Judging by this calamitous and hilarious Shadow Cabinet formation, the point is: politics sometimes doesn't need rules or regimens. You can just be so horrifically bad at your job that you know you have to quit, and there it is, as all your important colleagues despise you.
Do you believe that any individual on the Hard Left has ever demonstrated such a basic sense of self-awareness?
What's the odds of one of them not making it due to ill health? 9 collective years between them at 65+ basically I would say about a 20-25% chance of one of them having a heart attack/stroke other dehabilitating illness rendering them unable to continue. Maybe slightly less as they are privileged, but who knows...
Twitter John Rentoul @JohnRentoul 1h1 hour ago It'll take journalists a few days, but once they've been through John McDonnell's back-catalogue, the Labour Party will be a smoking ruin.
Yes, but more importantly, is John McDonnell running Jeremy Corbyn?
Not sure Cornel West is the best intro for Bernie into the black community, but it seems to be drawing the crowds. I think the comments of Tomiko at the end of the article should have the Hillary crowd truly sweating.
Twitter John Rentoul @JohnRentoul 1h1 hour ago It'll take journalists a few days, but once they've been through John McDonnell's back-catalogue, the Labour Party will be a smoking ruin.
I take it John McDonnell has some unsavoury baggage then…?
Don't understand why Nick Palmer isn't on here to explain how well this is all going.
*mystified*
Yep, it will be intetesting to get Nick's views on why today has been such a goid day for JC. He's so polite and unspun, doncha know. McDonnell - a moderate, unifying voice; a masterstroke.
@faisalislam: Confirmed: ex Miliband chief of staff Lucy Powell is the new shadow education secretary
The same Lucy Powell who wasn't going to serve under Corbyn? The same Lucy Powell who is utterly incompetent and not capable of stringing a coherent sentence together?
Splendid!
This is actually the most WTF moment so far.
I'm not sure who it reflects worse on - Powell or Corbyn. Whichever, it is bizarre and ridiculous.
It is ridiculous of course but the McDonnell appointment is the one that will destroy him.
Yep. Absolutely poisonous. I've read several articles by insiders saying that Corbyn's association with McDonnell was the clinching factor. If Corbyn kept him on: implosion.
He hasn't just kept him on, he's made him Shadow Chancellor.
That's leadership. Corbyn hasn't bowed to the wets.
Actually that does make sense. His win is based on an entirely new economic policy - namely Anti-austerity. Like it or loathe it, that is what the Party wants.
What everyone was expecting was that after winning Corbyn will like every other politician compromise and make gestures towards the City.
But Corbyn is not your normal politician. Expect him to attack the banks which the Labour leadership were hitherto scared to criticise.
Keeping up the EU membership up his sleeve also helps. Why does he have to show his cards now ? Thatcher made anti-Europe noises but signed every treaty.
This Corbyn business tonight is a series of acts of gross political incompetence.
The last one I can remember like this was in Ireland in 2010, when the government tried to renew its image by getting about forty per cent of the ministers to resign, but then realised it didn't have a parliamentary majority to replace them, so it soldiered on and everyone doubled up on portfolios.
After canceling Marr, and now Today, what are the odds he wont appear at PMQs?
Cam must be pinching himself.
He could and should make a statement out of PMQs.
He should ask:
1. That the PM must give a straight answer to a straight question. No evasion.
2. The Mob culture must end from all sides.
The Tories and the Speaker will almost certainly refuse. Corbyn will say he will not participate then.
The idea that the shouting and jeering is hugely popular with the public is actually misplaced. The public also wants to hear a clear answer to a clear question.
The PMQ did not start with Magna Carta or 1832. It only started in the 50s. So no great tradition.
Won't work. Even when straight answers are given, oppositions don't acknowledge them (granted, they are rare), so it's an impossible demand to fulfill.
After canceling Marr, and now Today, what are the odds he wont appear at PMQs?
Cam must be pinching himself.
He could and should make a statement out of PMQs.
He should ask:
1. That the PM must give a straight answer to a straight question. No evasion.
2. The Mob culture must end from all sides.
The Tories and the Speaker will almost certainly refuse. Corbyn will say he will not participate then.
The idea that the shouting and jeering is hugely popular with the public is actually misplaced. The public also wants to hear a clear answer to a clear question.
The PMQ did not start with Magna Carta or 1832. It only started in the 50s. So no great tradition.
I am not a fan of PMQs but there is no point in requiring the PM to give a straight answer until such time as he is asked straight questions. The vast majority of questions put are a statement followed by a loaded and closed question. If the PM were to give a straight answer to such questions his answers would be one of three, "Yes", "No", "Never". I am not sure that would be what you want. When the questioners start to ask sensible questions then would be the time to make a fuss about not getting sensible answers.
