New poll shock: Just 27pc see Andy Burnham as Prime Minister material
Labour's leadership crisis has deepened after a new poll released on Thursday afternoon showed just 27 per cent of people think Andy Burnham would make a good Prime Minister.
Leftwinger Jeremy Corbyn, who is 17 points ahead of Mr Burnham in a YouGov poll, is seen as good PM material by just 17 per cent of those surveyed by Ipsos MORI. Yvette Cooper is on 22 per cent while Liz Kendall is on 16 per cent.
The polling will create fresh despair within the party as it becomes clear that none of the four candidates appear to have a wide enough appeal to make it into 10 Downing Street.
Mr. F, I remember reading a piece by Martin about a book signing of his (I think it was in Germany). About six people turned up all afternoon. If I ever have one and it's half- (or more) deserted, I'll try and remember that.
David L has it about right. Blair yesterday was a reminder that someone with charisma and an ability to argue a case is worth any amount of ideological purity. The man is quite simply a class above the 4 labour nobodies or Cameron or Osborne or Farron. What a depressing time to be interested in politics. I'm in a cafe and they're playing November Rain. God even Axel Rose has more talent than any of this lot
Axl Rose is an enormous knob-end But he is/was phenomenally talented. Just listen to Appetite for Destruction. Still relevant and still rocks almost 30 years after it was released (1987)
Axl Rose is also one of the greatest anagrams in history
We used to call our quiz team Axl Sane on occasion.
New poll shock: Just 27pc see Andy Burnham as Prime Minister material
Labour's leadership crisis has deepened after a new poll released on Thursday afternoon showed just 27 per cent of people think Andy Burnham would make a good Prime Minister.
Leftwinger Jeremy Corbyn, who is 17 points ahead of Mr Burnham in a YouGov poll, is seen as good PM material by just 17 per cent of those surveyed by Ipsos MORI. Yvette Cooper is on 22 per cent while Liz Kendall is on 16 per cent.
The polling will create fresh despair within the party as it becomes clear that none of the four candidates appear to have a wide enough appeal to make it into 10 Downing Street.
There are many reasons for Labour to despair, but that poll is not one of them - especially when you see the actual results. Another way of reporting it would have been to say that just a quarter of people do not believe Andy Burnham is good PM material. How does that compare with Ed?
I don't have a dog in this race to be honest. I think it's strange people assume that what a leadership candidate says is what a leader will do. Being a candidate for leadership of a Party and leading that Party are two very different things.
In the same way, the constituency that is your Party membership and the constituency that is the rest of the country are two very different places.
We perceive time as moving in a linear fashion but in politics you have to be thinking about past, present and future simultaenously. Putting together a coherent vision of the future has to happen at the same time as the day-to-day skirmishes that are modern politics.
It's not even about the weekly joust that is PMQs - Hague was adjudged by some to have routinely bested Blair for all the good it did him.
This Government will hit trouble at some point - that will probably be self-inflicted but could easily be the result of unforeseeable events. How it and the Opposition responds will be key. Arguably, Labour had an opportunity in the aftermath of the 2012 Budget to establish a coherent alternative narrative but failed to do so and reaped no benefit from the mid-term.
This time, whoever ends up as LOTO will need to be ready to pounce when things go wrong as they will because then, unlike now, there will be people willing to listen. In the last parliament, it was the siren calls of Farage which prevailed - this time, for Labour, it has to be different as Farron is also there to pick up the mid-term protest vote.
The big problem Labour had in the last Parliament was that it had quite literally nothing to say. No one could imagine a Labour Britain from 2015-20 because Labour themselves couldn't any more than a fifth term Conservative administration in the 90s was conceivable.
The first task for whoever wins this contest will be to get people in the Party to start thinking about the challenges and issues that will be faced in the 2020s and ask how a Labour Government would respond. These can be global, national or even local - for me, it's how do we improve air quality in London ? I realise that doesn't matter to many people but the electotrate is made up of millions of questions like that.
That seems to have made CiF go apeshit. Over 5,000 comments inside 7 hours?
Okay then, with Corbyn as Leader, Dennis Skinner will be Shadow Chancellor, and Diane Abbott will be Shadow Foreign Secretary.
Would that be The Crazy Gang (JC could set up shop at Victoria Palace) or The Goons?
No,Andy Burnham as Shadow Chancellor and Yvette Cooper as Shadow Foreign Secretary.Diane Abbott is focussed on becoming Mayor of London.Dennis Skinner may not wish to be tarnished with ministerial office but he could do a very good job with party discipline as Chief Whip.
NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star. This discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another “Earth.”
This Labour leadership election is getting very dirty
Labour MP John Mann says leadership contender Mr Corbyn "did nothing" about allegations of child abuse in Islington in 1980s
Jeremy Corbyn, the hard-left Labour MP who is tipped to lead the party, has been accused of "doing nothing" over allegations of child abuse in his constituency during the 1980s.
Islington council has paid hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation to victims following widespread sexual abuse in the London borough in the 1970s and 1980s. It is thought dozens of vulnerable children were abused by a number of paedophiles.
