The way has been opened for Jack Dromey... in the wake of the unexpected decision of Sîon Simon, the culture minister, to stand down as an MP... a special Labour selection panel decided that the seat should be an open contest, with no all-women shortlist... Dromey had previously aimed to stand in Leytonstone, the seat vacated by Harry Cohen, but was meeting hostility from the local party ... The decision to make Erdington an open contest has led to accusations that the party leadership are fixing seats for their Brownite friends... A bid to allow local constituency officers to attend shortlisting meetings conducted by Labour's selection panel was rejected, prompting suspicions that the party leadership will parachute its friends into safe seats...
I agree. If we had multimember constituencies with STV, then the good citizens of Falkirk and abouts could choose whether they want Unite or AN Other as their MP.
Party machines financed by either trade union or corporate barons picking candidates for safe seats , voted on by only a handful of local party selectors is the modern version of rotton boroughs.
On QT last night even Tony Robinson smiled when reminded of the Blackadder episode where Baldrick got elected in a rotton borough.
History repeats itself, and becomes unspoofable.
Tom Lehrer said satire became impossible after the Nobel peace prize was awarded to Kissinger, and he was quite right.
This is an attempt to say all parties are like this, when they clearly aren't.
There are two factors here.
1. Different factions within a party will attempt to ensure that their supporters are selected for promising seats to become MPs.
This happens in all parties, and Conservative Eurosceptic groups have been particularly successful in ensuring that the PCP reflects their views.
2. The degree to which rules are bent or broken in order to achieve #1. You have things like older MPs allegedly being offered Peerages in order to announce that they will not fight the election sufficiently close to the election that the hierarchy can parachute in one of their mates.
This appears to be regarded as routine within the Labour party, but could fall within the definition of bribery, in my view.
Then you have the situation of an organisation like Unite trying to, in their mind, correct the balance and possibly slipping in to fraud to do so.
Unite are often being criticised for #1, in which all parties are alike, when what is going wrong with the selections is #2.
I think we should worry if an MP owes their place in Parliament to corrupt practises. Government funding for open primaries might help [but determined people can always find a way to corrupt a process if they wish], but it raises a number of questions.
Would the government fund an open primary to select a BNP candidate? If you set a threshold of only funding primaries for parties who saved their deposit at the last general election then the primary process would act to reinforce the status quo by providing free publicity for those parties that are already established in an area. Is that consistent with a fair election?
STV would help, because people would be able to rank their preferred candidates for each party, and so in effect it combines the process of an open primary with that of the general election.
With weak Dave feeding the UKIP tiger Paddy Power are offering 7/4 on the kippers being the largest UK party in the EU parliament.
Enough Tories will choose the full fat Farage over the faux Cameron to make that a good bet.
I agree it's a good bet. It should be close to evens, probably on the odds-on side. You're right that many centre-right voters will go with UKIP, for various reasons. So will many centre-left voters. 2014 will probably be the first Euroelection in 30 years that the principal opposition does not win.
On topic: Brave attempt, but I'm not sure how the fact that a rival candidate was also allegedly trying to stitch things up helps.
Of course the real significance of this story is not the direct effect on voters (zero), or the influence of the unions on Labour (hardly news, and in any case that's the original idea behind the Labour Party, right?), but the light it sheds on the battles and disunity underneath what has been, up until the last couple of weeks, a remarkable show of unity within Labour.
As others have pointed out, selection battles are often proxy battles about policy. The heart of the matter is that Ed Miliband has failed to impose a policy lead, and in that void others are fighting to impose their own different alternatives. By vacillating, dithering, contradicting himself, opposing cuts but saying he supports them, attacking coalition policies in lurid terms then accepting them, he has left the very strong impression that he hasn't a clue where Labour should stand on the central issues of the day. It's hardly a surprise that others are manoeuvering to do the job for him.
Miss Plato, that devalued the award significantly, and it could've actually helped a lesser known individual to a substantial degree.
Giving it to the EU was bloody silly as well.
I still can't believe it was ever given to the EU - I'd thought it was a bad dream until I tripped across a story referencing it a few months ago. As you say - the Award could give a real leg-up to a worthy candidate, handing it out like an Honorary Degree to a crony destroys its currency.
Wee Dougie refuses to say whether Labour will repeal the referendum bill.
It's a private members bill that doesn't bind the next parliament, it won't need repealing even if they get it on the statute. Meaningless posturing from Dave which is boosting UKIP
Farage will just say "referendum now"
Any Act of Parliament has the same standing, irrespective of who put it forward in the first place. Of course no Act can bind a future parliament (in theory - in practice it would be difficult to repeal, for example, Acts that granted independence to former colonies, even if the political will was there), but any Act can bind a future government. This one won't because it won't be passed but that's far from saying that it couldn't if it was.
Alex Pack @alexanderpack Labour MPs forget that today's debate is not about the merits of the EU, but rather one about if they trust the electorate or not.
I have to agree - the arguments from Labour Pro-EUers are missing the point most of the time.
I see the BBC's lead story is "Unite boss attacks Labour leadership", which is the lead story at neither The Times nor The Telegraph. Meanwhile, Conservative coverage has been practically fawning.
Shock horror: the BBC hires James Harder, the editor who pushed The Times to the right, and the BBC magically lurches to the right and begins a firmly anti-Labour editorial stance. As I have said previouly, the press has been captured by the right.
If you were only following the press narrative, you would believe that Labour were losing, not that they had a whopping 8% lead in the polls. In the press, Labour is always losing, even when they are winning. Who cares about the facts?
I see the BBC's lead story is "Unite boss attacks Labour leadership", which is the lead story at neither The Times nor The Telegraph.
Shock horror: the BBC hires James Harder, the editor who pushed The Times to the right, and the BBC magically lurches to the right and begins a firmly anti-Labour editorial stance. As I have said before, the press has been captured by the right.
If you were only following the press narrative, you would believe that Labour were losing, not that they had a whopping 8% lead in the polls. In the press, Labour is always losing, even when they are winning. Who cares about the facts?
Oliver - what are polls worth ? Not much. Cam is PM.
Wee Dougie refuses to say whether Labour will repeal the referendum bill.
