Greater London: +3.36% North West: +2.84% Yorkshire & the Humber: +2.52% North East: +0.87% South East: +0.54% Eastern: +0.25% Wales: +0.25% West Midlands: +0.04% East Midlands: -0.20% South West: -0.71% Scotland: -7.94%
Did you read my post this morning ? My Y&H GE2010 numbers included Thirsk
I've just seen it a couple of minutes ago, thanks.
Listening to Len going on about withdrawing funding unless Labour choose the 'right' leader, what chance that the party will just agree call his bluff? Let him go and set up his own party of the loony left and Guardian readers, allowing the more sensible - let's call them Blairites for now - wing of the party to elect someone like Kendall or Jarvis and take the fight to Cameron.
If the party elders thought they could survive without Len's cash, they might.
But they can't...
They will find a way IF they make the break with the unions. Who else would want to donate to the party where all the influence is with Red Len? There's plenty of pro-EU businessmen around that I'm sure would be sympathetic, probably a few Islington luvvies too.
A party funded by the likes of Steve Coogan and Hugh Grant is not going to be any better, frankly.
A party funded by as wide a range of people and groups as possible is far more likely to be in touch and less beholden to special interests in a way which puts off more people than it attracts.
Is Hugh Grant a Labour supporter ?
Hugh Grant supported the LDs at the election. You could win a dinner with him if you made a donation!
Greater London: +3.36% North West: +2.84% Yorkshire & the Humber: +2.52% North East: +0.87% South East: +0.54% Eastern: +0.25% Wales: +0.25% West Midlands: +0.04% East Midlands: -0.20% South West: -0.71% Scotland: -7.94%
Its the East Mids wot lost it!
The M1 corridor is our very own Ohio.
I have a soft spot for that area. South Notts/North Leicestershire is a lovely part of the world, especially around the vale of Belvoir.
Catching up on TPT I noted there was lots of speculation about SLAB's likely recovery in May 2016. As things stand things are likely to get worse for SLAB, SCUP and SLID. Running the last Survation Holyrood 2016 voting intentions through the Scotland Votes calculator - the results:
As the Scotland Votes seat calculator currently doesn't take account of regional splits, the above figures area at best a guide of likely trends based on current polling. Links below:
In terms of tactical voting, I think the SNP voting for the Greens in the regional list in areas where the SNP list vote is likely to be below 50%, could drive the Greens ahead of SCUP and close to overtaking SLAB. Unionist tactical voting at a constituency level might save the odd seat, however at a regional list level tactical voting could be dangerous and lose seats. For example if Glasgow Tories vote SLAB, Ruth could lose her seat, if SLAB vote SCUP they could lose a list seat etc.
Greater London: +3.36% North West: +2.84% Yorkshire & the Humber: +2.52% North East: +0.87% South East: +0.54% Eastern: +0.25% Wales: +0.25% West Midlands: +0.04% East Midlands: -0.20% South West: -0.71% Scotland: -7.94%
Its the East Mids wot lost it!
The M1 corridor is our very own Ohio.
I have a soft spot for that area. South Notts/North Leicestershire is a lovely part of the world, especially around the vale of Belvoir.
Derby North was the only seat changing hands in the region. I think Chris Williamson was a bit too left-wing even for a left of centre constituency.
It's already obvious this parliament could easily turn into an SNP rabble. Peter Wishart and Stewart Hosie standing there like a couple night club bouncers. Hope I'm wrong.
It's also interesting that David Cameron has been leader of the conservatives for 10 years and seen off Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and EdMiliband. What a lightweight EdM seems now, leaving Labour in a mess. Would have been far better to have stayed in spite of all the flak he would have taken and could have returned to the backbenches with some kudos.
It's already obvious this parliament could easily turn into an SNP rabble. Peter Wishart and Stewart Hosie standing there like a couple night club bouncers. Hope I'm wrong.
It's also interesting that David Cameron has been leader of the conservatives for 10 years and seen off Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and EdMiliband. What a lightweight EdM seems now, leaving Labour in a mess. Would have been far better to have stayed in spite of all the flak he would have taken and could have returned to the backbenches with some kudos.
SNP are nicely muddled in amongst seething Labour MPs. Much fun ahead.
Greater London: +3.36% North West: +2.84% Yorkshire & the Humber: +2.52% North East: +0.87% South East: +0.54% Eastern: +0.25% Wales: +0.25% West Midlands: +0.04% East Midlands: -0.20% South West: -0.71% Scotland: -7.94%
Its the East Mids wot lost it!