I wonder what impact such a serious claim will have. Might make Corbyn's supporters dig their heels in, if they feel it's a false claim made solely to deprive him of the leadership.
This Labour leadership election is getting very dirty
Labour MP John Mann says leadership contender Mr Corbyn "did nothing" about allegations of child abuse in Islington in 1980s
Jeremy Corbyn, the hard-left Labour MP who is tipped to lead the party, has been accused of "doing nothing" over allegations of child abuse in his constituency during the 1980s.
Islington council has paid hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation to victims following widespread sexual abuse in the London borough in the 1970s and 1980s. It is thought dozens of vulnerable children were abused by a number of paedophiles.
NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star. This discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another “Earth.”
Talking of Labour attitudes to Europe, Eisige Schwestern by S K Tremayne, has just recorded its eighth week in the German Top Ten.
Dunno about Labour, but I'm voting IN.
MrT: I have just paid the princely sum of $26 for your book: I think you owe me a drink.
edit: just saw your 3:08 post. It was out-of-stock at the first B&N I tried; the second one had it, but they struggled to find it (wasn't on the shelf where it should be and had to get it out of the back). Not sure if that is a good sign or not!
Comments
Mr. F, I remember reading a piece by Martin about a book signing of his (I think it was in Germany). About six people turned up all afternoon. If I ever have one and it's half- (or more) deserted, I'll try and remember that.
Mr. T, congrats on the sales.
@NCPoliticsUK: Ipsos MORI/Evening Standard:
CON 37 (-2)
LAB 31 (+1)
LIB 10 (+1)
UKIP 9 (+1)
Fieldwork 20th-22nd July
N~1k
Writeup http://t.co/WM3MWo8awM
There are many reasons for Labour to despair, but that poll is not one of them - especially when you see the actual results. Another way of reporting it would have been to say that just a quarter of people do not believe Andy Burnham is good PM material. How does that compare with Ed?
Or was it the cat interacting with adam?
Welcome, by the way!
I don't have a dog in this race to be honest. I think it's strange people assume that what a leadership candidate says is what a leader will do. Being a candidate for leadership of a Party and leading that Party are two very different things.
In the same way, the constituency that is your Party membership and the constituency that is the rest of the country are two very different places.
We perceive time as moving in a linear fashion but in politics you have to be thinking about past, present and future simultaenously. Putting together a coherent vision of the future has to happen at the same time as the day-to-day skirmishes that are modern politics.
It's not even about the weekly joust that is PMQs - Hague was adjudged by some to have routinely bested Blair for all the good it did him.
This Government will hit trouble at some point - that will probably be self-inflicted but could easily be the result of unforeseeable events. How it and the Opposition responds will be key. Arguably, Labour had an opportunity in the aftermath of the 2012 Budget to establish a coherent alternative narrative but failed to do so and reaped no benefit from the mid-term.
This time, whoever ends up as LOTO will need to be ready to pounce when things go wrong as they will because then, unlike now, there will be people willing to listen. In the last parliament, it was the siren calls of Farage which prevailed - this time, for Labour, it has to be different as Farron is also there to pick up the mid-term protest vote.
The big problem Labour had in the last Parliament was that it had quite literally nothing to say. No one could imagine a Labour Britain from 2015-20 because Labour themselves couldn't any more than a fifth term Conservative administration in the 90s was conceivable.
The first task for whoever wins this contest will be to get people in the Party to start thinking about the challenges and issues that will be faced in the 2020s and ask how a Labour Government would respond. These can be global, national or even local - for me, it's how do we improve air quality in London ? I realise that doesn't matter to many people but the electotrate is made up of millions of questions like that.
From July last year:
Has what it takes to be a good PM
Ed Miliband 22% agree 65% disagree
https://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/Publications/July 2014 Ipsos MORI Political Monitor Topline - WR.pdf
Also
Johnson 32/54
Osborne 18/61
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-kepler-mission-discovers-bigger-older-cousin-to-earth
NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star. This discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another “Earth.”
Live briefing going on here:
http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html
Labour MP John Mann says leadership contender Mr Corbyn "did nothing" about allegations of child abuse in Islington in 1980s
Jeremy Corbyn, the hard-left Labour MP who is tipped to lead the party, has been accused of "doing nothing" over allegations of child abuse in his constituency during the 1980s.
Islington council has paid hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation to victims following widespread sexual abuse in the London borough in the 1970s and 1980s. It is thought dozens of vulnerable children were abused by a number of paedophiles.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11758612/Jeremy-Corbyn-accused-of-inaction-over-paedophile-scandal.html
New thread
I wonder what impact such a serious claim will have. Might make Corbyn's supporters dig their heels in, if they feel it's a false claim made solely to deprive him of the leadership.
edit: just saw your 3:08 post. It was out-of-stock at the first B&N I tried; the second one had it, but they struggled to find it (wasn't on the shelf where it should be and had to get it out of the back). Not sure if that is a good sign or not!