It's a private members bill that doesn't bind the next parliament, it won't need repealing even if they get it on the statute. Meaningless posturing from Dave which is boosting UKIP
Farage will just say "referendum now"
Tim, did you study British Constitution at school?
"The Care Quality Commission admitted earlier this week to putting its own reputation before the truth and said there had been a culture of “incompetence, suppression and oppression”.
However, despite promising a “radical overhaul” of the organisation, the watchdog’s bosses are recruiting a new spin doctor with the task of “expertly managing” its reputation.
According to new parliamentary figures obtained by Charlotte Leslie, a Conservative MP and member of the health select committee, the new recruit will be joining an 11-strong public affairs team.
Three of its members are paid about £63,000 and two are paid around £48,000 each. The total spend on the public affairs team has risen from £593,498 in 2011/12 to £785,606 this year.
I see the BBC's lead story is "Unite boss attacks Labour leadership", which is the lead story at neither The Times nor The Telegraph. Meanwhile, Conservative coverage has been practically fawning.
Shock horror: the BBC hires James Harder, the editor who pushed The Times to the right, and the BBC magically lurches to the right and begins a firmly anti-Labour editorial stance. As I have said previouly, the press has been captured by the right.
If you were only following the press narrative, you would believe that Labour were losing, not that they had a whopping 8% lead in the polls. In the press, Labour is always losing, even when they are winning. Who cares about the facts?
You can't help but think Hague shoild have waited to be party leader. As a Northerner from a modest background he'd resonate better than Cameron atm.
I'd agree - he was pushed into it when it was all wrong for him. It must be very hard to resist such pressures, and he's an example of the right man at the wrong time.
You can't help but think Hague shoild have waited to be party leader. As a Northerner from a modest background he'd resonate better than Cameron atm.
I'd agree - he was pushed into it when it was all wrong for him. It must be very hard to resist such pressures, and he's an example of the right man at the wrong time.
Wasn't he originally on a joint ticket as Michael Howard's deputy and then decided he wanted the job for himself?
Ed Miliband has now completely boxed himself into opposing a referendum. The wriggle room he left himself earlier been squandered. He's going to look really silly if, as some in Labour argue he should, he ends up doing yet another full-on U-turn.
Ed Miliband has now completely boxed himself into opposing a referendum. The wriggle room he left himself earlier been squandered. He's going to look really silly if, as some in Labour argue he should, he ends up doing yet another full-on U-turn.
Dougie Alexander was attempting to leave the door open by saying something about The National Interest - I can't see that holding much water after this.
Hague banging on about Europe, Bill Cash intervening, do these people seriously think swing voters (not those swinging from Con to UKIP and back) give a flying f*ck about this?
I doubt many people do care all that much one way or another. At the same time it is of importance to a minority and in particular to the Conservative party and its membership. It's not something I get overly excited about myself but at the same time I don't think it does any harm for the party to give the appearance of near total unity on Europe especially at the same time Labour is having internal problems of its own (a non-story I know).
People with an intense interest in politics do have different priorities and interests to the electorate as a whole. I don't see the point in pretending otherwise. For some it's Europe for others it's fop-burgers. For me it's the (ever improving) economy.
Would the government fund an open primary to select a BNP candidate? If you set a threshold of only funding primaries for parties who saved their deposit at the last general election then the primary process would act to reinforce the status quo by providing free publicity for those parties that are already established in an area. Is that consistent with a fair election?
I've been a supporter of state-funded primaries for some time now, and yes, that is more-or-less how I'd do it. If the BNP can win a certain percentage, then they win the right to what goes with that, the same as they gained some benefits for having two MEPs (one has since resigned but that's beside the point).
With fixed-term parliaments, it's quite easy to schedule primaries in. I'd have on the same day as the principle spring elections a year before the GE is due i.e. the same day as the Euro-elections as things stand, due to them being the year before the way the cycle now runs but otherwise the first Thursday in May if there's an early GE in the future. Mainly for logistical and cost reasons but having a late primary is more likely to encourage a wider range of people to come forward if they're 'only' obliged to spend one year campaigning rather than three or four.
In terms of thresholds, I'd go with any party that secured 5% across the entire country being entitled to participate in every primary, or any party that secured 10% across a Euroconstituency having the right to contest the seats within it. The boundary-review legislation probably makes it too difficult to work at an individual constituency level. Obviously, that discriminates against minor parties but that is a principle that has long applied and is in any case one I'd support as too many parties works against democratic accountability rather than strengthening it.
"Who can forget Mr Harriet Harman, Jack Dromy (who just happened to be a Trade Union baron and the Labour Party Treasurer who didn't know about £18 million loans raised by Lord Cashpoint) winning one of his wife's all-female shortlists "
Oliver - what are polls worth ? Not much. Cam is PM.
I'm asking why there's such a big disconnect between voting intention and how the press is reporting on politics.
Let's take another example: Osborne is cutting the Corporation Tax rate from 28% to 24% to 23% next year to 21% in 2014. The UK will have one of the lowest corporation tax rates in the western world.
Now, giving big businesses a 7% tax cut should at least be a mildly controversial measure, especially given the Conservative's supposedly emphasis on cutting the deficit.
It's not because no-one writes about it so the general public isn't aware of it.
Oliver - what are polls worth ? Not much. Cam is PM.
I'm asking why there's such a big disconnect between voting intention and how the press is reporting on politics.
Let's take another example: Osborne is cutting the Corporation Tax rate from 28% to 24% to 23% next year to 21% in 2014. The UK will have one of the lowest corporation tax rates in the western world.
Now, giving big businesses a 7% tax cut should at least a mildly controversial measure, especially given the Conservative's supposedly emphasis on cutting the deficit.
It's not because no-one writes about it so the general public isn't aware of it.
They might be aware of falling unemployment and increase in GDP that has happened since this tax was cut.
From Mr Kellner's recent piece: re Kippers scoring - it may be useful to read this re the latest Survation numbers.
"...Using our usual two-stage prompting, UKIP are doing seven points better in the EP election than in the Westminster election. Using a single list, UKIP are doing eleven points better. This suggests prompting for UKIP in a question on European voting intention would give them a boost of about four points, entirely in line with our experience in 2004 and 2009.