The M1 corridor is our very own Ohio.
I have a soft spot for that area. South Notts/North Leicestershire is a lovely part of the world, especially around the vale of Belvoir.
Derby North was the only seat changing hands in the region. I think Chris Williamson was a bit too left-wing even for a left of centre constituency.
Sherwood is still a shock result. That region seems to be turning Blue, with the exception of Nottingham and Leicester inner city seats.
Listening to Len going on about withdrawing funding unless Labour choose the 'right' leader, what chance that the party will just agree call his bluff? Let him go and set up his own party of the loony left and Guardian readers, allowing the more sensible - let's call them Blairites for now - wing of the party to elect someone like Kendall or Jarvis and take the fight to Cameron.
If the party elders thought they could survive without Len's cash, they might.
But they can't...
They will find a way IF they make the break with the unions. Who else would want to donate to the party where all the influence is with Red Len? There's plenty of pro-EU businessmen around that I'm sure would be sympathetic, probably a few Islington luvvies too.
A party funded by the likes of Steve Coogan and Hugh Grant is not going to be any better, frankly.
A party funded by as wide a range of people and groups as possible is far more likely to be in touch and less beholden to special interests in a way which puts off more people than it attracts.
Is Hugh Grant a Labour supporter ?
This has been answered already. I mentioned both these as an example of luvvies who might wish to fund Labour, largely because of their role in Hacked Off which seems to have written that part of Labour's manifesto on press freedom.
Replacing one special interest group by another does not seem to me to be an improvement.
Greater London: +3.36% North West: +2.84% Yorkshire & the Humber: +2.52% North East: +0.87% South East: +0.54% Eastern: +0.25% Wales: +0.25% West Midlands: +0.04% East Midlands: -0.20% South West: -0.71% Scotland: -7.94%
Its the East Mids wot lost it!
The M1 corridor is our very own Ohio.
I have a soft spot for that area. South Notts/North Leicestershire is a lovely part of the world, especially around the vale of Belvoir.
Derby North was the only seat changing hands in the region. I think Chris Williamson was a bit too left-wing even for a left of centre constituency.
Sherwood is still a shock result. That region seems to be turning Blue, with the exception of Nottingham and Leicester inner city seats.
Eastern Region was the most right-wing region 66.2% Then the Southeast on 65.5%. Then Southwest on 60.1 East Midlands = 59.2 West Midlands =57.5
"All four nations of the UK have returned voted for different parties as their main representatives. That is unprecedented"
Interestingly, while the Conservatives have more than 50% of the English MPs, Labour more than 50% of Welsh MPs and the SNP more than 50% of Scottish MPs, the DUP that Nigel Dodds leads holds 8 of the 18 Northern Ireland MPs, short of 50%, though more than 50% of those present in the House due to the 4 absent Sinn Fein MPs.
"All four nations of the UK have returned voted for different parties as their main representatives. That is unprecedented"
Interestingly, while the Conservatives have more than 50% of the English MPs, Labour more than 50% of Welsh MPs and the SNP more than 50% of Scottish MPs, the DUP that Nigel Dodds leads holds 8 of the 18 Northern Ireland MPs, short of 50%, though more than 50% of those present in the House due to the 4 absent Sinn Fein MPs.
The UUP aren't a million miles from the DUP either.
Hi John, the old Campaign Groupers are barely 10 now. Mike Wood, Linda Riordan and Martin Caton stood down. Katy Clark lost her seat in Scotland.
Andrea, Thanks and it will be interesting to see how much it will be replenished by the new girls and boys! Or will they form their own leftist grouping...
It seems as if there are some advantages to being one of the old guard. The whole article is comprised of one paragraph really:
"The leadership camps are keeping their levels of support private, but it is claimed Burnham and Cooper already have the support of more than 100 MPs. The Kendall camp claim to have the 35 to get on the ballot paper, but Hunt and Mary Creagh, the shadow international international development secretary, are thought to be well short. Hunt, who made no effort to organise prior to the election defeat, is starting from a long way back and has yet to declare he will stand."
Mr. Carnyx, there used to be a Black Rod in Scotland, I think.
