This Once Great Movement Of Ours

[Blair]

Yes, whilst the leadership might not actually *seek* to get a left winger in they might not actively try to prevent it given the circumstances. One mischievous suggestion has been Owen Jones btw

Ironically I remember reading he was offered or encouraged to get a seat in the Miliband era- I think it actually could have been a very wise move. We don't have enough journalists anymore on the Labour benches- even if I've obviously disagreed with him over various things.

[CumbrianLefty]

Rumours about him and Stockport before the last GE as well.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Yes, whilst the leadership might not actually *seek* to get a left winger in they might not actively try to prevent it given the circumstances. One mischievous suggestion has been Owen Jones btw

Ironically I remember reading he was offered or encouraged to get a seat in the Miliband era- I think it actually could have been a very wise move. We don't have enough journalists anymore on the Labour benches- even if I've obviously disagreed with him over various things.

Really, you think he'd be a good recruit for labour ? Doesn't the party have enough twitter clout chasers

[Cassius]

Jones is a member in good standing of the Naidraug’s terrible troika of trite opinion columnists (alongside the very different but equally reliable trite Polly Toynbee and Simon Jenkins). Mind you, it does only have one good semi-regular columnist (Larry Elliott) so there’s plenty of competition on that front.

[CumbrianLefty]

Colour me shocked that you are a fan of Larry the Lexiteer

[Blair]

Yes, whilst the leadership might not actually *seek* to get a left winger in they might not actively try to prevent it given the circumstances. One mischievous suggestion has been Owen Jones btw

Ironically I remember reading he was offered or encouraged to get a seat in the Miliband era- I think it actually could have been a very wise move. We don't have enough journalists anymore on the Labour benches- even if I've obviously disagreed with him over various things.

Really, you think he'd be a good recruit for labour ? Doesn't the party have enough twitter clout chasers

He was different before 2015- the Corbyn years and errr various different events since then have very much changed his brand.

The party is a coalition and I think a lot of people on the left would agree he’d be is better than some of the campaign group lot who got in during 2015, 17 and 19.

[CumbrianLefty]

There is another piece on the Leigh Drennan business this morning - suggesting that what it is really about is people in the Starmer camp trying to marginalise Rayner.

Can't see how that could possibly boomerang on them, no sirree.

[Blair]

On a wider topic I’ve been surprised how few union officials seem to have been selected; in 2015 UNITE and Unison did very well and GMB seem to have had a long run of getting their political officers in.

In this case I think Leigh had all of the big 5.

Ironically CN was very angry about the move which errr led some people to remind her that her own selection was hardly without controversy but that’s the nature of our movement…

[Coldstream]

There are few people less suited to Parliament than Owen Jones, I’d take Corbyn back over him.

[CumbrianLefty]

Ironically CN was very angry about the move which errr led some people to remind her that her own selection was hardly without controversy but that’s the nature of our movement…

A lot of the 2019 selections were a bit of a car crash procedurally.

[EastAnglianLefty]

And became even more of a pile-up as time went on, because a number of the more conventionally stacked shortlists either failed to produce the intended result or almost did, so the various actors had to take more aggressive measures to get their chosen candidates in.

[Torrain]

Is there a Corbyn-McDonnell split going on?

Hard to read this editorial without assuming that he's making a rather unsubtle point at the expense of Corbyn and Stop the War. He explicitly calls for arms to be sent to Ukraine, and refutes some of the major STW talking points.

Others have argued that sending more arms risks escalating the war.

It is true that the arms that are sent are certain to be used.

However, for Ukraine this is a defensive war and the arms argued for are for defence.

What is certain is that a refusal to provide the weapons the Ukrainians need to defend themselves means that the chances of the Russian invasion succeeding are significantly increased.

There would be a peace secured but it would be an unstable peace imposed by the Russian occupying force.

In the meantime, with no acknowledgement by Putin of even consideration of a ceasefire and with a build-up of Russian troops and weapons and the return of missile fire over Kyiv, the Ukrainians need the weapons to defend themselves against renewed attack, if only to secure the breathing space for talks to start.

(Weird formatting is McDonnell's, not mine)

[Blair]

There is yes but this isn’t a new one- John Mac was one of those who was pushing for a tougher line after Salisbury and he ofc fell out with JC and his office over A/S.