What about the ComRes and Survation polls? Both of their surveys used the single-list method, with UKIP listed along with the main parties (as well as Greens and BNP). So their figures are comparable to YouGov’s 19% share. To put it another way, on a like-with like basis, we all put UKIP’s EP support at 21% plus or minus two.
What about the comparative uplift compared with the general election voting questions? ComRes’s survey did not provide comparative general election voting figures, but Survation did. Its general election figure for UKIP was 16%; so UKIP’s EP uplift was six points. However, the key thing here is that Survation also include UKIP in their main list when they ask their general election voting question. That is why their UKIP figures tend to be higher than those of other polling companies.
In other words, when Survation asks their general election and EP voting intentions in essentially the same way (single lists both times), UKIP receives a six point uplift; when YouGov asks both questions the same way as each other (two-part lists both times), we find a seven point uplift – much the same as Survation..." http://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/01/15/measuring-ukips-support/
Oliver - what are polls worth ? Not much. Cam is PM.
I'm asking why there's such a big disconnect between voting intention and how the press is reporting on politics.
Let's take another example: Osborne is cutting the Corporation Tax rate from 28% to 24% to 23% next year to 21% in 2014. The UK will have one of the lowest corporation tax rates in the western world.
Now, giving big businesses a 7% tax cut should at least a mildly controversial measure, especially when the Conservatives plan to cut the deficit.
It's not because no-one writes about it so the general public isn't aware of it.
Maybe you've missed it but big business tax rates have been hitting zero as offshore tax regimes don't charge much and Labour never pursued the likes of Google or Starbucks. Bust banks don't pay much tax either.
'Hague banging on about Europe, Bill Cash intervening, do these people seriously think swing voters (not those swinging from Con to UKIP and back) give a flying f*ck about this?'
So that explains your excellent headless chicken performance?
@Oliver_PB The press will always, always, pursue the human interest stories over the dull but important. Stories of politicians fighting like ferrets in a sack are fun. Stories about corporation tax are so unutterably dull that they won't begin to pay attention. The word "corporation" itself is ghastly, conjuring up images of dreary fat council officials in Lancashire mill towns.
You also need to remember that most journalists are essentially innumerate and while personable and can write reasonably well, are largely otherwise unremarkable. They'll write stories about subjects that concern them directly (removing child benefit from higher rate taxpayers, the gentrification of Brixton and Stoke Newington) and about things that they can readily grasp.
When it comes to tax, they're very happy to write about the general idea that other people are somehow weaseling out of their fair share. But identifying what that fair share should be is quite beyond their intellectual powers.
So you will wait in vain for a study of corporation tax rates, I'm afraid.
Ed should get rid of the last few remaing 'Tom Watson's' in the PLP and denounce McClusky (who has nowhere else to go with his money anyway) in a Stalinist purge and thereby kill two birds with one stone. Get rid of the dinosaurs and show himself to be the ruthless macho figure the British like so much.
Ed should get rid of the last few remaing 'Tom Watson's' in the PLP and denounce McClusky (who has nowhere else to go with his money anyway) in a Stalinist purge and thereby kill two birds with one stone. Get rid of the dinosaurs and show himself to be the ruthless macho figure the British like so much.
Hague banging on about Europe, Bill Cash intervening, do these people seriously think swing voters (not those swinging from Con to UKIP and back) give a flying f*ck about this?
I doubt many people do care all that much one way or another. At the same time it is of importance to a minority and in particular to the Conservative party and its membership. It's not something I get overly excited about myself but at the same time I don't think it does any harm for the party to give the appearance of near total unity on Europe especially at the same time Labour is having internal problems of its own (a non-story I know).
People with an intense interest in politics do have different priorities and interests to the electorate as a whole. I don't see the point in pretending otherwise. For some it's Europe for others it's fop-burgers. For me it's the (ever improving) economy.
Drone drone drone went the Tories. Here's another Awesome Europe speech. Here's some more scapegoating of immigrants.
And where does it get you?
Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB 2h Today's 23% CON share in Survation Mirror/ITV poll is the lowest for the party from any firm since GE2010
Because the obsessive dullards who like this nonsense like it so much that they'll leapfrog Dave, who's going to let the Bulgarians bugger your granny and switch to Nigel who'll take her for a tea dance down at the golf club.
Why not make 1000's of posts about something else then?
Clearly, NewsSense has failed to pick up any other major political stories this week.
@Oliver_PB The press will always, always, pursue the human interest stories over the dull but important. Stories of politicians fighting like ferrets in a sack are fun. Stories about corporation tax are so unutterably dull that they won't begin to pay attention. The word "corporation" itself is ghastly, conjuring up images of dreary fat council officials in Lancashire mill towns.
You also need to remember that most journalists are essentially innumerate and while personable and can write reasonably well, are largely otherwise unremarkable. They'll write stories about subjects that concern them directly (removing child benefit from higher rate taxpayers, the gentrification of Brixton and Stoke Newington) and about things that they can readily grasp.
When it comes to tax, they're very happy to write about the general idea that other people are somehow weaseling out of their fair share. But identifying what that fair share should be is quite beyond their intellectual powers.
So you will wait in vain for a study of corporation tax rates, I'm afraid.
Hague banging on about Europe, Bill Cash intervening, do these people seriously think swing voters (not those swinging from Con to UKIP and back) give a flying f*ck about this?
I doubt many people do care all that much one way or another. At the same time it is of importance to a minority and in particular to the Conservative party and its membership. It's not something I get overly excited about myself but at the same time I don't think it does any harm for the party to give the appearance of near total unity on Europe especially at the same time Labour is having internal problems of its own (a non-story I know).
People with an intense interest in politics do have different priorities and interests to the electorate as a whole. I don't see the point in pretending otherwise. For some it's Europe for others it's fop-burgers. For me it's the (ever improving) economy.
Drone drone drone went the Tories. Here's another Awesome Europe speech. Here's some more scapegoating of immigrants.
And where does it get you?
Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB 2h Today's 23% CON share in Survation Mirror/ITV poll is the lowest for the party from any firm since GE2010
Because the obsessive dullards who like this nonsense like it so much that they'll leapfrog Dave, who's going to let the Bulgarians bugger your granny and switch to Nigel who'll take her for a tea dance down at the golf club.