Did some research on offices of state of that nature for comedy, and found that there are/were a number of other 'rods' [red and purple, I think], as well as gold and silver stick [royal guards]. The only job title I used was the defunct position of chafe-wax, on account of it sounding like some sort of perversion.
Mr. Carnyx, there used to be a Black Rod in Scotland, I think.
Did some research on offices of state of that nature for comedy, and found that there are/were a number of other 'rods' [red and purple, I think], as well as gold and silver stick [royal guards]. The only job title I used was the defunct position of chafe-wax, on account of it sounding like some sort of perversion.
It seems as if there are some advantages to being one of the old guard. The whole article is comprised of one paragraph really:
"The leadership camps are keeping their levels of support private, but it is claimed Burnham and Cooper already have the support of more than 100 MPs. The Kendall camp claim to have the 35 to get on the ballot paper, but Hunt and Mary Creagh, the shadow international international development secretary, are thought to be well short. Hunt, who made no effort to organise prior to the election defeat, is starting from a long way back and has yet to declare he will stand."
Who on earth is going to put their name next to Tristram Hunt ?
I can see my own MP, Engel going for Creagh possibly - but not Hunt.
Mr. Carnyx, there used to be a Black Rod in Scotland, I think.
Did some research on offices of state of that nature for comedy, and found that there are/were a number of other 'rods' [red and purple, I think], as well as gold and silver stick [royal guards]. The only job title I used was the defunct position of chafe-wax, on account of it sounding like some sort of perversion.
Not since 1707 - though in the best tradition of PBpedantry it was a White Rod , I find, from Mr RobD's posting which is as gratifyingly instructive as yours. (The Green Rod is for the Order of the Thistle, more for Holyrood Palace than the Pmt I suppose ...).
Addressing acting Labour leader Harriet Harman, David Cameron says there seems to be a common pattern: "A man comes along and does the job and makes a terrible mess of it and she comes along and has to sort it all out". He wonders why she's not made Labour leader permanently.
It seems as if there are some advantages to being one of the old guard. The whole article is comprised of one paragraph really:
"The leadership camps are keeping their levels of support private, but it is claimed Burnham and Cooper already have the support of more than 100 MPs. The Kendall camp claim to have the 35 to get on the ballot paper, but Hunt and Mary Creagh, the shadow international international development secretary, are thought to be well short. Hunt, who made no effort to organise prior to the election defeat, is starting from a long way back and has yet to declare he will stand."
If MPs conspire to keep Creagh and Hunt off the ballot it would be another slap in the face to members who will be denied a full choice of candidates. If no more than 6 want to stand, they should all get through on the nod, since 6 x 15% = 90% with 10% nominating MPs to spare.
I am going to join the labour party to help counteract the power of the unions and the (far) left, or more precisely one union leader in particular. I am undecided which leader to vote for as yet, but I am leaning towards Kendall to make a cleaner break than say Cooper or Burnham.
That's pretty much my position too (I believe regular poster, SouthamObserver is also minded that way). So that would be three of us, who not on the 'looney' wing, and who simply want to ensure that there is an effective and credible opposition in place as soon as possible.
I suggest you get those on Twitter and Facebook so you can start to trend - worked really well for your party last................oh wait.
If MPs conspire to keep Creagh and Hunt off the ballot it would be another slap in the face to members who will be denied a full choice of candidates. If no more than 6 want to stand, they should all get through on the nod, since 6 x 15% = 90% with 10% nominating MPs to spare.
If you're going to bother to have an MP nominating stage then it should be worthwhile. If a prospective MP can't find the support of 15% of their peers then it suggests they are not up to much.
Otherwise you may as well open up the election to any MP who wants to put themselves forward, and forget about the MP nomination stage entirely.
Ot - the sort of person who joins a political party after a big defeat is very unlikely to be a middle of the road member of jo public. More l likely to be yet more loony lefties.
They won't be Scottish loony lefties - they have gone over to the SNP. I think Burnham will win, I think the Labour party see him differently than I do. I do not think Cooper will win, I think the Labour party see her exactly as I do. I can only repeat, the corollary of Kendal saying the Labour govt spent too much is to support the governments cuts in spending. This is the issue the labour Party have to face up to and 'outside voters' plugging for her is not going of itself change the ethos of Labour. Its a recipe for splits, not the ''unity'' being called for. The fudge unity candidate is Burnham which is why regular labour members will vote for him.
