Current Affairs The Labour Party

[neil999]

There is a lot of assumed wisdom here, that Labours “big guns” are a massive turn off to voters. It’s like the old “unelectable” argument, in that it boils down to pro-Tory (or anti-Labour) hacks or actual failed political types (I’m looking at you, Tom Harris and Dan Hodges) saying it over and over and over until it sticks.

I mean Lammy, Thornberry and so on are all MPs for a start, so they can’t be that much electoral poison.

Lammy will be the press new diane Abbott, no doubt

 

[NathDogg]

It's a mid-term bye-election, and turnout was about half the size it was at the last GE. The drop in Tory votes is easily identified as the result of thousands of voters staying at home. There's literally no reason for Labour to celebrate this "result" - it's the political equivalent of slicing a shot towards the corner flag when you're twelve yards out from an open goal.

The problem for Labour is that they have so few front bench "big guns" who can be wheeled out for campaigning - Starmer, Rayner, Lammy, Thornberry and co are all massive turn-offs to voters. Bringing Sadiq Kahn out in that area would also have backfired dramatically.

It's terrifying that even when the Tories are up to their armpits in bad press, poor performances and open sleaze, Labour still can't appeal to Mr. Average as an alternative.

Totally agree, especially with the last paragraph - labour should be hammering the Tories and Boris but they just aren't - starmer is just another Tory turncoat, who protected saville and the other abusers years ago.

I don't think he wants labour to get back in power, and I wouldn't trust him to be any use as PM if they did.

 

[Tree13]

There is a lot of assumed wisdom here, that Labours “big guns” are a massive turn off to voters. It’s like the old “unelectable” argument, in that it boils down to pro-Tory (or anti-Labour) hacks or actual failed political types (I’m looking at you, Tom Harris and Dan Hodges) saying it over and over and over until it sticks.

I mean Lammy, Thornberry and so on are all MPs for a start, so they can’t be that much electoral poison.

Any thoughts on my first paragraph? I suppose that's assumed wisdom too?

Labour's polling in Bexley yesterday was catastrophic. Plain and simple.

 

[tsubaki]

Any thoughts on my first paragraph? I suppose that's assumed wisdom too?

Labour's polling in Bexley yesterday was catastrophic. Plain and simple.

The Tory majority there has been 15000+ since 2010, so yes if you are trying to say that yesterday was a disaster for Labour I think that first paragraph was assumed wisdom as well. Such was the drop in the Tory vote (which as you say was because many of them stayed away), had there been a bit more of an effort then they might have come closer to winning it.

 

[Tree13]

The Tory majority there has been 15000+ since 2010, so yes if you are trying to say that yesterday was a disaster for Labour I think that first paragraph was assumed wisdom as well. Such was the drop in the Tory vote (which as you say was because many of them stayed away), had there been a bit more of an effort then they might have come closer to winning it.

Tory support stayed at home rather than come out to vote, to the tune of around 10,000 votes in a constituency where the Tory majority was previously 15,000.

Labour failed to take advantage. How is that anything other than a failure for Labour?

 

[tsubaki]

Tory support stayed at home rather than come out to vote, to the tune of around 10,000 votes in a constituency where the Tory majority was previously 15,000.

Labour failed to take advantage. How is that anything other than a failure for Labour?

Failure is a more accurate word for what happened than "disaster" or "catastrophic", but its no more than that. That seat and its predecessors have been safe Tory for years; if Labour had done more than a perfunctory effort it might have led to a shock but to say this is a calamity is to go some way over the top.

 

[LEONARD]

Front Bench reshuffle.

TITANIC

DECKCHAIRS......................................................RE-ARRANGE.

 

[Tree13]

Failure is a more accurate word for what happened than "disaster" or "catastrophic", but its no more than that. That seat and its predecessors have been safe Tory for years; if Labour had done more than a perfunctory effort it might have led to a shock but to say this is a calamity is to go some way over the top.

Labour polled 14,000 votes in the same constituency at the last GE. Yesterday they polled less than 7,000, despite Brexit, Covid and the continuing failures and revelations about Johnson's Government.

"Calamity", "disaster" and "catastrophic" don't seem far off the mark.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Labour polled 14,000 votes in the same constituency at the last GE. Yesterday they polled less than 7,000, despite Brexit, Covid and the continuing failures and revelations about Johnson's Government.

"Calamity", "disaster" and "catastrophic" don't seem far off the mark.

To be fair, they grew their share of the vote considerably, with the Tories losing 15% in a seat that they have held every year since it was created in 1983, and Ted Heath held the old Sidcup seat all the way back until 1950.

 

[tsubaki]

Labour polled 14,000 votes in the same constituency at the last GE. Yesterday they polled less than 7,000, despite Brexit, Covid and the continuing failures and revelations about Johnson's Government.

"Calamity", "disaster" and "catastrophic" don't seem far off the mark.

It was a by election, on a cold day in December, and everyone's number of votes went down. The Lib Dems lost more than 3100 votes compared to 2019, the Greens just under 600, the Christian People's Alliance (!) more than 100.

As I've said I think they should have done more but, once again, it was a safe Tory seat. Saying they've not won there so its a catastrophe is being deliberately negative; they've never won there.

 

[summerisle]

 

[tsubaki]

I don't want to stereotype but she must be the most Sussex woman ever created.

 

[summerisle]

I don't want to stereotype but she must be the most Sussex woman ever created.

Please enlighten us about Sussex women ? lol

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I don't want to stereotype but she must be the most Sussex woman ever created.

She doesn't appear to wear tweed very often, which is a shame.

 

[peteblue]

Or if more people in that borough bothered to vote. 30% turnout wasn't it?

LibDems and the Rejoin EU parties lost their deposits……