Your assuming that survation is the gold standard now I take it? I'd guess the real reason the Tories are doing poorly in the polls is because it is mid-term and times are tough. Fortunately things are slowly improving - absolutely no thanks to your lot.
And granny-buggering Bulgarians? Really? That's kind of creepy, or is this another of your made up arguments that you can attribute to no one.
"The poll also highlighted peoples fears for the future of the NHS. 41% of people surveyed thought the services provided by the NHS have got worse since David Cameron became Prime Minister, compared to just 11% who thought service have got better. "
Pretty standard response.
For example, from 2006:
Public satisfaction with the National Health Service is lower than when Labour came to power, according to a poll published today.
Four out of 10 people believe the NHS is "getting worse", and the same figure would prefer to go private if they could, a Gallup survey for The Daily Telegraph found.
And the number of people who think the NHS has been a failure has doubled since 1997, the results revealed.
And that was at a time when the City was churning in unprecedented tax revenues and Brown was taking that plus additional borrowing and spraying it at the NHS to a degree never before seen.
"Ed Miliband is at a fork in the road. Plainly he cannot go back, by which I mean he cannot pretend that there is nothing of great significance to see in the row over the Falkirk selection – that it was a rogue case; single bad apple etc.
Len McCluskey’s attack on the Labour leadership – accusing the party of smearing Unite and betraying its trust – bars that route. Besides, every Labour activist, member, MP and any journalist who has spoken much to any of those people knows there is a systemic problem with the opaque way the apparatus has traditionally operated. They also know there has been a concerted effort by Unite to manipulate that process to increase its control over Labour.
So when McCluskey implies the party leadership is involved in some nasty plot to be beastly to the union and that Unite, in other words, are the victims of a conspiracy, he is directly challenging Miliband’s authority. He is saying, in effect: "You are not the master of this situation and have no control over how it will end; so let me make this easy – back down, and it ends." Except, of course, it won’t..."
Miliband might think that Tom Watson’s resignation, freezing the Falkirk selection process and ending the system that allows unions to buy up bundles of party membership will signal determination to get a grip. He may believe that the necessary resolve is indicated with some firm words, whether from his own mouth or through a spokesman or shadow cabinet ally, saying dodgy selections will not be tolerated. If so, he is wrong.
Judging by my conversations with some Labour MPs in the past 24 hours, I’d say Miliband has to go much, much further to restore confidence... What this is really about is Ed Miliband’s capacity to be a leader at all – to emancipate himself from the machine that won him the job in the first place and that has helped consolidate his position, but at a heavy price. A superficial unity was achieved but there was no intellectual or ideological harmony, no reconciliation between factions, no meaningful synthesis of ideas and, as a result, no clarity of direction. As I wrote in this week’s magazine, Miliband is desperate to be a candidate who talks about the future, but the Labour Party is still tangled up in a way of doing politics that reeks of a joyless, airless, stale past. http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/07/miliband-cannot-treat-falkirk-little-local-difficulty
Maybe you've missed it but big business tax rates have been hitting zero as offshore tax regimes don't charge much and Labour never pursued the likes of Google or Starbucks.
Yes, but two wrongs don't make a right. I agree that New Labour's support of deregulation was a mistake and I am a strong proponent of the CCCTB.
Bust banks don't pay much tax either.
I also agree the Big Bang was a mistake and there has been precious little examination of the right-wing policies that led to the financial crisis and what should change.
@Oliver_PB The press will always, always, pursue the human interest stories over the dull but important.
I'm sure it's not that difficult to find some billionaire shareholders who are major beneficiaries of the tax cuts, along with photo of their mansions. They just don't want to because it doesn't fit in with their agenda.
Oliver - what are polls worth ? Not much. Cam is PM.
I'm asking why there's such a big disconnect between voting intention and how the press is reporting on politics.
Let's take another example: Osborne is cutting the Corporation Tax rate from 28% to 24% to 23% next year to 21% in 2014. The UK will have one of the lowest corporation tax rates in the western world.
Now, giving big businesses a 7% tax cut should at least a mildly controversial measure, especially given the Conservative's supposedly emphasis on cutting the deficit.
It's not because no-one writes about it so the general public isn't aware of it.
They might be aware of falling unemployment and increase in GDP that has happened since this tax was cut.
"The poll also highlighted peoples fears for the future of the NHS. 41% of people surveyed thought the services provided by the NHS have got worse since David Cameron became Prime Minister, compared to just 11% who thought service have got better. "
Pretty standard response.
For example, from 2006:
So you think the Tories are in a similar position to Labour after 9 years of office? Interesting.
@Oliver_PB: It's hardly surprising that there has been no discussion of substantive issues over the last couple of years, given that Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition majors on ludicrous nonsense about pasties, burgers, and ad hominem attacks on ministers.
@Jonathan, @tim - No, these things come and go according to what's in the media. In case you haven't noticed, there has been a quite remarkable set of atrocious revelations about abject failure in the NHS recently, mostly dating back to Labour's watch.
"The poll also highlighted peoples fears for the future of the NHS. 41% of people surveyed thought the services provided by the NHS have got worse since David Cameron became Prime Minister, compared to just 11% who thought service have got better. "
Pretty standard response.
For example, from 2006:
So you think the Tories are in a similar position to Labour after 9 years of office? Interesting.
Perhaps you hadn't noticed. We inherited an absolute shambles of an economy from your party (which I appreciate Labour feel no shame for) and have had to make tough and unpopular decisions ever since. We can hardly compare it to the benign economic inheritance your party was given but still managed to destroy.
Maybe you've missed it but big business tax rates have been hitting zero as offshore tax regimes don't charge much and Labour never pursued the likes of Google or Starbucks.
Yes, but two wrongs don't make a right. I agree that New Labour's support of deregulation was a mistake and I am a strong proponent of the CCCTB.
Bust banks don't pay much tax either.
I also agree the Big Bang was a mistake and been little examination of the right-wing policies that led to the financial crisis.
@Oliver_PB The press will always, always, pursue the human interest stories over the dull but important.
