Current Affairs The Labour Party

[DanEFC92]

Joan Ryan has gone. U will live on forever. Can't believe it. I wanna run to u. Really can't believe this @

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Oh come on, did you not watch Balls and Miliband for 5 years? Are you completely oblivious to what is happening around the western world?

Yes, we've had Brexit showcase how clueless the public are, except on things you think are awesome, in which case they're super duper clued up and wise. Populism is great so long as its our populist.

 

[DanEFC92]

 

[The binman chronicles]

That last bit is why they lost those three elections though, and those who have left do not represent (or want) a broadening of the voting base anyway. If they did, they would acknowledge that a referendum took place in 2016 and Remain lost.

Well quite, you can't please all the people all of the time. But if you take those elections each at face value there are reasons behind each that go further than just that.

Brown was dealt with a bad a hand due to the financial meltdown, he did remarkably well in the circumstances and had he been not so risk adverse if he had called an election during that first year in office he would have probably won. He was also not media friendly and unfortunately he got the TV debates instead of Blair who would have probably excelled at them. He also had to come up against a fresh faced Cameron who hinted they would continue along the centre with compassionate conservatism. Against all that (and the bigot issue) he still made the Tories have to get into bed with the Lib dems. So not really bad all things considered and had that Labour been fighting the 2015 and especially the 2017 GE then they would have fared even better.

Ed Miliband AKA Tim nice but dim. What can you say about him. He was the one that tried to be everything to all people but was just not cut out for the job. Sometimes if the face doesn't fit AND you haven't got the support of the widespread media then you are going to struggle. Bottom line is Joe Public saw Cameron as a more competent PM and continuity often wins when the margins are narrow.

JC has a similar problem, but he has reenergised the core support by reverting back to a more traditional Labour party. It is probably the more natural position so of course there is a section of the public that are aligned strongly with him. Enough for him to do way better than most thought ever possible. Problem is that won't be fresh come the next election.

Politics like most things is not hard, you need a likeable leader, someone who puts you at ease. You need a strong cabinet of ministers that haven't made too many blunders or caused any scandals. You need a backbench of MPs who have bought into the leaders vision (or coerced) and are not open to public revolt. Then the part that is trickier for the traditional Labour voters, you need centre ground based policies, so the middle classes don't feel they are going to be heavily taxed and you are definitely going to more or less keep any deficit as minimal as possible. Of course you can target the most in need, put in place policies to help homelessness, child poverty and alike. The good news for the core Labour support is that once you have your feet under the table and this may be after winning another term, you can start implementing the more socialist policies whatever they might be adding a penny or a few pennies of tax to help pay for these.

A country that has consistently voted right wing governments for most of the last century are not going to suddenly vote in a more traditional Labour party for a multi term stint. Single terms do no one any favours, by the time the part of society you want to target feel the benefit, the rug is pulled and the new government makes bigger and deeper cuts for the previous one's perceived over spending.

For what it is worth maybe Labour can't pretend to be what it is not any longer, so maybe this needs to happen. To me it is better to be in the game than shouting from the sidelines. If Labour prove this shift doesn't work and there is little appetite to go back to the middle then hopefully we have more European type coalition governments in future so there is a social conscience within it.

 

[Milkman]

Nothing sums up this cabal of self-serving egotists more than resigning from Labour to form a group of sitting MPs with no policies and all of the salary. It just epitomises centrism so perfectly.

Politics is indeed broken.

 

[tim cahill]

I can’t get over Angela Smith’s “funny tinge” comment. In the same sentence she says she’s leaving Labour because they are racist she uses the term “funny tinge” to describe different ethnic groups. The irony!

 

[Blue 1]

Joan Ryan who faked antisemitism charges against a PSC activist?

What a loss.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Get them all out.

This is a massive opportunity to cleanse the LP of these neo-con, weaned on the teat of Washington, Quislings.

She is the one who got lying about anti-Semitism!?

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Joan Ryan who faked antisemitism charges against a PSC activist?

What a loss.

This is were Labour worry me she should have been removed from her position for that incident and her position as a Labour MP questioned way back when it happened and very daming to the integrity of chair she holds ( Freinds of Israel).

 

[dannyboy]

Yes, we've had Brexit showcase how clueless the public are, except on things you think are awesome, in which case they're super duper clued up and wise. Populism is great so long as its our populist.

All I've made is the point that people don't care for the Chris Leslie's of this world anymore... A political party with the likes of him at the helm is doomed to fail.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

All I've made is the point that people don't care for the Chris Leslie's of this world anymore... A political party with the likes of him at the helm is doomed to fail.

Surely Brexit has also taught us that trying to lump millions of people under one ideological hat is kinda foolhardy, as grasping exactly what kind of Brexit people want is next to impossible, so I'm not sure how we can possibly say that all Labour voters back Corbyn (or the Blairites). We can probably say that all Momentum members back Corbyn, but they, and indeed the membership in general, represent a tiny minority of the overall Labour electorate.

 

[magicjuan]

Joan Ryan has gone. U will live on forever. Can't believe it. I wanna run to u. Really can't believe this @

Reported on ITV as 'Joan Ryan MP, who's not jewish...'. Purposeful omission of the fact she is, and retains, chair of the labour friends of Israel.
Lucretia Berger was announced on news the other day as 'Jewish MP', none of the others announced as catholic etc.
An agenda being reinforced here.

 

[magicjuan]

Surely Brexit has also taught us that trying to lump millions of people under one ideological hat is kinda foolhardy, as grasping exactly what kind of Brexit people want is next to impossible, so I'm not sure how we can possibly say that all Labour voters back Corbyn (or the Blairites). We can probably say that all Momentum members back Corbyn, but they, and indeed the membership in general, represent a tiny minority of the overall Labour electorate.

Isn't that always the case with any large organisation? Not every Asda employee wants to work the veg aisle....broad church and all that...

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Isn't that always the case with any large organisation? Not every Asda employee wants to work the veg aisle....broad church and all that...

Of course, yet we've had folk on here saying that no Labour voters supported these people anyway and that they're bound to lose their seats because every voter loves Jezzer. Some have even been seen wearing overalls with Make Allotments Great Again on them.

 

[davek]

Views like this aren't helping either. If you think the reason why Labour lost the last 3 elections is that they had too many moderates/Blairites/Liberal/Tory lites, or however you want to put it then I think you will end up very disappointed.

I can understand you live in a hotbed of Labour and the excitement and the sense that you are finally going to achieve a lasting social change, but if you come to where I live there is none of that.

As far as I can see it the only way Labour win the next election is if the Tories have a complete meltdown and have taken the economy with them (And days like yesterday and today just reinforce that view). If that happens then Corbyn with a manifesto packed full of noble but expensive promises has to try and implement it at a point when the economy is going backwards. That will lead to either a massive deficit that will cause him to be booted out after one term or if they are sensible, then everyone will berate them for not changing enough.

You win elections by broadening your voting base not trimming it.

You're looking short term, I;m looking long term. Big difference,