[Politics] Next leader of the Labour party

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

While I think there is some truth in this, surveys after the election found the two main issues preventing people voting Labour were Corbyn and Brexit.

And RLB, the leader elect will drape herself in Corbyn's metaphorical skin and pursue all the same policies and strategies, with the same rapid, dynamic, and decisive process. She's even promising to have a look behind the scenes at antisemitism! Exciting times.

Heartwarming.

Unless you'd like to see the election of a labour government, of course.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I didn't say they were popular. GCCM said that there were policies that would only be popular when the country was considerably poorer and I pointed out that there were countries that are considerably richer who were perfectly happy to adopt them.

As to why Labour lost. Brexit was a huge problem; Corbyn was a huge problem - those are the two biggest factors. But I also think Labour promised too much: rail nationalisation and free university education were fine - both were popular policies. Then the party went too far - nationalisation of OpenReach (the cost of which was wildly under-estimated) and the women's pension poliicy (which was completely uncosted in Labour's'carefully costed' manifesto) were a step too far. And you're right, there was a concern that there would be tax rises to pay for them.

It could be that people will acccept tax rises (the UK's tax rate is relatively low compared to the rest of Europe) but there would need to be a long campaign to explain why they were needed. Keeping them hidden was a big mistake.

Why was Corbyn a huge problem? You haven't explained that....

Could it be.....indecisive except when it came to voting against his own party which he'd done regularly as an eccentric and little-ragarded back bencher, slow to deal with accusations of antisemitism, unable to shake off the embarrassment of having show-boaty pointless talks with the IRA after the Brighton bombing (as if he was in any position to end the troubles - no, Blair did that), sharing a platform with Islamist terrorism supporters, approving of an antisemitic mural without actually looking at it simply because of the identity of the painter.....all the hallmarks of a wrong-un, someone who makes bad choices and doesn't anticipate or understand the impact of his words or actions.

Although I could have it all wrong....

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Rebecca throws in her hat - who knew?


[/I]
What an absolute plum. And she's guaranteed to win.

As I say, 10 more years in the wilderness.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

More on Rebecca Long Timemakinguphermindwhetherornottostand

"If elected leader, she said there would be no return to the "Tory lite" agenda which she said had held the party back for many years.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she was "not your typical politician" and could be trusted to "fight the establishment tooth and nail"."

Fight the establishment . Presumably she doesn't have any plans at all of becoming Prime Minister, then.

Just another dreary back bench technocrat, but with the temerity to think she deserves to be leader - as the 'outsider rebel' candidate, shaking her tiny fists at The Establishment.

Why did she take so long to throw her hat into the ring? Has she spent the last few weeks composing her candidacy speech? She'll be good in a crisis, then. With the likes of her in charge we'd still be waiting to see if the government will back a bid for the UK to hold the 2012 Olympics.

 

[Live by the sea]

The next leader has to be more of a centrist. The majority of left leaning people are not extreme socialist workers except for some naive unworldly students. The majority want a new labour type leader someone like Tony Blair who was the last decent leader Labour had. Bring back TB ..

 

[Papa Lazarou]

More on Rebecca Long Timemakinguphermindwhetherornottostand

"If elected leader, she said there would be no return to the "Tory lite" agenda which she said had held the party back for many years.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she was "not your typical politician" and could be trusted to "fight the establishment tooth and nail"."

Fight the establishment . Presumably she doesn't have any plans at all of becoming Prime Minister, then.

Just another dreary back bench technocrat, but with the temerity to think she deserves to be leader - as the 'outsider rebel' candidate, shaking her tiny fists at The Establishment.

Why did she take so long to throw her hat into the ring? Has she spent the last few weeks composing her candidacy speech? She'll be good in a crisis, then. With the likes of her in charge we'd still be waiting to see if the government will back a bid for the UK to hold the 2012 Olympics.

I assume she means the Blair years when they won elections?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I assume she means the Blair years when they won elections?

Indeed. No compromise with the electorate, eh?

I wonder if there is any record of her views about labour policy when they were the government? That might make interesting reading.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Indeed. No compromise with the electorate, eh?

I wonder if there is any record of her views about labour policy when they were the government? That might make interesting reading.

Obviously, it wasn't the party or policies that lost the election - it was the electorate.

 

[BLOCK F]

I didn't say they were popular. GCCM said that there were policies that would only be popular when the country was considerably poorer and I pointed out that there were countries that are considerably richer who were perfectly happy to adopt them.

As to why Labour lost. Brexit was a huge problem; Corbyn was a huge problem - those are the two biggest factors. But I also think Labour promised too much: rail nationalisation and free university education were fine - both were popular policies. Then the party went too far - nationalisation of OpenReach (the cost of which was wildly under-estimated) and the women's pension poliicy (which was completely uncosted in Labour's'carefully costed' manifesto) were a step too far. And you're right, there was a concern that there would be tax rises to pay for them.

It could be that people will acccept tax rises (the UK's tax rate is relatively low compared to the rest of Europe) but there would need to be a long campaign to explain why they were needed. Keeping them hidden was a big mistake.

OK, but now you say a couple of their policies were popular.
Anyway, two of your huge problems will be out the way, Brexit and Corbyn, so if the Corbynista RLB wins, do you believe everything will be fine and dandy in the Labour Party and that the hordes will come back and vote for the party?
For what it is worth, I reckon there were a few more worrying policies in the Labour manifesto, appropriation of capital from listed companies and the proposed nationalisation of companies without paying shareholders the full value of their assets, just to name a couple, but we can let those go for now.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Obviously, it wasn't the party or policies that lost the election - it was the electorate.

