Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....
No-one has ever suggested that Keir Starmer is soft on anti-Semitism or soft on the causes of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, so I'm sure the ECHR report won't be a problem for him personally. Assuming I am right, he just needs to make absolutely clear that he's going to clear out the sewer. Which I think he will, to be fair.
George Osborne in tonight's Evening Standard has claimed the only Labour leadership figure the Conservatives should worry about is Sir Keir Starmer as he will look like a credible alternative PM from Day One.
This will be a journey of many small steps if Starmer prevails but I do think he can take the debate to Johnson at PMQs and elsewhere effectively. I'm also of the view that nothing succeeds like success and if Labour start closing down the poll gap and even take the lead in the next 6-12 months Starmer will find internal party management much easier.
Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....
No-one has ever suggested that Keir Starmer is soft on anti-Semitism or soft on the causes of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, so I'm sure the ECHR report won't be a problem for him personally. Assuming I am right, he just needs to make absolutely clear that he's going to clear out the sewer. Which I think he will, to be fair.
I wonder how many revoked memberships might be required to clean out the sewer, to really clean it out.
Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....
No-one has ever suggested that Keir Starmer is soft on anti-Semitism or soft on the causes of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, so I'm sure the ECHR report won't be a problem for him personally. Assuming I am right, he just needs to make absolutely clear that he's going to clear out the sewer. Which I think he will, to be fair.
I just don't know how he can do that without, in some way, forcing a confrontation with Corbyn though - whether one believes Corbyn to be personally anti-semitic or not he's said things close to the line, or associated with those close to or over the line, enough times that being tough on the matter, clearing out the sewer, is going to include a lot of people who are good friends of Corbyns. He managed to divest himself of Williamson and a few others, but if it goes further?
Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....
No-one has ever suggested that Keir Starmer is soft on anti-Semitism or soft on the causes of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, so I'm sure the ECHR report won't be a problem for him personally. Assuming I am right, he just needs to make absolutely clear that he's going to clear out the sewer. Which I think he will, to be fair.
I just don't know how he can do that without, in some way, forcing a confrontation with Corbyn though - whether one believes Corbyn to be personally anti-semitic or not he's said things close to the line, or associated with those close to or over the line, enough times that being tough on the matter, clearing out the sewer, is going to include a lot of people who are good friends of Corbyns. He managed to divest himself of Williamson and a few others, but if it goes further?
That's a problem for all the candidates, though.
I don't think confronting Corbyn on anything would be a priority for Rebecca '10/10' Long-Bailey.
Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....
No-one has ever suggested that Keir Starmer is soft on anti-Semitism or soft on the causes of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, so I'm sure the ECHR report won't be a problem for him personally. Assuming I am right, he just needs to make absolutely clear that he's going to clear out the sewer. Which I think he will, to be fair.
George Osborne in tonight's Evening Standard has claimed the only Labour leadership figure the Conservatives should worry about is Sir Keir Starmer as he will look like a credible alternative PM from Day One.
This will be a journey of many small steps if Starmer prevails but I do think he can take the debate to Johnson at PMQs and elsewhere effectively. I'm also of the view that nothing succeeds like success and if Labour start closing down the poll gap and even take the lead in the next 6-12 months Starmer will find internal party management much easier.
Yes, I'd agree with all that. As I've said before, IMO Starmer would be better than any of the last three leaders (admittedly not a high bar). Though it's true that he's a bit on the dull side, he's certainly credible, which is the main thing at the moment.
That's not to say that some of the other candidates couldn't grow into the role, but they are less 'oven-ready'.
Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....
No-one has ever suggested that Keir Starmer is soft on anti-Semitism or soft on the causes of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, so I'm sure the ECHR report won't be a problem for him personally. Assuming I am right, he just needs to make absolutely clear that he's going to clear out the sewer. Which I think he will, to be fair.
I just don't know how he can do that without, in some way, forcing a confrontation with Corbyn though - whether one believes Corbyn to be personally anti-semitic or not he's said things close to the line, or associated with those close to or over the line, enough times that being tough on the matter, clearing out the sewer, is going to include a lot of people who are good friends of Corbyns. He managed to divest himself of Williamson and a few others, but if it goes further?
That's a problem for all the candidates, though.
I don't think confronting Corbyn on anything would be a priority for Rebecca '10/10' Long-Bailey.
True, but that means the ECHR report (if it comes out during the contest) would be a bigger problem for her than for Sir Keir.