It would also help if the House returned to the old convention whereby questions that were on a matter of policy had to be answered verbally there and then but questions on matters of fact would be answered later in writing.
@faisalislam: Confirmed: ex Miliband chief of staff Lucy Powell is the new shadow education secretary
The same Lucy Powell who wasn't going to serve under Corbyn? The same Lucy Powell who is utterly incompetent and not capable of stringing a coherent sentence together?
Splendid!
This is actually the most WTF moment so far.
I'm not sure who it reflects worse on - Powell or Corbyn. Whichever, it is bizarre and ridiculous.
It is ridiculous of course but the McDonnell appointment is the one that will destroy him.
Yep. Absolutely poisonous. I've read several articles by insiders saying that Corbyn's association with McDonnell was the clinching factor. If Corbyn kept him on: implosion.
He hasn't just kept him on, he's made him Shadow Chancellor.
There is something of the irresistable force meeting the immovable object about all of Corbyn's leadership so far. I hadn't taken seriously the possibility of a split until now but his behaviour is so brazen that you could well understand MPs wondering why it's worth their while remaining with a party that cares neither for their efforts or for the public.
Blinking heck- waiting for the Federer match is exhausting, and I'm an hour ahead. Poor John Bercow is going to be knackered tomorrow- he's going to let Corbyn do anything he likes.
Is anyone else staying up to see the very divine Roger?
After canceling Marr, and now Today, what are the odds he wont appear at PMQs?
Cam must be pinching himself.
He could and should make a statement out of PMQs.
He should ask:
1. That the PM must give a straight answer to a straight question. No evasion.
2. The Mob culture must end from all sides.
The Tories and the Speaker will almost certainly refuse. Corbyn will say he will not participate then.
The idea that the shouting and jeering is hugely popular with the public is actually misplaced. The public also wants to hear a clear answer to a clear question.
The PMQ did not start with Magna Carta or 1832. It only started in the 50s. So no great tradition.
Won't work. Even when straight answers are given, oppositions don't acknowledge them (granted, they are rare), so it's an impossible demand to fulfill.
"Ed Miliband staked everything on his opening question: would the Prime Minister rule out raising VAT? Having asked it, the Labour leader sat down, confidently awaiting his opponent’s stumbling, circuitous, tellingly evasive answer. After all, there was no way Mr Cameron was going to say yes.
“Yes,” said Mr Cameron.
The look on Mr Miliband’s face. It was as if an eagle had swooped out of the sky and swiped the sandwich from his hands.”
After canceling Marr, and now Today, what are the odds he wont appear at PMQs?
Cam must be pinching himself.
He could and should make a statement out of PMQs.
He should ask:
1. That the PM must give a straight answer to a straight question. No evasion.
2. The Mob culture must end from all sides.
The Tories and the Speaker will almost certainly refuse. Corbyn will say he will not participate then.
The idea that the shouting and jeering is hugely popular with the public is actually misplaced. The public also wants to hear a clear answer to a clear question.
The PMQ did not start with Magna Carta or 1832. It only started in the 50s. So no great tradition.
I am not a fan of PMQs but there is no point in requiring the PM to give a straight answer until such time as he is asked straight questions. The vast majority of questions put are a statement followed by a loaded and closed question. If the PM were to give a straight answer to such questions his answers would be one of three, "Yes", "No", "Never". I am not sure that would be what you want. When the questioners start to ask sensible questions then would be the time to make a fuss about not getting sensible answers.
It would also help if the House returned to the old convention whereby questions that were on a matter of policy had to be answered verbally there and then but questions on matters of fact would be answered later in writing.
Surbiton's been pushing this nonsense all day, and has continually ignored the reality that there is nothing the Prime Minister would like more than abolishing PMQs, or as a compromise, not having the LOTO asking him anything!
@faisalislam: Confirmed: ex Miliband chief of staff Lucy Powell is the new shadow education secretary
The same Lucy Powell who wasn't going to serve under Corbyn? The same Lucy Powell who is utterly incompetent and not capable of stringing a coherent sentence together?
Splendid!
This is actually the most WTF moment so far.
I'm not sure who it reflects worse on - Powell or Corbyn. Whichever, it is bizarre and ridiculous.
It is ridiculous of course but the McDonnell appointment is the one that will destroy him.
Yep. Absolutely poisonous. I've read several articles by insiders saying that Corbyn's association with McDonnell was the clinching factor. If Corbyn kept him on: implosion.
He hasn't just kept him on, he's made him Shadow Chancellor.
