Bollitics The new leader of the Labour Party

[RunRickyRun]

 

Whenever I think of Miliband, the first thing to come to mind is that interview he did around the time of the strikes a couple of years ago, in which he gave exactly the same answer to 4 or 5 vastly different questions, even though it didn't answer any of them. We can't have a PM who wouldn't pass the Turing Test.

 

To be completely fair, this is totally standard practice in interviews, as many media organisations like to have 'their own' footage. There's a similar video of George Osborne, which also fails to annoy me.

 

It was a pooled interview so there was only one reporter and one camera present. Ed didn't repeat himself out of courtesy but repeated himself out of idiocy.

 

The reporter initially thought he was going to lose his job because he thought it was that bad an interview (link).

[HanoiVillan]

Fair enough, you're completely right. I somehow had totally the wrong end of that story. Though probably 'obstinacy' is a better descriptor than 'idiocy'. 

[MakemineVanilla]

If you consult Machiavelli, the recommendation is that the Prince must appear like a decent chap and should have a number 2 who does all the bad stuff and in the case of any problem can be sacrificed.

 

Leaving his mutilated corpse in the market square, was Machiavelli's example.

 

If we look at recent governments we can see how Thatcher had Keith Joseph and Norman Tebbit to make her look better, and Blair of course had Brown.

 

The present Government has Cameron pretending to be a decent chap and Osborne doing all the nasty stuff and diverting the flak.

 

Presumably, the Miliband - Balls combination is supposed to achieve the same thing, and although Balls does a reasonable impression of the yob, Miliband is not sweetly oleaginous enough to compete with Cameron.

 

So Machiavelli would probably have suggested David rather than Ed.

[tonyh29]

anyone think Labour would remove Ed before the election in order to give themselves a chance of a majority ? they don't have any precedent in doing so ,  even when Brown was going mental and bullying people they still bottled the leadership challenge  regardless of the damage he was causing  ... could be interesting come May next year , could we see 3 new party leaders ?

 

 

Lord Levy, Lord Noon, Margaret Hodge, Dame Tessa Jowell and even Lord Prescott - a list of party grandees who in recent days have voiced concern over some Labour policy and in certain cases their leader.

Weeks after a disappointing conference and as their poll lead disappears, is this a sign of a greater leadership crisis inside the Labour Party?

 

full article  here courtesy of the Evil since 2010 News Outlet

[chrisp65]

Balls

[tonyh29]

not even Labour would remove the most forgettable man in politics with the most loathsome man in politics ..would they ?

[chrisp65]

nah I wouldn't have thought so

 

I've pitched in previously and said Alan Johnson would have been a good call but now its too late.

 

The only viable one as far as the media would be concerned and therefore the only one that wouldn't be ripped to shreds on day 2 of his job would be Kane Milliband, but the unions just couldn't stomach that one. So I don't see a change happening unless Ed throws in the towel.

 

But we're on countdown to the election, so every day that goes by makes it incrementally more difficult to change.

 

A shiny new face, even Andy Burnham, would see a lift in the polls for the simple sake of a change.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

I can't see either big party winning a majority. We'll be having coalitions for a while yet.

[tonyh29]

wasn't that long ago that Burnham was begging to keep his job wasn't it ? didn't think he was popular with the party ?

 

I quite like Alan Johnson when i've seen him on TV   .. shame about his Union links though

 

what price on both parties being lead by a "Johnson " in 2015

[HanoiVillan]

wasn't that long ago that Burnham was begging to keep his job wasn't it ? didn't think he was popular with the party ?

 

I quite like Alan Johnson when i've seen him on TV   .. shame about his Union links though

 

what price on both parties being lead by a "Johnson " in 2015

 

About a billion to one, I should think. The Tory one is fairly likely, but Alan Johnson? Crikey. He was politically even less interesting or different than Miliband - a straight-down-the-line New Labourite. In terms of personality, he might have been 1% more interesting. I won't quite pretend that I had to look him up, but I had forgotten his existence until reading this thread. Rumours to the contrary, he'd have no interest in standing, and to disagree with people in this thread, the country would be unlikely to be terribly impressed by a party backstabbing its leader instead of campaigning for an election. 

 

In any case, this whole 'poll-lead' thing is a bore. Labour's poll lead means little. If its level, or +3, or +6, Labour will win more seats. In fact, if they're anything less than -5 to the Tories, they'll still win more seats. They're either going to get a tiny and fairly unworkable majority, or a coalition. And everybody forgets conference speeches within a week or two anyway. 

