Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"? I see that Keir Starmer has set out his "manifesto" in today's Guardian. Isn't that just a perfect summary of the Labour Party's problems. Traditional, working class, former Labour voting citizens have nothing in common with rich, metropolitan, usually privately educated lawyers who claim to be socialists and live the lives of uber capitalists. Working class people in Lancashire read the Daily Mirror or the Daily Express, not the Guardian!
Starmer was born into a working class family and achieved everything he has thanks to the aspiration of his parents, his own skills and ability and, crucially, the protections and backstop the post-war welfare state created. It’s a story that is very familiar to tens of millions of ordinary voters. Working class people want the best for their families, just like everyone else. They are not a different breed!
Exactly. Right up until they become successful and then they become the enemy of the Peoples' Labour Party.
Nick. You were very close with your GE Tory majority prediction of 60 seats, despite it being very far from what you would have wanted to happen.
Care to share your thoughts on the current value bets in the Labour leadership election?
RLB obviously has appeal to the "let me just find the most left-wing candidate" vote, which is maybe 35% of the membership. I'd sell Nandy - the Remain membership is resigned to leaving but I doubt if they actually want to embrace a Leaver as leader, and will not elect someone who was openly anti-Corbyn (Jess Phillips? Even more no.).
Starmer's interview in the Guardian today is pitch-perfect - as Wilson said, the party is best run from the centre-left, and we appreciate loyally doing your best even when out of favour. People feel it'd be nice to have a woman leader, other things being equal, but it's not decisive - we wouldn't elect Kate Hoey in a zillion years. His (female) PPS's point that "nobody asked me on the doorstep to find a leader with ovaries" is relevant.
But his snag - apart from his distinctly non-leftie air - is more that he's definitely an insider in Westminster - despite his interesting background, nobody in Wigan will feel he's going to understand them instinctively. If he can overcome that, I think he'll win; as the popular Rayner apparently isn't standing. Otherwise, RLB is probably the most likely.
I haven’t said this for a while, but I think Nick Palmer is 100% correct. I’d back Lisa Nandy if she made the contest, but I doubt she will. Starmer has an audience ready to listen and has an excellent chance, though will be out organised by Ling Bailey, who will have Unite and Momentum on her side. A lot of that Corbyn vote was personal, not political.
What a disgusting was to talk about a female leader "His (female) PPS's point that "nobody asked me on the doorstep to find a leader with ovaries" is relevant.""
I will go further. If you said "Nobody asked me .. to find a leader with ovaries" in the Universities or in the public sector, you would be facing disciplinary action.
You certainly would ***never*** be allowed to be on any appointments committee again.
It is very lucky for the person who said it that she belongs to the .... err ... Labour Party
I had almost begun to feel sorry for the Labour Party, but their old skills in hypocrisy remain. Everyone should take gender equality very seriously except themselves.
I'm green on Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Jess Phillips, Lisa Nandy, Emily Thornberry, Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper ( and Ed Balls - how did that happen!). Red on David Lammy and Clive Lewis.
Ed Balls was brilliantly tipped at 100/1 in 2016 in a PB thread header.
Backing the two Ed’s is the main reason my book is so horrific... well Chuka too. Is it all over for him? Was he only ever an ego in a suit or will there be a reinvention?
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
It's not the only issue though. 50 years of badly run local councils are a big course of Labours current policies.
The Tyneside (and Wear) Labour councils are seemingly far better ran than their former Teesside compatriots..
Badly run labour councils was also a reason why the Blair Labour government actively took councils out of running social housing stock and used housing associations as the primary vehicle for social renting.
Labour needs a tough street fighter, able to win the internal reform battle, not give the Tories an inch as LoO and look credible with the public. Beyond that they need to be able to bring all the party’s talents to bare and bury all this left-right factional bullshit.
Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"? I see that Keir Starmer has set out his "manifesto" in today's Guardian. Isn't that just a perfect summary of the Labour Party's problems. Traditional, working class, former Labour voting citizens have nothing in common with rich, metropolitan, usually privately educated lawyers who claim to be socialists and live the lives of uber capitalists. Working class people in Lancashire read the Daily Mirror or the Daily Express, not the Guardian!
Starmer was born into a working class family and achieved everything he has thanks to the aspiration of his parents, his own skills and ability and, crucially, the protections and backstop the post-war welfare state created. It’s a story that is very familiar to tens of millions of ordinary voters. Working class people want the best for their families, just like everyone else. They are not a different breed!
Exactly. Right up until they become successful and then they become the enemy of the Peoples' Labour Party.
I think it’s when they appear as human rights lawyers or something similar that non university educated working class people start to think of them as not one of us.
Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"? I see that Keir Starmer has set out his "manifesto" in today's Guardian. Isn't that just a perfect summary of the Labour Party's problems. Traditional, working class, former Labour voting citizens have nothing in common with rich, metropolitan, usually privately educated lawyers who claim to be socialists and live the lives of uber capitalists. Working class people in Lancashire read the Daily Mirror or the Daily Express, not the Guardian!
Right now he's not targeting Daily Express readers - he's targeting Labour members - and they do read the Guardian.
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I might be wrong but I sense oor Frannie didn't have West Sussex on her mind when it comes to breaking down ideological walls. That was a task largely beyond even Blair.
The right and far left hate Tony Blair. They share this passion because Blair was successful.
Blair's Govts and the lies about WMD will be their epitaph. They may have won elections but that doesn't make anyone successful.
Blair was the most electorally successful politician in my lifetime. Makes Boris’s triumph look anaemic. His record in government is pretty good as well.
Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"? I see that Keir Starmer has set out his "manifesto" in today's Guardian. Isn't that just a perfect summary of the Labour Party's problems. Traditional, working class, former Labour voting citizens have nothing in common with rich, metropolitan, usually privately educated lawyers who claim to be socialists and live the lives of uber capitalists. Working class people in Lancashire read the Daily Mirror or the Daily Express, not the Guardian!