Not necessarily. She could argue that Keynsian spending to boost the economy is necessary in a downturn, but money for that purpose should have been squirreled away in the upturn. That way she could coherently support cuts in the past and increases in the present. It wouldn't be true of course.
In which case it would be incoherent. The government have been allowing the cyclical regulators to do their work whilst still cutting the unaffordable structural departmental spending. As David Smith, The Sunday Times economics correspondent, points out, ''But the government has stuck pretty much to its consolidation plan. The deficit has, of course, overshot, as we have all written on many occasions. The reasons for that, as the OBR has also pointed out, are that the government chose not to introduce additional tightening in response to upward revisions in the size of the structural deficit in 2012-13, and the many other reasons it lists in the forecast evaluation document, mainly undershoots on the revenue side.''
Of course, that is also Labour's fault ! As it was with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the bailout of AIG, TARP for the automotive industry, cash-for-clunk in Germany and then copied by every other country etc. etc.
It makes me sick to think Labours failure to nail the reasons for the crash in the period after the 2010 election caused Labour to lose in 2015. I am seriously worried that in the next few months, while we are arguing over a new leader that Osborne will get away with blue murder.
Isn't that what the July 8th budget is about? Labour mi_selection plus everyone checked out for the summer means he can make some controversial changes without the opposition being able to build a focused "rebranding" campaign (as with "bedroom" or "pasty" tax)
Labour's worst result was probably in Gower, and it's interesting that the Labour selection there was the one where everyone was struggling to find out any information about the candidate. It was also the occasion on which Andrea was mentioned by Michael Crick:
"PRESSURE is mounting for Scottish Labour to consider becoming fully independent from the UK Labour Party after Andy Burnham, the frontrunner to succeed Ed Miliband as party leader, said there was "a case" for such a move."
By the way I don't know if anyone else noticed the article on Mr Murray in the Herald at the weekend:
"For years, the Tories and LibDems broadly dominated the former and Labour the latter, creating a three-way marginal in which the Nats barely registered. In 2010, local Labour councillor Ian Murray squeaked in just 316 votes ahead of the LibDems, while the SNP recorded their lowest vote in Scotland, 7.7 per cent.
Murray's was Labour's smallest Scottish majority, but a blessing in disguise. Unlike MPs in 'weight the vote' seats, Murray knew he had to graft from day one. He held his first surgery five hours after getting elected, and never really stopped. He held more surgeries than any other MP in the country, some 800, offered all 36,500 households a home visit, put 8000 constituents on his monthly mailing list, and assembled a team of staff and activists with the same Stakhanovite work ethic. In his spare time, he became chair of Foundation of Hearts, the not-for-profit supporters group set up to buy Hearts FC after its administration. Even his opponents concede he is diligent and conscientious."
If MPs conspire to keep Creagh and Hunt off the ballot it would be another slap in the face to members who will be denied a full choice of candidates. If no more than 6 want to stand, they should all get through on the nod, since 6 x 15% = 90% with 10% nominating MPs to spare.
If you're going to bother to have an MP nominating stage then it should be worthwhile. If a prospective MP can't find the support of 15% of their peers then it suggests they are not up to much.
Otherwise you may as well open up the election to any MP who wants to put themselves forward, and forget about the MP nomination stage entirely.
As I suggested, the MP nomination stage would kick in if there were more than 6 potential candidates. One candidate Hoovering up all of the nominations (e.g. Brown) to keep others off the ballot is not a great example of democracy.
Can anyone tell me what would happen in the unlikely event that one Labour leader candidate got more than 85% of MPs' support making it impossible for another to get the minimum 15% to stand. Is there a subsidiary rule that says there must be at least two standing or could this be a way of MPs sewing up the contest without subsequent vote if they so arranged it among themselves?
Can anyone tell me what would happen in the unlikely event that one Labour leader candidate got more than 85% of MPs' support making it impossible for another to get the minimum 15% to stand. Is there a subsidiary rule that says there must be at least two standing or could this be a way of MPs sewing up the contest without subsequent vote if they so arranged it among themselves?
Well Brown had a coronation in 2007 so I assume you can have only one candidate.
"PRESSURE is mounting for Scottish Labour to consider becoming fully independent from the UK Labour Party after Andy Burnham, the frontrunner to succeed Ed Miliband as party leader, said there was "a case" for such a move."