"Javid in part secured his position as Chancellor for some time to come by giving Johnson Christmas reading in the shape of an 18-page report on his ideas for levelling up the country."
I'd think Boris was more of a 2 page exec summary kind of man.
More like half a side of A4
He did have 2 whole weeks on the beach to read it.
Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....
No-one has ever suggested that Keir Starmer is soft on anti-Semitism or soft on the causes of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, so I'm sure the ECHR report won't be a problem for him personally. Assuming I am right, he just needs to make absolutely clear that he's going to clear out the sewer. Which I think he will, to be fair.
George Osborne in tonight's Evening Standard has claimed the only Labour leadership figure the Conservatives should worry about is Sir Keir Starmer as he will look like a credible alternative PM from Day One.
This will be a journey of many small steps if Starmer prevails but I do think he can take the debate to Johnson at PMQs and elsewhere effectively. I'm also of the view that nothing succeeds like success and if Labour start closing down the poll gap and even take the lead in the next 6-12 months Starmer will find internal party management much easier.
On what basis is Labour going to take the lead in that time period? The people who despised Labour's anti-patriotism, woke nonsense, and socialism in December 2019 are still going to despise it at the end of this year, so either Starmer ditches it wholesale or nothing much will change.
Even more than that, I think, Pidcock's attitude encapsulates the reasons for Labour's defeat: the Right seeks converts, whereas the Left seeks heretics. Guess which one produces better results in elections?
Depends when the report gets published. If it is before voting has finished.....
No-one has ever suggested that Keir Starmer is soft on anti-Semitism or soft on the causes of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, so I'm sure the ECHR report won't be a problem for him personally. Assuming I am right, he just needs to make absolutely clear that he's going to clear out the sewer. Which I think he will, to be fair.
George Osborne in tonight's Evening Standard has claimed the only Labour leadership figure the Conservatives should worry about is Sir Keir Starmer as he will look like a credible alternative PM from Day One.
This will be a journey of many small steps if Starmer prevails but I do think he can take the debate to Johnson at PMQs and elsewhere effectively. I'm also of the view that nothing succeeds like success and if Labour start closing down the poll gap and even take the lead in the next 6-12 months Starmer will find internal party management much easier.
Starmer is the standard bearer for the Labour Remain/Referendum policy fudge. He isn't the man to win back the North and Midlands.
On what basis is Labour going to take the lead in that time period? The people who despised Labour's anti-patriotism, woke nonsense, and socialism in December 2019 are still going to despise it at the end of this year, so either Starmer ditches it wholesale or nothing much will change.
Churning out all your anti-Labour rhetoric in a pointless distribe doesn't alter the fact politics is back to "normal" which means a Government doing things which not everybody is going to support. It also means small-scale problems becoming large-scale crises, a ministerial resignation perhaps and the general warp and weft of Government which erodes public support over time.
Starmer, if elected, will be a far more formidable opponent than some on the Conservative side believe and I suspect re-gaining support in the North and Midlands will be high on his priority list. Once Brexit is delivered, some of the reason for those who went Conservative last month, will disappear and they will rightly start to ask just how much better they and their communities are doing from a Johnson Government.
I may be wrong and Johnson, as a high-spending centralising social democrat, will prove quite popular (after all, everyone likes a bit of largesse their way) but will it last and what happens when the financial taps stop?
The only scenario in which we probably see an election within the year is next January. The UK gets a deal that looks acceptable in the surface, the economy isn't doing badly and the Tories call an election, hoping to ride all this to another majority.
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Yes, I am sure down at Sandringham that came as a big relief and allowed them to focus on family breakdown.
BBC Breaking News - "Transition" agreed for the Sussexes, during which a final settlement and modus operandi for the couple will be worked out. So, worst case scenario could still be "No Deal" and a crash out of the Family to Canada when the transition period ends. Sorry
Then crash out and cut off without a penny if they don't do any royal duties
Being "cut off without a penny" still leaves them with a very comfortable living, based on Harry's various trusts. And once that step's been taken, they can do whatever they want (which is probably a sobering thought to the palace.)
Starmer seems to have said pretty clearly that he largely supports Corbyn's economic policies - in particular saying the UK's current economic model is broken.
However, key question is to what extent he truly believes that and to what extent he is just trying to keep enough Corbyn supporters onside to win the leadership election with a view to then moving towards the centre left later.
