democracy, Yacoub is about all that is left of the Respect Coalition after its egos exploded in division and widespread derision – staying loyal to Galloway and working as a councilor in Birmingham. Respect might still deprive Labour of a few seats and contribute to the election of a Conservative government.
98. (NEW) JAG SINGH
Internet consultant
One of the few people on the British left who understands the potential of the internet in political campaigning. A co founder of the LabourHome blog, recently sold to the New Statesman, he has worked on several Democratic political campaigns in the US.
99. (NEW) TOM HARRIS
Junior Minister for Transport
Tom Harris is not a junior Minister of whom many outside Westminster have heard, yet his profile is steadily rising due to his very popular political blog. Recently voted Labour’s Number One blogger, this ultra Blairite Scotsman has taken to the medium like a duck to water.
100. (NEW) CHARLES CLARKE
Former Home Secretary
The ex-Cabinet minister and Blairite enforcer still has the power to embarrass the leadership with his ability to say what everyone else is thinking. In combination with others he might turn the leadership challenge to Brown into something serious so he creeps into the top one hundred.
