This Once Great Movement Of Ours

[JimJamUK]

Rachel Wearmouth is one of the new people at the Staggers, isn't she?

Known as "Keirmouth" by some of her leftist detractors.

Wasn’t she the one who claimed that Labour were closing in on the Tories in North Shropshire with the Lib Dems dead in the water?

[JimJamUK]

Regardless of whether you agree with Brown, I’m not sure sending out the guy that most people (wrongly) blame for the last financial crisis will do any good for Labour’s reputation on the economy.

[JimJamUK]

Regardless of whether you agree with Brown, I’m not sure sending out the guy that most people (wrongly) blame for the last financial crisis will do any good for Labour’s reputation on the economy.

Brown is actually the most popular living former PM right now....

Oh he’s relatively popular (only -4% earlier this year, there’s not much competition), but I’m not sure he’s the right guy to speak on these issues (Labour’s enduring problem since Brown’s premiership is that the public think they will spend too much money and can’t manage the economy properly).

[JimJamUK]

Oops… (Survation claims it was from a 2020 deputy leadership template) https://twitter.com/hzeffman/status/1560601301183959041?s=21&t=3FmvO9jtbDeyG...

[JimJamUK]

Judging by the comments a lot of people are only just discovering the ‘Never kissed a Tory’ shirt. The response is a mix of people saying she’s far left/unelectable or people looking to be offended.

https://twitter.com/lucympowell/status/1563470492522098688?s=21&t=BqIs5YWGNq...

[JimJamUK]

NEC results out.

In the CLP section 4 to LTW, 3 to Momentum, 1 for CLPD and 1 Anne Black.

Previously suspended member of Jewish Voice for Labour, Momentum withdraw her from their slate earlier this year. Even by the standards of the Labour NEC, she’s pretty bad.

[JimJamUK]

He's gonna go out swinging... whip suspension incoming:

https://twitter.com/rewearmouth/status/1579592779139014656

Beware trusting 'Labour sources', they are absolute factional BS'ers (and the journalist in your tweet is not one with the most honest sources eg; she claimed Labour canvassing showed them competitive with the Tories while the Lib Dems were falling back in North Shropshire, not exactly the most accurate prediction).

[JimJamUK]

The main thing against her now may be her age (mid 60s) plus recent treatment for cancer.

Let’s not forget she’s also a bit of a loose cannon eg; comments calling Conservative Shaun Bailey a “token ghetto boy” as well as mocking Prince Harry’s military career.

[JimJamUK]

The easiest option was to gracefully accept defeat and use his left wing credibility to seek Islington North. Hard to see the leadership not actively opposing his election elsewhere now.

[JimJamUK]

Angela Rayner seems to have gotten a recurring spot on This Morning these days, which is good news for Labour as she comes across well to their fairly apolitical audience. Ex Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik was also on today and came across as fairly odious with his whataboutery attacks on Rayner.

[JimJamUK]

Another Michael Crick piece on Labour candidate selection. Probably a bit charitable to the Labour Left (some of the blocked candidates were not exactly spotless) but the quoted Labour Right figures don’t come across as very sympathetic either.

https://unherd.com/2022/12/starmers-ruthless-attack-on-the-left/

[JimJamUK]

Its the 2014 Euro election campaign (if it can even be described as such) that rankles most with me. In some ways a dry run for Labour's nemesis in Scotland a few months later.

What was particularly bad about it (it’s just before my time and all I can remember is that there wasn’t really a Labour campaign)?

[JimJamUK]

Luciana Berger has rejoined the Labour Party. She was one of the Labour MPs who quit the party to found The Independent Group for Change, and as a Jewish MP had been on the receiving end of vile abuse and she was the one other Labour MPs were saddest to see go. She came a strong 2nd in Finchley + Golders Green constituency at the 2019 election as the Liberal Democrat candidate (she clearly had a significant personal vote), so any hope the Lib Dems had of seriously positioning themselves as the credible anti-Conservative choice in the constituency is gone (they were barely relevant in the 2022 council elections and won no seats, so they weren’t going to win next time anyways).

[JimJamUK]

Welcome to THIGMOO sue.

I don’t think hiring the person who authored a controversial report on the prime minister’s behaviour is a good idea…

[JimJamUK]

Mass deselections and resignations in Leicester, with one of the deselectees announcing a run as an Independent for the elected Mayor position.