The Shadow Cabinet will surely provide the answer. If RLB comes a close 2nd and Starmer makes her Shadow Chancellor then the country remains in grave danger. On the other hand if the Shadow Chancellor is, eg, EdM, Jarvis or Cooper then we know he's going for a position similar to EdM.
Starmer seems to have said pretty clearly that he largely supports Corbyn's economic policies - in particular saying the UK's current economic model is broken.
However, key question is to what extent he truly believes that and to what extent he is just trying to keep enough Corbyn supporters onside to win the leadership election with a view to then moving towards the centre left later.
The Shadow Cabinet will surely provide the answer. If RLB comes a close 2nd and Starmer makes her Shadow Chancellor then the country remains in grave danger. On the other hand if the Shadow Chancellor is, eg, EdM, Jarvis or Cooper then we know he's going for a position similar to EdM.
I would be exceptionally surprised if he made RLB shadow chancellor. Miliband or Benn much more likely.
You'll notice Miliband was the first ex-New Labour politician to talk of Britain's economic model being broken.
"Javid in part secured his position as Chancellor for some time to come by giving Johnson Christmas reading in the shape of an 18-page report on his ideas for levelling up the country."
I'd think Boris was more of a 2 page exec summary kind of man.
More like half a side of A4
He did have 2 whole weeks on the beach to read it.
I doubt that such matters were high on his agenda
I now have a mental image of Boris Johnson, on the beach, dealing with other matters.
It is a mental image I could well have done without. Even leaving aside the beached whale simile...
The only scenario in which we probably see an election within the year is next January. The UK gets a deal that looks acceptable in the surface, the economy isn't doing badly and the Tories call an election, hoping to ride all this to another majority.
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Seems high risk to call another election when you have a majority of 80 already!
Yes, I am sure down at Sandringham that came as a big relief and allowed them to focus on family breakdown.
BBC Breaking News - "Transition" agreed for the Sussexes, during which a final settlement and modus operandi for the couple will be worked out. So, worst case scenario could still be "No Deal" and a crash out of the Family to Canada when the transition period ends. Sorry
Then crash out and cut off without a penny if they don't do any royal duties
Being "cut off without a penny" still leaves them with a very comfortable living, based on Harry's various trusts. And once that step's been taken, they can do whatever they want (which is probably a sobering thought to the palace.)
To an extent, most of their brand's value comes from being royal, the further away from the royal family they are the less value it has and they are just an ex soldier and C list actress.
Though they will be pleased Trudeau has agreed Canada will pay their security Bill when they are in the country
The only scenario in which we probably see an election within the year is next January. The UK gets a deal that looks acceptable in the surface, the economy isn't doing badly and the Tories call an election, hoping to ride all this to another majority.
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Seems high risk to call another election when you have a majority of 80 already!
Especially as it will be 102 after boundary changes, no chance at all
The only scenario in which we probably see an election within the year is next January. The UK gets a deal that looks acceptable in the surface, the economy isn't doing badly and the Tories call an election, hoping to ride all this to another majority.
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Seems high risk to call another election when you have a majority of 80 already!
Winning all those former Labour seats must have been a huge rush. I don't think it's the most likely course of action but don't underestimate the challenge of cementing those changes.
Starmer seems to have said pretty clearly that he largely supports Corbyn's economic policies - in particular saying the UK's current economic model is broken.
However, key question is to what extent he truly believes that and to what extent he is just trying to keep enough Corbyn supporters onside to win the leadership election with a view to then moving towards the centre left later.
The Shadow Cabinet will surely provide the answer. If RLB comes a close 2nd and Starmer makes her Shadow Chancellor then the country remains in grave danger. On the other hand if the Shadow Chancellor is, eg, EdM, Jarvis or Cooper then we know he's going for a position similar to EdM.
There seems to be a great deal of projection about what Starmer believes. All things to all (wo)men. People criticise Johnson for being all about power but how different is Starmer?
Starmer seems to have said pretty clearly that he largely supports Corbyn's economic policies - in particular saying the UK's current economic model is broken.
However, key question is to what extent he truly believes that and to what extent he is just trying to keep enough Corbyn supporters onside to win the leadership election with a view to then moving towards the centre left later.
The Shadow Cabinet will surely provide the answer. If RLB comes a close 2nd and Starmer makes her Shadow Chancellor then the country remains in grave danger. On the other hand if the Shadow Chancellor is, eg, EdM, Jarvis or Cooper then we know he's going for a position similar to EdM.
There seems to be a great deal of projection about what Starmer believes. All things to all (wo)men. People criticise Johnson for being all about power but how different is Starmer?