I'm sure it's not that difficult to find some billionaire shareholders who are major beneficiaries of tax cuts, along with photo of their mansions. They just don't want to because it doesn't fit in with their agenda.
So summarising your position you want to selectively put someone else's house in order first before addressing your own issues.
I'm never sure who these rich people you want to pursue are. It seems like a carry over fron the last century. Millionaires are as likely to be card carrying Labourites these days as cliched tory bosses. The left hasn't got its head staight on who the rich are and why Labour is the establishment as much as anyone else, perhaps moreso.
@Oliver_PB: It's hardly surprising that there has been no discussion of substantive issues over the last couple of years, given that Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition majors on ludicrous nonsense about pasties and ad hominem attacks on ministers.
In my dotage, time flies by - I was gobsmacked to be reminded yesterday that it's almost THREE years since EdM became Labour leader.
What exactly has he done bar making A Lot. Of. Empty Speeches. That Are. Largely Without Verbs?
@Oliver_PB: It's hardly surprising that there has been no discussion of substantive issues over the last couple of years, given that Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition majors on ludicrous nonsense about pasties and ad hominem attacks on ministers.
Forgive me for thinking the press should be expected to do more than parrot talking points from either side.
"Back in the Commons, Ian Davidson, the Labour Eurosceptic, is speaking. He has been sneering at the Lib Dems, describing them as the "snivellers opposite", because of their refusal to back a referendum. He also joked about his friendship with Len McCluskey.
Martin Horwood, the Lib Dem MP, seemed to take offence. Brandishing his union card, he said he had been a member of Unite since his days in the charity sector. But he was so offended by Davidson's remarks that he was leaving, he suggested. He said he would hand over his card and Davidson could do with it what he wanted.
Davidson said Horwood might not be pleased if Davidson took that invitation literally."
@Oliver_PB: It's hardly surprising that there has been no discussion of substantive issues over the last couple of years, given that Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition majors on ludicrous nonsense about pasties and ad hominem attacks on ministers.
In my dotage, time flies by - I was gobsmacked to be reminded yesterday that it's almost THREE years since EdM became Labour leader.
What exactly has he done bar making A Lot. Of. Empty Speeches. That Are. Largely Without Verbs?
He's bravely man of steel like tackled the Union issue head on - proactively.
The only reasonable interpretation is that either or both conditions can be waived but reasons acceptable to waive the union membership requirement are not as strict as for the 12-month membership rule.
I know someone personally who's been accepted as an applicant for a seat who isn't a union member and never has been - he's a small businessman so it didn't seem to make sense for him. He didn't report any problems in getting his application accepted as valid. (Whether he'll win the selection is another question.)
I had a call earlier today from a broadsheet out of the blue, asking if I was worried about unions stitching me up. I said no, everything's fine, thanks for your concern. :-)
More from The Staggers - the good news keeps rolling in.
"Worse, it looks to many people inside the party and beyond as if Miliband has been shrinking, not growing into the job. The cavalier and patronising tone of Watson’s resignation letter has not gone unnoticed. Between the lines, Labour MPs are reading a message of casual disregard: sorry mate, all got a bit tricky, can’t be bothered anymore, good luck with that whole 'leadership' thing, see ya around.
There is a feeling around the parliamentary Labour party today that Watson and McCluskey are threatening to take their ball home if the game can’t be played by their rules. And there is concern that Miliband is looking like the weedy kid in the playground who will be left standing alone, unpicked to play on any team. As one shadow minister, a despairing Ed supporter, put it to me last night: "It’s time to stand up to the bullies now and say clearly, 'f--- off'".
Armed-wing of the Labour Party (Sturm-Fuhrer "Cur" Ian Blair) were an exemplar to New Labour's NHS? Unwarrented deaths are unimportant to a corrupt, diseased, inbred Socialist [sic] oligarchy no doubt....
"He said he resigned partly because he realised shadow cabinet colleagues had been briefing against him. Some people could not forgive him for his part in undermining Tony Blair in 2006, he said.
I kept reading in papers that there were unattributed briefings from the shadow cabinet. I don’t think journalists would have made that up. There was clearly a problem with some of my colleagues around the shadow cabinet table and obviously I do accept that. It was a big thing I did in 2006.
I had a call earlier today from a broadsheet out of the blue, asking if I was worried about unions stitching me up. I said no, everything's fine, thanks for your concern. :-)
Isn't it a bit early to be sure of that?
I see this chap is making a strong effort in Broxtowe:
@oflynnexpress: EdMil on Unite resembles Michael Foot when he said Tatchell would be a candidate over his dead body and then Tatchell was the candidate
I had a call earlier today from a broadsheet out of the blue, asking if I was worried about unions stitching me up. I said no, everything's fine, thanks for your concern. :-)
Isn't it a bit early to be sure of that?
I see this chap is making a strong effort in Broxtowe:
I feel some of us have a barrel full of fish and Mach guns when it comes to EdM right now.
If only I could locate the World's Smallest Violin for his plight.
Really? A small band of people who never much liked EdM, grandstanding long held opinions in a dark corner of the Internet? I bet he's quaking in his boots.
Really? A small band of people who never much liked EdM, grandstanding long held opinions in a dark corner of the Internet? I bet he's quaking in his boots.
Not at all, Jonathan. I'm sure he's entirely unperturbed, meditating with Buddha-like calm on producers versus predators, or some other teaching from the Eightfold Way Towards One Nation.
I feel some of us have a barrel full of fish and Mach guns when it comes to EdM right now.
If only I could locate the World's Smallest Violin for his plight.
Really? A small band of people who never much liked EdM, grandstanding long held opinions in a dark corner of the Internet? I bet he's quaking in his boots.
Ah - so the massed ranks of the media and Labour's biggest donor don't count as mattering. Let alone the Tories who are rolling in the hay today.
Ed Miliband Ten More Years...
Mr Eugenides @Mr_Eugenides The Tory Party are currently debating who should run Britain. The Labour Party are debating who should run the Labour Party.
@oflynnexpress: EdMil on Unite resembles Michael Foot when he said Tatchell would be a candidate over his dead body and then Tatchell was the candidate
Is that an urban myth Scott?
