David Cameron has vowed to ignore a European Court of Justice ruling expected this week that could outlaw Britain’s blanket ban on prisoner voting.
In an explosive move on the eve of Mr Cameron’s conference speech, Europe’s highest court is on Tuesday predicted to rule that automatically stripping convicts of the right to vote is a violation of their human rights.
Blair and Mandy/Campbell going off to create a new center left party like "The British Democrats" would be dynamite...
Blair isn't a Lord.
No... But Mandy is?
Mandelson was always the "brains" behind New Labour so you'd expect him to be first one out of Corbyns Labour Party...
He's Labour through and through.
His family are Labour royalty.
He'll stay and wait for Corbyn to balls things up then topple him.
Mandelson is the second finest political operator of the last thirty years. He won't defect
Presume you are number one?
I'm maybe number 1,001.
The finest political operator of recent times is George Osborne.
Detoxed the Tories, killed the Lib Dems, scheduled the welfare vote that tipped Labour towards Corbyn stopped the 2007 general election and also set up a 1,000 year Tory reich.
Blair and Mandy/Campbell going off to create a new center left party like "The British Democrats" would be dynamite...
Blair isn't a Lord.
No... But Mandy is?
Mandelson was always the "brains" behind New Labour so you'd expect him to be first one out of Corbyns Labour Party...
He's Labour through and through.
His family are Labour royalty.
He'll stay and wait for Corbyn to balls things up then topple him.
Mandelson is the second finest political operator of the last thirty years. He won't defect
The finest. He got his party into power during a major economic expansion while keeping his platform much more electable than the now-evidently deluded membership would like; Osborne needed a Global Financial Crisis and has sleepwalked into the EU referendum he doesn't want.
The controversies surrounding Thomson’s property dealings deepened further on Sunday after it emerged that other lawyers and house sales have been implicated, and SNP sources admitted they were planning for a possible by-election in the closely-contested seat.
SNP officials are now braced for revelations about the past histories of more of their 50 new MPs, with anxieties that the party’s vetting procedures failed to catch candidates with difficult histories among the surge of new members hoping to file 50 vacancies before the general election.
David Cameron has vowed to ignore a European Court of Justice ruling expected this week that could outlaw Britain’s blanket ban on prisoner voting.
In an explosive move on the eve of Mr Cameron’s conference speech, Europe’s highest court is on Tuesday predicted to rule that automatically stripping convicts of the right to vote is a violation of their human rights.
The biggest boosts to the Leave campaign have all been thanks to the EU's incompetence. It really is the gift that keeps on giving.
Video like that simply boosts Tory poll members and it only occurs when the Tories are in power so should be taken as a reverse complement that the party is winning
Curse the new thread - I actually have a question about the last one. What I don't understand is, if the parties actually knew what was going on and therefore campaigned accordingly, then why did Ed not have a concession speech ready? I can't believe he campaigned in North Warwickshire without thinking 'what the hell am I doing here?'.
I wondered about that. perhaps he was companying their in the expectation it would be a labour win, that he could quote later, as having been a part of? or perhaps it just made geographic sense in that it was mid point between 2 other stops. or perhaps his campaign team know from the poling that, that seat would be marginal, but could not bring themselves to fully explain it to the leader?
You'd need to look at where they had been and were going to but as you say, it might just have happened to be on the way. I'm just wary of assuming that the politicos were in the know more than everyone else.
Paul Kirkby New poll. 'Tories didn't use to understand ordinary working people but is improving. Labour used to, but doesn't now' http://t.co/v2hntaCiPu
Blair and Mandy/Campbell going off to create a new center left party like "The British Democrats" would be dynamite...
Blair isn't a Lord.
No... But Mandy is?
Mandelson was always the "brains" behind New Labour so you'd expect him to be first one out of Corbyns Labour Party...
He's Labour through and through.
His family are Labour royalty.