[sharkyvilla]

Chuka Umunna seems to be the one they wheel out whenever Ed cocks up. It would be interesting to see how a black leader would do in the UK. He may be a bit too young at the moment though.

[tonyh29]

 

wasn't that long ago that Burnham was begging to keep his job wasn't it ? didn't think he was popular with the party ?

 

I quite like Alan Johnson when i've seen him on TV   .. shame about his Union links though

 

what price on both parties being lead by a "Johnson " in 2015

 

About a billion to one, I should think. The Tory one is fairly likely, but Alan Johnson? Crikey. He was politically even less interesting or different than Miliband - a straight-down-the-line New Labourite. In terms of personality, he might have been 1% more interesting. I won't quite pretend that I had to look him up, but I had forgotten his existence until reading this thread. Rumours to the contrary, he'd have no interest in standing, and to disagree with people in this thread, the country would be unlikely to be terribly impressed by a party backstabbing its leader instead of campaigning for an election. 

 

In any case, this whole 'poll-lead' thing is a bore. Labour's poll lead means little. If its level, or +3, or +6, Labour will win more seats. In fact, if they're anything less than -5 to the Tories, they'll still win more seats. They're either going to get a tiny and fairly unworkable majority, or a coalition. And everybody forgets conference speeches within a week or two anyway. 

 

or on the day if your name is Ed

[Mantis]

Even though David winning the leadership contest in 2010 would've surely made a Labour majority much more likely, I kind of wish he did win purely because I think he would've made a much better Prime Minister compared to Ed.

[Condimentalist]

Ed's awful, but so is much of the Labour front bench. It's a hopelessly directionless party.

 

Me, I'll be voting for the Greens or more likely the Lib Dems again. I feel they've been given a hard time and that I ought to stick up for them. Hey, someone has to. 

[tonyh29]

Ed's awful, but so is much of the Labour front bench. It's a hopelessly directionless party.

 

Me, I'll be voting for the Greens or more likely the Lib Dems again. I feel they've been given a hard time and that I ought to stick up for them. Hey, someone has to. 

 

 

talking of the Greens , I was in Brighton all last weekend and talking to the fount of all knowledge that is the cockle and whelk seller

 

he reckons the Greens will get an absolute kick in in Brighton in the General Election

 

they blew "all" the budget on putting in 20 mph speed restrictions that the police have said they can't / won't enforce (even the speed cameras in the 20mph zones are set for 30 mph)   and cycle lanes

 

meanwhile the arches at Brighton require £70m to be spend on them and there is nothing left in the pot to pay for it 

 

there was more but tbh I was with the kids and not really in the mood for the rantings of some man I didn't know

 

of course those trendy students will vote Green so I doubt it's the formality he suggested it was but  maybe Lucas will have to find a new way of jetting off to Israel on fact finding missions soon as its possible the tax payer wont be funding it for her

[blandy]

...David winning the leadership contest in 2010 would've surely made a Labour majority much more likely,

I dunno about that. You may well be right, but I feel that he is more right wing, more Blair like in policy than Ed. A heck of a lot of more left wing (these days) actions are wanted by the majority of people - public ownership (nationalisatin) of the railways being one example. Stronger action against big business tax avoidance being another clear example. There's no way DM would have gone even as far as Ed on some of things that have barely scraped the public mood for more egalitarian measures.

There's really only the Greens who (with no publicity) are calling for these things.

Everything is being polarised to the right by bloomin' UKIPs or fear of them taking votes.

[bickster]

they blew "all" the budget on putting in 20 mph speed restrictions that the police have said they can't / won't enforce (even the speed cameras in the 20mph zones are set for 30 mph)   and cycle lanes

Think you'll find that is some kind of nationally enforced thing that most councils have been forced to implement

They've done it here in Sefton and Liverpool are rolling it out right now, suburb at a time. As much as people in Brighton might think its a green thing, its a rampant disease spreading country wide and the police everywhere say its unenforceable, here they paid lip service and stopped everyone who sped on the day of introduction (Friendly warnings not points) and have roundly ignored it ever since

[HanoiVillan]

Even though David winning the leadership contest in 2010 would've surely made a Labour majority much more likely, I kind of wish he did win purely because I think he would've made a much better Prime Minister compared to Ed.

 

Maybe, but then, some of things that have been proposed, and actually do poll well, like freezing household energy bills, would never have been proposed by DM. And he'd have worn more of a taint from Iraq as well. 

[AshVilla]

When i look at Labour i could never vote for them with Milliband in charge

 

He talks through his nose and looks a complete and utter sleazeball worse than Gordon Brown

[villaajax]

So you're not actually judging by policies and principles?