I'm sure you understand these tweets you copy so I guess you'll tell us.
The phrase was a lot less catchy and there's some debate as to who it referred to.
I feel some of us have a barrel full of fish and Mach guns when it comes to EdM right now.
If only I could locate the World's Smallest Violin for his plight.
Really? A small band of people who never much liked EdM, grandstanding long held opinions in a dark corner of the Internet? I bet he's quaking in his boots.
Ah - so the massed ranks of the media and Labour's biggest donor don't count as mattering. Let alone the Tories who are rolling in the hay today.
Ed Miliband Ten More Years...
You said "some of us". Last time I checked you were neither "Labour's biggest donor", nor the "massed ranks of the media". Walter Mitty perhaps.
So summarising your position you want to selectively put someone else's house in order first before addressing your own issues.
The Labour Party's issue aren't "my issues" in any way, shape or form. I'm just left-wing and tired of seeing Conservative get a free pass while giving endless negative coverage to Labour.
I'm never sure who these rich people you want to pursue are. It seems like a carry over fron the last century. Millionaires are as likely to be card carrying Labourites these days as cliched tory bosses. The left hasn't got its head staight on who the rich are and why Labour is the establishment as much as anyone else, perhaps moreso.
If you want to personalise an issue like corporation tax then you focus on wealthy shareholders who are benefitting from a 5% corporation tax cut. I don't see how it's wrong to point out the direct beneficiaries which certainly won't be the ordinary man on the street. It doesn't matter whether they are Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem, UKIP, Green or Raving Loony. Stop being such a blind partisan.
The idea of the rich thriving and the poor struggling isn't in any way a "last century" issue. Inequality is rampant and social mobility doesn't happen. If you grow up in poverty then statistically you will die in poverty.
More panto boo-hiss, its all an elaborate plan to make Ed look strong and Len is playing along - honest.
Peter Diapre @skybod Ed Miliband: 'Instead of defending what happened in Falkirk, Len McCluskey should be facing up to his responsibilities' #Falkirk #Unite
Comments
Poor old Edd Milibund.
Weak weak wonk.
Plus the bird on his right.
Dire.
Dromey had previously aimed to stand in Leytonstone, the seat vacated by Harry Cohen, but was meeting hostility from the local party ... The decision to make Erdington an open contest has led to accusations that the party leadership are fixing seats for their Brownite friends...
A bid to allow local constituency officers to attend shortlisting meetings conducted by Labour's selection panel was rejected, prompting suspicions that the party leadership will parachute its friends into safe seats...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/feb/05/jack-dromey-sion-simon-labour-erdington
So, all perfectly routine then...
Party machines financed by either trade union or corporate barons picking candidates for safe seats , voted on by only a handful of local party selectors is the modern version of rotton boroughs.
On QT last night even Tony Robinson smiled when reminded of the Blackadder episode where Baldrick got elected in a rotton borough.
History repeats itself, and becomes unspoofable.
Tom Lehrer said satire became impossible after the Nobel peace prize was awarded to Kissinger, and he was quite right.
Oh I don't kinow, I thought the Obama Nobel Prize moved it up a notch.
Of course the real significance of this story is not the direct effect on voters (zero), or the influence of the unions on Labour (hardly news, and in any case that's the original idea behind the Labour Party, right?), but the light it sheds on the battles and disunity underneath what has been, up until the last couple of weeks, a remarkable show of unity within Labour.
As others have pointed out, selection battles are often proxy battles about policy. The heart of the matter is that Ed Miliband has failed to impose a policy lead, and in that void others are fighting to impose their own different alternatives. By vacillating, dithering, contradicting himself, opposing cuts but saying he supports them, attacking coalition policies in lurid terms then accepting them, he has left the very strong impression that he hasn't a clue where Labour should stand on the central issues of the day. It's hardly a surprise that others are manoeuvering to do the job for him.
"Tom Lehrer said satire became impossible after the Nobel peace prize was awarded to Kissinger, and he was quite right."
I'm sorry but I think Obama getting it two weeks after becoming POTUS took the biscuit...
Giving it to the EU was bloody silly as well.
Labour MPs forget that today's debate is not about the merits of the EU, but rather one about if they trust the electorate or not.
I have to agree - the arguments from Labour Pro-EUers are missing the point most of the time.
Shock horror: the BBC hires James Harder, the editor who pushed The Times to the right, and the BBC magically lurches to the right and begins a firmly anti-Labour editorial stance. As I have said previouly, the press has been captured by the right.
If you were only following the press narrative, you would believe that Labour were losing, not that they had a whopping 8% lead in the polls. In the press, Labour is always losing, even when they are winning. Who cares about the facts?
Tim, did you study British Constitution at school?
"The Care Quality Commission admitted earlier this week to putting its own reputation before the truth and said there had been a culture of “incompetence, suppression and oppression”.
However, despite promising a “radical overhaul” of the organisation, the watchdog’s bosses are recruiting a new spin doctor with the task of “expertly managing” its reputation.
According to new parliamentary figures obtained by Charlotte Leslie, a Conservative MP and member of the health select committee, the new recruit will be joining an 11-strong public affairs team.
Three of its members are paid about £63,000 and two are paid around £48,000 each. The total spend on the public affairs team has risen from £593,498 in 2011/12 to £785,606 this year.
Miss Leslie said: “There is one very simple way for the CQC to get a good reputation, that’s to do its job of protecting patients. The CQC should spend less time polishing its reputation and more time highlighting the awful things in hospitals. They need to sort this out.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10161086/NHS-watchdog-spent-785000-on-spin-team.html
UKIP on 22% in Survation Poll http://guyfawk.es/14WCDIn
Beautiful, Lustrous, Shining UKIP in the Rise. Crossover country soon.
Lab 36% Con 23% UKip 22% LD's 10%. He,he, fecking Farages Boys
Thanks for the tip - I'd missed that.
7/4 is generous.
in any case, defeat was the making of him.
So non-Tories we've got:
Skinner
Gisele
K Vaz
Hoey
Hemming - LD
Cryer
Dowd
Cooper [Rosie]
Morris [Grahame]
McDonnell
Drew
Mitchell [Austin]
Stringer
Godsiff
Campbell [Ronnie]
Hopkins [Kelvin]
Engel
Field
Davidson [Ian]
Have I missed anyone?