He'll stay and wait for Corbyn to balls things up then topple him.
Mandelson is the second finest political operator of the last thirty years. He won't defect
Presume you are number one?
I'm maybe number 1,001.
The finest political operator of recent times is George Osborne.
Detoxed the Tories, killed the Lib Dems, scheduled the welfare vote that tipped Labour towards Corbyn stopped the 2007 general election and also set up a 1,000 year Tory reich.
He truly is the master strategist
Nearly lost the indyref tho. And the Union could still be lost, if he and they are not careful. For me that's Cam and Oz's biggest mistake to date, and I suspect they know it.
Indeed I think the 2015 election campaign maybe what ultimately shifts the Scots to vote for Independence
Blair and Mandy/Campbell going off to create a new center left party like "The British Democrats" would be dynamite...
Blair isn't a Lord.
No... But Mandy is?
Mandelson was always the "brains" behind New Labour so you'd expect him to be first one out of Corbyns Labour Party...
He's Labour through and through.
His family are Labour royalty.
He'll stay and wait for Corbyn to balls things up then topple him.
Mandelson is the second finest political operator of the last thirty years. He won't defect
Presume you are number one?
I'm maybe number 1,001.
The finest political operator of recent times is George Osborne.
Detoxed the Tories, killed the Lib Dems, scheduled the welfare vote that tipped Labour towards Corbyn stopped the 2007 general election and also set up a 1,000 year Tory reich.
The controversies surrounding Thomson’s property dealings deepened further on Sunday after it emerged that other lawyers and house sales have been implicated, and SNP sources admitted they were planning for a possible by-election in the closely-contested seat.
SNP officials are now braced for revelations about the past histories of more of their 50 new MPs, with anxieties that the party’s vetting procedures failed to catch candidates with difficult histories among the surge of new members hoping to file 50 vacancies before the general election.
There was no surprise or short term needs to vet candidates for the general election. Everyone knew when the GE was going to be. Since when did the SNP ever think that it was not going to contest all the seats in Scotland? And the one in question is in Edinburgh! It's a pretty poor reflection on the SNP if they were relying on a surge of new members to fill its list of possible candidates. What probably helped Thompson was her being a member of and mouthpiece of Business for Scotland, when in fact she had fallen out with them but it was all kept secret.
@paulwaugh: PM in buoyant mood at Northern night reception: "Were u up for Hazel Grove?! Were u up for Cheadle?!" Lots of cheers. Clegg seems so last yr
Lord Adonis, who served as Transport Secretary under Gordon Brown and was the architect of the HS2 rail link between London and the Midlands, is to surrender the Labour whip at Westminster to take charge of a new National Infrastructure Commission.
His appointment, which will carry a salary, was negotiated in secret over the past fortnight. Senior Tories were jubilant over the recruitment of a respected political figure who was Tony Blair’s policy chief at Downing Street and the driving force behind the last government’s academies programme.
David Cameron has vowed to ignore a European Court of Justice ruling expected this week that could outlaw Britain’s blanket ban on prisoner voting.
In an explosive move on the eve of Mr Cameron’s conference speech, Europe’s highest court is on Tuesday predicted to rule that automatically stripping convicts of the right to vote is a violation of their human rights.
I've never really understood the argument that not allowing prisoners to vote is a violation of their human rights. I disagree with but understand the argument that they should be allowed, or some should be allowed, but if someone is a prisoner we already take away many of their rights as a matter of course, so clearly it is deemed acceptable to infringe some of peoples' human rights when serving a custodial sentence.
Blair and Mandy/Campbell going off to create a new center left party like "The British Democrats" would be dynamite...
Blair isn't a Lord.
No... But Mandy is?
Mandelson was always the "brains" behind New Labour so you'd expect him to be first one out of Corbyns Labour Party...
He's Labour through and through.
His family are Labour royalty.
He'll stay and wait for Corbyn to balls things up then topple him.