Starmer was born into a working class family and achieved everything he has thanks to the aspiration of his parents, his own skills and ability and, crucially, the protections and backstop the post-war welfare state created. It’s a story that is very familiar to tens of millions of ordinary voters. Working class people want the best for their families, just like everyone else. They are not a different breed!
These humble working class origins claimed by senior politicians are often nothing of the sort. Don’t know in this case, but we all laughed hilariously as Thornbury told us about her humble origins, along with Jess Philips. When you scratch the story a little bit you realise that it’s very very far from the truth.
I'm green on Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Jess Phillips, Lisa Nandy, Emily Thornberry, Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper ( and Ed Balls - how did that happen!). Red on David Lammy and Clive Lewis.
Ed Balls was brilliantly tipped at 100/1 in 2016 in a PB thread header.
Backing the two Ed’s is the main reason my book is so horrific... well Chuka too. Is it all over for him? Was he only ever an ego in a suit or will there be a reinvention?
I can well understand why people dislike Chuka Umunna. But in stark contrast to most centrists, he actually tried to do something positive in the cause of his beliefs and not just sit and whinge. He deserves respect, even from opponents. To try and fail is not the worst thing for a politician.
Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"? I see that Keir Starmer has set out his "manifesto" in today's Guardian. Isn't that just a perfect summary of the Labour Party's problems. Traditional, working class, former Labour voting citizens have nothing in common with rich, metropolitan, usually privately educated lawyers who claim to be socialists and live the lives of uber capitalists. Working class people in Lancashire read the Daily Mirror or the Daily Express, not the Guardian!
Starmer was born into a working class family and achieved everything he has thanks to the aspiration of his parents, his own skills and ability and, crucially, the protections and backstop the post-war welfare state created. It’s a story that is very familiar to tens of millions of ordinary voters. Working class people want the best for their families, just like everyone else. They are not a different breed!
The problem though is the perception and not by any stretch of the imagination could anyone outside the M25 even start to consider Starmer as working class
Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"? I see that Keir Starmer has set out his "manifesto" in today's Guardian. Isn't that just a perfect summary of the Labour Party's problems. Traditional, working class, former Labour voting citizens have nothing in common with rich, metropolitan, usually privately educated lawyers who claim to be socialists and live the lives of uber capitalists. Working class people in Lancashire read the Daily Mirror or the Daily Express, not the Guardian!
Starmer was born into a working class family and achieved everything he has thanks to the aspiration of his parents, his own skills and ability and, crucially, the protections and backstop the post-war welfare state created. It’s a story that is very familiar to tens of millions of ordinary voters. Working class people want the best for their families, just like everyone else. They are not a different breed!
The problem though is the perception and not by any stretch of the imagination could anyone outside the M25 even start to consider Starmer as working class
Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"? I see that Keir Starmer has set out his "manifesto" in today's Guardian. Isn't that just a perfect summary of the Labour Party's problems. Traditional, working class, former Labour voting citizens have nothing in common with rich, metropolitan, usually privately educated lawyers who claim to be socialists and live the lives of uber capitalists. Working class people in Lancashire read the Daily Mirror or the Daily Express, not the Guardian!
Starmer was born into a working class family and achieved everything he has thanks to the aspiration of his parents, his own skills and ability and, crucially, the protections and backstop the post-war welfare state created. It’s a story that is very familiar to tens of millions of ordinary voters. Working class people want the best for their families, just like everyone else. They are not a different breed!
Exactly. Right up until they become successful and then they become the enemy of the Peoples' Labour Party.
I'm green on Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Jess Phillips, Lisa Nandy, Emily Thornberry, Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper ( and Ed Balls - how did that happen!). Red on David Lammy and Clive Lewis.
Ed Balls was brilliantly tipped at 100/1 in 2016 in a PB thread header.
Backing the two Ed’s is the main reason my book is so horrific... well Chuka too. Is it all over for him? Was he only ever an ego in a suit or will there be a reinvention?
I can well understand why people dislike Chuka Umunna. But in stark contrast to most centrists, he actually tried to do something positive in the cause of his beliefs and not just sit and whinge. He deserves respect, even from opponents. To try and fail is not the worst thing for a politician.
You call failing to challenge Corbyn for the leadership doing something?
I'm green on Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Jess Phillips, Lisa Nandy, Emily Thornberry, Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper ( and Ed Balls - how did that happen!). Red on David Lammy and Clive Lewis.
Ed Balls was brilliantly tipped at 100/1 in 2016 in a PB thread header.
Backing the two Ed’s is the main reason my book is so horrific... well Chuka too. Is it all over for him? Was he only ever an ego in a suit or will there be a reinvention?
Given Labour are likely to pick RLB ensuring another decade of Tory rule far from it, he was second in Cities of London and Westminster and could win it next time with plenty of time to still be the centre left hope
Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"? I see that Keir Starmer has set out his "manifesto" in today's Guardian. Isn't that just a perfect summary of the Labour Party's problems. Traditional, working class, former Labour voting citizens have nothing in common with rich, metropolitan, usually privately educated lawyers who claim to be socialists and live the lives of uber capitalists. Working class people in Lancashire read the Daily Mirror or the Daily Express, not the Guardian!
Starmer was born into a working class family and achieved everything he has thanks to the aspiration of his parents, his own skills and ability and, crucially, the protections and backstop the post-war welfare state created. It’s a story that is very familiar to tens of millions of ordinary voters. Working class people want the best for their families, just like everyone else. They are not a different breed!
These humble working class origins claimed by senior politicians are often nothing of the sort. Don’t know in this case, but we all laughed hilariously as Thornbury told us about her humble origins, along with Jess Philips. When you scratch the story a little bit you realise that it’s very very far from the truth.