There is something of the irresistable force meeting the immovable object about all of Corbyn's leadership so far. I hadn't taken seriously the possibility of a split until now but his behaviour is so brazen that you could well understand MPs wondering why it's worth their while remaining with a party that cares neither for their efforts or for the public.
After today they know they'll have to wait less time for him to go than they dared to dream of yesterday.
Just had that conversation with Fitaloon as Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet was being unveiled tonight. Seriously, the Labour Party has moved beyond a 'The Thick of It' episode and into the Twilight Zone of politics.
@faisalislam: Confirmed: ex Miliband chief of staff Lucy Powell is the new shadow education secretary
The same Lucy Powell who wasn't going to serve under Corbyn? The same Lucy Powell who is utterly incompetent and not capable of stringing a coherent sentence together?
Splendid!
This is actually the most WTF moment so far.
I'm not sure who it reflects worse on - Powell or Corbyn. Whichever, it is bizarre and ridiculous.
It is ridiculous of course but the McDonnell appointment is the one that will destroy him.
Yep. Absolutely poisonous. I've read several articles by insiders saying that Corbyn's association with McDonnell was the clinching factor. If Corbyn kept him on: implosion.
He hasn't just kept him on, he's made him Shadow Chancellor.
There is something of the irresistable force meeting the immovable object about all of Corbyn's leadership so far. I hadn't taken seriously the possibility of a split until now but his behaviour is so brazen that you could well understand MPs wondering why it's worth their while remaining with a party that cares neither for their efforts or for the public.
After canceling Marr, and now Today, what are the odds he wont appear at PMQs?
Cam must be pinching himself.
He could and should make a statement out of PMQs.
He should ask:
1. That the PM must give a straight answer to a straight question. No evasion.
2. The Mob culture must end from all sides.
The Tories and the Speaker will almost certainly refuse. Corbyn will say he will not participate then.
The idea that the shouting and jeering is hugely popular with the public is actually misplaced. The public also wants to hear a clear answer to a clear question.
The PMQ did not start with Magna Carta or 1832. It only started in the 50s. So no great tradition.
I am not a fan of PMQs but there is no point in requiring the PM to give a straight answer until such time as he is asked straight questions. The vast majority of questions put are a statement followed by a loaded and closed question. If the PM were to give a straight answer to such questions his answers would be one of three, "Yes", "No", "Never". I am not sure that would be what you want. When the questioners start to ask sensible questions then would be the time to make a fuss about not getting sensible answers.
It would also help if the House returned to the old convention whereby questions that were on a matter of policy had to be answered verbally there and then but questions on matters of fact would be answered later in writing.
Surbiton's been pushing this nonsense all day, and has continually ignored the reality that there is nothing the Prime Minister would like more than abolishing PMQs, or as a compromise, not having the LOTO asking him anything! And that it is not what Corbyn is proposing anyway.
There is something of the irresistable force meeting the immovable object about all of Corbyn's leadership so far. I hadn't taken seriously the possibility of a split until now but his behaviour is so brazen that you could well understand MPs wondering why it's worth their while remaining with a party that cares neither for their efforts or for the public.
My thoughts exactly.
Hypothetically.
This wasn't a selection contest for Leader of the Opposition, it was for Leader of the Labour Party. Which basically means the leader inherits the top job over an organisation (which the cogs may be falling out of) and a membership (something of a rentamob that is no longer aligned with the vast majority of MPs). The leader only inherits the parliamentary seats so long as they don't up sticks.
As it stands, Labour have 232 seats. If the New Democrats or whatever they were to badge themselves at could get 117 defectors together (or a bit less but pick up a couple from other parties) then Corbyn would cease to be Leader of the Opposition and that job would fall to the Chief Splittist.
Plagued by difficulties of course - logistical, financial, organisational, the activist and councillor base, the poor history of such movements succeeding in the long run. But bear in mind that Liz Kendall, so decisively rejected by the Labour grassroots, had 41 PLP nominations (from people who knew what they were letting themselves in for when they plumped for her, and who must now be wary of a blast from constituency memberships if they need to battle it out for a seat under a boundary redrawing) then the number 117 does not look impossibly far away.
Don't understand why Nick Palmer isn't on here to explain how well this is all going.
*mystified*
Yep, it will be intetesting to get Nick's views on why today has been such a goid day for JC. He's so polite and unspun, doncha know. McDonnell - a moderate, unifying voice; a masterstroke.
I am sure Mr Palmer will say, 'when you come to a fork in the road take it.'
After canceling Marr, and now Today, what are the odds he wont appear at PMQs?
Cam must be pinching himself.
He could and should make a statement out of PMQs.