Mandelson is the second finest political operator of the last thirty years. He won't defect
Presume you are number one?
I'm maybe number 1,001.
The finest political operator of recent times is George Osborne.
Detoxed the Tories, killed the Lib Dems, scheduled the welfare vote that tipped Labour towards Corbyn stopped the 2007 general election and also set up a 1,000 year Tory reich.
He truly is the master strategist
Nearly lost the indyref tho. And the Union could still be lost, if he and they are not careful. For me that's Cam and Oz's biggest mistake to date, and I suspect they know it.
Indeed I think the 2015 election campaign maybe what ultimately shifts the Scots to vote for Independence
In the end I don't think Scots will go indy, for the foreseeable, it's just too daunting and dangerous. But arrogant, lazy Tory mishandling of the Scottish Vote has made it all much more perilous than it should be. Cameron thought he would cruise to victory, he and Osborne underestimated Salmond and the Nats.
Given it is such an important issue I believe this relegates Cam and Oz to the second tier, by itself.
Blaming Cameron and Osborne for the collapse of the Scottish Labour vote seems a bit strong!
Lord Adonis, who served as Transport Secretary under Gordon Brown and was the architect of the HS2 rail link between London and the Midlands, is to surrender the Labour whip at Westminster to take charge of a new National Infrastructure Commission.
His appointment, which will carry a salary, was negotiated in secret over the past fortnight. Senior Tories were jubilant over the recruitment of a respected political figure who was Tony Blair’s policy chief at Downing Street and the driving force behind the last government’s academies programme.
What a Totally Principled Decent man Lord Adonis is - putting country before his party and sticking to his principles over the blind allegiance sworn by other lesser men in the red team where party always comes before policy belief - witness Alan Johnson on TW talking about Trident/NATO and still campaigning in 2020 if party policy is the direct opposite of his views....
Lord Adonis, who served as Transport Secretary under Gordon Brown and was the architect of the HS2 rail link between London and the Midlands, is to surrender the Labour whip at Westminster to take charge of a new National Infrastructure Commission.
His appointment, which will carry a salary, was negotiated in secret over the past fortnight. Senior Tories were jubilant over the recruitment of a respected political figure who was Tony Blair’s policy chief at Downing Street and the driving force behind the last government’s academies programme.
What a Totally Principled Decent man Lord Adonis is - putting country before his party and sticking to his principles over the blind allegiance sworn by other lesser men in the red team where party always comes before policy belief - witness Alan Johnson on TW talking about Trident/NATO and still campaigning in 2020 if party policy is the direct opposite of his views....
TPD Adonis - we respect you.
Indeed, what a Totally Principled Decent Patriotic Lion Lord Adonis is.
@JournoStephen: So the Tories get the kudos of a bipartisan appointment and Labour can't mount a proper response because he's still technically their guy.
Lord Adonis, who served as Transport Secretary under Gordon Brown and was the architect of the HS2 rail link between London and the Midlands, is to surrender the Labour whip at Westminster to take charge of a new National Infrastructure Commission.
His appointment, which will carry a salary, was negotiated in secret over the past fortnight. Senior Tories were jubilant over the recruitment of a respected political figure who was Tony Blair’s policy chief at Downing Street and the driving force behind the last government’s academies programme.
Along with my prediction last night of a cantering Aussie win in the rugger, I'd like to reclaim my crown as seventeenth best pb prognosticator, so foolishly thrown away with my cowardly predix of Labour NOM in 2015.
It's Lord Adonis Lord Adonis, who served as Transport Secretary under Gordon Brown and was the architect of the HS2 rail link between London and the Midlands, is to surrender the Labour whip at Westminster to take charge of a new National Infrastructure Commission. His appointment, which will carry a salary, was negotiated in secret over the past fortnight. Senior Tories were jubilant over the recruitment of a respected political figure who was Tony Blair’s policy chief at Downing Street and the driving force behind the last government’s academies programme. http://ind.pn/1OgffQg
On balance he seems the right man for the job and the commission itself seems a good idea. Is not this the real point we should be discussing? Re betting... Well what other overreaching commissions might be next and with who to lead them?
