The Jeremy Corbyn thread

[Ernest]

When I saw the picture on BBC News flash up and said Corbyn challenger I thought it was Eddie Izzard for a minute

 

[cunning fergus]

The first thing a leader needs to be able to do is inspire confidence from their parliamentary party, once they have that, they can convince the country. There aren't many jobs you get elected in and out of so easily. For many it is their livelihood and career, it is scary to think at an election you're out of a job if you lose.

John Smith achieved this, and before his untimely death would have seen the Labour Party to a left wing general election victory. Tony Blair's reform and romp to victory in '97, wasn't a year zero from Blair taking over, John Smith had already united the party, was already putting the Tories to the sword, already storming the polls. John made Labour electable, he was far from a centrist Tory-lite puppet, or media manipulator, but he was as Labour through and through, understood the PLP, the members (one member one vote), and appealed to middle voters. Not through charisma, charm, or superficial notions of image, he was just a good honest convincing passionate bloke that made people believe and trust him.

The comparison is there with Kinnock stepping down after a narrow loss in '92 comparable to Miliband in '15. John Smith and Jeremy Corbyn both coming in on the back of a new kind of politics, a new kind of Labour Party. One succeeded inspiring the whole of the Labour movement they could win, the other, well...

In the last 20 years the PLP has been loaded with MPs that are unrecognisable as Labour MPs........they are rich, privately educated, and well connected. The rot started when Shaun Woodward got parachuted into St Helens having crossed the floor previously having represented Witney. Why did this Tory get a safe Labour seat, as oppose to a local labour activist?

Have a guess?

Since then a trickle has become a tide, people who have no connection to working class constituencies. The Milibands were in Doncaster and South Shields, Tristram Hunt in Stoke, Luciana Berger in Liverpool and I could go on and on.

The fact that these people have supported policies that have ground their own constituents interests into dust is not lost on them, and it's why in those constituencies they voted up to 70% out.

A leader has to get the people first, the MPs come later, it's not the other way round, but sadly the MPs are still blind and deaf to what they are saying.........they need to open their eyes, listen and spend some time mute.

They will be finished otherwise.

 

[Bold Seagull]

In the last 20 years the PLP has been loaded with MPs that are unrecognisable as Labour MPs........they are rich, privately educated, and well connected. The rot started when Shaun Woodward got parachuted into St Helens having crossed the floor previously having represented Witney. Why did this Tory get a safe Labour seat, as oppose to a local labour activist?

Have a guess?

Since then a trickle has become a tide, people who have no connection to working class constituencies. The Milibands were in Doncaster and South Shields, Tristram Hunt in Stoke, Luciana Berger in Liverpool and I could go on and on.

The fact that these people have supported policies that have ground their own constituents interests into dust is not lost on them, and it's why in those constituencies they voted up to 70% out.

A leader has to get the people first, the MPs come later, it's not the other way round, but sadly the MPs are still blind and deaf to what they are saying.........they need to open their eyes, listen and spend some time mute.

They will be finished otherwise.

You seem more concerned with the PLP etc. than actually addressing whether Corbyn is a leader worthy of the title. Yes he had a mandate from members, but most of them wouldn't have heard of him until they paid their £3 last summer and joined in a rejection of the Tories on a wave of fresh politics.

Forget the PLP for a moment, whether they have done what they've done or not, regardless of the mandate he's had from the members, do you think he is a strong Labour Party leader? Do you think he can secure the socialist policies he stands for? Can he bring the members, MPs, unions and then the public with him? Could he make these dreams a reality, in your opinion?

 

[Beach Hut]

I can't beleve how easy Jeremy is making it for the Conservatives, lurching to Socialism will not resolve the problem

 

[Simster]

Seems like Angela Eagle will be the sacrificial lamb, bye bye Angela as your career in politics is now over. Nobody will vote for a disloyal waste of space like you, nobody voted for you as deputy leader last year and you came 4/4, you've been done up like a kipper by the Blairite faction.

You're living in a dream world posting this sort of bollocks and all that stuff about "traitors". Apart from the fact that he's barely got a single Labour MP left on his side, it is becoming clear that constituent Labour offices are now also confirming their lack of confidence in him. He's a busted flush. All you people are doing are ensuring Labour remain a completely unelectable MESS.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Seems like Angela Eagle will be the sacrificial lamb, bye bye Angela as your career in politics is now over. Nobody will vote for a disloyal waste of space like you, nobody voted for you as deputy leader last year and you came 4/4, you've been done up like a kipper by the Blairite faction.

You and your cohorts are the reason Labour are a about as far away from power as you have been since the Michael Foot days.You actually believe that your aims and ambitions will triumph over and above those of a massive majority of opinion that thinks differently. 400,000 Labour members are an irrelevance in the wider political world of 46 million other voters. Even the BBC are labelling him a laughing stock.

 

[Simster]

I can't beleve how easy Jeremy is making it for the Conservatives, lurching to Socialism will not resolve the problem

Not really sure that's playing out. Certainly it's deflecting from the disaster the Tories are responsible for, but when all is said and done, they will still look a bunch of absolute tools. The smaller parties really should capitalise from this. The Greens and Lib Dems have never had a better chance for a power grab.

