Leading Labour MP to support PSOE campaign in Calvia

By Jason Moore THE local election campaign in Calvia took another new twist yesterday with the announcement that the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) have recruited the services of a leading Labour MP to speak on their behalf at a dinner in Palmanova on Sunday night. Former minister for Europe Dennis MacShane MP will be giving a speech at a free dinner organised by the PSOE at Ses Forquetes restaurant on Sunday night. “We are deeply honoured that Mr. MacShane has given us some of his valuable time to help us in our campaign,” said a PSOE spokesperson yesterday. MacShane will be giving his support to Antonio Manchado who is bidding to be the next Mayor of Calvia. He is probably the highest profile Labour Party speaker ever to come to the island to support the PSOE and comes at a time when the three major parties in the municipalities are courting the so-called foreign vote. “We have sent out a letter to all British residents in the area inviting them to come along,” said the spokesperson. MacShane is the member of parliament for Rotherham and was Minister for Europe until the Cabinet reshuffle after the general election in 1995. He has some strong views on Europe and on Sunday he is expected to underline the importance of British residents voting in local elections in Europe. MacShane's failure to remain in government is believed by some to have been his falling between two stools; neither being a Blairite or Brownite. However, during his time as minister he did cause some controversy. He described Gordon Brown's five economic tests on joining the euro, as a “giant red herring.” He also described Venezuelan minister Hugo Chavez as a “ranting populist demagogue” and compared him to Mussolini. In 2005 he was appointed a member of the Privy Council. The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) does have close links with the Labour Party in Britain thanks to the International Socialist Organisation. But the fact that he is speaking in Calvia rather than Palma shows how keen the PSOE are to retake the council from the Partido Popular and once again underlines the importance of the British vote in Calvia. As one Calvia resident said yesterday “the PSOE have gone from not-wanting the foreign vote at all to embracing it with vigour...”