Blair and Mandy/Campbell going off to create a new center left party like "The British Democrats" would be dynamite...
Blair isn't a Lord.
No... But Mandy is?
Mandelson was always the "brains" behind New Labour so you'd expect him to be first one out of Corbyns Labour Party...
He's Labour through and through.
His family are Labour royalty.
He'll stay and wait for Corbyn to balls things up then topple him.
Mandelson is the second finest political operator of the last thirty years. He won't defect
Presume you are number one?
I'm maybe number 1,001.
The finest political operator of recent times is George Osborne.
Detoxed the Tories, killed the Lib Dems, scheduled the welfare vote that tipped Labour towards Corbyn stopped the 2007 general election and also set up a 1,000 year Tory reich.
He truly is the master strategist
Nearly lost the indyref tho. And the Union could still be lost, if he and they are not careful. For me that's Cam and Oz's biggest mistake to date, and I suspect they know it.
Indeed I think the 2015 election campaign maybe what ultimately shifts the Scots to vote for Independence
More polls since the 2015 election have had No ahead than Yes and the Tories have actually made their biggest poll gains in Scotland since the election ironically
This stuff could really REALLY damage Labour. It might take them from a so-so defeat under Corbyn to total annihilation, as the voters recoil in horror.
Well, the majority of people going in will be Tory scum, so best to play it safe I guess. As May proved, Tories are everywhere and could look like anyone, so you don't want to take the chance for a biting piece of wit like that to have been wasted.
Paul Kirkby New poll. 'Tories didn't use to understand ordinary working people but is improving. Labour used to, but doesn't now' http://t.co/v2hntaCiPu
This stuff could really REALLY damage Labour. It might take them from a so-so defeat under Corbyn to total annihilation, as the voters recoil in horror.
It is getting to feel a bit uncomfortable. I had the temerity to question why my union rep was urging me to vote for Labour in May, and more recently their infatuation with Corbyn, and got called a"fucking Tory"!
This stuff could really REALLY damage Labour. It might take them from a so-so defeat under Corbyn to total annihilation, as the voters recoil in horror.
This stuff could really REALLY damage Labour. It might take them from a so-so defeat under Corbyn to total annihilation, as the voters recoil in horror.
It does make me wonder how much the sane, but often silent, elements of Labour will endure.
I saw Notah Begay at the Tour Championship last week, and wanted to ask him about his friend and Stanford room mate Tiger Woods, but didn't get the chance.
After 2 back surgeries in 15 months, it's the last thing you want as a golfer.
Now Notah has spoken publicly about his friend and revealed what we've all thought for a while now -
“I think he has a clear understanding with where he’s at in regard to his career that the sun is setting,” Begay said. “He’s very fair about where he’s at with his career and his body, and he’s certainly not going to go down without a fight, without trying to do everything he can to get back to a world-class level.”
Well, the majority of people going in will be Tory scum, so best to play it safe I guess. As May proved, Tories are everywhere and could look like anyone, so you don't want to take the chance for a biting piece of wit like that to have been wasted.
Surely they could find some way of shrieking TORY SCUM at everyone in the UK, just so they don't miss an actual Tory, however humble and hidden?
That is a really big Labour scalp, and it should cause some real concern among those in the PLP who really want to see the Labour party electable within the next decade.
Twitter Politico Daily @Politico_Daily 3m3 minutes ago Former Labour Cabinet Minister, Andrew Adonis resigns the Labour whip to head the Government's National Infrastructure Commission
@ScottyNational: News:SNP deny all the 'Yes' organisations were SNP front organisations - 'We also let Patrick Harvie join & bang on about recycling & stuff'
This stuff could really REALLY damage Labour. It might take them from a so-so defeat under Corbyn to total annihilation, as the voters recoil in horror.