By the way I don't know if anyone else noticed the article on Mr Murray in the Herald at the weekend:
"For years, the Tories and LibDems broadly dominated the former and Labour the latter, creating a three-way marginal in which the Nats barely registered. In 2010, local Labour councillor Ian Murray squeaked in just 316 votes ahead of the LibDems, while the SNP recorded their lowest vote in Scotland, 7.7 per cent.
Murray's was Labour's smallest Scottish majority, but a blessing in disguise. Unlike MPs in 'weight the vote' seats, Murray knew he had to graft from day one. He held his first surgery five hours after getting elected, and never really stopped. He held more surgeries than any other MP in the country, some 800, offered all 36,500 households a home visit, put 8000 constituents on his monthly mailing list, and assembled a team of staff and activists with the same Stakhanovite work ethic. In his spare time, he became chair of Foundation of Hearts, the not-for-profit supporters group set up to buy Hearts FC after its administration. Even his opponents concede he is diligent and conscientious."
No surprise, the only Labour MP in scotland was also the only one who cared about his voters, not that he had any other choice in such a marginal.
If MPs conspire to keep Creagh and Hunt off the ballot it would be another slap in the face to members who will be denied a full choice of candidates. If no more than 6 want to stand, they should all get through on the nod, since 6 x 15% = 90% with 10% nominating MPs to spare.
If you're going to bother to have an MP nominating stage then it should be worthwhile. If a prospective MP can't find the support of 15% of their peers then it suggests they are not up to much.
Otherwise you may as well open up the election to any MP who wants to put themselves forward, and forget about the MP nomination stage entirely.
As I suggested, the MP nomination stage would kick in if there were more than 6 potential candidates. One candidate Hoovering up all of the nominations (e.g. Brown) to keep others off the ballot is not a great example of democracy.
It seems I made the silly mistake of assuming that if they need 35 signatures to be nominated, then the nomination form should contain 35 boxes for those signatures.
What's the point of allowing 100 members to nominate someone, apart from keeping others out of the ballot? And maybe letting the 100 show the new leader that they're loyal to him or her?
Can anyone tell me what would happen in the unlikely event that one Labour leader candidate got more than 85% of MPs' support making it impossible for another to get the minimum 15% to stand. Is there a subsidiary rule that says there must be at least two standing or could this be a way of MPs sewing up the contest without subsequent vote if they so arranged it among themselves?
Can anyone tell me what would happen in the unlikely event that one Labour leader candidate got more than 85% of MPs' support making it impossible for another to get the minimum 15% to stand. Is there a subsidiary rule that says there must be at least two standing or could this be a way of MPs sewing up the contest without subsequent vote if they so arranged it among themselves?
They have a ballot between the leading candidate and Diane Abbott.
Can anyone tell me what would happen in the unlikely event that one Labour leader candidate got more than 85% of MPs' support making it impossible for another to get the minimum 15% to stand. Is there a subsidiary rule that says there must be at least two standing or could this be a way of MPs sewing up the contest without subsequent vote if they so arranged it among themselves?
That's precisely what Brown did in 2007 and what Butcher and Mrs Balls are attempting to do now. If either can corner the PLP market, then there's no vote at all, because there'll be only one candidate.
You would think that there would be recognition in the PLP that an open discussion about past mistakes and future direction would benefit the party, and that a leadership contest among 6 players would be seen as a good means to that end.
Sadly, this is still the party of the Not The Nine O'Clock News block vote sketch. So Butcher and chums will consider themselves to have done something clever, rather than shameful and counter-productive, if they can gerrymander the first round to prevent a contest. And the PLP will see nothing wrong with helping them do it.
"PRESSURE is mounting for Scottish Labour to consider becoming fully independent from the UK Labour Party after Andy Burnham, the frontrunner to succeed Ed Miliband as party leader, said there was "a case" for such a move."
By the way I don't know if anyone else noticed the article on Mr Murray in the Herald at the weekend:
"For years, the Tories and LibDems broadly dominated the former and Labour the latter, creating a three-way marginal in which the Nats barely registered. In 2010, local Labour councillor Ian Murray squeaked in just 316 votes ahead of the LibDems, while the SNP recorded their lowest vote in Scotland, 7.7 per cent.
