Current Affairs The Labour Party

[tsubaki]

I disagree. It's likely there'll be another hung parliament and the LP will be kept out of power with no firm government in place. Corbyn might have to stand aside but the membership will ensure his successor will be a Corbynista and the strength of that faction within the PLP will be stronger after the next election with a swathe of left candidates being elected.

I wouldn't fetishe being in government - it's going to be an almost impossible task post-Brexit, and in any case a bigger issue for the left in the LP is to rout the interlopers from the 80s and 90s - makes sure they are buried forever and kicked out into some forlorn middle ground party that will sink like a stone (because they dont have a social base to draw strength from - as was the case with the SDP who couldn't take trade unions with them).

Forget the next election, it could end up better or worse than people think it will right now as events unfold and the Tories face their own massively likely schism. The bigger prize is returning a real choice to the British people for the first time since the early 1980s.

If that - or a narrow Labour victory - happens, it will quickly become apparent just how stupid that move of TIG was. They could have been where the ERG are now - in fact, they could even have made sure Corbyn wasn't the PM.

Instead they won't be MPs.

 

[Eggs]

....Tom Watson says Luciana Berger was “hounded out of the Party by racist thugs”. Good on him. Not sure why Corbynisters don’t come out and agree.

 

[davek]

I would! Otherwise what's the point? I'd rather the party of my choice dealing with post-Brexit, and I'd like that to be a Corbyn-led Labour government. Otherwise, why even vote?

As said above: if you dont deal with the PLP and have left MPs in their place, what sort of chance would there be to carry out game chaning policiues? None.

It's putting the cart before the horse asking for power before winning control of your own party. There are groups within Labour's parliamentary ranks like Progress who would actively vote with the opposition on certain matters and bring down the government unless they got watered down centrist policies through. As old saying goes: the game isn't worth the candle.

 

[davek]

If that - or a narrow Labour victory - happens, it will quickly become apparent just how stupid that move of TIG was. They could have been where the ERG are now - in fact, they could even have made sure Corbyn wasn't the PM.

Instead they won't be MPs.

Those slugs wont be around in the next parliament. Guaranteed.

 

[tsubaki]

I think there'll be a clamour for a woman to be leader. Maybe Rebecca Long-Bailey. John McDonnell would be the obvious successor, but maybe if a man again and a new face, someone like Richard Burgon who's had a lot of exposure dealing with the media.

Long-Bailey yes, but McDonnell has already said he has no interest in it.

I'd prefer Gardiner or Starmer - who I know you are no fan of, but the way he has continued to play his part and the way he is one of the very few MPs who actually has some expertise away from politics will stand him in good stead.

 

[davek]

....Tom Watson says Luciana Berger was “hounded out of the Party by racist thugs”. Good on him. Not sure why Corbynisters don’t come out and agree.

...no she wasn't.

 

[Alan Whittle]

Get in power and do what exactly with a load of neo-Blairites to pacify and drag the government toward the centre ground policies the party wouldn't have won on?

Assume the Blairites are gone. Brexit has happened. What would a left dominated government do?

 

[tsubaki]

....Tom Watson says Luciana Berger was “hounded out of the Party by racist thugs”. Good on him. Not sure why Corbynisters don’t come out and agree.

She was on the recieving end of abuse, but the racist thugs (four of whom were convicted for it) were all right wing. As for being hounded out of the party, I wonder what former councillor Jake Morrison would say about that?

 

[abelard]

Long-Bailey yes, but McDonnell has already said he has no interest in it.

I'd prefer Gardiner or Starmer - who I know you are no fan of, but the way he has continued to play his part and the way he is one of the very few MPs who actually has some expertise away from politics will stand him in good stead.

Yes, Long-Bailey is promising, but Starmer and essentially the same policy agenda could be very effective, and considerably more challenging for the media to discredit.

 

[Eggs]

...no she wasn't.

She was on the recieving end of abuse, but the racist thugs (four of whom were convicted for it) were all right wing. As for being hounded out of the party, I wonder what former councillor Jake Morrison would say about that?