It is getting to feel a bit uncomfortable. I had the temerity to question why my union rep was urging me to vote for Labour in May, and more recently their infatuation with Corbyn, and got called a"fucking Tory"!
Twitter Politico Daily @Politico_Daily 3m3 minutes ago Former Labour Cabinet Minister, Andrew Adonis resigns the Labour whip to head the Government's National Infrastructure Commission
Does this mean he is now officially a Tory, or he has merely resigned the Labour whip?
Well, the majority of people going in will be Tory scum, so best to play it safe I guess. As May proved, Tories are everywhere and could look like anyone, so you don't want to take the chance for a biting piece of wit like that to have been wasted.
Surely they could find some way of shrieking TORY SCUM at everyone in the UK, just so they don't miss an actual Tory, however humble and hidden?
Kickstarter for a skywriting campaign perhaps?
Need a sniperscope to pick out a 'Labour thinker'. Let's face it where is there one on PBdotcom?
Just listening, it's amusing to hear Professor Anthony King suggest there have only been three genuinely transformative Prime Ministers since the beginning of the 20th Century. Seems a little depressing for our PMs, although I suppose being a mere competent administrator or consolidator of others' transformations would be no bad thing too.
Well, the majority of people going in will be Tory scum, so best to play it safe I guess. As May proved, Tories are everywhere and could look like anyone, so you don't want to take the chance for a biting piece of wit like that to have been wasted.
Surely they could find some way of shrieking TORY SCUM at everyone in the UK, just so they don't miss an actual Tory, however humble and hidden?
Kickstarter for a skywriting campaign perhaps?
Need a sniperscope to pick out a 'Labour thinker'. Let's face it where is there one on PBdotcom?
Rather a depressing day for politics I feel, there is a clear disconnect in this country between Westminster and the voters with the only people trying to bridge it are loony protesters like the ones seen today. The rest of us mainly do not take part until election day, its almost like the two parties are like the two groups; Labour are now for a small group of dedicated people that believe they are right and heaven help anyone that opposes them and the Tories are for a larger group of people that think they may be right but that you know what you get with Cameron et al.
I ran around in circles holding hands with Lord Adonis at a Bat Mitzvah a few months ago. I don't think this was a big factor in his resignation of the Labour whip.
Twitter Politico Daily @Politico_Daily 3m3 minutes ago Former Labour Cabinet Minister, Andrew Adonis resigns the Labour whip to head the Government's National Infrastructure Commission
Does this mean he is now officially a Tory, or he has merely resigned the Labour whip?
He's sitting as a cross-bencher, so it does not look like a defection. He may even be a Labour member still. God knows why. He's far too bright, pragmatic and rational for the Corbyn crew.
Very happy about The Lord Adonis news. He was always one of my favourite Labour politicians, and I usually agreed with his point of view. By all accounts from my civil service friends he's an intelligent man and pleasant company. Hopefully a few more like him might decide to turn their backs on the poisonous outfit that Labour is becoming under Jeremy Corbyn.
Just listening, it's amusing to hear Professor Anthony King suggest there have only been three genuinely transformative Prime Ministers since the beginning of the 20th Century. Seems a little depressing for our PMs, although I suppose being a mere competent administrator or consolidator of others' transformations would be no bad thing too.
Also interesting that when considering Cameron's character, aside from the now increasingly common suggestion he is more ideological than people may think (and Thatcher less so than people remember), a polling expert who composed focus groups suggested his 'ease with himself' - which while I happen to agree that one of Cameron's biggest strengths is how he comes across to the public, relatively benign, is the opposite to conventional wisdom as many have theorised that he is ill at ease with his own poshness for example.
