The Labour Thread

[Hooped Wizard]

Our Labour MP Toby Perkins isn't on that list either. This is a depressingly dark day for Labour

He's leading Liz Kendalls campaign so obviously a keen Blairite.

My very own MP Caroline Flint is running for deputy leader. I would like to see her get the job actually.

 

[Hooped Wizard]

Elect Corbyn, I hope he sinks the entire party. If Labour want to be relevant they should avoid him like the plague, the problem is the other candidates are so uninspiring. Kendell's tried to provide some pragmatism but she's dared to step outside the Labour groupthink and your only allowed to do that when the party is in a dreadful state which it hasn't quite reached that. Expect centrist Chuka Ummuna to be leader in 2020 after a 1983 style general election election. Liz is intelligent enough to know that the centre is where most floating voters are instinctively drawn.

Despite many on here believing the left has defected from Labour I'd suggest otherwise. The party has certainly lost me in the last 8 years due to the extreme left fringe of the party.

 

[Red]

Yeah, I recently learned Perkins is involved in her campaign. What do you think to

Elect Corbyn, I hope he sinks the entire party. If Labour want to be relevant they should avoid him like the plague, the problem is the other candidates are so uninspiring. Kendell's tried to provide some pragmatism but she's dared to step outside the Labour groupthink and your only allowed to do that when the party is in a dreadful state which it hasn't quite reached that. Expect centrist Chuka Ummuna to be leader in 2020 after a 1983 style general election election. Liz is intelligent enough to know that the centre is where most floating voters are instinctively drawn.

Despite many on here believing the left has defected from Labour I'd suggest otherwise. The party has certainly lost me in the last 8 years due to the extreme left fringe of the party.

Yes, I recently learned that Perkins is involved in her campaign. What do you think to the complaint often made by floating voters that Labour don't offer any real difference from the Tories? I think if Corbyn won they might win some of them over along with the people who abandoned and turned to the lib dems , SNP Labour and UKIP because they abandoned their traditional values? On the other hand people like yourself who previously voted labour will not support it if it becomes left wing party again. For me it's a depressingly state of affairs to think the future will comprise of neo liberalism or neo liberalism lite.

 

[SUTSS]

I think a lot more of it comes down to personality than we'd like to admit. A lot of Ed Milliband's ideas were actually quite liked by the public but they just didn't have any faith that he would deliver them.

I also think Labour have a problem with getting their point across. The Conservatives seem much better at saying this is what we want to do and this is why we want to do it. With Labour it always seems a bit 'this is what we want to do and just trust us that it's the right thing to do'. There seems to be a lot of talking down to the people that they are meant to represent (although have they not always represented middle class views rather than genuine working class views. I was reading something from the 1930s about Labour which was making a similar complaint). A lot of people see Labour as sneering at the working class almost which will obviously turn people off.

I'm not a great fan of Corbyn's politics but I don't think he is as unelectable as people think. If he can come across as honest and principled he will get people to vote for him but the press will be attacking him at every turn and he will have to get better at dealing with them without losing his honest persona (see any politician after they get booted out who suddenly begins talking like a human again and not a robot).

 

[mnb089mnb]

I think a lot more of it comes down to personality than we'd like to admit. A lot of Ed Milliband's ideas were actually quite liked by the public but they just didn't have any faith that he would deliver them.

I agree. Should also be remembered (it won't) that Ed Miliband increased the Labour vote at the last election. I mean, it's a bit like having a great pass completion ratio but still losing, but still..

 

[Tilbury]

If Labour do elect Corbyn and go left, I don't think it will be the disaster that some are predicting. In recent years we have seen just how destructive the capitalist free market can be and how much power it has to fuck us over. If Labour really attack that (which they should have done in the last election campaign rather than pander to UKIP's immigration and the tories deficit agenda) then I can see them winning back a lot of support which has left them in the past decade.

 

[SUTSS]

Also, some experts are saying there could be another world wide financial crash which if that happened before the next election the game would change completely.

 

[Modernist]

I can't see Corbyn winning, it will be Burnham, and I think that would be the right choice.

 

[Gashead]

I can't see Corbyn winning, it will be Burnham, and I think that would be the right choice.

From what perspective? Burnham has shown himself to be spineless. We've not even entered the leadership voting process yet and he's already abstained from a vote on welfare cuts despite saying he didn't want to, and he's already jumping on the 'left-wing bandwagon' due to Corbyn's success. Certain amount of irony in his comments in the article below!

http://www.theguardian.com/politics...nham-modern-labour-party-would-not-create-nhs

 

[smat]

Also, look at that pic. He looks like a fucking Thunderbird.

 

[nousername]

Ideological purity vs. electability. Labour almost resembles the current state of the Republican party right now.

I have found the Corbyn phobia in the media quite strange though, as if anyone that strays from the centre ground of politics is some maverick that must be stopped at all costs. Nobody wants to see extremists in power obviously, but I think it would be great to have some principled (and dare I say divisive) leaders like Corbyn or Farage in House of Commons.

Democracy in the UK would surely benefit from having a diverse range of opinions in Parliament?

 

[Tilbury]

The hierarchy in the Labour party are really panicking. Just had an email saying we should all vote for Burnham, he's the only person electable etc.

 

[The Southbank]

The hierarchy in the Labour party are really panicking. Just had an email saying we should all vote for Burnham, he's the only person electable etc.

Andy Burnham is the sort of MP you would get ready-made to order. A typical champagne socialist to boot. He called out David Cameron this morning for being part of the Bullingdon Club, yet Burnham had a healthy upbringing as well.

 

[smat]

The hierarchy in the Labour party are really panicking. Just had an email saying we should all vote for Burnham, he's the only person electable etc.

Who was it from?

