Next leader of the Labour Party should be.....

[tonyh29]

Seems the 5 live phone in Labour supporters are not happy ... The party and it's members wanted David .. they got Ed .. lets hope Ed isn't like his grandad and starts rounding up dissenters .. but he is going to have his work cut out uniting (or should that be UNITEing ) the party and convincing the public ... Bookmakers have already pushed the odds out on labour winning the next election

Interesting that all the Union vote appears to have been a * cough* free vote , there was a lot of cold calling advising members they really ought to vote for Ed ..and in case the message didn't get through they were called another 10 - 30 times...

maybe we should start a new thread on who the next leader of the labour party will be :-)

[drat01]

Laughable comments - I wonder if the right wing will be so snidey after tonight's Panorama (again) shows how they are funded by a thief!

[Richard]

I would like to congratulate the Labour Party and it's union paymasters on having the good sense to appoint Red Ed as the party leader, showing the foreseight to basically allow the Tory Party at least two or maybe three terms in office to try and sort out the mess they left for us.

Thanks

[Awol]

Seems the 5 live phone in Labour supporters are not happy ... The party and it's members wanted David .. they got Ed

Indeed and it seems D Miliband is considering his position in politics altogether. Much as I don't like him personally he would at least have tried to keep Labour in a more central political position, with Ed in charge they will gallop towards the left wing without even passing go imo.

It will be interesting to see if Ed opposes the proposed strikes by BBC employees next week (politically impartial in the work place, you understand ) who are planning to black out BBC coverage of the Tory Party conference in protest at public spending cuts?

Surely Ed the social democrat will be outraged by any ideological attempts to censure the political discourse of this country by our publicly funded broadcaster? It will be an early test and a good indicator of quite how much he is his "own man" - or a union stooge - and where his real values lie. I'm guessing the 'democratic' element of his beliefs will prove flexible.

I might not agree with what Labour people have to say very often but I firmly believe in their right to say it and be heard to do so. Does Ed?

he is going to have his work cut out uniting (or should that be UNITEing ) the party

At the same time Miliband was declaring New Labour's time had passed, Ben Bradshaw (and others) said activists should declare “very firmly” that “New Labour is not yet dead”. Not exactly walking in step so far, are they?

[blandy]

Interesting that all the Union vote appears to have been a * cough* free vote , there was a lot of cold calling advising members they really ought to vote for Ed ..and in case the message didn't get through they were called another 10 - 30 times...

I'm a member of Unite. I got a free vote. No one called me at all. No one hassled me. The union said they recommended E.M. I ignored that and voted for someone more left wing.

I don't see a problem with union members votes having a say - this is after all millions of people who have a stake in the Labour Party.

I Couldn't be sure there hasn't been any malpractice at all - you never can be in any election - but I think "stories" like yours are unrepresentative (if true - i.e. likely to be isolated) at best and untrue at worst.

[Awol]

Blandy, do you think it's right that some people had more than vote each? For example Party member = one vote, union member = one vote, etc. I read Harperson had five, which doesn't seem that democratic to me.

[Risso]

You have to love the unions. They've obviously elected the man they think will serve their interests best, but in doing so, have shafted the rest of the party completely, and probably made them unelectable for a good while. Good going.

[drat01]

Exactly Pete - the Tory supporters on here are just spouting the usual Right wing media bollox and not surprisingly trying some typical scare tactics.

As for people having a vote, Hmmm let me see how much influence does donations to the party have, Oh in the case of the Tory party it seems that illegal money has a lot - again though we cannot say anything about that.

"Red Ed" :-) - oh what wit those people at the Mail have. I am now waiting for the next bit of Tory pap and the more sinister bit where they mention being a Jew - it's bound to happen.

[drat01]

You have to love the unions. They've obviously elected the man they think will serve their interests best, but in doing so, have shafted the rest of the party completely, and probably made them unelectable for a good while. Good going.

Based on what though? I am really interested because statements like that are nothing more than a repeat of the bollox we are seeing from outlets like the Mail. If you honestly think that, what do you base your opinion on?

Also - hang on a second the Unions are all left wing are they? So you are saying that Pete B. is a commie? - maybe the Union vote should be considered more because they are people who actually work for a living rather than stealing off the tax payer.

and for the record I have family members who are union members but are not Labour voters.