Paul Kirkby New poll. 'Tories didn't use to understand ordinary working people but is improving. Labour used to, but doesn't now' http://t.co/v2hntaCiPu
Keep up the good work Jezbollah
The truly horrible number for the party of the working man is that only 18% - EIGHTEEN PER CENT!! - think that Labour used to and still does represent the ordinary working people.
Well, the majority of people going in will be Tory scum, so best to play it safe I guess. As May proved, Tories are everywhere and could look like anyone, so you don't want to take the chance for a biting piece of wit like that to have been wasted.
Surely they could find some way of shrieking TORY SCUM at everyone in the UK, just so they don't miss an actual Tory, however humble and hidden?
Kickstarter for a skywriting campaign perhaps?
Need a sniperscope to pick out a 'Labour thinker'. Let's face it where is there one on PBdotcom?
Southam? Danny? Henry G? Tyson?
Thinking that Corbyn is crap counts as thinking does it? Mr Southam makes good points about the present state of labour. Credit to him. But where is the thinking about what the country needs. Where is the bottle to take tough decisions? You will never never never get that from labour. Not now.
I ran around in circles holding hands with Lord Adonis at a Bat Mitzvah a few months ago. I don't think this was a big factor in his resignation of the Labour whip.
I dislike a moron yelling 'Tory Scum' as much as the next sensible human being (Lord knows I unfollow enough of them in my facebook feed), but I also feel there's a media campaign at play here aimed at getting rid of Corbyn and returning Labour to the bosom of the establishment. Not saying that a minority of Labour supporters aren't making it easy for them.
Just listening, it's amusing to hear Professor Anthony King suggest there have only been three genuinely transformative Prime Ministers since the beginning of the 20th Century. Seems a little depressing for our PMs, although I suppose being a mere competent administrator or consolidator of others' transformations would be no bad thing too.
How many transformative novelists have there been, in all history? Three or four? The first (identity disputed), then Tolstoy, Joyce, Proust.... ?
Most novelists work within the form and the genre, and yet plenty of them, like Austen, Dickens, Nabokov, still achieve greatness.
Transformation, like revolution, is overrated.
Fair point - I think politicians may search to break the mould of politics somehow to be remembered, but certainly when it comes to fiction as you suggest, I'm inclined to agree such transformation and experimentation can be overrated. Give me a great novel over some great piece of art of a novel any day (not that one could not be both, but it would be harder to achieve).
Makes me think of when A colleague showed me what was purportedly a novel, but really it was just art in the form of a novel - it was an account of the Norman Conquest or around that period, with the conceit it was a genuine first person account of the time, and so in the interest of verisimilitude was written in pseudo old english. Not actual old english, but fake old english. It was basically in a code you had to decifer to understand.
Paul Kirkby New poll. 'Tories didn't use to understand ordinary working people but is improving. Labour used to, but doesn't now' http://t.co/v2hntaCiPu
Keep up the good work Jezbollah
The truly horrible number for the party of the working man is that only 18% - EIGHTEEN PER CENT!! - think that Labour used to and still does represent the ordinary working people.
D'Hondt, closed lists, no national threshold (varies from about 2% (Lisbon) to 23% depending on constituency), apparentment allowed, two 2-seat "constituencies" for ex-pats (Europe and Rest of World)...
I ran around in circles holding hands with Lord Adonis at a Bat Mitzvah a few months ago. I don't think this was a big factor in his resignation of the Labour whip.
I have just learnt that Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah are both correct.
I ran around in circles holding hands with Lord Adonis at a Bat Mitzvah a few months ago. I don't think this was a big factor in his resignation of the Labour whip.
I have just learnt that Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah are both correct.
So Bar and Bat are interchangeable?
That means I've done some shocking things inside Bats
I was canvassing on a housing estate today and anecdotely perhaps a dozen Labour fans who didn't vote at GE claim they will now vote for Corbyn. But non-voters tend to stay that way, but it is their opinion rather than my guesses.
I ran around in circles holding hands with Lord Adonis at a Bat Mitzvah a few months ago. I don't think this was a big factor in his resignation of the Labour whip.