The b'stards!

 

[BLOCK F]

Why was Corbyn a huge problem? You haven't explained that....

Could it be.....indecisive except when it came to voting against his own party which he'd done regularly as an eccentric and little-ragarded back bencher, slow to deal with accusations of antisemitism, unable to shake off the embarrassment of having show-boaty pointless talks with the IRA after the Brighton bombing (as if he was in any position to end the troubles - no, Blair did that), sharing a platform with Islamist terrorism supporters, approving of an antisemitic mural without actually looking at it simply because of the identity of the painter.....all the hallmarks of a wrong-un, someone who makes bad choices and doesn't anticipate or understand the impact of his words or actions.

Although I could have it all wrong....

Various other 'comrades' who held strong views and are now largely conspicuous by their absence also showed little concern for this, pre election; possibly because they were talking to each other in the proverbial echo chamber that the GE thread had largely become!

 

[Titanic]

It is behind a paywall... but the headline is: Labour leadership: Two thirds have never heard of any of the contenders to replace Jeremy Corbyn

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...7SXZlmv9bmOULOMMuM5dvyr87U#Echobox=1578383141

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Various other 'comrades' who held strong views and are now largely conspicuous by their absence also showed little concern for this, pre election; possibly because they were talking to each other in the proverbial echo chamber that the GE thread had largely become!

I was talking to the daugher of a mate of mine a few months ago. She's about 30. She and all her circle were enthusiastic fans of 'O Jermy Corbyn'.

When I pointed out some of his history, she was shocked. The echo chamber, indeed.

She's now a big fan of RLB.

In order to confirm my worst fears, once RLB is installed as 'chairperson of the executive', it might be fun to play a bit of 'coninuity bingo'.

We have already had "fight the establishment tooth and nail" and "tory-lite" (past successful labour leaders who became PM)

Stand by for:

'Ordinary working people'
'I condemn all acts of terrorism'
'I condemn all forms of racism'
'We will take back into public ownership'
'That will be decided by conferance'
'This will be financed by a small increase in tax for the very rich'
'We will make the economy grow by more public investment'

I could have misjudged her, of course.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

It is behind a paywall... but the headline is: Labour leadership: Two thirds have never heard of any of the contenders to replace Jeremy Corbyn

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...7SXZlmv9bmOULOMMuM5dvyr87U#Echobox=1578383141

More like contestants, then

 

[Bold Seagull]

I was talking to the daugher of a mate of mine a few months ago. She's about 30. She and all her circle were enthusiastic fans of 'O Jermy Corbyn'.

When I pointed out some of his history, she was shocked. The echo chamber, indeed.

She's now a big fan of RLB.

In order to confirm my worst fears, once RLB is installed as 'chairperson of the executive', it might be fun to play a bit of 'coninuity bingo'.

We have already had "fight the establishment tooth and nail" and "tory-lite" (past successful labour leaders who became PM)

Stand by for:

'Ordinary working people'
'I condemn all acts of terrorism'
'I condemn all forms of racism'
'We will take back into public ownership'
'That will be decided by conferance'
'This will be financed by a small increase in tax for the very rich'
'We will make the economy grow by more public investment'

I could have misjudged her, of course.

I might wait until they actually launch the platforms which they intend to stand on before passing judgement. In the meantime, the Daily Mail and others can start repaying their fines for their misleading journalism during an election.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I might wait until they actually launch the platforms which they intend to stand on before passing judgement. In the meantime, the Daily Mail and others can start repaying their fines for their misleading journalism during an election.

Mmmm...OK, but I was merely expressing my exasperation, and her 'establishment' quote is sufficient justification. As I said, maybe I'm wrong, and she will turn out to have all the political nous and common sense middle ground instincts that won Blair three GEs

 

[Surf's Up]

Mmmm...OK, but I was merely expressing my exasperation, and her 'establishment' quote is sufficient justification. As I said, maybe I'm wrong, and she will turn out to have all the political nous and common sense middle ground instincts that won Blair three GEs

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

I might wait until they actually launch the platforms which they intend to stand on before passing judgement. In the meantime, the Daily Mail and others can start repaying their fines for their misleading journalism during an election.

Sure, wait.

Then once RLB says and does exactly what HWT has listed, she wins the leadership campaign and Labour stays to the left, instead of moving back to the centre where they can actually win elections.

10 more years out of power.

 

[BLOCK F]

I was talking to the daugher of a mate of mine a few months ago. She's about 30. She and all her circle were enthusiastic fans of 'O Jermy Corbyn'.

When I pointed out some of his history, she was shocked. The echo chamber, indeed.

She's now a big fan of RLB.

In order to confirm my worst fears, once RLB is installed as 'chairperson of the executive', it might be fun to play a bit of 'coninuity bingo'.

We have already had "fight the establishment tooth and nail" and "tory-lite" (past successful labour leaders who became PM)

Stand by for:

'Ordinary working people'
'I condemn all acts of terrorism'
'I condemn all forms of racism'
'We will take back into public ownership'
'That will be decided by conferance'
'This will be financed by a small increase in tax for the very rich'
'We will make the economy grow by more public investment'

I could have misjudged her, of course.

Add in 'Shareholders' as a term of abuse to describe filthy rich, evil, selfish Tories!
(Conveniently forgetting about folk trying to provide for their dotage and all the millions of workers who have pension funds!)

 

[JC Footy Genius]

It is behind a paywall... but the headline is: Labour leadership: Two thirds have never heard of any of the contenders to replace Jeremy Corbyn

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...7SXZlmv9bmOULOMMuM5dvyr87U#Echobox=1578383141