This Once Great Movement Of Ours

[EastAnglianLefty]

Reading between the lines it sounds like her role was being downgraded to a non-Shadow Cabinet level and she chose to walk rather than accept that.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Although actually the surprising thing is that Smith's resignation is the first confirmation we've got of this - given that posts are usually confirmed in order of importance and that Smith's post is about as low down the list of prominence as you can get, that implies either:

• Very few people are being moved or
• Those being moved have gone weirdly quietly, especially as Rayner wasn't looped into discussions before the reshuffle started or
• It's being done in a bizarre order

[EastAnglianLefty]

I mean honestly there's no obvious reason why a deputy leader should have to sign off on reshuffles. It would be a lot easier if Corbyn had successfully deleted it from the rulebook, because it's either a meaningless role (Prescott's status came from his ability to mediate between Blair and Brown, not his position; Harman was irrelevant under both Brown and Miliband) or it's just a platform from which to plot.

[EastAnglianLefty]

https://twitter.com/AaronBastani/status/1466033275462467584?s=19
Why did this person have a media role ?

To be fair, I don't think he's ever been employed by Labour, unless working for the David Miliband leadership campaign counts.

At this point I think he's mostly kept around to make the rest of Novara look better by comparison.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Also the suggestion that Hastings (Labour-held 1997-2010, Tory majority has been below 5k since, local council Labour-held consistently since 2010) is somehow not going to be a target seat. I suspect they've confused it with Harlow, which is a sign of either gross incompetence or the background quote having been provided after 5 pints.

[EastAnglianLefty]

While I understand there are reservations about Wakeford, given his conservative voting record, I remain amazed by the ability of Labour factions to not only look a gifthorse in the mouth, but to demand the gifthorse be immediately turned into glue.

Between Momentum, Young Labour and Co, there seems to be a number of calls demanding Wakeford either resign, or face immediate deselection, within hours of his defection. Very Twitter-brain.

I understand even less the Tories (and some on the left) calling for an immediate by-election as some sort of own, as if the incumbent wouldn't win comfortably in current circumstances.

I do think it's the honourable thing to do and should probably be legislated to be mandatory.

It sounds good, but the practicalities of enforcing it haven't gone away.

I don't see what's impractical about it, parlimentary parties are legal bodies simply state members of such parties who contest the election under such a banner can have their office vacated if the party they contested under decides so.

We have it as a convention here in Singapore.

It would mean that Anne-Marie Morris, for example, could be deemed to have resigned when the Tory party decided to suspend the whip from her last week. even though there's no chance she'll defect.

There is a reason that Singapore has it as a convention but most liberal democracies do not.

[EastAnglianLefty]

A reminder that this "alliance" includes the Northern Independence Party - an outfit run by an online s***poster based in Brighton. After its launch last year, the very online left was full of dizzying stuff about how it would eviscerate Labour in its "Northern heartlands" in the same way the SNP had done in Scotland - and then at the Hartlepool byelection its candidate (a former Labour MP who has in the past few days been urging all left wing people to leave a party that currently appears to be poised to take actual power for the first time in years) came two votes ahead of a confirmed paedophile.

With such powerhouses behind it, how can this new project possibly fail?

It's even funnier: he's an academic anthropologist with a specialisation in the Middle East living in Brighton. You couldn't come up with a better parody.

As an added bonus, he claims that mocking him for this just proves his point because he had to move south to do his job. It's a somewhat unlikely claim on the face of it, given how many universities there are in northern England and how many of those have anthropology departments. However, it gets much funnier when you realise that his place of work is about 150 miles from his home, and that the former is actually closer to Stoke than it is to Brighton.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Left-wing is more of a vibe for this type than a meaningful ideological position.

[EastAnglianLefty]

I also enjoyed the criticism of Rayner for missing the NEC meeting. Because she was in Parliament. Calling for the PM to resign.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Having this hanging over the process is liable to make the next set of NEC elections even grumpier than usual.

[EastAnglianLefty]

https://twitter.com/YoungLabourUK/status/1493209454065631235
Young Labour has a great sense of timing.

This statement has been criticised by Scottish Young Labour and a number of local Young Labour groups. Labour youth politics has been a binfire for as long as there has been a youth wing (and it's been shut down on several occasions because of this) and the pattern looks set to continue for the foreseeable.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Young Labour have now had access to their Twitter account taken away. The usual suspects are calling it a vicious purge, but honestly it's just less embarrassing for all concerned this way.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Fairly clearly the leadership should have got the local CLP to quietly veto him joining and told him to try the Lib Dems instead - it's been obvious for a couple of years that this was going to happen sooner or later.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Seeing as it’s THIGMOO closest thing to an in house press what’s happened with the New Statesman lately?

I see they’ve lost ailbhe rea now who was a very good journalist (she was v good on Lib Dem politics too!) and comes after losing Stephen Bush- who is probably one of the best writers on THIGMOO in the Lobby.

I’ve not really liked Andrew Marr and haven’t felt his articles really added anything that any other man in his 50s who has covered politics for 20 years wouldn’t say.

I know the magazine does go through well ups and downs in how it’s ran…

The thing you have to remember is that Jason Cowley is a very bad editor. Much more interested in sports than politics and eager to be liked in the right circles. Sometimes that lack of interest means that good people are hired, sometimes that clueless clubbability means they hire whoever the Times has just fired and a bunch of journalists' idiot sons. What's happened is that we're drawing more from column B than column A at the moment.