I have just learnt that Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah are both correct.
So Bar and Bat are interchangeable?
That means I've done some shocking things inside Bats
Just listening, it's amusing to hear Professor Anthony King suggest there have only been three genuinely transformative Prime Ministers since the beginning of the 20th Century. Seems a little depressing for our PMs, although I suppose being a mere competent administrator or consolidator of others' transformations would be no bad thing too.
Also depends if the change was for the better. Ted Heath took us into the EU. That's transformation; doesn't make it a good one.
I ran around in circles holding hands with Lord Adonis at a Bat Mitzvah a few months ago. I don't think this was a big factor in his resignation of the Labour whip.
I have just learnt that Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah are both correct.
So Bar and Bat are interchangeable?
That means I've done some shocking things inside Bats
"Bat" being daughter.... this could have a rather perverse meaning...
Paul Kirkby New poll. 'Tories didn't use to understand ordinary working people but is improving. Labour used to, but doesn't now' http://t.co/v2hntaCiPu
Keep up the good work Jezbollah
The truly horrible number for the party of the working man is that only 18% - EIGHTEEN PER CENT!! - think that Labour used to and still does represent the ordinary working people.
Yes, there's a death certificate lurking there, unseen. Reminds me of the poet John Keats coughing blood, then calmly saying:
"I know the color of that blood; it is arterial blood. I cannot be deceived in that color. That drop of blood is my death warrant. I must die."
He died of TB a few years later.
If Labour cease to be the party of the working man and woman, as perceived by the working man and woman, then how much longer can they exist as a mass movement?
The Tories are safe as the party of the selfish/careless posh, and the striving middle classes and upper working classes. Labour are not safe.
Do the above only make up 24% of the electorate then?
I ran around in circles holding hands with Lord Adonis at a Bat Mitzvah a few months ago. I don't think this was a big factor in his resignation of the Labour whip.
I have just learnt that Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah are both correct.
So Bar and Bat are interchangeable?
That means I've done some shocking things inside Bats
Paul Kirkby New poll. 'Tories didn't use to understand ordinary working people but is improving. Labour used to, but doesn't now' http://t.co/v2hntaCiPu
Keep up the good work Jezbollah
The truly horrible number for the party of the working man is that only 18% - EIGHTEEN PER CENT!! - think that Labour used to and still does represent the ordinary working people.
Yes, there's a death certificate lurking there, unseen. Reminds me of the poet John Keats coughing blood, then calmly saying:
"I know the color of that blood; it is arterial blood. I cannot be deceived in that color. That drop of blood is my death warrant. I must die."
He died of TB a few years later.
If Labour cease to be the party of the working man and woman, as perceived by the working man and woman, then how much longer can they exist as a mass movement?
The Tories are safe as the party of the selfish/careless posh, and the striving middle classes and upper working classes. Labour are not safe.
Labour retreating to the party of non management employees in heavily unionised sectors of the public and ex public sector.
Comments
Shakes head in disgust
The finest political operator of recent times is George Osborne.
Detoxed the Tories, killed the Lib Dems, scheduled the welfare vote that tipped Labour towards Corbyn stopped the 2007 general election and also set up a 1,000 year Tory reich.
He truly is the master strategist
Spitting hatred as yobs ambush Tory conference #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #cpc14 http://t.co/z3JMX08pY3
New poll. 'Tories didn't use to understand ordinary working people but is improving. Labour used to, but doesn't now' http://t.co/v2hntaCiPu
"What about the people who didn't vote for us?" Andrew Feldman continues a session of saying things unsaid from Labour conference platform.
Is the cat out of the bag?
Could it be Adonis?
Red Tory!
There was no surprise or short term needs to vet candidates for the general election. Everyone knew when the GE was going to be.
Since when did the SNP ever think that it was not going to contest all the seats in Scotland? And the one in question is in Edinburgh!
