The NEW very important election thread

stockhausen

stockhausen

stockhausen

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Herewith, a repository for all the latest, exciting news about the forthcoming election for a leader of New Labour. . . . Perhaps when nominations are closed, some kind moderator could set up a poll?


To start the ball rolling, here is the latest person to throw her knickers into the ring:
Lovely but Loony Leftwing Labour MP Diane A'Boot announced today she was running for the party leadership, allegedly becoming the first woman to enter the race. In a surprise move, the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington said she was confident of attracting the 33 nominations needed to get her on to the ballot paper. (The Grauniad)
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Meanwhile . . .
[Diane Abbott's] decision to send her son to the private £10,000 a year City of London School, which she herself described as "indefensible" and "intellectually incoherent", caused controversy and was seen by many as hypocritical not least because she had previously criticised Tony Blair and Harriet Harman for sending their children to selective state schools. It later emerged that Abbott had in fact applied to a total of three separate private schools for her son, and thus had no intention of sending him to a state school. Fellow Hackney Labour MP Brian Sedgemore condemned Abbott for the "hurt and harm she had caused to local people in Hackney" who didn't have the means to make a similar choice, suggesting that Abbott would "never be taken seriously again". (Wikipedia)
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Incidentally, out of respect for the terrible suffering recently experienced by these poor souls, I do think that it would be considerate if people were to avoid being seen in any way to make fun of them . . . please :confused:
 
So the candidates are:

David Milliband
Ed Milliband
John Cruddas
Ed Balls
Dianne Abbot

Something tells me that no matter how badly the ConDem alliance screws up the country, Labour will not be re-elected at the next general election.
 
I can't see anything but a David Miliband victory.

He has declared the New Labour era as over. Interesting.

Ed Balls would cement Labour as an opposition party for years.

Ed Miliband I can't see getting a lot of support but who knows.

Jon Cruddas has said he isn't going to run.

John McDonnell. Can't see him getting a lot of votes.

Diane Abbot. LOL.
 
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A choice between 5 socially and fiscally authoritarian individuals is not one I relish. For the good of the country, I hope the party chooses Ed Balls...
 
Von Smallhausen said:
I can't see anything but a David Miliband victory.

He has declared the New Labour era as over. Interesting.

Ed Balls would cement Labour as an opposition party for years.

Ed Miliband I can't see getting a lot of support but who knows.

Jon Cruddas has said he isn't going to run.

John McDonnell. Can't see him getting a lot of votes.

Diane Abbot. LOL.
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This.
 
Dolph said:
On ebay?

More to the point, Balls would continue to make Labour completely unelectable. Either him or McDonnell would be the best solution for the country...
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Competition might be a good thing for political parties. One of the reasons why this country is in such a mess is that there wasn't really a credible opposition to the Conservatives throughout the '80s and most of the '90s. I firmly believe that depending on how long this coalition lasts, people will remember what sort of party the Conservatives are by the next general election and vote for the Labour party again.
 
scorza said:
Competition might be a good thing for political parties. One of the reasons why this country is in such a mess is that there wasn't really a credible opposition to the Conservatives throughout the '80s and most of the '90s. I firmly believe that depending on how long this coalition lasts, people will remember what sort of party the Conservatives are by the next general election and vote for the Labour party again.
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We already have competition, and we're seeing the benefits of it within the coalition government. I look foward to a realignment of politics with the Lib dems growing into the second party role and Labour consigned to 3rd place, especially if the boundaries changes and AV changes are put into place.

If people remember the conservatives and forget that it was Labour (yet again) who caused the absolute mess we are in, I really do wonder about the intelligence of the electorate.
 
scorza said:
... I firmly believe that depending on how long this coalition lasts, people will remember what sort of party the Conservatives are by the next general election and vote for the Labour party again.
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I would love to believe that you are right.

However, I fear that Thatcher wrought a lasting change in the British psyche when she encouraged people to think only of themselves and expressed her approval of selfishness and unbridled greed. Mandy expressed New Labour's agreement with this idea when he observed that "We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich.".

The Labour party of old was a Socialist party, it believed in society and community; sad to say, that is all in the past for most people nowadays; we will not see the revival of the true Labour party for quite some while yet :(
 
stockhausen said:
I would love to believe that you are right.

However, I fear that Thatcher wrought a lasting change in the British psyche when she encouraged people to think only of themselves and expressed her approval of selfishness and unbridled greed. Mandy expressed New Labour's agreement with this idea when he observed that "We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich.".

The Labour party of old was a Socialist party, it believed in society and community; sad to say, that is all in the past for most people nowadays; we will not see the revival of the true Labour party for quite some while yet :(
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Wasn't the most left wing Labour manifesto of the last 50 years responsible for the only performance of Labour worse than this years?
 
stockhausen said:
Mandy expressed New Labour's agreement with this idea when he observed that "We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich.".
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He qualified that by adding ... as long as they pay their taxes. Which I agree with entirely as they are within the wealth redistribution framework. I don't think anyone in their right mind considers genuinely successful people getting appropriate rewards.

Part of the problem with NuLabour was that despite what they said, they were quite happy with the filthy rich who didn't pay their taxes, actively courting them and their companies (often hedge funds registered to a PO Box in the Cayman Islands) to this country and as Labour party donors despite the demonstrable social harm caused to the country.
 
scorza said:
He qualified that by adding ... as long as they pay their taxes. Which I agree with entirely as they are within the wealth redistribution framework. ...
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I would have had a lot more faith in New Labour's commitment to wealth redistribution if they had done something about tax dodging and IHT.

scorza said:
... Part of the problem with NuLabour was that despite what they said, they were quite happy with the filthy rich who didn't pay their taxes ...
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Quite so. New Labour were just Blair's opportunistic ploy to capitalise on Thatcher's massive unpopularity whilst pursuing her God-awful policies.


I see that the ex-health secretary Andy Burnham is planning to stand for Labour leader bringing the list to the Milibands, John McDonnell, Ed Balls Diane Abbott.

Jon Cruddas, Alistair Darling, Jack Straw, Harriet Harman, Alan Johnson & Yvette Cooper have all ruled themselves out.
 
I like Diane Abbott, I enjoy watching her next to Portillo on 'This Week'. But running for leadership? Lol, is she nuts? She's got less than zero chance of being elected.
 
Merlin5 said:
I like Diane Abbott, I enjoy watching her next to Portillo on 'This Week'. But running for leadership? Lol, is she nuts? She's got less than zero chance of being elected.
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Not saying this is necessarily the case here, but politicians sometimes enter leadership battles they know they won't win to increase their profile in the party and maybe get a front-bench position (if they don't annoy whoever wins too much that is). A good example of this was the previously unknown John Redwood who stood against John Major at some point, and ended up a minister for something.
 
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