Current Affairs The Labour Party

[peteblue]

'New' Labour Joe, 'new'. That wasn't labour at all. They were pale blue at best. Not labour.

I agree with this, they were just slightly left of the Tories and even adopted Tory spending plans for a while, until Brown went on a spending spree. But this I think just reiterates that the U.K. will not vote in a far left government, we are centrists at heart....

 

[evilwebby]

I heard an interesting and sobering statistic: of the 209 seats Labour won in 1983 which was thought to be the irreduceable core of the traditional Labour heartlands, today they only hold half of them.

That means that they idea that "2/3rds of constituencies are considered safe and how you vote doesn't matter" isn't really true. While any particular seat may be unlikely to change hands on any given election if the existing incumbent enjoys a very large majority, over time if that constituency isn't happy with the way things are going then it will eventually change hands too.

So, if you play too hard to your core vote then over time you are preaching to an ever diminishing base. The ONLY way to win elections in this country is to broaden your appeal and fight for the middle ground in seats that change hands; and as shown, most seats are changeable... if not within the space of 1 term, then certainly within the space of 2 terms.

 

[Blues Harp]

The way you have posted before on most political threads easy to guess..

In my case you guessed wrongly.......never mind.

 

[peteblue]

I thought this summed up Corbyn and Co precisely...

”Labour MP John Spellar tweeted mockingly: “Clearly the play was a success, but the audience was a failure!”...

 

[PSB1]

I thought this summed up Corbyn and Co precisely...

”Labour MP John Spellar tweeted mockingly: “Clearly the play was a success, but the audience was a failure!”...

Or as a friend remarked to me, equally mockingly, "The working class are such a disappointment to me."

 

[Blue 1]

My main hope is that the party doesn't eat itself now because bloody hell we're going to need them with the neo-fascist Bannonite cabal that's taken over the country. I think it may be too much to hope for though. Neither faction seems to be willing to see the role they played in the election defeat. Neither are blameless.

 

[evilwebby]

Regarding the New Labour project, yes it was a modernisation of Labour.

The smart thing was they recognised the world had moved on from traditional socialism. The ideological arguments had been had and the socialists had lost, so they didn't try to undo the work of the previous Tory governments.

Blair said: "OK, I still hold core Labour values of social justice and a consider myself a progressive, but I'll build on top of what the Tories did rather than try to unwind it." So he was OK with companies and people being individually successful and wasn't antagonistic toward Business, as he was depending on those successes to fund his social programmes. The "Third Way" as he put it. That was a very appealing message.

Contrast that to some of the regressive nonsense in the 2019 manifesto; reading stuff like wanting impose identity politics on any company over 250 employees would, in practice simply have limited any mid sized company to never bothering to try growing over 250 employees. How does that sort of antagonism create a successful and dynamic economy?
History shows that the more rigid a set of legislature becomes, the more brainpower is dedicated to finding a workaround to that framework. But then if any of the Labour front bench ever had proper jobs in the real world, or better, run a business and created jobs, they would not be so blind to this.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

New Labour not only got elected, they got re-elected. They were smart. They were Labour, a much preferable Labour for traditional Labour voters who have deserted Corbyn’s Labour.

They completely ignored their supposed heartlands, industry was never replaced. No major infrastructure of note to attract was built. Chucking Tax credits at the problem was always short term and costly. It's a legacy of ignoring swathes of the north that has done real damage.

Corbyn delivered a real alternative, the electorate rejected it over get Brexit done. And Corbyn leadership's are taking it on the chin and accepting they should have done better.

However a return to wishy washy Centrism is not what is needed, just ask Swinson Chukka Berger how their dream of a Centrists majority went!?

 

[Brennan]

They completely ignored their supposed heartlands, industry was never replaced. No major infrastructure of note to attract was built. Chucking Tax credits at the problem was always short term and costly. It's a legacy of ignoring swathes of the north that has done real damage.

Corbyn delivered a real alternative, the electorate rejected it over get Brexit done. And Corbyn leadership's are taking it on the chin and accepting they should have done better.

However a return to wishy washy Centrism is not what is needed, just ask Swinson Chukka Berger how their dream of a Centrists majority went!?

The Liberal Democrats failure was not due to their political positioning.

 

[Joey66]

'New' Labour Joe, 'new'. That wasn't labour at all. They were pale blue at best. Not labour.

They won power at least another Corbyn type leader will still fail....

 

[dannyboy]

The Liberal Democrats failure was not due to their political positioning.

What do you think went wrong for them? Their Brexit policy was a disaster imo.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

They won power at least another Corbyn type leader will still fail....

That depends on the Government, they have promised real change in the north to get elected, and that change will take years to complete. Firstly Brexit, then the infrastructure projects. People will notice very quickly if these infrastructure are suddenly taking longer to implement... Johnson turning up in the North for a couple of months will last just a couple of months then action is what people will want!?

 

[dannyboy]

They completely ignored their supposed heartlands, industry was never replaced. No major infrastructure of note to attract was built. Chucking Tax credits at the problem was always short term and costly. It's a legacy of ignoring swathes of the north that has done real damage.

Corbyn delivered a real alternative, the electorate rejected it over get Brexit done. And Corbyn leadership's are taking it on the chin and accepting they should have done better.

However a return to wishy washy Centrism is not what is needed, just ask Swinson Chukka Berger how their dream of a Centrists majority went!?

It is a very dangerous game to return to New Labour. People will say to me it's not the 1970s anymore and my idea of politics is dead but equally it's not 1997 either.

The fact they managed to lose a Brexit referendum should tell them all they need to know.

 

[gonetomorrow]

Corbyn's manifesto was too ambitious and people didn't believe he was capable of delivering it.

it's a shame because some of the policies were great, like building more social housing and freeing millions of young people from the grip of private landlords.

Ultimately, it was Brexit wot won it and Labour's next leader will have to be someone who respected the referendum result.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

It is a very dangerous game to return to New Labour. People will say to me it's not the 1970s anymore and my idea of politics is dead but equally it's not 1997 either.

The fact they managed to lose a Brexit referendum should tell you all you need to know.

Without fail, the vast majority of New Labour are in transition, Remainers to rejoiners, avoid them at all cost, the supposed intellectual elite of evidence based wishy washism.