He should ask:
1. That the PM must give a straight answer to a straight question. No evasion.
2. The Mob culture must end from all sides.
The Tories and the Speaker will almost certainly refuse. Corbyn will say he will not participate then.
The idea that the shouting and jeering is hugely popular with the public is actually misplaced. The public also wants to hear a clear answer to a clear question.
The PMQ did not start with Magna Carta or 1832. It only started in the 50s. So no great tradition.
Won't work. Even when straight answers are given, oppositions don't acknowledge them (granted, they are rare), so it's an impossible demand to fulfill.
"Ed Miliband staked everything on his opening question: would the Prime Minister rule out raising VAT? Having asked it, the Labour leader sat down, confidently awaiting his opponent’s stumbling, circuitous, tellingly evasive answer. After all, there was no way Mr Cameron was going to say yes.
“Yes,” said Mr Cameron.
The look on Mr Miliband’s face. It was as if an eagle had swooped out of the sky and swiped the sandwich from his hands.”
Twitter John Rentoul @JohnRentoul 1h1 hour ago It'll take journalists a few days, but once they've been through John McDonnell's back-catalogue, the Labour Party will be a smoking ruin.
I take it John McDonnell has some unsavoury baggage then…?
Twitter John Rentoul @JohnRentoul 1h1 hour ago It'll take journalists a few days, but once they've been through John McDonnell's back-catalogue, the Labour Party will be a smoking ruin.
I take it John McDonnell has some unsavoury baggage then…?
Depends how you view it. Some of it is on public record, some of it not.
@faisalislam: Confirmed: ex Miliband chief of staff Lucy Powell is the new shadow education secretary
The same Lucy Powell who wasn't going to serve under Corbyn? The same Lucy Powell who is utterly incompetent and not capable of stringing a coherent sentence together?
Splendid!
This is actually the most WTF moment so far.
I'm not sure who it reflects worse on - Powell or Corbyn. Whichever, it is bizarre and ridiculous.
It is ridiculous of course but the McDonnell appointment is the one that will destroy him.
Yep. Absolutely poisonous. I've read several articles by insiders saying that Corbyn's association with McDonnell was the clinching factor. If Corbyn kept him on: implosion.
He hasn't just kept him on, he's made him Shadow Chancellor.
There is something of the irresistable force meeting the immovable object about all of Corbyn's leadership so far. I hadn't taken seriously the possibility of a split until now but his behaviour is so brazen that you could well understand MPs wondering why it's worth their while remaining with a party that cares neither for their efforts or for the public.
So, you suggest, 60% of the Party's voices [ whether correct or not ] should be ignored ? Maybe , professional politicians can't get their head round it.
Who will remember in two years Chuka Umunna, Mary Creagh, Liz Kendall etc. ? Even others from the Labour Right will fill their space .
If the Blairites were to form a new party they would forever get rid of the union link which has always provided the infrastructure for the hard Left to come back.
Any odds or thoughts on when the first resignation from these new appointments will be? A week?
So kind of Burnam to say that Corbyn would be a 'disaster' and thus write the first question every journalist will ask him as long as he's in the shadow cabinet.
After canceling Marr, and now Today, what are the odds he wont appear at PMQs?
Cam must be pinching himself.
He could and should make a statement out of PMQs.
He should ask:
1. That the PM must give a straight answer to a straight question. No evasion.
2. The Mob culture must end from all sides.
The Tories and the Speaker will almost certainly refuse. Corbyn will say he will not participate then.
The idea that the shouting and jeering is hugely popular with the public is actually misplaced. The public also wants to hear a clear answer to a clear question.
The PMQ did not start with Magna Carta or 1832. It only started in the 50s. So no great tradition.
Won't work. Even when straight answers are given, oppositions don't acknowledge them (granted, they are rare), so it's an impossible demand to fulfill.
"Ed Miliband staked everything on his opening question: would the Prime Minister rule out raising VAT? Having asked it, the Labour leader sat down, confidently awaiting his opponent’s stumbling, circuitous, tellingly evasive answer. After all, there was no way Mr Cameron was going to say yes.
“Yes,” said Mr Cameron.
The look on Mr Miliband’s face. It was as if an eagle had swooped out of the sky and swiped the sandwich from his hands.”
There is something of the irresistable force meeting the immovable object about all of Corbyn's leadership so far. I hadn't taken seriously the possibility of a split until now but his behaviour is so brazen that you could well understand MPs wondering why it's worth their while remaining with a party that cares neither for their efforts or for the public.
My thoughts exactly.
Hypothetically.