[EastAnglianLefty]

A very funny article below including the gem of advice from Douglas Alexander. I very much doubt that such a ‘killer’ line would make any remote difference.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/21/quash-talk-of-a-labour-deal-with-snp-now-veteran-election-team-urges-starmer

My own instinct is that Labour can deal with the issue early by saying clearly in Scotland and across Britain that the way to get a Labour government is straightforward … vote for a Labour MP.

“It is perfectly possible to say, ‘The only coalition we are seeking is one with the voters. Labour will seek to deliver its manifesto and other parties will need to make their choice about whether to support us.’ Getting that clarity on the record works both as a campaign message and as a strategy for governing.”

This is all well and good, but it's generally best to ask people about their area of expertise. Has he got any advice on carrying Bono's bags?

[EastAnglianLefty]

Guardian piece today on the patchiness of British devolution, particularly in England.

Most notable is the speculation from Andy Burnham’s allies in Westminster that Harriet Harman could stand down early to open up a seat for Burnham if Starmer is forced to fall on his sword, thus permitting him (as a sitting MP) to run in the ensuing leadership race.

Any merit to this at all- or just wishcasting? My assumption is that Burnham would wait for a Manchester seat, rather than be parachuted into London of all places. But if Starmer has to go, would there be a sense of urgency that caused the party to take drastic action?

Why would Harman need to stand down when Tony Lloyd is clearly not going to be well enough to run again?

[EastAnglianLefty]

It's really quite noticeable that, at a time when so many of Labour's most obviously rising stars are women (some of whom I personally don't rate at all, but a lot of people do), people are most focused on a man who's still under 40 but acts like he'll die if he isn't promoted tomorrow and a man whose last leadership campaign put even David Miliband's effort to shame in terms of how spectacularly it imploded.

This is actually a very good point- unlike others Wes did not have to spend years as junior minister for shipping or some other pointless role. He was promoted very quickly and has been given imo one of the most important jobs for a Labour Government- the only time I see him talking about his brief it’s with a touch of self promotion.

I suspect he was given Health because of Omincrom and the need for someone who could handle h the endless media.

Andy Burnham to his credit seemed to love being Shadow Health Secretary.

I misread this as junior minister for sh**tposting and did a double-take.

Yeah, everybody knows that's a cabinet role.

[EastAnglianLefty]

It's Neal Lawson, who was a joke a decade ago and has only got less relevant ever since.

[EastAnglianLefty]

I remember a time when the silly season was only supposed to be three weeks long, and happened because most senior journalists were on holiday. Nowadays that's the only time we tend to get substantive news coverage.

[EastAnglianLefty]

He's pretty clearly had a telling off. But, as I've said before, I think the assumption that senior frontbenchers will automatically know the line to take during media appearances because 'surely it's obvious' that we still sometimes see is something that needs to go.

Of course, when it finally does we'll no doubt gets months of anonymous leaks about control-freakery.

[EastAnglianLefty]

He claims it's because he represents a marginal seat and needs to spend more time working there. The initial proposed boundary changes make his seat a fair bit safer.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Though I think the assumption that this was a stitch-up in favour of the former MEP is mistaken, because MEPs tend not to be widely known outside their actual home area and local GPs tend to be fairly popular candidates with selectorates. It should instead be viewed as a stitch-up against a candidate.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Worth noting ofc the author of said blog was successfully sued for libel.

I wonder if the noise from Squawkbox is related to a story that dropped in the Mail+ this evening. They are reporting that one of the two students who took the original video (of Starmer drinking beer) agreed to testify in court, if any fines were issued.

It’s unclear whether this is just the kid publicly repeating his response to a routine call for cooperation during his interview with Durham Police, or a sign of something more serious, because it’s the Mail, and they’re reporting it in the one-sided way you’d expect them too.

I know it’s the Mail, and this probably nothing. But I’m just paranoid Durham Police are going to do something incoherent, and politically motivated next week. If Starmer goes, he goes. But I hate the idea that this all happened because the MP for North West Durham applied political pressure to investigate, especially after the Constabulary turned a blind eye to Dominic Cummings after the Barnard Castle incident.

A reporter for the BBC made the good observation that it is usual practice when submitting a witness statement to say whether you'd be willing testify in court.

And yes- this is the particularly sickening part but don't give him too much credit alone- CCHQ have boasted that they were responsible for the operation. He ofc use to work for them too.

Also worth noting that one of the students who took the video is James Delingpole's kid. If the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree, you could make some observations about the likely performance of such a witness on the stand...

[EastAnglianLefty]

I look forward to care person personally campaigning in North West Durham.

On current polls I wouldn’t bother, he’s toast.

Given his silence on a spate of nasty crime related stories in his constituency over the past year I wonder if he even runs again there: he seems to have little interest in actually representing the place.

What rules do the Tories have on rat-running? Too early to think about it now, but if the polls look like they do now after Christmas, people are going to start considering it.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Duffield might face problems too - she mostly uses her public platform for transphobia, has a bad relationship with a lot of people in the CLP and she's rumoured not to be particularly active in the constituency. That said, the trigger ballot there is being run by wards rather than branches, some of the wards are rather small and this will make it harder for those wards to run a quorate ballot (and if it's inquorate then it's effectively a vote against holding a full re-selection.)