Should we likewise then be saying that Cameron is a Tax thief? Hang on he was financed by a thief

[blandy]

Blandy, do you think it's right that some people had more than vote each? For example Party member = one vote, union member = one vote, etc. I read Harperson had five, which doesn't seem that democratic to me.

Yes, I think it's fine. The "more than one vote" thing makes it sound at face value like all votes are equally weighed, but they're not.

It's just a weighting, in effect, like all the parties do. An MP's vote should be worth more than mine as a Union member and it is. Someone who is an MP and a Union member should have slightly more say (and it is a tiny-fraction) etc.

[Gringo]

Also - hang on a second the Unions are all left wing are they? So you are saying that Pete B. is a commie?

Well seeing as he's owned up to voting up for someone more left wing than Red Ed, I guess so.

[tonyh29]

I wonder if the right wing will be so snidey after tonight's Panorama (again) shows how they are funded by a thief!

cough Lakshmi Mittal .. of the many non doms donating to labour this one particularly stands out as a monument to hypocrisy, corruption and venality, given all that followed it

[drat01]

I wonder if the right wing will be so snidey after tonight's Panorama (again) shows how they are funded by a thief!

cough Lakshmi Mittal .. of the many non doms donating to labour this one particularly stands out as a monument to hypocrisy, corruption and venality, given all that followed it

The fact that Ashcroft again is subject to more media revelations about his lies and deceit seems to have no worries for you. Now remind me again, was it the Gvmt who the other day were calling for justice against Tax avoidance (theft)?

You seemingly are happy for Ashcroft to continue to steal millions off the UK public.

I wonder how Cable can deal with this since in March of this year he said ""This is quite serious. We are now not talking just about Ashcroft's non-dom status, but about systematic tax avoidance in funding Conservative party activities such as polling. How far were the Conservatives aware that Ashcroft did not pay VAT, as would have been incurred by any normal polling activity?"

But no doubt the Tory party will twist and spin this and it will end up being a problem caused by the unemployed or something similar

[Richard]

Interesting that Red Ed goes on about the need to change etc and that he "gets it" pity he didn't get it before he wrote the Labour manifesto for the last general election

[blandy]

Also - hang on a second the Unions are all left wing are they? So you are saying that Pete B. is a commie?

Well seeing as he's owned up to voting up for someone more left wing than Red Ed, I guess so.

Ignoring my foibles, it's interesting that someone as central (albeit L of C) as E.M. should be labelled or thought of as left wing and "Red Ed".

D.M is basically a tory, not that different from the one nation tories of 30 or 40 years ago.

It's all relative, but there's hardly been anything left wing about most of labour's policies over the past decade - they've favoured big business, banks, the rich, media moguls and so on - whatever they've said their actions betray them.

[Jon]

For those that think Ed Milly is the furthest left candidate and thus that is why the unions wanted him.

Weren't both Burnham and Abbott both standing too?

Ed Milly is further left than his bro, who would essentially have been Blair MKII. But he's no loony left man, from what I can tell. I also think he puts forward an acceptable public face for the party. He looks media friendly, and that does matter. He looks smart, and is well presented. It's shaallow, but it matters. We've not got another Foot on out hands here.

I like this appointment, as do others it seems, whihc is obviously why he got in.

[snowychap]

Interesting that Red Ed goes on about the need to change etc and that he "gets it" pity he didn't get it before he wrote the Labour manifesto for the last general election

Is the person who writes the manifesto solely responsible for deciding its content?

[blandy]

Unite at least wanted "not D.M" they endorsed E.M. because they thought he'd have more chance than Ed Balls.

[Gringo]

Also - hang on a second the Unions are all left wing are they? So you are saying that Pete B. is a commie?

Well seeing as he's owned up to voting up for someone more left wing than Red Ed, I guess so.

Ignoring my foibles, it's interesting that someone as central (albeit L of C) as E.M. should be labelled or thought of as left wing and "Red Ed".

In the same way the Fox label Obama a kenyan communist.

[Richard]

Interesting that Red Ed goes on about the need to change etc and that he "gets it" pity he didn't get it before he wrote the Labour manifesto for the last general election

Is the person who writes the manifesto solely responsible for deciding its content?

I'd say hit would be unusual if he didn't have the majority of the input, I mean writing it does not suggest to me that he basically took everything that Gordon gave him on a dictaphone and just sat down and transcribed it, that would be an admin role.