This wasn't a selection contest for Leader of the Opposition, it was for Leader of the Labour Party. Which basically means the leader inherits the top job over an organisation (which the cogs may be falling out of) and a membership (something of a rentamob that is no longer aligned with the vast majority of MPs). The leader only inherits the parliamentary seats so long as they don't up sticks.
As it stands, Labour have 232 seats. If the New Democrats or whatever they were to badge themselves at could get 117 defectors together (or a bit less but pick up a couple from other parties) then Corbyn would cease to be Leader of the Opposition and that job would fall to the Chief Splittist.
Plagued by difficulties of course - logistical, financial, organisational, the activist and councillor base, the poor history of such movements succeeding in the long run. But bear in mind that Liz Kendall, so decisively rejected by the Labour grassroots, had 41 PLP nominations (from people who knew what they were letting themselves in for when they plumped for her, and who must now be wary of a blast from constituency memberships if they need to battle it out for a seat under a boundary redrawing) then the number 117 does not look impossibly far away.
@faisalislam: Confirmed: ex Miliband chief of staff Lucy Powell is the new shadow education secretary
Four months ago in a pub in Broxtowe, you, Roger, Nick Palmer, Tissue Price, Pulpstar and I were discussing politics.
Not one of us could have predicted any of this.
Shame on me for forgetting the good Dr Fox.
I shall do a thread on AV as penance.
Was that an official PBC do? That would have been quite the one to attend, what with two of you turning up from abroad. Sounds like that would have been very good, if not prescient, conversation.
After canceling Marr, and now Today, what are the odds he wont appear at PMQs?
Cam must be pinching himself.
He could and should make a statement out of PMQs.
He should ask:
1. That the PM must give a straight answer to a straight question. No evasion.
2. The Mob culture must end from all sides.
The Tories and the Speaker will almost certainly refuse. Corbyn will say he will not participate then.
The idea that the shouting and jeering is hugely popular with the public is actually misplaced. The public also wants to hear a clear answer to a clear question.
The PMQ did not start with Magna Carta or 1832. It only started in the 50s. So no great tradition.
Won't work. Even when straight answers are given, oppositions don't acknowledge them (granted, they are rare), so it's an impossible demand to fulfill.
"Ed Miliband staked everything on his opening question: would the Prime Minister rule out raising VAT? Having asked it, the Labour leader sat down, confidently awaiting his opponent’s stumbling, circuitous, tellingly evasive answer. After all, there was no way Mr Cameron was going to say yes.
“Yes,” said Mr Cameron.
The look on Mr Miliband’s face. It was as if an eagle had swooped out of the sky and swiped the sandwich from his hands.”
To be fair to the Jezlamists, the BBC IS biased against them. They want centre-left governance but would prefer the centre-right to the hard left. They want mass immigration, the EU and multiculturalism, but not at the expense of their salaries and private schools.
@DrJackMonroe: For all the promise of equality, there appear to be no women in lead roles in Corbyn's shadow cabinet. Depressing same old bullshit then.
Ed was crap and will never be Prime Minister. Jeremy will never be prime minister.
I don't think Labour will ever pick as crap a leader as Ed Miliband. Jeremy is not crap. He's not Ed, he's not IDS or Hague, or Gordon Brown- a rogues gallery of crappy leaders. Jeremy is just unelectable. A subtle but important difference.
He's been given an overwhelming mandate. He is entitled to do things his way and appoint whoever he wants.
It's democracy in action
He's entitled to do things his way, no question - but it might be prudent to go easy with his own party relations a little.
Then again, perhaps not. Strike while the iron is hot and all that, and he cannot be authentic with the public and not be radical in all things that he is able.
There is something of the irresistable force meeting the immovable object about all of Corbyn's leadership so far. I hadn't taken seriously the possibility of a split until now but his behaviour is so brazen that you could well understand MPs wondering why it's worth their while remaining with a party that cares neither for their efforts or for the public.
My thoughts exactly.
Hypothetically.
This wasn't a selection contest for Leader of the Opposition, it was for Leader of the Labour Party. Which basically means the leader inherits the top job over an organisation (which the cogs may be falling out of) and a membership (something of a rentamob that is no longer aligned with the vast majority of MPs). The leader only inherits the parliamentary seats so long as they don't up sticks.
As it stands, Labour have 232 seats. If the New Democrats or whatever they were to badge themselves at could get 117 defectors together (or a bit less but pick up a couple from other parties) then Corbyn would cease to be Leader of the Opposition and that job would fall to the Chief Splittist.
