Tony Blair might be well advised to stay away from Trimdon Labour Club in his Parliamentary constituency of Sedgefield, only a short distance from the PM's North East home.
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The one-time bedrock of grassroots support, it's members are outraged by Tuesday night's vote in the Commons to ban smoking in public places. They had hoped that private membership clubs would be excluded from the ban; there is currenly more than just mumbling from members proposing to ban Blair in protest.
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The one-time bedrock of grassroots support, it's members are outraged by Tuesday night's vote in the Commons to ban smoking in public places. They had hoped that private membership clubs would be excluded from the ban; there is currenly more than just mumbling from members proposing to ban Blair in protest.
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Councillor Paul Trippett, the manager of the Trimdon Labour Club and one of the men who helped the young Blair secure nomination as Labour's Sedgefield candidate over 20 years ago, is among those who has openly expressed his views at the club on the smoking ban.
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He is actually quoted in the Financial Times (not much read in Labour drinking clubs I suspect). He feels it illustrates Labour's "middle classism". Ouch !
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Banning fox hunting; promoting ID cards; outlawing public smoking; all trouble Mr Trippett, a traditional Labour Durham County councillor. 'People worry "what next?",' he says. Other parties can gain advantage here, he warns, by talking about freedom of the individual. Mr Trippett fears the New Labour nanny state is taking hold. "I think people should be helped to stand on their own - and then left to run their lives."
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He suspects some middle-class Labour MPs do not understand the working class - especially those not motivated by health issues.
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"Those who don't want to get into shape very much don't want to", he says. "I drive everywhere, I drink too much, I eat too much. That's what I want to do and what I indend to do.''
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