Cambridge Labour Party celebrate President Obama's inauguration

20 January 2009

Members of Cambridge Labour Party, along with Cambridge Universities Labour Club, joined John Prescott MP, Richard Howitt MEP and Daniel Zeichner to watch President Barack Hussein Obama's inauguration ceremony. The Guildhall was transformed with American bunting and refreshments, along with stalls from progressive organisations including anti-fascist group Searchlight and the Labour Club.

Whilst hearing Obama take the oath of office, and his inuaguaral speech, were without doutb the highlights of the afternoon, the 300+ crowd were treated to much more. Popcorn, doughnuts, pizza and Coke were all on offer, and the event also featured speeches from John Prescott MP and Richard Howitt MEP.

Richard Howitt reminded us all of the danger the BNP pose, generally as well as in the upcoming European elections. It would not take much improvement in their vote for the BNP to win a seat here in the Eastern region. This is yet more reason to campaign as hard as possible in the run up to June 4th, to stop this nasty, racist party from gaining the air of respectability, not to mention European funding.

Daniel Zeichner, John Prescott MP and Richard Howitt MEP at the inauguration event

In a lively speech John Prescott MP highlighted the shared values between ourselves and Barack Obama. Both Labour and the Democrats are the leading progressive parties of our respective countries, and values of tolerance, social justice and equality of opportunity are close to all our hearts. He also pointed out that Obama was poised to launch a similar economic rescue package to that crafted by Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling. Yet more evidence that Labour are the right party to guide the country through the recession. He finished by reminding us of the words that closed the preceedings in Washington:

"Brown - stick around!"

As people have been asked "Where were you when Kennedy was assasinated?" or "Where were you when a man landed on the moon?" the question "Where were you when America's first black President took office?" will be asked in future years. We can proudly say that we were with our friends, collegues, and past, present and future leaders of the Labour movement.