Plagued by difficulties of course - logistical, financial, organisational, the activist and councillor base, the poor history of such movements succeeding in the long run. But bear in mind that Liz Kendall, so decisively rejected by the Labour grassroots, had 41 PLP nominations (from people who knew what they were letting themselves in for when they plumped for her, and who must now be wary of a blast from constituency memberships if they need to battle it out for a seat under a boundary redrawing) then the number 117 does not look impossibly far away.
Who would get the Short Money?
They will get it as they will be HMLO. Farron's coach car can be added to it. Of course, the left vote will be split until 2030.
This wasn't a selection contest for Leader of the Opposition, it was for Leader of the Labour Party. Which basically means the leader inherits the top job over an organisation (which the cogs may be falling out of) and a membership (something of a rentamob that is no longer aligned with the vast majority of MPs). The leader only inherits the parliamentary seats so long as they don't up sticks.
As it stands, Labour have 232 seats. If the New Democrats or whatever they were to badge themselves at could get 117 defectors together (or a bit less but pick up a couple from other parties) then Corbyn would cease to be Leader of the Opposition and that job would fall to the Chief Splittist.
Plagued by difficulties of course - logistical, financial, organisational, the activist and councillor base, the poor history of such movements succeeding in the long run. But bear in mind that Liz Kendall, so decisively rejected by the Labour grassroots, had 41 PLP nominations (from people who knew what they were letting themselves in for when they plumped for her, and who must now be wary of a blast from constituency memberships if they need to battle it out for a seat under a boundary redrawing) then the number 117 does not look impossibly far away.
Who would get the Short Money?
Labour would but would get less (due to fewer MPs)
There is a threshold which New Democracy would not reach (1 FPTP seat/x% of the Vote).
@DrJackMonroe: For all the promise of equality, there appear to be no women in lead roles in Corbyn's shadow cabinet. Depressing same old bullshit then.
I believe he will criticize Corbyn even if he puts a woman as shadow defence secretary.
There is something of the irresistable force meeting the immovable object about all of Corbyn's leadership so far. I hadn't taken seriously the possibility of a split until now but his behaviour is so brazen that you could well understand MPs wondering why it's worth their while remaining with a party that cares neither for their efforts or for the public.
My thoughts exactly.
Hypothetically.
This wasn't a selection contest for Leader of the Opposition, it was for Leader of the Labour Party. Which basically means the leader inherits the top job over an organisation (which the cogs may be falling out of) and a membership (something of a rentamob that is no longer aligned with the vast majority of MPs). The leader only inherits the parliamentary seats so long as they don't up sticks.
As it stands, Labour have 232 seats. If the New Democrats or whatever they were to badge themselves at could get 117 defectors together (or a bit less but pick up a couple from other parties) then Corbyn would cease to be Leader of the Opposition and that job would fall to the Chief Splittist.
Plagued by difficulties of course - logistical, financial, organisational, the activist and councillor base, the poor history of such movements succeeding in the long run. But bear in mind that Liz Kendall, so decisively rejected by the Labour grassroots, had 41 PLP nominations (from people who knew what they were letting themselves in for when they plumped for her, and who must now be wary of a blast from constituency memberships if they need to battle it out for a seat under a boundary redrawing) then the number 117 does not look impossibly far away.
It might actually be the case that Corbyn is going to appoint a shadow Defence Secretary who is strongly in favour of Trident Renewal. We're moving on from parallel realities.
Ed was crap and will never be Prime Minister. Jeremy will never be prime minister.
I don't think Labour will ever pick as crap a leader as Ed Miliband. Jeremy is not crap. He's not Ed, he's not IDS or Hague, or Gordon Brown- a rogues gallery of crappy leaders. Jeremy is just unelectable. A subtle but important difference.
Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes Labour: Angela Eagle will be shadow First Secretary of State as well as Shadow BIS. She'll deputise for Corbyn in PMQs when Cameron is away
Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes Labour: Angela Eagle will be shadow First Secretary of State as well as Shadow BIS. She'll deputise for Corbyn in PMQs when Cameron is away
Gaby Hinsliff @gabyhinsliff Corbyn gives 5 out of 5 top jobs to men, then. Maybe there'll be a nice women-only section in shad cab, where ladies can feel safe at night?
Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes Labour: Angela Eagle will be shadow First Secretary of State as well as Shadow BIS. She'll deputise for Corbyn in PMQs when Cameron is away
@DrJackMonroe: For all the promise of equality, there appear to be no women in lead roles in Corbyn's shadow cabinet. Depressing same old bullshit then.
Not his fault the leading ladies flounced out of the ShadCab!
After canceling Marr, and now Today, what are the odds he wont appear at PMQs?
Cam must be pinching himself.
He could and should make a statement out of PMQs.