Yes. Going to a grammar school in the 90s, like Jess Phillips, is not a typical working class thing to do as it was in the 50s-70s when Grammars were everywhere. That is a real putaway
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
I'm green on Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Jess Phillips, Lisa Nandy, Emily Thornberry, Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper ( and Ed Balls - how did that happen!). Red on David Lammy and Clive Lewis.
Ed Balls was brilliantly tipped at 100/1 in 2016 in a PB thread header.
Backing the two Ed’s is the main reason my book is so horrific... well Chuka too. Is it all over for him? Was he only ever an ego in a suit or will there be a reinvention?
I can well understand why people dislike Chuka Umunna. But in stark contrast to most centrists, he actually tried to do something positive in the cause of his beliefs and not just sit and whinge. He deserves respect, even from opponents. To try and fail is not the worst thing for a politician.
I think he is quite impressive and should have done better than he has so far. Obviously I disagree with almost everything he says, and his behaviour in 2017 was not that great, but yeah at least he tried eventually.
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"? I see that Keir Starmer has set out his "manifesto" in today's Guardian. Isn't that just a perfect summary of the Labour Party's problems. Traditional, working class, former Labour voting citizens have nothing in common with rich, metropolitan, usually privately educated lawyers who claim to be socialists and live the lives of uber capitalists. Working class people in Lancashire read the Daily Mirror or the Daily Express, not the Guardian!
Starmer was born into a working class family and achieved everything he has thanks to the aspiration of his parents, his own skills and ability and, crucially, the protections and backstop the post-war welfare state created. It’s a story that is very familiar to tens of millions of ordinary voters. Working class people want the best for their families, just like everyone else. They are not a different breed!
These humble working class origins claimed by senior politicians are often nothing of the sort. Don’t know in this case, but we all laughed hilariously as Thornbury told us about her humble origins, along with Jess Philips. When you scratch the story a little bit you realise that it’s very very far from the truth.
Yes. Going to a grammar school in the 90s, like Jess Phillips, is not a typical working class thing to do as it was in the 50s-70s when Grammars were everywhere. That is a real putaway
Going to a Grammar school in the 90s doesn't really tell you anything except where you lived at the time.
We could live in Skipton and the girls would have gone to a grammar school. We instead moved further north and the girls didn't have the option.
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
Mr. Thompson, that also misses out that the very helpful Speaker Bercow would've assisted the pro-EU Commons to add on a referendum amendment if they'd passed May's deal.
Remain had a majority in Parliament, particularly after the 2017 election, and conspired to bugger up their own chances.
Yes, as a Remainer I have to say the Remainers in Parliament made total wazzocks of themselves. They had the May deal, which was a good deal and would have effectively allowed the BINO that any sensible Remainer would have been angling for. They rejected it, despite being offered everything they were asking for to pass it. They then get Boris Johnson and are amazed when he not only slings Northern Ireland under his infamous bus to sign a much worse deal with the EU, but then uses their own tactics to turn the people against parliament and win a stonking majority for it.
The Liberal Democrats at least had a clear consistent message, but Starmer was just embarrassing. I am not at all sure he would be a better leader than Wrong Daily.
Starmer, Benn, Cooper, Blair, Grieve, Letwin, Major, Heseltine and all the others were first beaten by a bus and then outmaneuvered by Mark Francois.
It remains one of the great mysteries of modern British politics that people who proclaim they have brains the size of planets are consistently beaten by "thickos"
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
Who would want to admit to living in Essex?
Me and over a million others
I’m Spartacus!
I can join this particular bandwagon.
As can everyone from Germaine Greer to Joey Essex to Lord Sugar and Norman Tebbit and Simon Heffer
The right and far left hate Tony Blair. They share this passion because Blair was successful.
Blair's Govts and the lies about WMD will be their epitaph. They may have won elections but that doesn't make anyone successful.
Blair was the most electorally successful politician in my lifetime. Makes Boris’s triumph look anaemic. His record in government is pretty good as well.
To come to that conclusion, you have to ignore the most important decision he took, which annihilated his reputation.
It is like saying "Nixon was the most electorally successful President in my lifetime ... His record in government is pretty good as well."
Nixon's 1972 campaign was the most electorally successful for President, but like Blair his reputation was annihilated.
The name "Nixon" now gives off an unpleasant & rank smell. As does the name "Blair".
Warsi is stirring like fury here via guilt by association.
That quote is not even from the bloke himself, and he has written exactly one article for Spiked Online afaics.
Good to see guilt by association is no longer a thing for Tories. Estimated time & date of expiry 22:01, 12/12/19.
Someone writing one article that was published by one media organisation, then that media organisation quoting somebody else is a very different association to someone calling terrorists his "friends", inviting terrorists to Parliament days after that same terrorist organisation murdered some of his colleagues and their loved ones, and spending a lifetime sharing stages with antisemites, defending antisemites and saying antisemitic stuff himself.
Currently the best odds available for Starmer to become labour's next leader are 13/8 on offer from bet365. Compare and contrast these odds with Starmer's best odds of becoming the UK's Next Prime Minister, on offer at Ladbrokes' boosted odds from 16/1 to 18/1. Should he become Labour's next Leader over the next few months (and frankly no one gets close in terms of ability and presence), then I reckon his Next PM odds will nosedive to around 4/1 or 5/1 max. Don't hang about!
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
Who would want to admit to living in Essex?
Me and over a million others
I’m Spartacus!
I can join this particular bandwagon.
We were talking just last night in the pub about whether prejudice against working class accents is one of the few acceptable taboos only professional life. When I worked in spreadbetting, I met people from backgrounds vastly different from my own, people who lived in West London, went to Marlborough, Eton, grandsons of PMs, sons of ambassadors etc, and there was no Problem with class divide. I had never met anyone like that before and found it interesting, and I think they aspired to fit in around working class people as much as we did around them. They took me to the Sloany Pony in Parsons Green, and I took them to Faces in Gants Hill!
