The Chairman Mao resembling, Monarchy hating, threat to Britain, Labour Party thread

[Davkaus]

Labour is just done, for the foreseeable future.

I can't imagine anything other than a Tory landslide in the next GE, which makes me wonder what's next. Corbyn has the backing of the Labour membership base, they want a return to the left. Only the PLP are opposing it, so what happens when Labour lose the next GE, and probably have even fewer seats than they have now.

There will be even fewer Labour MPs to oppose, but I wonder how the membership will take a GE loss. I can't imagine they'll give up after just one loss and return to the centre.

[snowychap]

Labour fined £20,000 for undeclared election spending including for Ed Stone

Quote

Labour has been fined £20,000 by the Electoral Commission, the largest imposed by the body in its history, for undeclared election spending during the 2015 campaign, including more than £7,000 on the so-called “Ed Stone”.

The commission launched an investigation into two payments totalling £7,614 missing from the party’s election return that were spent on the stone tablet on which then Labour leader, Ed Miliband, had carved his six key election pledges, promising to display it in the Downing Street rose garden if he won the election.

The problems with the party’s spending came to light when the commission published the return in January, and journalists immediately contacted the commission because they could not find any reference to the 8ft 6in, two-tonne slab of limestone. The commission then found the item was indeed missing from the return, and began a full inquiry.

After the commission launched its investigation, the party undertook an internal review, unearthing 24 other undeclared election expenses totalling £109,777.

However, the commission’s investigation then identified 49 further missing payments totalling £11,357 that related to the transport of the party’s activists on the Labour Express tour and Labour Students tour during the election.

Labour’s infamous pink bus, which toured the country speaking to female voters, was also investigated by the commission, which found that all its spend was in order. The Women to Women bus had been the subject of a complaint to the commission by Conservative MP Charles Walker, after his own party came under a similar, and highly publicised, investigation into transport of election activists.

The commission also found invoices were missing from the Labour party’s return, with 33 bills totalling £34,392 absent from the accounts.

...more on link

 

[dAVe80]

55 minutes ago, snowychap said:

Labour fined £20,000 for undeclared election spending including for Ed Stone

 

Interesting. I was at a CLP meeting on Saturday morning, and our local MP was asked about the Tories, and what was happening with regards the "election fraud" investigations, and she was of the opinion that Labour wouldn't want to push the issue too greatly, as to paraphrase her, they weren't exactly saints. I guess this maybe what she was referring to. I wonder if this is going to pave the way for a slap on the wrists, and a fine for the Tories? Again, my local MP suggested that any action taken would result in by-elections at best.

[snowychap]

20 minutes ago, dAVe80 said:

Interesting. I was at a CLP meeting on Saturday morning, and our local MP was asked about the Tories, and what was happening with regards the "election fraud" investigations, and she was of the opinion that Labour wouldn't want to push the issue too greatly, as to paraphrase her, they weren't exactly saints. I guess this maybe what she was referring to. I wonder if this is going to pave the way for a slap on the wrists, and a fine for the Tories? Again, my local MP suggested that any action taken would result in by-elections at best.

I think there's a lot of different things wrapped up in the whole issue of electoral expenses, inluding whether or not they were declared in the first place, whose responsibility it was, whether they were local or national and so on.

Quickly looking at that above, I think the comparisons with the Tory issues would be the 'transport of the party's activists on the Labour Express tour and Labour Students tour' (link back to original story as per my post above).

In the end, I think you're right that not much will come of it all though I suppose that's about the outcome of the various police investigations. I agree with the electoral commission that they should be able to fine parties more than the maximum of £20k - it should, at the least, be equivalent to the amount of underreporting.

[HanoiVillan]

Well, I've rescued this thread from the bottom of page 2, which is about what you'd expect given the entire party is MIA. 

Anyway, George Osborne gave a speech to the Spectator Parliamentary Awards recently (think White House Correspondents Dinner), and in his speech, in his own smug way he managed to get fairly close to the bottom of what is so uniquely useless about Corbyn (from 5:45 onwards):

 

[tonyh29]

He's quite good , the Michael Gove line is a cracker 

 

[villa4europe]

Stand up comedians were better when they swore for effect

seriosuly though that was better than anything I've ever heard Michael McIntyre do

[HanoiVillan]

Yes, he actually has quite a good delivery to be fair to him. 

[StefanAVFC]

I get less and less impressed with labour every day.

I've seen more impressive opposition by the Villa last season.

[villaglint]

44 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

I get less and less impressed with labour every day.

I've seen more impressive opposition by the Villa last season.

That is not true Stefan but I take your point. 

[HanoiVillan]

I noticed this thread on page 4 yesterday, when I bumped the maps thread.

Says it all really. 

[dAVe80]

Went see a screening of The Killing$ of Tony Blair last night. Totally biased, one sided film, but also shocking. I don't think there's any surprise in the fact Blair comes out of it with very dirty hands, and it makes a compelling case that he's a war criminal. Which just makes the hush up that followed Chilcot even more infuriating.  

[tonyh29]

15 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

I noticed this thread on page 4 yesterday, when I bumped the maps thread.

Says it all really. 

surprised after the comedy gold that was Corbyn and his "for his flaws " line on Castro ... thought the VT twitter mob would have been on overdrive over this material , guess it's only "amusing" when its against the Tories

Still , time to address this  

[StefanAVFC]

Emily Thornberry doing what Corbyn should have been doing in PMQ. Taking the Tories to account about their total opaqueness with regards to Brexit, lack of coherent plan and accusing them of only governing the 52%.

Some spine finally.

And the Tories with no answers, per usual.

Edited December 7, 2016 by StefanAVFC

[StefanAVFC]

This is exactly Labour's problem. They didn't pick a side and now they're losing all of their support.

[HanoiVillan]

6 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

This is exactly Labour's problem. They didn't pick a side and now they're losing all of their support.

You're probably right, but on the other hand I wouldn't read too much into byelection results in a constituency Labour have never won, not even in 1997, as a guide to where they might win votes in the future. 

[StefanAVFC]

you pay attention to coming 4th behind lib dems and UKIP

[hippo]

11 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

This is exactly Labour's problem. They didn't pick a side and now they're losing all of their support.

Corbyns only interested in anti war.

He's been indifferent on the EU - not because he is eurosceptic - but because he isn't a forceful politician - and he isn't much good at anything - he's so far removed from reality - no one really listens to him. Him and the labour party had made themselves insignificant on the major issues - and that's going to be a disaster in 2020 

[hippo]

3 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

you pay attention to coming 4th behind lib dems and UKIP

Pay attention - but what can they do ? - The major cause of the problem is Corbyn - whose been elected and re elected by the members.

If your anti tory - then the lib dems are more likely to give the tories a serious fight. 

[HanoiVillan]

5 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

you pay attention to coming 4th behind lib dems and UKIP

I think there's a lot less to this result than meets the eye, which is usually the case with by-elections.

The basic swing is to the Lib Dems, which is the same as Richmond Park. It looks like, in 2015, Lib Dem voters abandoned the party for the Tories or Labour, and they're now 'going home'. In Richmond Park, they left the Tories and went back to the Lib Dems. In Sleaford, they left Labour and went back to the Lib Dems.

There wasn't much movement in Sleaford otherwise, except a big increase for the 'Lincolnshire Independence' candidate, who I'm going to assume (on the basis of no evidence whatsoever except blind prejudice) probably swept a lot of the right-wing nutjob vote.