He should ask:
1. That the PM must give a straight answer to a straight question. No evasion.
2. The Mob culture must end from all sides.
The Tories and the Speaker will almost certainly refuse. Corbyn will say he will not participate then.
The idea that the shouting and jeering is hugely popular with the public is actually misplaced. The public also wants to hear a clear answer to a clear question.
The PMQ did not start with Magna Carta or 1832. It only started in the 50s. So no great tradition.
I am not a fan of PMQs but there is no point in requiring the PM to give a straight answer until such time as he is asked straight questions. The vast majority of questions put are a statement followed by a loaded and closed question. If the PM were to give a straight answer to such questions his answers would be one of three, "Yes", "No", "Never". I am not sure that would be what you want. When the questioners start to ask sensible questions then would be the time to make a fuss about not getting sensible answers.
It would also help if the House returned to the old convention whereby questions that were on a matter of policy had to be answered verbally there and then but questions on matters of fact would be answered later in writing.
Surbiton's been pushing this nonsense all day, and has continually ignored the reality that there is nothing the Prime Minister would like more than abolishing PMQs, or as a compromise, not having the LOTO asking him anything!
Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes Labour: Angela Eagle will be shadow First Secretary of State as well as Shadow BIS. She'll deputise for Corbyn in PMQs when Cameron is away
Just noticed that Tom Watson wasn't given a job.
I thought deputy leader was already one.
Party job. Harriet Harman had a Parliamentary job (several i think)
Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes Labour: Angela Eagle will be shadow First Secretary of State as well as Shadow BIS. She'll deputise for Corbyn in PMQs when Cameron is away
Of course not- it's not too early. Jez is not crap- he's actually quite smooth and polished. Crapness is something you either have or don't- you're born with it.. Ed had it in spades, and Jez doesn't.
Ed was crap and will never be Prime Minister. Jeremy will never be prime minister.
I don't think Labour will ever pick as crap a leader as Ed Miliband. Jeremy is not crap. He's not Ed, he's not IDS or Hague, or Gordon Brown- a rogues gallery of crappy leaders. Jeremy is just unelectable. A subtle but important difference.
@DrJackMonroe: For all the promise of equality, there appear to be no women in lead roles in Corbyn's shadow cabinet. Depressing same old bullshit then.
Not his fault the leading ladies flounced out of the ShadCab!
Thornberry will be there. Also Eagle. But Cooper threw the toys out of the pram. Will Harriet take a job or given one ?
Just have to say how amazing PB as a site and is a fabulous source of information. Well done to everyone responsible and now time to log off as all my mobiles and tablets have run out of battery power. Best wishes to all
@DrJackMonroe: For all the promise of equality, there appear to be no women in lead roles in Corbyn's shadow cabinet. Depressing same old bullshit then.
Not his fault the leading ladies flounced out of the ShadCab!
Thornberry will be there. Also Eagle. But Cooper threw the toys out of the pram. Will Harriet take a job or given one ?
If the Blairites were to form a new party they would forever get rid of the union link which has always provided the infrastructure for the hard Left to come back.
And forever get rid of the £££££££.
That's why it won't happen, instead they will wait out Corbyn even if it takes five years. There are no City hedgies waiting to back Labour - even New Labour. Money is power and the unions are the main source apart from people with lots of it.
This is probably not a fresh observation, but I liked a description of Marxism on, yes, the telegraph, as the people being the justification for everything but whose opinions can safely be ignored. Always seemed to be the case with extreme ideologies, convinced the people agree with them, but never actually show it electorally.
Good night all. Corbyn better not disappoint us by knuckling down and doing a boring job from now on.
So, you suggest, 60% of the Party's voices [ whether correct or not ] should be ignored ? Maybe , professional politicians can't get their head round it.
They shouldn't be ignored. They should be made to leave.
Comments
Shakes head.
If I could have predicted this TSE, my tax return for next year would be looking considerably healthier.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cornel-west-joins-bernie-sanders-on-the-campaign-trail-in-south-carolina/2015/09/12/bc9b4236-58c2-11e5-b8c9-944725fcd3b9_story.html
Not sure Cornel West is the best intro for Bernie into the black community, but it seems to be drawing the crowds. I think the comments of Tomiko at the end of the article should have the Hillary crowd truly sweating.
I shall do a thread on AV as penance.
What everyone was expecting was that after winning Corbyn will like every other politician compromise and make gestures towards the City.
But Corbyn is not your normal politician. Expect him to attack the banks which the Labour leadership were hitherto scared to criticise.
Keeping up the EU membership up his sleeve also helps. Why does he have to show his cards now ? Thatcher made anti-Europe noises but signed every treaty.