EDIT - there's a Labour website for pro-ref members http://labourforareferendum.com/
People with an intense interest in politics do have different priorities and interests to the electorate as a whole. I don't see the point in pretending otherwise. For some it's Europe for others it's fop-burgers. For me it's the (ever improving) economy.
With fixed-term parliaments, it's quite easy to schedule primaries in. I'd have on the same day as the principle spring elections a year before the GE is due i.e. the same day as the Euro-elections as things stand, due to them being the year before the way the cycle now runs but otherwise the first Thursday in May if there's an early GE in the future. Mainly for logistical and cost reasons but having a late primary is more likely to encourage a wider range of people to come forward if they're 'only' obliged to spend one year campaigning rather than three or four.
In terms of thresholds, I'd go with any party that secured 5% across the entire country being entitled to participate in every primary, or any party that secured 10% across a Euroconstituency having the right to contest the seats within it. The boundary-review legislation probably makes it too difficult to work at an individual constituency level. Obviously, that discriminates against minor parties but that is a principle that has long applied and is in any case one I'd support as too many parties works against democratic accountability rather than strengthening it.
"Who can forget Mr Harriet Harman, Jack Dromy (who just happened to be a Trade Union baron and the Labour Party Treasurer who didn't know about £18 million loans raised by Lord Cashpoint) winning one of his wife's all-female shortlists
Inaccurate I'm sure but it made me laugh anyway.
Let's take another example: Osborne is cutting the Corporation Tax rate from 28% to 24% to 23% next year to 21% in 2014. The UK will have one of the lowest corporation tax rates in the western world.
Now, giving big businesses a 7% tax cut should at least be a mildly controversial measure, especially given the Conservative's supposedly emphasis on cutting the deficit.
It's not because no-one writes about it so the general public isn't aware of it.
"...Using our usual two-stage prompting, UKIP are doing seven points better in the EP election than in the Westminster election. Using a single list, UKIP are doing eleven points better. This suggests prompting for UKIP in a question on European voting intention would give them a boost of about four points, entirely in line with our experience in 2004 and 2009.
What about the ComRes and Survation polls? Both of their surveys used the single-list method, with UKIP listed along with the main parties (as well as Greens and BNP). So their figures are comparable to YouGov’s 19% share. To put it another way, on a like-with like basis, we all put UKIP’s EP support at 21% plus or minus two.
What about the comparative uplift compared with the general election voting questions? ComRes’s survey did not provide comparative general election voting figures, but Survation did. Its general election figure for UKIP was 16%; so UKIP’s EP uplift was six points. However, the key thing here is that Survation also include UKIP in their main list when they ask their general election voting question. That is why their UKIP figures tend to be higher than those of other polling companies.
In other words, when Survation asks their general election and EP voting intentions in essentially the same way (single lists both times), UKIP receives a six point uplift; when YouGov asks both questions the same way as each other (two-part lists both times), we find a seven point uplift – much the same as Survation..." http://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/01/15/measuring-ukips-support/
'Hague banging on about Europe, Bill Cash intervening, do these people seriously think swing voters (not those swinging from Con to UKIP and back) give a flying f*ck about this?'
So that explains your excellent headless chicken performance?
You also need to remember that most journalists are essentially innumerate and while personable and can write reasonably well, are largely otherwise unremarkable. They'll write stories about subjects that concern them directly (removing child benefit from higher rate taxpayers, the gentrification of Brixton and Stoke Newington) and about things that they can readily grasp.
When it comes to tax, they're very happy to write about the general idea that other people are somehow weaseling out of their fair share. But identifying what that fair share should be is quite beyond their intellectual powers.
So you will wait in vain for a study of corporation tax rates, I'm afraid.
And Labour end up smelling of roses....
Clearly, NewsSense has failed to pick up any other major political stories this week.
Another Epic Fail.
"denounce McClusky (who has nowhere else to go with his money anyway)"
An interesting observation re no other ports to spend his cash in... not a debate I've heard at all in Labour circles.
And granny-buggering Bulgarians? Really? That's kind of creepy, or is this another of your made up arguments that you can attribute to no one.
For example, from 2006:
Public satisfaction with the National Health Service is lower than when Labour came to power, according to a poll published today.
Four out of 10 people believe the NHS is "getting worse", and the same figure would prefer to go private if they could, a Gallup survey for The Daily Telegraph found.
And the number of people who think the NHS has been a failure has doubled since 1997, the results revealed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-94561/Public-unhappy-NHS--poll.html
And that was at a time when the City was churning in unprecedented tax revenues and Brown was taking that plus additional borrowing and spraying it at the NHS to a degree never before seen.
"Ed Miliband is at a fork in the road. Plainly he cannot go back, by which I mean he cannot pretend that there is nothing of great significance to see in the row over the Falkirk selection – that it was a rogue case; single bad apple etc.
Len McCluskey’s attack on the Labour leadership – accusing the party of smearing Unite and betraying its trust – bars that route. Besides, every Labour activist, member, MP and any journalist who has spoken much to any of those people knows there is a systemic problem with the opaque way the apparatus has traditionally operated. They also know there has been a concerted effort by Unite to manipulate that process to increase its control over Labour.
So when McCluskey implies the party leadership is involved in some nasty plot to be beastly to the union and that Unite, in other words, are the victims of a conspiracy, he is directly challenging Miliband’s authority. He is saying, in effect: "You are not the master of this situation and have no control over how it will end; so let me make this easy – back down, and it ends." Except, of course, it won’t..."
Miliband might think that Tom Watson’s resignation, freezing the Falkirk selection process and ending the system that allows unions to buy up bundles of party membership will signal determination to get a grip. He may believe that the necessary resolve is indicated with some firm words, whether from his own mouth or through a spokesman or shadow cabinet ally, saying dodgy selections will not be tolerated. If so, he is wrong.