I’d say the actual class divide is between middle class graduates and the working and the upper classes. They think of us as serfs and them as the enemy
The right and far left hate Tony Blair. They share this passion because Blair was successful.
Blair's Govts and the lies about WMD will be their epitaph. They may have won elections but that doesn't make anyone successful.
Blair was the most electorally successful politician in my lifetime. Makes Boris’s triumph look anaemic. His record in government is pretty good as well.
To come to that conclusion, you have to ignore the most important decision he took, which annihilated his reputation.
It is like saying "Nixon was the most electorally successful President in my lifetime ... His record in government is pretty good as well."
Nixon's 1972 campaign was the most electorally successful for President, but like Blair his reputation was annihilated.
The name "Nixon" now gives off an unpleasant & rank smell. As does the name "Blair".
Every time there was about to be a moment of agreement, he has been there, agitating against it. One by one, Left-leaning and centrist politicians and campaigners moved away from hoping for a soft Brexit and towards the idea that the whole thing could be cancelled. This was Tony Blair’s masterplan, and he executed it with aplomb.
The consequences of this historic pivot against compromise are still being felt: it not only scuppered Theresa May’s Brexit deal (which two years previously most Labour MPs would have been delighted with), it has greatly added to divisions in the country, perhaps for a generation. Whichever side finally triumphs, we can be certain that one half of the population will now feel bitterly defeated.
So next time the high-priest of reasonableness pops up on your television screen, remember this: on Brexit, his legacy has been to destroy the very “sensible centre” that he still fancifully calls his own.
The article says that "more than anyone else, it’s thanks to him" that we didnt get a soft Brexit. Absolute nonsense. He cant be both an irrelevant has been with no popular support and the most influential remain/non govt politician. The people who are most responsible are Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and the ERG. Possibly none of those even wanted a soft Brexit, but it was Corbyn's job to deliver one and his leadership was abysmal. The indicative votes and Mays last month in charge were both times when Corbyn had the option for a soft Brexit and didnt take it - an option that was never in the hands of Blair or even Blairites.
Warsi is stirring like fury here via guilt by association.
That quote is not even from the bloke himself, and he has written exactly one article for Spiked Online afaics.
Good to see guilt by association is no longer a thing for Tories. Estimated time & date of expiry 22:01, 12/12/19.
Someone writing one article that was published by one media organisation, then that media organisation quoting somebody else is a very different association to someone calling terrorists his "friends", inviting terrorists to Parliament days after that same terrorist organisation murdered some of his colleagues and their loved ones, and spending a lifetime sharing stages with antisemites, defending antisemites and saying antisemitic stuff himself.
One is a stretch, the other is not.
On that topic, any updates on the Tories 'looking into' two of their (now elected) candidates who were alleged to have dipped their toes into antisemitic waters?
Anyways young Eagles now that BoJo has swept the North and put Labour on life support what are your thoughts on rejoining the party ?
Unlikely to happen in the near future.
The default now is No Deal at the end of 2020 and if I wanted to join a party that wanted to destroy the UK economy I’d join Labour.
My biggest concern is the planned ‘reforms’ of the judiciary which will leave the judiciary weaker and we’ll all be buggered when we eventually get a Labour government.
As a fiscal conservative I’m worried Johnson will turn on the spending taps like Gordon Brown.
The right and far left hate Tony Blair. They share this passion because Blair was successful.
Blair's Govts and the lies about WMD will be their epitaph. They may have won elections but that doesn't make anyone successful.
Blair was the most electorally successful politician in my lifetime. Makes Boris’s triumph look anaemic. His record in government is pretty good as well.
To come to that conclusion, you have to ignore the most important decision he took, which annihilated his reputation.
It is like saying "Nixon was the most electorally successful President in my lifetime ... His record in government is pretty good as well."
Nixon's 1972 campaign was the most electorally successful for President, but like Blair his reputation was annihilated.
The name "Nixon" now gives off an unpleasant & rank smell. As does the name "Blair".
Disagree.
Blair is a marmite character in the same way as Thatcher
The right and far left hate Tony Blair. They share this passion because Blair was successful.
Blair's Govts and the lies about WMD will be their epitaph. They may have won elections but that doesn't make anyone successful.
Blair was the most electorally successful politician in my lifetime. Makes Boris’s triumph look anaemic. His record in government is pretty good as well.
To come to that conclusion, you have to ignore the most important decision he took, which annihilated his reputation.
It is like saying "Nixon was the most electorally successful President in my lifetime ... His record in government is pretty good as well."
Nixon's 1972 campaign was the most electorally successful for President, but like Blair his reputation was annihilated.
The name "Nixon" now gives off an unpleasant & rank smell. As does the name "Blair".
Disagree.
Blair is a marmite character in the same way as Thatcher
Warsi is stirring like fury here via guilt by association.
That quote is not even from the bloke himself, and he has written exactly one article for Spiked Online afaics.
Warsi is mainly pissed off that she hasn’t been put in charge and that the Tories are not following the MCB’s somewhat dodgy agenda.
That said she does have one good point: the remit does appear to be into how allegations of racism / anti-Muslim prejudice are dealt with rather than into how they also arise and what to do to try and create a culture where they don’t arise. It would be sensible for the latter to be looked at too.
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
Who would want to admit to living in Essex?
Me and over a million others
I’m Spartacus!
I can join this particular bandwagon.
We were talking just last night in the pub about whether prejudice against working class accents is one of the few acceptable taboos only professional life. When I worked in spreadbetting, I met people from backgrounds vastly different from my own, people who lived in West London, went to Marlborough, Eton, grandsons of PMs, sons of ambassadors etc, and there was no Problem with class divide. I had never met anyone like that before and found it interesting, and I think they aspired to fit in around working class people as much as we did around them. They took me to the Sloany Pony in Parsons Green, and I took them to Faces in Gants Hill!