 

[Eeyore]

I hear the Chilcot enquiry is due. Any idea when ?

Only if the evidence is damning against the Blair government the 'centre' had better think carefully about who challenges Corbyn.

 

[The Rivet]

Labour the gift of the moment. Full of entertainment and fortunate diversion. Go Corbyn your on course to bugger the Labour party...............lol

 

[cunning fergus]

You seem more concerned with the PLP etc. than actually addressing whether Corbyn is a leader worthy of the title. Yes he had a mandate from members, but most of them wouldn't have heard of him until they paid their £3 last summer and joined in a rejection of the Tories on a wave of fresh politics.

Forget the PLP for a moment, whether they have done what they've done or not, regardless of the mandate he's had from the members, do you think he is a strong Labour Party leader? Do you think he can secure the socialist policies he stands for? Can he bring the members, MPs, unions and then the public with him? Could he make these dreams a reality, in your opinion?

You seem more concerned with the supremacy of your own interest, rather than those other labour members who legitimately voted for Corbyn in an open fair election.......he won under the rules less than a year ago!

Your contempt for those who supported him is so typical these days, and it's merely a microcosm of the same contempt you (and others) will have for those that voted out because it simply doesn't meet with your approval.

He was voted in because people wanted something different, and he has been hampered by the PLP every step of the way. You ask could he deliver, I would say did he get a fair chance? I wanted him to lead Labour on a leave ticket, think how powerful he could be now?

The PLP is stuffed full of people who talk about tolerance and democracy but that only applies when it suits them.

This kind of superior high minded attitude of ignoring the people is what has got the Labour Party into this mess.

They need to stop thinking about their career and understand what people are saying, if they don't want to they should join the Tory Party or Lib Dems.

 

[beorhthelm]

A leader has to get the people first, the MPs come later, it's not the other way round, but sadly the MPs are still blind and deaf to what they are saying.........they need to open their eyes, listen and spend some time mute.

been reading your comments with interest. here i think you are maybe showing to much of the old way of thinking that is holding back Labour. we have a representitive democracy and as such the local party groups should hold sway over selection - we probably agree there. as a consequence the leader does have to recognise an amount of independence of the MPs, and that they have a personal mandate from their seat. i don't think more control of selection from central office is going to help, especially if it means a lurch to the left to support traditional working class group that may not be there anymore.

 

[cunning fergus]

been reading your comments with interest. here i think you are maybe showing to much of the old way of thinking that is holding back Labour. we have a representitive democracy and as such the local party groups should hold sway over selection - we probably agree there. as a consequence the leader does have to recognise an amount of independence of the MPs, and that they have a personal mandate from their seat. i don't think more control of selection from central office is going to help, especially if it means a lurch to the left to support traditional working class group that may not be there anymore.

I understand that, but then how do you reconcile the interests of the working class in Hartlepool with the interests of a metropolitan London constituency.

You simply cannot, this is how it has always been since the removal of clause 4.

Corbyn talked about its reinstitution but he cannot because of the EU competition law.

Those who want to re-nationalise the Royal Mail or Railways cannot be reconciled with free market capitalists. There are both elements in the Labour Party today, and it would be like trying to find a compromise on an issue like abortion.

I may have a view rooted in the past but that does not mean I am wrong. I will say it again, you cannot protect the interests of the working class with a free and unregulated labour market.

I know my view is rooted in the origins of the labour movement.........it's that simple.

 

[Eeyore]

Jeremy Corbyn voted against the invasion of Iraq.

Might come useful in the few days.

 

[8ace]

Has Jezza's nutjob brother had much to say recently

 

[JC Footy Genius]

Jeremy Corbyn voted against the invasion of Iraq.

Might come useful in the few days.

He also voted against the Anglo Irish agreement (vital step in the peace process) because it ..

“strengthens rather than weakens the border between the six and the 26 counties, and those of us who wish to see a united Ireland oppose the agreement for that reason.”

Which might come in useful in countering the Jezza was a trailblazer for the peace process line that some people seem to believe.

 

[drew]

Has Jezza's nutjob brother had much to say recently

Only that June is having record temperatures and more hours of sunshine than any since records began!!!!

 

[8ace]

He also voted against the Anglo Irish agreement (vital step in the peace process) because it ..

“strengthens rather than weakens the border between the six and the 26 counties, and those of us who wish to see a united Ireland oppose the agreement for that reason.”

Which might come in useful in countering the Jezza was a trailblazer for the peace process line that some people seem to believe.

He's an IRA sympathiser scumbag as is McDonnell.

 

[8ace]

Only that June is having record temperatures and more hours of sunshine than any since records began!!!!

Is that in his position as shadow environment minister

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

How Corbyn has the delusion that it is rightous to remain faithful to the three pound socialists that elected him, in he face of the shit storm that wants him to make way for someone with some political sense and acumen, is beyond my belief.

Jezza, this country is in a difficult place. Now is not the time for 'no compromise with the electorate'. Retire with whatever dignity you feel you need to muster. PLEASE

 

[Pavilionaire]

Bad as he is, Corbyn is surely preferable to a person with the Palace surname "Eagle".

Imagine the next election being Eagle vs Crabb - like a sh1t version of World's Hardest Creature!