The last one I can remember like this was in Ireland in 2010, when the government tried to renew its image by getting about forty per cent of the ministers to resign, but then realised it didn't have a parliamentary majority to replace them, so it soldiered on and everyone doubled up on portfolios.
Jack Evans @jackcevans
Were you up for Defence?
Defence
DWP
Transport
Leader of the House
Energy and Climate Change
Wales
any others?
It would also help if the House returned to the old convention whereby questions that were on a matter of policy had to be answered verbally there and then but questions on matters of fact would be answered later in writing.
I thought Blairism was all about power as an end in itself.
Is anyone else staying up to see the very divine Roger?
"Ed Miliband staked everything on his opening question: would the Prime Minister rule out raising VAT? Having asked it, the Labour leader sat down, confidently awaiting his opponent’s stumbling, circuitous, tellingly evasive answer. After all, there was no way Mr Cameron was going to say yes.
“Yes,” said Mr Cameron.
The look on Mr Miliband’s face. It was as if an eagle had swooped out of the sky and swiped the sandwich from his hands.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/pmqs/11494579/PMQs-sketch-David-Cameron-drops-Ed-Miliband-into-a-VAT-of-gunge.html
This wasn't a selection contest for Leader of the Opposition, it was for Leader of the Labour Party. Which basically means the leader inherits the top job over an organisation (which the cogs may be falling out of) and a membership (something of a rentamob that is no longer aligned with the vast majority of MPs). The leader only inherits the parliamentary seats so long as they don't up sticks.
As it stands, Labour have 232 seats. If the New Democrats or whatever they were to badge themselves at could get 117 defectors together (or a bit less but pick up a couple from other parties) then Corbyn would cease to be Leader of the Opposition and that job would fall to the Chief Splittist.
Plagued by difficulties of course - logistical, financial, organisational, the activist and councillor base, the poor history of such movements succeeding in the long run. But bear in mind that Liz Kendall, so decisively rejected by the Labour grassroots, had 41 PLP nominations (from people who knew what they were letting themselves in for when they plumped for her, and who must now be wary of a blast from constituency memberships if they need to battle it out for a seat under a boundary redrawing) then the number 117 does not look impossibly far away.
Woodcock has gone from the page now;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Opposition_Shadow_Cabinet_(United_Kingdom)
What happens next? That Labour party conference will be very entertaining. Are 3 quidder Kendallites welcome? Or will we all be purged by then?
It all brings to mind Alan Beasdale's GBH.....
Who will remember in two years Chuka Umunna, Mary Creagh, Liz Kendall etc. ? Even others from the Labour Right will fill their space .
He's been given an overwhelming mandate. He is entitled to do things his way and appoint whoever he wants.
It's democracy in action
So kind of Burnam to say that Corbyn would be a 'disaster' and thus write the first question every journalist will ask him as long as he's in the shadow cabinet.
Who would get the Short Money?
Good night all. You've been a wonderful audience.
https://twitter.com/DMcCaffreySKY/status/643194160384749569
Can they get out through a secret passage via Downing Street?
Depressing same old bullshit then.
I don't think Labour will ever pick as crap a leader as Ed Miliband. Jeremy is not crap. He's not Ed, he's not IDS or Hague, or Gordon Brown- a rogues gallery of crappy leaders. Jeremy is just unelectable. A subtle but important difference.
Huzzah- the tennis is about to start
Then again, perhaps not. Strike while the iron is hot and all that, and he cannot be authentic with the public and not be radical in all things that he is able.
There is a threshold which New Democracy would not reach (1 FPTP seat/x% of the Vote).
Wales?
Leader of the Commons?
All the junior whips?
All the junior ministers??
oh... shadow attorney general?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_of_grave_disorder_in_the_British_House_of_Commons
Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes
Labour: Angela Eagle will be shadow First Secretary of State as well as Shadow BIS. She'll deputise for Corbyn in PMQs when Cameron is away
Corbyn gives 5 out of 5 top jobs to men, then. Maybe there'll be a nice women-only section in shad cab, where ladies can feel safe at night?
Helen Lewis
@helenlewis
Oh dear. Just realised Jeremy Corbyn has married more women than he's appointed to great offices of state. Good night.
https://twitter.com/DrJackMonroe/status/643195043445125120?lang=en-gb
I really didn't knew she was a woman.
However, it does indicate how likely Corbyn is to attract Green returners - basically he isn't going to.
That's why it won't happen, instead they will wait out Corbyn even if it takes five years. There are no City hedgies waiting to back Labour - even New Labour. Money is power and the unions are the main source apart from people with lots of it.
Good night all. Corbyn better not disappoint us by knuckling down and doing a boring job from now on.