The hustings will be enlightening on this front. To answer a question asked earlier, they will all be live-streamed apparently.
The only scenario in which we probably see an election within the year is next January. The UK gets a deal that looks acceptable in the surface, the economy isn't doing badly and the Tories call an election, hoping to ride all this to another majority.
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Seems high risk to call another election when you have a majority of 80 already!
Winning all those former Labour seats must have been a huge rush. I don't think it's the most likely course of action but don't underestimate the challenge of cementing those changes.
Won't happen, Tory MPs are not going to risk their seats and Boris No 10 unless it looks like a 1997 or 1983 style landslide and probably not even then, they remember 2017 as much as 2019
The only scenario in which we probably see an election within the year is next January. The UK gets a deal that looks acceptable in the surface, the economy isn't doing badly and the Tories call an election, hoping to ride all this to another majority.
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Seems high risk to call another election when you have a majority of 80 already!
More like, 'seems utterly pointless.' If we were three years into a Parliament I could understand it, but not just twelve months.
The only scenario in which we probably see an election within the year is next January. The UK gets a deal that looks acceptable in the surface, the economy isn't doing badly and the Tories call an election, hoping to ride all this to another majority.
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Seems high risk to call another election when you have a majority of 80 already!
I can't really envisage any scenario where it isn't 2024 given their majority. A planned reversion to the normal schedule of May subject to the Tories feeling that they are in a good position, with the backstop option to wait until December if they feel they need to buy time. They can amend/abolish the FTPA to their hearts content and it is hard to argue against that unless we want permanent December elections henceforth.
"Javid in part secured his position as Chancellor for some time to come by giving Johnson Christmas reading in the shape of an 18-page report on his ideas for levelling up the country."
I'd think Boris was more of a 2 page exec summary kind of man.
More like half a side of A4
He did have 2 whole weeks on the beach to read it.
I doubt that such matters were high on his agenda
I now have a mental image of Boris Johnson, on the beach, dealing with other matters.
It is a mental image I could well have done without. Even leaving aside the beached whale simile...
All sorts of things seem to bring images you could do without to your mind. You must have a fertile imagination! Or is that phrase going to cause more problems, given the rest of the discussion?
The only scenario in which we probably see an election within the year is next January. The UK gets a deal that looks acceptable in the surface, the economy isn't doing badly and the Tories call an election, hoping to ride all this to another majority.
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Seems high risk to call another election when you have a majority of 80 already!
Winning all those former Labour seats must have been a huge rush. I don't think it's the most likely course of action but don't underestimate the challenge of cementing those changes.
Won't happen, Tory MPs are not going to risk their seats and Boris No 10 unless it looks like a 1997 or 1983 style landslide and probably not even then, they remember 2017 as much as 2019
Also - could they afford it? Elections are very expensive.
Admittedly, it might finally bankrupt Labour. But if it did so at the cost of ruining the Tories it might be considered a Pyrrhic victory.
On what basis is Labour going to take the lead in that time period? The people who despised Labour's anti-patriotism, woke nonsense, and socialism in December 2019 are still going to despise it at the end of this year, so either Starmer ditches it wholesale or nothing much will change.
Churning out all your anti-Labour rhetoric in a pointless distribe doesn't alter the fact politics is back to "normal" which means a Government doing things which not everybody is going to support. It also means small-scale problems becoming large-scale crises, a ministerial resignation perhaps and the general warp and weft of Government which erodes public support over time.
Starmer, if elected, will be a far more formidable opponent than some on the Conservative side believe and I suspect re-gaining support in the North and Midlands will be high on his priority list. Once Brexit is delivered, some of the reason for those who went Conservative last month, will disappear and they will rightly start to ask just how much better they and their communities are doing from a Johnson Government.
I may be wrong and Johnson, as a high-spending centralising social democrat, will prove quite popular (after all, everyone likes a bit of largesse their way) but will it last and what happens when the financial taps stop?
What I suspect is that few of the almost 44% who voted Conservative will be taken in any time soon by a shiny new leader when all the cranks and crazies that disfigured the Corbyn years are going to still be around in the party and in the media. If all Labour's extreme economic and social policies remain intact, a strong jaw isn't going to cut it for anyone with more than couple of brain cells to rub together.