I’d say the actual class divide is between middle class graduates and the working and the upper classes. They think of us as serfs and them as the enemy
And yet no election winning PM has been to any university other than Oxford since the 1930s.
I haven't a clue who I want none of the main options look great.
The only one I have ruled out is Jess me me me Phillips
Hope you’re feeling better. Now is the time to knock on the head this left-right bullshit. Time for you to love your Blairite brothers and sisters.
Baby steps, time for him not to hate his Blairite brothers and sisters as much as he hates the Tories probably a better starting point (I speak as a member of a party with a similar though not as yet electorally damaging problem).
Anyways young Eagles now that BoJo has swept the North and put Labour on life support what are your thoughts on rejoining the party ?
Unlikely to happen in the near future.
The default now is No Deal at the end of 2020 and if I wanted to join a party that wanted to destroy the UK economy I’d join Labour.
My biggest concern is the planned ‘reforms’ of the judiciary which will leave the judiciary weaker and we’ll all be buggered when we eventually get a Labour government.
As a fiscal conservative I’m worried Johnson will turn on the spending taps like Gordon Brown.
We do need to turn on the spending taps at the moment. However it still requires discipline and we probably also need to turn on the tax raising taps to an extent as well. Can a Johnson govt do discipline and balance, we shall find out, but no-one knows at this stage.
Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"? I see that Keir Starmer has set out his "manifesto" in today's Guardian. Isn't that just a perfect summary of the Labour Party's problems. Traditional, working class, former Labour voting citizens have nothing in common with rich, metropolitan, usually privately educated lawyers who claim to be socialists and live the lives of uber capitalists. Working class people in Lancashire read the Daily Mirror or the Daily Express, not the Guardian!
Starmer was born into a working class family and achieved everything he has thanks to the aspiration of his parents, his own skills and ability and, crucially, the protections and backstop the post-war welfare state created. It’s a story that is very familiar to tens of millions of ordinary voters. Working class people want the best for their families, just like everyone else. They are not a different breed!
The problem though is the perception and not by any stretch of the imagination could anyone outside the M25 even start to consider Starmer as working class
I agree. I don’t think it matters.
Yes, I agree. You simply cannot simultaneously be every kind of voter - a former soldier, a single mother, a craftsman, a business entrepreneur, etc etc. People want to feel you can understand their issues and will try to help. They don't care much whether you are literally like them.
What a privileged or otherwise unusual upbringing does is make it a bit harder - you have to make a genuine effort to think through what it's like to in casual employment and in debt, since you won't have experienced the everyday issues that press on the lives of people in that situation. It's why I claimed benefits for a few months after losing my seat even though in practice I generally got about £0 because of casual translation earnings - I wanted to understand the process through experience and felt afterwards that I could see why people on benefits feel hassled in a way I'd not understood before.
The problem with Starmer is more subtle. He feels like a political insider in the Blair tradition but without the charisma - competent, moderate but not all that interesting. His interviews show he's recognised the issue and that may well be enough.
Every time there was about to be a moment of agreement, he has been there, agitating against it. One by one, Left-leaning and centrist politicians and campaigners moved away from hoping for a soft Brexit and towards the idea that the whole thing could be cancelled. This was Tony Blair’s masterplan, and he executed it with aplomb.
The consequences of this historic pivot against compromise are still being felt: it not only scuppered Theresa May’s Brexit deal (which two years previously most Labour MPs would have been delighted with), it has greatly added to divisions in the country, perhaps for a generation. Whichever side finally triumphs, we can be certain that one half of the population will now feel bitterly defeated.
So next time the high-priest of reasonableness pops up on your television screen, remember this: on Brexit, his legacy has been to destroy the very “sensible centre” that he still fancifully calls his own.
The article says that "more than anyone else, it’s thanks to him" that we didnt get a soft Brexit. Absolute nonsense. He cant be both an irrelevant has been with no popular support and the most influential remain/non govt politician. The people who are most responsible are Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and the ERG. Possibly none of those even wanted a soft Brexit, but it was Corbyn's job to deliver one and his leadership was abysmal. The indicative votes and Mays last month in charge were both times when Corbyn had the option for a soft Brexit and didnt take it - an option that was never in the hands of Blair or even Blairites.
The ERG are not responsible for not getting a soft Brexit! The ERG opposed a soft Brexit and are getting the "real Brexit" they wanted. Remainers still hung up on the ERG confound me, the ERG have won it is the Remainers and those wanting a soft Brexit who have lost now.
Those who wanted to prevent the ERG from winning should be the ones asking themselves hard questions about where it all went wrong, not the ERG who are getting what they wanted. Just as if Brexit was cancelled the ERG would be the ones needing to ask themselves hard questions, while Remainers will have won.
The likes of the ERG and Grieve etc went all or nothing. ERG have won it all, Grieve etc are left with nothing.
Mr. Thompson, that also misses out that the very helpful Speaker Bercow would've assisted the pro-EU Commons to add on a referendum amendment if they'd passed May's deal.
Remain had a majority in Parliament, particularly after the 2017 election, and conspired to bugger up their own chances.
Yes, as a Remainer I have to say the Remainers in Parliament made total wazzocks of themselves. They had the May deal, which was a good deal and would have effectively allowed the BINO that any sensible Remainer would have been angling for. They rejected it, despite being offered everything they were asking for to pass it. They then get Boris Johnson and are amazed when he not only slings Northern Ireland under his infamous bus to sign a much worse deal with the EU, but then uses their own tactics to turn the people against parliament and win a stonking majority for it.