Murray's was Labour's smallest Scottish majority, but a blessing in disguise. Unlike MPs in 'weight the vote' seats, Murray knew he had to graft from day one. He held his first surgery five hours after getting elected, and never really stopped. He held more surgeries than any other MP in the country, some 800, offered all 36,500 households a home visit, put 8000 constituents on his monthly mailing list, and assembled a team of staff and activists with the same Stakhanovite work ethic. In his spare time, he became chair of Foundation of Hearts, the not-for-profit supporters group set up to buy Hearts FC after its administration. Even his opponents concede he is diligent and conscientious."
If SLAB became a distinct separate body , like the SDLP, and as long as the UK exists, what practical difference would there be ?
OK , there would be a different manifesto. If Labour is in power, technically, a coalition.
Greater London: +3.36% North West: +2.84% Yorkshire & the Humber: +2.52% North East: +0.87% South East: +0.54% Eastern: +0.25% Wales: +0.25% West Midlands: +0.04% East Midlands: -0.20% South West: -0.71% Scotland: -7.94%
Its the East Mids wot lost it!
The M1 corridor is our very own Ohio.
I have a soft spot for that area. South Notts/North Leicestershire is a lovely part of the world, especially around the vale of Belvoir.
Derby North was the only seat changing hands in the region. I think Chris Williamson was a bit too left-wing even for a left of centre constituency.
Corby is in the East Midlands and after the by election in 2012 we regained the seat with Tom Pursglove obtaining a sensational 13% Lab to Con swing! It always felt good on the ground and while you always play that carefully, the result spoke for itself...
If MPs conspire to keep Creagh and Hunt off the ballot it would be another slap in the face to members who will be denied a full choice of candidates. If no more than 6 want to stand, they should all get through on the nod, since 6 x 15% = 90% with 10% nominating MPs to spare.
If you're going to bother to have an MP nominating stage then it should be worthwhile. If a prospective MP can't find the support of 15% of their peers then it suggests they are not up to much.
Otherwise you may as well open up the election to any MP who wants to put themselves forward, and forget about the MP nomination stage entirely.
As I suggested, the MP nomination stage would kick in if there were more than 6 potential candidates. One candidate Hoovering up all of the nominations (e.g. Brown) to keep others off the ballot is not a great example of democracy.
In 2010, I seem to recall, some MPs nominated others, not their first choice, after their own choice had already got their required number.
You would think that there would be recognition in the PLP that an open discussion about past mistakes and future direction would benefit the party, and that a leadership contest among 6 players would be seen as a good means to that end.
Sadly, this is still the party of the Not The Nine O'Clock News block vote sketch. So Butcher and chums will consider themselves to have done something clever, rather than shameful and counter-productive, if they can gerrymander the first round to prevent a contest. And the PLP will see nothing wrong with helping them do it.
LOL, and they are supposed to be Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, scrutinising what the government do. Which they start doing next week!
Comments
The spending was on tax credits, pensions and public servants.
The M1 corridor is our very own Ohio.
I have a soft spot for that area. South Notts/North Leicestershire is a lovely part of the world, especially around the vale of Belvoir.
SNP 71 (+2)
SLAB 25 (-12)
Tories 11 (-4)
LibDem 6 (+1)
Greens 11 (+9)
UKIP 5 (+5)
Total Seats 129 (65 for a majority)
As the Scotland Votes seat calculator currently doesn't take account of regional splits, the above figures area at best a guide of likely trends based on current polling. Links below:
http://www.scotlandvotes.com/
http://survation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Final-Record-April-Tables.pdf
In terms of tactical voting, I think the SNP voting for the Greens in the regional list in areas where the SNP list vote is likely to be below 50%, could drive the Greens ahead of SCUP and close to overtaking SLAB. Unionist tactical voting at a constituency level might save the odd seat, however at a regional list level tactical voting could be dangerous and lose seats. For example if Glasgow Tories vote SLAB, Ruth could lose her seat, if SLAB vote SCUP they could lose a list seat etc.
It's also interesting that David Cameron has been leader of the conservatives for 10 years and seen off Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and EdMiliband. What a lightweight EdM seems now, leaving Labour in a mess. Would have been far better to have stayed in spite of all the flak he would have taken and could have returned to the backbenches with some kudos.
Replacing one special interest group by another does not seem to me to be an improvement.
Then the Southeast on 65.5%.