As for Brexit disappearing as an issue, Brexit was only ever a proxy for a whole cluster of culture-war issues that are only going to increase in salience as the decade progresses. 'Brexit' is not just about Brexit - it's about every geographical, policy, and cultural polarity you can imagine, and that's not going away. If the Tories are smart, they will select the issues most productive in securing their new base and push them for all they're worth.
"Javid in part secured his position as Chancellor for some time to come by giving Johnson Christmas reading in the shape of an 18-page report on his ideas for levelling up the country."
I'd think Boris was more of a 2 page exec summary kind of man.
More like half a side of A4
He did have 2 whole weeks on the beach to read it.
I doubt that such matters were high on his agenda
I now have a mental image of Boris Johnson, on the beach, dealing with other matters.
It is a mental image I could well have done without. Even leaving aside the beached whale simile...
All sorts of things seem to bring images you could do without to your mind. You must have a fertile imagination! Or is that phrase going to cause more problems, given the rest of the discussion?
Well, it's not bad, but it's not as fertile as our esteemed PM...
The only scenario in which we probably see an election within the year is next January. The UK gets a deal that looks acceptable in the surface, the economy isn't doing badly and the Tories call an election, hoping to ride all this to another majority.
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Seems high risk to call another election when you have a majority of 80 already!
More like, 'seems utterly pointless.' If we were three years into a Parliament I could understand it, but not just twelve months.
The only scenario in which we probably see an election within the year is next January. The UK gets a deal that looks acceptable in the surface, the economy isn't doing badly and the Tories call an election, hoping to ride all this to another majority.
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Seems high risk to call another election when you have a majority of 80 already!
More like, 'seems utterly pointless.' If we were three years into a Parliament I could understand it, but not just twelve months.
The public would smell a rat and not vote Tory!
I thought the whole point about Johnson was that he is a rat?
I’ve heard some laughable ideas in my time, but I’m not sure anything beats a suggestion that the Conservatives might call a General Election in a year! Might call into question the idea that pb.com is a place for serious political debate!
I’ve heard some laughable ideas in my time, but I’m not sure anything beats a suggestion that the Conservatives might call a General Election in a year! Might call into question the idea that pb.com is a place for serious political debate!
Hold on a second. I thought this was a place for serious discussions about the merits (or not) of pineapple on pizza? We're supposed to be debating politics?
I’ve heard some laughable ideas in my time, but I’m not sure anything beats a suggestion that the Conservatives might call a General Election in a year! Might call into question the idea that pb.com is a place for serious political debate!
Hold on a second. I thought this was a place for serious discussions about the merits (or not) of pineapple on pizza? We're supposed to be debating politics?
Bad for Buttigieg though he was leading Iowa before Christmas in most polls and is now 3rd
For a university to publish a poll with 10 candidates, using numerous subsamples to draw conclusions about various age groups, on the basis of a total sample of 405 voters is a disgrace to their academic standing. People say Iowa is hard to poll, but really with that sort of sample even Pyongyang would be hard to poll.
I’ve heard some laughable ideas in my time, but I’m not sure anything beats a suggestion that the Conservatives might call a General Election in a year! Might call into question the idea that pb.com is a place for serious political debate!
Eh... I said I thought that the only way there might be an election in the medium term is when the deal goes through.
When you combine testosterone and the urge to utter crush and humiliate your foes, clear thinking does occasionally go out the window.
I’ve heard some laughable ideas in my time, but I’m not sure anything beats a suggestion that the Conservatives might call a General Election in a year! Might call into question the idea that pb.com is a place for serious political debate!
Hold on a second. I thought this was a place for serious discussions about the merits (or not) of pineapple on pizza? We're supposed to be debating politics?
Don't be silly.
There are no merits to putting pineapple on pizza.
If they win: Starmer - Uninteresting, boring, will foresniscally examine the government, no Philips - Shes the unknown. Shes the one that probably wont win, probably wont do any better than all the others. But she could. People seem to like the hooker hoops and the 'aufentic' working class brummie stuff. How true it is doesnt matter, it matters only she can pull it off.
She could learn all the other stuff. She has plenty of time. If you have already got a bit of va va voom (and she has), mix in some intense NLP and speech training you can go far.
Starmer
Of course, it's possible over five years he might recover from that. Or more likely, the smell of that very particular stench of shit will follow him around for ever.
In fairness to Starmer, the things that went wrong pretty
Yes, assuming he becomes leader, I think he'll be fine on the anti-Semitism issue provided he acts swiftly and effectively when (or preferably before) the ECHR report is released. And I'm sure he will do so, to be fair, as would most of the other candidates except perhaps RLB.