The Liberal Democrats at least had a clear consistent message, but Starmer was just embarrassing. I am not at all sure he would be a better leader than Wrong Daily.
Starmer, Benn, Cooper, Blair, Grieve, Letwin, Major, Heseltine and all the others were first beaten by a bus and then outmaneuvered by Mark Francois.
It remains one of the great mysteries of modern British politics that people who proclaim they have brains the size of planets are consistently beaten by "thickos"
There is no mystery at all. The leader of the opposition was on a par intellectually with Francois.
Warsi is stirring like fury here via guilt by association.
That quote is not even from the bloke himself, and he has written exactly one article for Spiked Online afaics.
Good to see guilt by association is no longer a thing for Tories. Estimated time & date of expiry 22:01, 12/12/19.
Someone writing one article that was published by one media organisation, then that media organisation quoting somebody else is a very different association to someone calling terrorists his "friends", inviting terrorists to Parliament days after that same terrorist organisation murdered some of his colleagues and their loved ones, and spending a lifetime sharing stages with antisemites, defending antisemites and saying antisemitic stuff himself.
One is a stretch, the other is not.
On that topic, any updates on the Tories 'looking into' two of their (now elected) candidates who were alleged to have dipped their toes into antisemitic waters?
Good question. I know nothing about that. Its inexecusable whether from the Tories or Labour and if they're guilty I hope they apologise and never repeat it, or they should be dropped at the next election. They certainly should never become a minister let alone Leader of the Party if they want to act like that.
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
Who would want to admit to living in Essex?
Me and over a million others
I’m Spartacus!
I can join this particular bandwagon.
We were talking just last night in the pub about whether prejudice against working class accents is one of the few acceptable taboos only professional life. When I worked in spreadbetting, I met people from backgrounds vastly different from my own, people who lived in West London, went to Marlborough, Eton, grandsons of PMs, sons of ambassadors etc, and there was no Problem with class divide.
I’d say the actual class divide is between middle class graduates and the working and the upper classes. They think of us as serfs and them as the enemy
I am a middle class graduate, I have never thought of working class people as serfs and I have never met any other middle class person who does. I think the class divide is probably the single most damaging aspect of our society, and despise prejudice against any kind of accent. I think there is an element of resentment towards the upper and upper middle class (really the latter as the aristocracy is tiny) among people like me, generally a product of having interacted with them at university, where they generally formed their own cliques delineated by money and connections and acted like twats. Since I came from a family without much money, went to a comprehensive school and have achieved a degree of educational and material success chiefly as a result of my own hard work, and contribute a six figure sum to the Exchequer every year, I am not going to apologise for being a middle class graduate either, even though we are apparently such awful people.
Every time there was about to be a moment of agreement, he has been there, agitating against it. One by one, Left-leaning and centrist politicians and campaigners moved away from hoping for a soft Brexit and towards the idea that the whole thing could be cancelled. This was Tony Blair’s masterplan, and he executed it with aplomb.
The consequences of this historic pivot against compromise are still being felt: it not only scuppered Theresa May’s Brexit deal (which two years previously most Labour MPs would have been delighted with), it has greatly added to divisions in the country, perhaps for a generation. Whichever side finally triumphs, we can be certain that one half of the population will now feel bitterly defeated.
So next time the high-priest of reasonableness pops up on your television screen, remember this: on Brexit, his legacy has been to destroy the very “sensible centre” that he still fancifully calls his own.
The article says that "more than anyone else, it’s thanks to him" that we didnt get a soft Brexit. Absolute nonsense. He cant be both an irrelevant has been with no popular support and the most influential remain/non govt politician. The people who are most responsible are Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and the ERG. Possibly none of those even wanted a soft Brexit, but it was Corbyn's job to deliver one and his leadership was abysmal. The indicative votes and Mays last month in charge were both times when Corbyn had the option for a soft Brexit and didnt take it - an option that was never in the hands of Blair or even Blairites.
The ERG are not responsible for not getting a soft Brexit! The ERG opposed a soft Brexit and are getting the "real Brexit" they wanted. Remainers still hung up on the ERG confound me, the ERG have won it is the Remainers and those wanting a soft Brexit who have lost now.
Those who wanted to prevent the ERG from winning should be the ones asking themselves hard questions about where it all went wrong, not the ERG who are getting what they wanted. Just as if Brexit was cancelled the ERG would be the ones needing to ask themselves hard questions, while Remainers will have won.
The likes of the ERG and Grieve etc went all or nothing. ERG have won it all, Grieve etc are left with nothing.
If the ERG have "won" by getting a hard Brexit that makes them responsible for not getting a soft Brexit by definition. I did point out for pedants that they didnt want a soft Brexit.
The ERG are not responsible for not getting a soft Brexit! The ERG opposed a soft Brexit and are getting the "real Brexit" they wanted. Remainers still hung up on the ERG confound me, the ERG have won it is the Remainers and those wanting a soft Brexit who have lost now.
Those who wanted to prevent the ERG from winning should be the ones asking themselves hard questions about where it all went wrong, not the ERG who are getting what they wanted. Just as if Brexit was cancelled the ERG would be the ones needing to ask themselves hard questions, while Remainers will have won.
The likes of the ERG and Grieve etc went all or nothing. ERG have won it all, Grieve etc are left with nothing.
Yes, the ERG have played an absolute blinder (or so it seems). They've got their man into Downing Street and they've got their preferred Brexit policy. There's always a chance Boris completely betrays them, but otherwise this is the dream scenario.
The People's Vote campaign and its supporters rejected compromise and have now lost everything. Personally I wasn't keen on a 2nd referendum, but came to see it as inevitable. I was wrong.
Mr. Thompson, that also misses out that the very helpful Speaker Bercow would've assisted the pro-EU Commons to add on a referendum amendment if they'd passed May's deal.