It was already shaping up to be a relatively disappointing result for Labour (by-elections have been dire, attributed to racial tensions, the Hindu vote moving rightwards and issues around a former MP), but it’s looking increasingly likely it will be more than ‘relatively bad’ (Labour’s saving grace may be a split opposition vote).

[JimJamUK]

Speaking of which:

https://twitter.com/jaheale/status/1645077396436000780?s=61&t=I1DE8_cg7gmZrc...

[JimJamUK]

Random observation - It’s surprising how little discussion there has been within Labour about setting illegal council budgets. There were a few instances during the Miliband era where a random Labour councillor advocated doing so, but otherwise it’s been pretty much completely absent from the discussion. Given the poor and ever deteriorating state of council services you would think it would have been raised by at least a few more ‘cranks’, either under Corbyn’s leadership where this sort of idea could have got a bit of traction, or under Starmer leadership where some disgruntled Corbynistas could have supported it on their way out. Any guesses why this has not happened?

[JimJamUK]

It’s the anniversary of John Smith’s passing.

A remarkable man- probably the most beloved figure from the right of the party among people of a certain age.

Always wondered how his Government would have ended up.

My dad, a vaguely left of Labour voter, speaks highly of him and wishes he had become prime minister instead of Blair (though even he has started to speak more positively of Blair, such is the nostalgia for a time when things were mostly going well, particularly for public services).

[JimJamUK]

Even on this years local elections, Spen Valley is narrowly notionally Conservative. In reality, I think it would have narrowly voted Labour if a general election was held today, but it’s certainly a tough seat for her to hold.

[JimJamUK]

A very sus Labour candidate.

https://twitter.com/tomorrowsmps/status/1662047292487024641?s=61&t=I1DE8_cg7...

[JimJamUK]

The South Wales contest is for Merthyr Tydfil and Upper Cynon and is between Gerald Jones and Beth Winter. This is an ultra-safe seat in the Upper Valleys. Jones has been the MP for Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney since 2015 and is a Shadow Welsh Office Minister. He represents about 60% of the new seat, although he himself lives in the Rhymney Valley bit of his seat that goes in with Blaenau Gwent inseat.

Winter was first elected in 2019. She represents about 40% of the new seat, so is presumably at a numerical disadvantage unless there are a lot more Labour members round Aberdare than round Merthyr.

To add, the rest of her constituency goes into Pontypridd where she would be outnumbered 2-1 by the territory from the existing Pontypridd constituency which also has an incumbent re-standing, so there was no easier option like McGovern may now have in Wirral West.

[JimJamUK]

Two of our leading ‘liberal centrist’ commentators seem to believe that David Miliband losing the 2010 Labour leadership contest caused Trump to be elected president.

https://twitter.com/lbc/status/1662133999811145729?s=61&t=I1DE8_cg7gmZrchgst...

[JimJamUK]

I try to have the rather reductive view that most CLP people have the same voting habits as people you meet on the doorstep e.g strange! I know someone who didn’t vote for YC because of what Ed did 100 years ago over Baby P and I know someone who was a Starmer/Burgon voter in 2020 because they thought Keir would win over the right wing press and Burgon was a ‘decent guy’.

By way of example, in the 2020 Labour deputy leadership election there were 3 candidates left when the 65000 votes from hard right Ian Murray were transferred. Despite the presence of 2 much more popular mainstream candidates, 4000 of them actively chose to preference hard left Richard Burgon. People are just weird, and it’s not just a rounding error share of them.

[JimJamUK]

The GMB and Unite unions are kicking up a fuss about Labour’s plan to ban new oil and gas developments. The former isn’t too surprising (they are the only people outside right wing think tanks who think fracking has a political future), but having Sharon Graham call for Labour to moderate its policy is indicative that Starmer may have overstepped the mark.

[JimJamUK]

Troughton has pulled out in a bit of a huff (see Michael Crick's Tomorrow's MPs Twitter feed). This reduces the shortlist to three, Markus Campbell-Savours, son of the former MP and I presume the favourite, Thomas Docherty, former MP for Dunfermline & West Fife, and Josh MacAlister.

Apparently it’s wrong to have no ‘BME’ candidates in 99% white Copeland…