....ah, so it must be a media generated campaign. The Labour Party has not been taken over by Momentum, there is no bullying or harassment, its members are tolerant of different views and it remains a broad church.

I wish.

 

[tsubaki]

Assume the Blairites are gone. Brexit has happened. What would a left dominated government do?

if it won?

i) ban anyone from owning more than one media outlet
ii) bring in an "honest services" offence, making directors and above be required to perform their duties for the good of their company, not themselves
iii) make it easier for investors and shareholders to sue accountancy firms that do not detect fraud / false accounting in the firms they audit
iv) bring in the offshore ownership register that Cameron promised and look to increase the tax burden on offshored properties
v) build a very large number of social homes, and bring in a better version of right-to-buy (for example, a family has a home and pays slightly above the rental value for 30 years, at the end of the period the home is theirs, they can dispose of it amongst the family but the state has first refusal if they sell it).
vi) electrify the rest of the railway network and expand it where possible
vii) buy up as many PFI schemes as possible, and if necessary depress the sale price by raising each and every contract issue they can think of (as Boris did)
viii) make lobbying by or on behalf of foreign governments illegal
ix) bring in a much better safety concerns reporting system across government and in public agencies, especially the NHS and police / prisons
x) look to increase the amount and quality of services the state provides whilst reducing the money it pays out (in tax credits, child benefit, other welfare payments etc)

 

[Jebus_lives]

I think there'll be a clamour for a woman to be leader. Maybe Rebecca Long-Bailey. John McDonnell would be the obvious successor, but maybe if a man again and a new face, someone like Richard Burgon who's had a lot of exposure dealing with the media.

Burgon is a good shout. I could see him bridging the party. Long-Bailey doesn't seem to have the gravitas yet. I could see a lot of support for Thornberry especially given her previous positions in the shadow cabinet and the centrists see her as an acceptable face of the party.

 

[Alan Whittle]

if it won?

i) ban anyone from owning more than one media outlet
ii) bring in an "honest services" offence, making directors and above be required to perform their duties for the good of their company, not themselves
iii) make it easier for investors and shareholders to sue accountancy firms that do not detect fraud / false accounting in the firms they audit
iv) bring in the offshore ownership register that Cameron promised and look to increase the tax burden on offshored properties
v) build a very large number of social homes, and bring in a better version of right-to-buy (for example, a family has a home and pays slightly above the rental value for 30 years, at the end of the period the home is theirs, they can dispose of it amongst the family but the state has first refusal if they sell it).
vi) electrify the rest of the railway network and expand it where possible
vii) buy up as many PFI schemes as possible, and if necessary depress the sale price by raising each and every contract issue they can think of (as Boris did)
viii) make lobbying by or on behalf of foreign governments illegal
ix) bring in a much better safety concerns reporting system across government and in public agencies, especially the NHS and police / prisons
x) look to increase the amount and quality of services the state provides whilst reducing the money it pays out (in tax credits, child benefit, other welfare payments etc)

Thanks. Is that all Labour Party policy now, as opposed to what "the left" would like to see? Genuine question.

 

[tsubaki]

....ah, so it must be a media generated campaign. The Labour Party has not been taken over by Momentum, there is no bullying or harassment, its members are tolerant of different views and it remains a broad church.

I wish.

Eggs, how many Labour MPs have been deselected since Corbyn became leader?

 

[abelard]

Burgon is a good shout. I could see him bridging the party. Long-Bailey doesn't seem to have the gravitas yet. I could see a lot of support for Thornberry especially given her previous positions in the shadow cabinet and the centrists see her as an acceptable face of the party.

I think Long-Bailey has a lot more gravitas than Burgon. Had to deal with him once for a work thing and... was not very impressed.

The real difficulty will be finding someone who can deliver northern Leave voters, whose constituencies Labour will need to win if it is ever going to accomplish anything lasting (as opposed to winning London by 95% instead of 75%).

That would be the knock against Starmer.