Then Southwest on 60.1
East Midlands = 59.2
West Midlands =57.5
https://twitter.com/Sunil_P2/status/600283502966345729
UK-wide right-wing MPs = 50.9%
(330 Tories, ie. exc. Bercow, plus UKIP's Carswell)
"All four nations of the UK have returned voted for different parties as their main representatives. That is unprecedented"
Interestingly, while the Conservatives have more than 50% of the English MPs, Labour more than 50% of Welsh MPs and the SNP more than 50% of Scottish MPs, the DUP that Nigel Dodds leads holds 8 of the 18 Northern Ireland MPs, short of 50%, though more than 50% of those present in the House due to the 4 absent Sinn Fein MPs.
How much taxpayers money was wasted today with this poncing about?
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/18/andy-burnham-yvette-cooper-labour-leadership-modernisers?CMP=share_btn_tw
It seems as if there are some advantages to being one of the old guard. The whole article is comprised of one paragraph really:
"The leadership camps are keeping their levels of support private, but it is claimed Burnham and Cooper already have the support of more than 100 MPs. The Kendall camp claim to have the 35 to get on the ballot paper, but Hunt and Mary Creagh, the shadow international international development secretary, are thought to be well short. Hunt, who made no effort to organise prior to the election defeat, is starting from a long way back and has yet to declare he will stand."
Did some research on offices of state of that nature for comedy, and found that there are/were a number of other 'rods' [red and purple, I think], as well as gold and silver stick [royal guards]. The only job title I used was the defunct position of chafe-wax, on account of it sounding like some sort of perversion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rod#Other_UK_ushers
Edit - and the now defunct Scottish White Rod - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rod
The SNP think they look better in Scotland being on the opposition benches in London.
I can see my own MP, Engel going for Creagh possibly - but not Hunt.
UKIP are a right-wing populist party:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Independence_Party
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-32727175
2010: 39.59%
2015: 40.86%
They also moved above 50% in the South East region:
2010: 49.86%
2015: 50.85%
:Lol:
https://twitter.com/Sunil_P2/status/600282994524463104
Otherwise you may as well open up the election to any MP who wants to put themselves forward, and forget about the MP nomination stage entirely.
The new party could be called "SNP" :innocent face:
Did Labour get this in 1997?
http://blogs.channel4.com/michael-crick-on-politics/secrets-political-shortlist-italian-anorak-puts-brits-shame/3632
http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/wider-political-news/pressure-begins-to-grow-in-post-election-carnage-for-scottish-labour-t.126302570
"PRESSURE is mounting for Scottish Labour to consider becoming fully independent from the UK Labour Party after Andy Burnham, the frontrunner to succeed Ed Miliband as party leader, said there was "a case" for such a move."
By the way I don't know if anyone else noticed the article on Mr Murray in the Herald at the weekend:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/scottish-politics/edinburgh-south-why-labour-held-on-against-the-snp-tide.126249111
"For years, the Tories and LibDems broadly dominated the former and Labour the latter, creating a three-way marginal in which the Nats barely registered. In 2010, local Labour councillor Ian Murray squeaked in just 316 votes ahead of the LibDems, while the SNP recorded their lowest vote in Scotland, 7.7 per cent.
Murray's was Labour's smallest Scottish majority, but a blessing in disguise. Unlike MPs in 'weight the vote' seats, Murray knew he had to graft from day one. He held his first surgery five hours after getting elected, and never really stopped. He held more surgeries than any other MP in the country, some 800, offered all 36,500 households a home visit, put 8000 constituents on his monthly mailing list, and assembled a team of staff and activists with the same Stakhanovite work ethic. In his spare time, he became chair of Foundation of Hearts, the not-for-profit supporters group set up to buy Hearts FC after its administration. Even his opponents concede he is diligent and conscientious."
I had on good authority here that she'd pretty much given up.
What's the point of allowing 100 members to nominate someone, apart from keeping others out of the ballot? And maybe letting the 100 show the new leader that they're loyal to him or her?
We can safely assume that Broxtowe is most definitely her patch now.
You would think that there would be recognition in the PLP that an open discussion about past mistakes and future direction would benefit the party, and that a leadership contest among 6 players would be seen as a good means to that end.
Sadly, this is still the party of the Not The Nine O'Clock News block vote sketch. So Butcher and chums will consider themselves to have done something clever, rather than shameful and counter-productive, if they can gerrymander the first round to prevent a contest. And the PLP will see nothing wrong with helping them do it.
OK , there would be a different manifesto. If Labour is in power, technically, a coalition.
It will be like the CDU / CSU.
SNP to be the Official Opposition in 2020?
Right, off to the pub!