Except with RLB, problems on antisemitism are likely to be a slow burner. I think all will say the right things, overhaul processes, and probably sling out some of those responsible - from paid jobs if not the party. That will buy them goodwill. But the question Labour really needs to ask itself is how its party culture allowed all this to happen, whereby thousands upon thousands were OK with people like Corbyn running the party despite the overwhelming evidence against him, both personally and as a leader of an institution that failed beyond belief, as well as their total refusal to heed the pleas of both the Jewish community and their own Jewish MPs, some now bullied out. If whoever is leader doesn't convince members to have that dark night of the soul over what they tolerated, promoted, and enabled, the problem will reappear in another form due to the fertile ground for it in Labour. Starmer, Nandy or Phillips will obviously deal with it much better than the vile Corbyn - but it will still damage them if Labour are still having fights over this in 2021, even if this time the leader is on the right side rather than with the antisemites this time. Much like in the late '80s with those dubbed the looney left, if there's still a sizeable minority of the Labour membership who behave like cranks it will taint the whole organisation - even if the leader is a great opponent of it.
Comments
This will be a journey of many small steps if Starmer prevails but I do think he can take the debate to Johnson at PMQs and elsewhere effectively. I'm also of the view that nothing succeeds like success and if Labour start closing down the poll gap and even take the lead in the next 6-12 months Starmer will find internal party management much easier.
That's not to say that some of the other candidates couldn't grow into the role, but they are less 'oven-ready'.
Who does he appoint to the front bench?
Centrists would mean a few throwback figures - surely not a good look.
So who are the compromise candidates - soft left but he can work with?
Get levelling up done.
Starmer, if elected, will be a far more formidable opponent than some on the Conservative side believe and I suspect re-gaining support in the North and Midlands will be high on his priority list. Once Brexit is delivered, some of the reason for those who went Conservative last month, will disappear and they will rightly start to ask just how much better they and their communities are doing from a Johnson Government.
I may be wrong and Johnson, as a high-spending centralising social democrat, will prove quite popular (after all, everyone likes a bit of largesse their way) but will it last and what happens when the financial taps stop?
Otherwise, it’s a long time. Labour needs a dull centrist for this slog and that person probably is Sir Keir.
Starmer seems to have said pretty clearly that he largely supports Corbyn's economic policies - in particular saying the UK's current economic model is broken.
However, key question is to what extent he truly believes that and to what extent he is just trying to keep enough Corbyn supporters onside to win the leadership election with a view to then moving towards the centre left later.
The Shadow Cabinet will surely provide the answer. If RLB comes a close 2nd and Starmer makes her Shadow Chancellor then the country remains in grave danger. On the other hand if the Shadow Chancellor is, eg, EdM, Jarvis or Cooper then we know he's going for a position similar to EdM.
You'll notice Miliband was the first ex-New Labour politician to talk of Britain's economic model being broken.
It is a mental image I could well have done without. Even leaving aside the beached whale simile...
Though they will be pleased Trudeau has agreed Canada will pay their security Bill when they are in the country
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/evening-standard-west-end-final/20200113/281500753195512
https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/letters/the-reader-jess-phillips-is-the-bold-choice-to-rescue-labour-a4333061.html
This evening, I will be mostly eating 5 bean salad with quinoa.
It gets worse - it is Waitrose Organic Quinoa.
In my defence, it was Wor Lass's choice, and she is a member of the Green Party.
Tomorrow I'll have to visit Greggs to make amends.
https://twitter.com/ZachMontellaro/status/1216781989312974851
Or is that phrase going to cause more problems, given the rest of the discussion?
Admittedly, it might finally bankrupt Labour. But if it did so at the cost of ruining the Tories it might be considered a Pyrrhic victory.
As for Brexit disappearing as an issue, Brexit was only ever a proxy for a whole cluster of culture-war issues that are only going to increase in salience as the decade progresses. 'Brexit' is not just about Brexit - it's about every geographical, policy, and cultural polarity you can imagine, and that's not going away. If the Tories are smart, they will select the issues most productive in securing their new base and push them for all they're worth.
Bloomberg 7-2 in hills.
They should get some comedy awards.
When you combine testosterone and the urge to utter crush and humiliate your foes, clear thinking does occasionally go out the window.
There are no merits to putting pineapple on pizza.
That's exactly what you'd expect.
Peterhouse's only PM (Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton) was himself educated at Westminster, so it's nice to know some things don't change.