It's a pretty poor reflection on the SNP if they were relying on a surge of new members to fill its list of possible candidates. What probably helped Thompson was her being a member of and mouthpiece of Business for Scotland, when in fact she had fallen out with them but it was all kept secret.
I was swotting & similar, I'm afraid.
Lord Adonis, who served as Transport Secretary under Gordon Brown and was the architect of the HS2 rail link between London and the Midlands, is to surrender the Labour whip at Westminster to take charge of a new National Infrastructure Commission.
His appointment, which will carry a salary, was negotiated in secret over the past fortnight. Senior Tories were jubilant over the recruitment of a respected political figure who was Tony Blair’s policy chief at Downing Street and the driving force behind the last government’s academies programme.
http://ind.pn/1OgffQg
Claire Perry @claire4devizes May 7
Hallelujah. Mark Reckless out. Don't let the door hit your fat arse as you leave.
https://twitter.com/euronews
TPD Adonis - we respect you.
@iainmartin1: Cameron at Scottish Tory bash, says press expecting "orgy of self-congratulation." "Let's leave the orgy for the next Ashcroft book."
Iain Martin
Cameron at Scottish Tory bash, says press expecting "orgy of self-congratulation." "Let's leave the orgy for the next Ashcroft book."
Osborne is a genius...
Re betting... Well what other overreaching commissions might be next and with who to lead them?
Tim Bale
Am loving this @BBCRadio4 programme on Cameron by @JananGanesh. If you're chilling at #CPC15, you can catch it here http://t.co/M4xaxSOkI7
I wonder what the voters will prefer?
https://twitter.com/Hudson_Roe/status/650648638293721088
Foreign aid being capped at 0.7% has never been a popular policy.
My guess is not a lot.
After 2 back surgeries in 15 months, it's the last thing you want as a golfer.
Now Notah has spoken publicly about his friend and revealed what we've all thought for a while now -
“I think he has a clear understanding with where he’s at in regard to his career that the sun is setting,” Begay said. “He’s very fair about where he’s at with his career and his body, and he’s certainly not going to go down without a fight, without trying to do everything he can to get back to a world-class level.”
http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/begay-woods-aware-sun-setting-career/
It looks increasingly that Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors is safe.
We are approaching the end of an era in golf. I hope he has the sense to go out on his own terms rather than linger too long.
I also hope he doesn't get as difficult and irritable as Paul Casey, who was quite unpleasant last week..
That's going to be an increasingly rare beast for Labour. 'Thinkers'
Twitter
Politico Daily @Politico_Daily 3m3 minutes ago
Former Labour Cabinet Minister, Andrew Adonis resigns the Labour whip to head the Government's National Infrastructure Commission
I wonder if others are tonight? http://t.co/iAIEmbPRG8
@ScottyNational: News:SNP deny all the 'Yes' organisations were SNP front organisations - 'We also let Patrick Harvie join & bang on about recycling & stuff'
@montie: Me for @TheTimes: The reasons why @George_Osborne may never become PM http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/thunderer/article4575871.ece …
Or he really doesn't like Cameron... Perhaps he could write a biography ?
Which was most wrong about a things tory this year?
The rest of us mainly do not take part until election day, its almost like the two parties are like the two groups; Labour are now for a small group of dedicated people that believe they are right and heaven help anyone that opposes them and the Tories are for a larger group of people that think they may be right but that you know what you get with Cameron et al.
Makes me think of when A colleague showed me what was purportedly a novel, but really it was just art in the form of a novel - it was an account of the Norman Conquest or around that period, with the conceit it was a genuine first person account of the time, and so in the interest of verisimilitude was written in pseudo old english. Not actual old english, but fake old english. It was basically in a code you had to decifer to understand.
Did you know that an anagram of Tory Scum is ..
Scum Tory.
Thought you should know.
That means I've done some shocking things inside Bats