I don’t know enough about his background on this issue though- of course he’s on the campaign group left but he’s never really been someone who sees themselves as a foreign policy obsessive.

[Blair]

In Union news the UCU have managed to become the only trade union to bungle their industrial action… no surprise to those who follow their weird internal politics.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

If I speak I'm in big trouble.

[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).

[Coldstream]

Not sure how likely it is, or even if she’s remotely interested, but I sincerely hope Luciana returns as a Labour MP at the next election.

[CumbrianLefty]

Already talk she may stand in Islington North (though I would be wary of that personally)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Already talk she may stand in Islington North (I would be wary of that personally)

She's now flatly ruled this out. About running elsewhere, she's said she's not ruling it out, but isn't absolutely set on it: seems to be no more than a 'maybe'.

[TheTide]

Putting aside actual Nazis, fascists and Stalinists, I can't think of an uglier prospect than Berger vs. Corbyn in a constituency contest. Thank God that this has now apparently been ruled out.       

[Coldstream]

Already talk she may stand in Islington North (though I would be wary of that personally)

No serious person thinks this is a good idea. She deserves better.

If they want an ex MP to take a golf club to Corbyn & Corbynism it’ll be Mary Creagh.

[GoTfan]

Once upon a time I liked Corbyn, but he's really lost me over everything since. Dude, the mess occurred on your watch, so own up to it. More than that, I simply cannot countenance anyone who doesn't support sending Ukraine anything that can be spared.

Honestly, if i were in UK Labour and affiliated with the left, I'd be more looking to John McDonnell again.

There is yes but this isn’t a new one- John Mac was one of those who was pushing for a tougher line after Salisbury and he ofc fell out with JC and his office over A/S.

I don’t know enough about his background on this issue though- of course he’s on the campaign group left but he’s never really been someone who sees themselves as a foreign policy obsessive.

There is a strange split going on in the European and British left at the moment. Some are being the standard tankies about it like George Galloway, while others, including Slavoj Zizek, are arguing for full support to be given to Ukraine.

I do agree with the idea that this will only end with a negotiated ceasefire, but the difference is what Blinken said: If the Russians lay down their arms, the war ends; if Ukraine lays down their arms, Ukraine ends.

McDonnell seems to understand that. To take Corbyn and STW charitably, they're being overly idealistic or are justifiably terrified of nuclear weapons. Uncharitably, they either don't care or want Russia to win because of Western imperialism-which is a definite problem, but I fail to see how Russian imperialism is any better. One can oppose Russia's war of aggression just as one can also criticise the West for some poorly-thought out foreign policy decisions.

[CumbrianLefty]

Already talk she may stand in Islington North (though I would be wary of that personally)

No serious person thinks this is a good idea. She deserves better.

If they want an ex MP to take a golf club to Corbyn & Corbynism it’ll be Mary Creagh.

She is already sniffing round Coventry (her home town)

[Coldstream]

Very surprised to read here that Angela Smith rejoined last year.

I can see Gapes, Coffey & Ryan coming back but the rest seem happier outside - particularly Austin.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/luciana-bergers-return-to-labour-clears-the-path-for-others-to-rejoin-cnhq8dzzj

[Filuwaúrdjan]

An interesting thing about the Labour Party (and one that tends to be missed by a lot of people) is that unless a substantial change in views either around the time of the defection or later has taken place, most MPs who leave the Party either return to it or obviously wish that doing so were possible. The proportion of SDP defectors who returned is higher than widely realized (and would likely have been higher still had more survived into the 1990s), for instance, and then we have cases like Bob Mellish, who (if Tam Dalyell's obituary of him is accurate on this point, and there's no reason to believe otherwise) was incredibly miserable in old age as he wasn't able to face the act of rejoining as he was in the Lords and would have done so otherwise. And we're already seeing that in this case: those that have more-or-less the views they always did and don't face any extra obstacles (and it probably remains the case that being in the Lords is one, as rejoining would entail another physical floor-crossing, but back to a group where not everyone will necessarily be pleased to see you) have either rejoined or are gearing themselves up to doing so, but those for whom defection either crystalized (or was the culmination of a longer period of) a substantial shift in attitudes, obviously, won't.