Remain had a majority in Parliament, particularly after the 2017 election, and conspired to bugger up their own chances.
Yes, as a Remainer I have to say the Remainers in Parliament made total wazzocks of themselves. They had the May deal, which was a good deal and would have effectively allowed the BINO that any sensible Remainer would have been angling for. They rejected it, despite being offered everything they were asking for to pass it. They then get Boris Johnson and are amazed when he not only slings Northern Ireland under his infamous bus to sign a much worse deal with the EU, but then uses their own tactics to turn the people against parliament and win a stonking majority for it.
The Liberal Democrats at least had a clear consistent message, but Starmer was just embarrassing. I am not at all sure he would be a better leader than Wrong Daily.
Starmer, Benn, Cooper, Blair, Grieve, Letwin, Major, Heseltine and all the others were first beaten by a bus and then outmaneuvered by Mark Francois.
It remains one of the great mysteries of modern British politics that people who proclaim they have brains the size of planets are consistently beaten by "thickos"
There is no mystery at all. The leader of the opposition was on a par intellectually with Francois.
Burgon? I reckon he thinks he will be shadow chancellor. One of the greatest mysteries of politics is how his ego got so big despite the brutal reality of his talent.
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
Who would want to admit to living in Essex?
Me and over a million others
I’m Spartacus!
I can join this particular bandwagon.
We were talking just last night in the pub about whether prejudice against working class accents is one of the few acceptable taboos only professional life. When I worked in spreadbetting, I met people from backgrounds vastly different from my own, people who lived in West London, went to Marlborough, Eton, grandsons of PMs, sons of ambassadors etc, and there was no Problem with class divide. I had never met anyone like that before and found it interesting, and I think they aspired to fit in around working class people as much as we did around them. They took me to the Sloany Pony in Parsons Green, and I took them to Faces in Gants Hill!
I’d say the actual class divide is between middle class graduates and the working and the upper classes. They think of us as serfs and them as the enemy
And yet no election winning PM has been to any university other than Oxford since the 1930s.
Yeah but that’s my point isn’t it? Working class people don’t have a beef with The upper classes. If a divide exists, it is between non graduate working classes and graduates from working class backgrounds who leave for uni and return with a supercilious attitude. They don’t fit in with the lads down the pub anymore, and aren’t from the same stock as the real toffs. That’s why I think claiming Starmer, Phillips etc as ‘working class’ because of their parents is missing the point. The working class who go to uni then become Human Rights Lawyers or Work in PC industries etc are more disliked than a posho that went to Private school then Oxford
"Quick, I need a city beginning with A!!!" "Aberdeen?" "Too Scottish" "Abergavenny?" "Too Welsh" "Andover?" "God have you been there? No" "OK, how about Abbotsford?" "Brilliant! Scottish but sounds English! I'll take it!" "Good"
Pause
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
Who would want to admit to living in Essex?
Me and over a million others
I’m Spartacus!
I can join this particular bandwagon.
We were talking just last night in the pub about whether prejudice against working class accents is one of the few acceptable taboos only professional life. When I worked in spreadbetting, I met people from backgrounds vastly different from my own, people who lived in West London, went to Marlborough, Eton, grandsons of PMs, sons of ambassadors etc, and there was no Problem with class divide. I had never met anyone like that before and found it interesting, and I think they aspired to fit in around working class people as much as we did around them. They took me to the Sloany Pony in Parsons Green, and I took them to Faces in Gants Hill!
I’d say the actual class divide is between middle class graduates and the working and the upper classes. They think of us as serfs and them as the enemy
Is this why Boris goes down such a storm with working classes but less so with the middle classes?
It’s an important thing to remember when labour trying to scratch around for an authentic working class leader to win back support lost to the least working class and least authentic leader in memory.
Burgon? I reckon he thinks he will be shadow chancellor. One of the greatest mysteries of politics is how his ego got so big despite the brutal reality of his talent.
He’s a Cambridge educated solicitor he must have some talent.
Apart from those of you aiming to make money on the identity of the next Labour leader, my initial thought was "who cares"?
We are a political betting website so of course we care: because we are betting, on politics.
I tell you what we don't care for though - people who boast about their local knowledge and contacts who then endlessly ramp the performance of their preferred party in their local constituencies only for that party to see their vote share absolutely smashed in those constituencies.
"Now get off my doorstep and go home Francesca, you psycho"
In Scottish terms Abbotsford isn't even a place as such, just the made up name of a country house. Perhaps Franny has lots of pals among the tour guides.
And in English terms it’s a town in West Sussex.
I think she means Abingdon...Britain's oldest continually inhabited town. Although people in Colchester dispute this...
Who would want to admit to living in Essex?
Me and over a million others
I’m Spartacus!
I can join this particular bandwagon.
We were talking just last night in the pub about whether prejudice against working class accents is one of the few acceptable taboos only professional life. When I worked in spreadbetting, I met people from backgrounds vastly different from my own, people who lived in West London, went to Marlborough, Eton, grandsons of PMs, sons of ambassadors etc, and there was no Problem with class divide. I had never met anyone like that before and found it interesting, and I think they aspired to fit in around working class people as much as we did around them. They took me to the Sloany Pony in Parsons Green, and I took them to Faces in Gants Hill!
I’d say the actual class divide is between middle class graduates and the working and the upper classes. They think of us as serfs and them as the enemy
And yet no election winning PM has been to any university other than Oxford since the 1930s.
Yeah but that’s my point isn’t it? Working class people don’t have a beef with The upper classes. If a divide exists, it is between non graduate working classes and graduates from working class backgrounds who leave for uni and return with a supercilious attitude. They don’t fit in with the lads down the pub anymore, and aren’t from the same stock as the real toffs. That’s why I think claiming Starmer, Phillips etc as ‘working class’ because of their parents is missing the point. The working class who go to uni then become Human Rights Lawyers or Work in PC industries etc are more disliked than a posho that went to Private school then Oxford
What is your solution? Ban working class people from going to university? Should we all 'know our place'?