Judging by my conversations with some Labour MPs in the past 24 hours, I’d say Miliband has to go much, much further to restore confidence... What this is really about is Ed Miliband’s capacity to be a leader at all – to emancipate himself from the machine that won him the job in the first place and that has helped consolidate his position, but at a heavy price. A superficial unity was achieved but there was no intellectual or ideological harmony, no reconciliation between factions, no meaningful synthesis of ideas and, as a result, no clarity of direction. As I wrote in this week’s magazine, Miliband is desperate to be a candidate who talks about the future, but the Labour Party is still tangled up in a way of doing politics that reeks of a joyless, airless, stale past. http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/07/miliband-cannot-treat-falkirk-little-local-difficulty
If you're arguing the policy makes the Conservatives look good then you should be wondering why the press aren't shouting it from the rooftops. Yes, but two wrongs don't make a right. I agree that New Labour's support of deregulation was a mistake and I am a strong proponent of the CCCTB. I also agree the Big Bang was a mistake and there has been precious little examination of the right-wing policies that led to the financial crisis and what should change. I'm sure it's not that difficult to find some billionaire shareholders who are major beneficiaries of the tax cuts, along with photo of their mansions. They just don't want to because it doesn't fit in with their agenda.
"An interesting observation re no other ports to spend his cash in... not a debate I've heard at all in Labour circles."
Neither have I. I'm claiming a first!
Indeed. Let's see if EdM can match up to Kinnock. Unlikely, I know, but he should at least try.
As regards NHS polling, if the Tories want to privatise it, they should leave that to an incoming Labour government.
Is he busy prepping for Sunday's tv shows ?
BBC news and the Daily Politics both leading on how brilliantly this fight with Len is going for Ed...
So summarising your position you want to selectively put someone else's house in order first before addressing your own issues.
I'm never sure who these rich people you want to pursue are. It seems like a carry over fron the last century. Millionaires are as likely to be card carrying Labourites these days as cliched tory bosses. The left hasn't got its head staight on who the rich are and why Labour is the establishment as much as anyone else, perhaps moreso.
What exactly has he done bar making A Lot. Of. Empty Speeches. That Are. Largely Without Verbs?
"Back in the Commons, Ian Davidson, the Labour Eurosceptic, is speaking. He has been sneering at the Lib Dems, describing them as the "snivellers opposite", because of their refusal to back a referendum. He also joked about his friendship with Len McCluskey.
Martin Horwood, the Lib Dem MP, seemed to take offence. Brandishing his union card, he said he had been a member of Unite since his days in the charity sector. But he was so offended by Davidson's remarks that he was leaving, he suggested. He said he would hand over his card and Davidson could do with it what he wanted.
Davidson said Horwood might not be pleased if Davidson took that invitation literally."
I had a call earlier today from a broadsheet out of the blue, asking if I was worried about unions stitching me up. I said no, everything's fine, thanks for your concern. :-)
http://www.economist.com/news/economic-and-financial-indicators/21580507-economist-poll-forecasters-july-averages
People are people, but whom to believe,
Wee-Timmy, BenM, and OG-eee.
People are people so why can't they see,
DavidL, Junior and Aver-eee...? *
I'd be happy if CY2013 comes in at 1.2%. If it hit's 1.5% then CY2014 and PSBR-FY2013/14 could be mind-blowing.
* No apologies necessary (or required) for sad lyrics....
BBC Propaganda @BBCPropaganda
Ed Miliband can't repatriate Labour powers from the unions, let alone the EU. #LetBritainDecide
Unite under the rEd bus - deflect , deny , no responsibility.
Michael Crick @MichaelLCrick 3m
Ed Miliband says no plans to publish Falkirk report "at this stage"
Ed Miliband tells me he's "very angry" about what Unite did in Falkirk
Ed Miliband says no plans to publish Falkirk report "at this stage"
weak...weak....weak...
Matt Chorley
@MattChorley
Labour MP Ian Davidson says Tories want to leave Europe so they can 'put small boys up chimneys'
That's premier league for you.
"Worse, it looks to many people inside the party and beyond as if Miliband has been shrinking, not growing into the job. The cavalier and patronising tone of Watson’s resignation letter has not gone unnoticed. Between the lines, Labour MPs are reading a message of casual disregard: sorry mate, all got a bit tricky, can’t be bothered anymore, good luck with that whole 'leadership' thing, see ya around.
There is a feeling around the parliamentary Labour party today that Watson and McCluskey are threatening to take their ball home if the game can’t be played by their rules. And there is concern that Miliband is looking like the weedy kid in the playground who will be left standing alone, unpicked to play on any team. As one shadow minister, a despairing Ed supporter, put it to me last night: "It’s time to stand up to the bullies now and say clearly, 'f--- off'".
Armed-wing of the Labour Party (Sturm-Fuhrer "Cur" Ian Blair) were an exemplar to New Labour's NHS? Unwarrented deaths are unimportant to a corrupt, diseased, inbred Socialist [sic] oligarchy no doubt....
"He said he resigned partly because he realised shadow cabinet colleagues had been briefing against him. Some people could not forgive him for his part in undermining Tony Blair in 2006, he said.
I kept reading in papers that there were unattributed briefings from the shadow cabinet. I don’t think journalists would have made that up. There was clearly a problem with some of my colleagues around the shadow cabinet table and obviously I do accept that. It was a big thing I did in 2006.
Diane Abbott's blind belief that the union's money has nowhere else to go is most entertaining. And naive.
I see this chap is making a strong effort in Broxtowe:
http://www.nickmcdonald.info/
I don't know whether there's any stitching, though.
Michael Crick @MichaelLCrick
Miliband tells me Falkirk report shows Unite recruited people as Labour members without their knowledge
If only I could locate the World's Smallest Violin for his plight.
The unions have got them by the short and curlies, unless rEd wins the Euromillions lottery.
How will the BBC cope with that I wonder.
Ed Miliband Ten More Years...
Mr Eugenides @Mr_Eugenides
The Tory Party are currently debating who should run Britain. The Labour Party are debating who should run the Labour Party.
The idea of the rich thriving and the poor struggling isn't in any way a "last century" issue. Inequality is rampant and social mobility doesn't happen. If you grow up in poverty then statistically you will die in poverty.
Peter Diapre @skybod
Ed Miliband: 'Instead of defending what happened in Falkirk, Len McCluskey should be facing up to his responsibilities' #Falkirk #Unite