 

[Tilbury]

Who was it from?

Dunno, think he was east of england leader or something

 

[Red]

Ideological purity vs. electability. Labour almost resembles the current state of the Republican party right now.

I have found the Corbyn phobia in the media quite strange though, as if anyone that strays from the centre ground of politics is some maverick that must be stopped at all costs. Nobody wants to see extremists in power obviously, but I think it would be great to have some principled (and dare I say divisive) leaders like Corbyn or Farage in House of Commons.

Democracy in the UK would surely benefit from having a diverse range of opinions in Parliament?

Ideological purity v electability or tory v tory lite? What's the point in tory lite if you believe in the traditional values of Labour?

A lot of people have had enough of win at all costs. Only one of the candidates voted against the vicious welfare cuts and he's portrayed as some kind of rabid communist because of having beliefs such as that.

I have always voted labour but including and after the 97 election it was only to keep the Tories out, not because I supported their move to the right. If Corbyn doesn't win and I don't think he will, I can no longer keep voting for what has become a parliamentary labour party that is slightly less neo liberal than Thatcherism. I've done with voting for a party that seemingly has no qualms with supporting ideologically driven cuts that damage the poorest people in society.
It's green for me from now on. Some might say it's a vote wasted, I'd say a vote for Labour is a wasted vote nowadays. At least by voting Green my conscience will feel cleaner to me. My only regret is that it's taken me so long to arrive at this conclusion.

 

[Murphy]

Corbyn's the only one who appeals to me, and he appeals to me by an absolute mile compared to the other three. Someone with principles and morals - makes a nice bloody change. Dagenham & Rainham voted for him with 71% I think, not quite sure on Barking.

 

[Hooped Wizard]

My constituencies Doncaster Valley voted for Burnham.

Urgh

 

[Pliny Harris]

It's been a while since this thread was active now. Has anyone heard Yvette say owt yet?

 

[Hooped Wizard]

She had a column in the Mirror and told us how much she hates men and loves all women.

Exactly the sort of person to put me off, fuck it mays well by Corbyn they're all so shite.

 

[Pliny Harris]

I agree with her up until the loving all women bit. Sorry if that's a bit factional of me.

 

[TheArtfulDodger]

Grr, I hate women.

 

[Pliny Harris]

Bizarre Liz Kendall campaign video:

 

[Gashead]

So whilst Corbyn is out meeting voters, holding rallies in halls across the country, Kendall produces a nice slick video with Apple product placement whilst Burnham and Cooper 'take to Youtube' in equally cringeworthy videos.

Agree with Corbyn's views or otherwise, I think that just about sums it up.

 

[smat]

Bizarre Liz Kendall campaign video:

Hahahahaha!

Secondary to the 'hahahaha' response, though...

WHAT VALUES?? TELL US!!!!

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

I don't even understand what that video is about. It seemed to fade out weirdly as if it had been cut from a longer video and edited poorly by someone random Youtuber.

 

[smat]

WHAT VALUES?? TELL US!!!!

tbf she does spill some ideas on her website.

Dear supporter,
You probably think I’m writing to ask you for your vote in the upcoming election for party leader.

And I am.

But what really matters for our country and our party is another election – the one we’ll fight together in 2020.

By then, our country will have suffered under five more years of the Tories.

More working families in poverty. More people trapped in low paid, low skilled, insecure work. More young people leaving school without the skills they need to succeed. And more communities left behind.

I’m standing to be Labour’s first woman leader – and Prime Minister – because I love our party too much to see us lose again.

Like you, I am Labour because I want Britain to be more equal. And our party is the greatest champion of equality and opportunity our country has ever known. The NHS. Sure Start. The minimum wage. The longer we’re out of power, the more these great successes are put at risk.

I offer the fresh start our party needs to regain the trust of voters who’ve turned their backs on us.

I believe our party has the imagination, the ideas and energy to win in 2020 and make sure Britain faces the challenges of the future:

• We need to end the inequalities that begin before children even start school. So whilst the Tories cut inheritance tax for the few – I’d spend that money on a revolution in early years services instead.
• We must eliminate low pay - giving new powers to the Low Pay Commission to build a real living wage society, and ensuring public sector workers get a proper pay rise.
• We need a more caring society - where families get the support they need to look after their elderly and disabled loved ones, and with fully joined up NHS and social care.
• We must share power with people - so decisions are taken in communities and neighbourhoods, not Whitehall, and employees have a real say and a stake in the companies they work for.
• We need a future of hope for all our young people - so they have the skills, networks, chances and choices they need to get the jobs of the future, and so Britain becomes a world leader in clean energy and tackling climate change.

These are my causes. This is what I’m fighting for.

I wasn’t born into the Labour Party. I chose it. Just like we’re going to have to persuade millions of Britons to do at the next general election.

We need to win. I want you to be part of a winning team. I won’t rest until we put our values into action in government because when Labour wins, so does our country. So I ask you to vote for me, as the candidate best placed to achieve this.

Yours,

Liz Kendall MP
Candidate for Leader of the Labour Party

Courting the Corbyn voters with the equality schtick? Kendall has LURCHED to the LEFT. Condemnation of the Conservatives' swingeing cuts to welfare is conspicuous by its absence, tho.

 

[smat]

I don't even understand what that video is about. It seemed to fade out weirdly as if it had been cut from a longer video and edited poorly by someone random Youtuber.

Full vid:

If Labour need a leader who can solve a murder in urban Sweden, she's the one!

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

It seemed to fade out weirdly as if it had been cut from a longer video and edited poorly by someone random Youtuber.

Homage to the Brechtian stylings of the Dziga Vertov Group. Fucken loony left.

 

[Red]

Bizarre Liz Kendall campaign video:

I had a bit of sick in my mouth when I watched that