Yup, I don't think this was a very impressive attack line. First because the government were right, secondly because it was an argument about whether the Tories were going to add 50,000 nurses or 30,000 nurses, so the best case if you win was "OK, the Tories are going to add 30,000 nurses, cool". It worked exactly the same way as the famous £350m on the side of the bus.
Burgon? I reckon he thinks he will be shadow chancellor. One of the greatest mysteries of politics is how his ego got so big despite the brutal reality of his talent.
He’s a Cambridge educated solicitor he must have some talent.
Are you saying that Cambridge is responsible for his ego? I thought you liked the place.
Comments
You certainly would ***never*** be allowed to be on any appointments committee again.
It is very lucky for the person who said it that she belongs to the .... err ... Labour Party
I had almost begun to feel sorry for the Labour Party, but their old skills in hypocrisy remain. Everyone should take gender equality very seriously except themselves.
That quote is not even from the bloke himself, and he has written exactly one article for Spiked Online afaics.
We could live in Skipton and the girls would have gone to a grammar school. We instead moved further north and the girls didn't have the option.
It is like saying "Nixon was the most electorally successful President in my lifetime ... His record in government is pretty good as well."
Nixon's 1972 campaign was the most electorally successful for President, but like Blair his reputation was annihilated.
The name "Nixon" now gives off an unpleasant & rank smell. As does the name "Blair".
One is a stretch, the other is not.
Currently the best odds available for Starmer to become labour's next leader are 13/8 on offer from bet365.
Compare and contrast these odds with Starmer's best odds of becoming the UK's Next Prime Minister, on offer at Ladbrokes' boosted odds from 16/1 to 18/1. Should he become Labour's next Leader over the next few months (and frankly no one gets close in terms of ability and presence), then I reckon his Next PM odds will nosedive to around 4/1 or 5/1 max. Don't hang about!
As ever DYOR.
I’d say the actual class divide is between middle class graduates and the working and the upper classes. They think of us as serfs and them as the enemy
Have some y fronts to pick up from M&S
Could give it a try
The default now is No Deal at the end of 2020 and if I wanted to join a party that wanted to destroy the UK economy I’d join Labour.
My biggest concern is the planned ‘reforms’ of the judiciary which will leave the judiciary weaker and we’ll all be buggered when we eventually get a Labour government.
As a fiscal conservative I’m worried Johnson will turn on the spending taps like Gordon Brown.
https://twitter.com/bbcr4today/status/1207206556271628288?s=21
I haven't a clue who I want none of the main options look great.
The only one I have ruled out is Jess me me me Phillips
😮
Not in a good way
That said she does have one good point: the remit does appear to be into how allegations of racism / anti-Muslim prejudice are dealt with rather than into how they also arise and what to do to try and create a culture where they don’t arise. It would be sensible for the latter to be looked at too.
2 Nandy,
3 RLB,
4 Starmer,
∞ Philips
What a privileged or otherwise unusual upbringing does is make it a bit harder - you have to make a genuine effort to think through what it's like to in casual employment and in debt, since you won't have experienced the everyday issues that press on the lives of people in that situation. It's why I claimed benefits for a few months after losing my seat even though in practice I generally got about £0 because of casual translation earnings - I wanted to understand the process through experience and felt afterwards that I could see why people on benefits feel hassled in a way I'd not understood before.
The problem with Starmer is more subtle. He feels like a political insider in the Blair tradition but without the charisma - competent, moderate but not all that interesting. His interviews show he's recognised the issue and that may well be enough.
Dave never faced at a GE an IRA supporting Trot.
Swings against in Wigan : 9.4%
Normanton : 13.5%.
Cooper is now in a highly marginal seat with a majority of 1,276 and 8,000 Brexit Party votes that can be squeezed next time round.
If she becomes leader she may well receive the Swinson treatment - clearly she has never "got it" with her voters re Brexit.
Those who wanted to prevent the ERG from winning should be the ones asking themselves hard questions about where it all went wrong, not the ERG who are getting what they wanted. Just as if Brexit was cancelled the ERG would be the ones needing to ask themselves hard questions, while Remainers will have won.
The likes of the ERG and Grieve etc went all or nothing. ERG have won it all, Grieve etc are left with nothing.
The leader of the opposition was on a par intellectually with Francois.
https://twitter.com/davidschneider/status/1207231416695709696?s=20
I think there is an element of resentment towards the upper and upper middle class (really the latter as the aristocracy is tiny) among people like me, generally a product of having interacted with them at university, where they generally formed their own cliques delineated by money and connections and acted like twats.
Since I came from a family without much money, went to a comprehensive school and have achieved a degree of educational and material success chiefly as a result of my own hard work, and contribute a six figure sum to the Exchequer every year, I am not going to apologise for being a middle class graduate either, even though we are apparently such awful people.
The People's Vote campaign and its supporters rejected compromise and have now lost everything. Personally I wasn't keen on a 2nd referendum, but came to see it as inevitable. I was wrong.
Gini, Mini, Mane, Mo.
Takumi Minamino due for Liverpool medical to seal move from RB Salzburg
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/dec/18/takumi-minamino-due-for-liverpool-medical-to-seal-move-from-rb-salzburg
Can't see Cooper becoming leader but can see her on Strictly in 2024.
It’s an important thing to remember when labour trying to scratch around for an authentic working class leader to win back support lost to the least working class and least authentic leader in memory.
I tell you what we don't care for though - people who boast about their local knowledge and contacts who then endlessly ramp the performance of their preferred party in their local constituencies only for that party to see their vote share absolutely smashed in those constituencies.
Don't care for that at all.
But eventually he’ll become a first choice.