This Once Great Movement Of Ours

[TheTide]

Are we allowed to make Neil Kinnock jokes about this?

Let's hire a taxi...

[CumbrianLefty]

The sight of left wing s***posters rushing to canonise classic machine politician Anderson

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The sight of left wing s***posters rushing to canonise classic machine politician Anderson

Who had recently been developing increasingly warm relations with the government, even allowing them to use his administration as a contrast with That Nasty Man Burnham without a murmur.

[Blair]

And it was well known wasn't it that Unite & the Labour left stopped him from getting a seat- he kicked up a very big fuss about it in 2017, especially after the left ran Steve Rotherham, who was pretty much a backbencher.

If its even possible where did Anderson actually sit on the Labour factional spectrum?

[Blair]

The sight of left wing s***posters rushing to canonise classic machine politician Anderson

Joined by Andrew Adonis of all people- who claimed that it shows that Keir Starmer isn't trusted to run the country somehow

It does seem the most questionable people in the Labour Party all seem to come from the private office of either Blair or Brown... Woodcock, Austin, Dugher, McFadden, Adonis....

https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1375022746116194305

[Blair]

Thelma Walker, formerly PPS to Mac the Knife, is running for the Northern Independence Party... she quit the party over JC losing the whip but this is a bigger step!

[EastAnglianLefty]

Though if she does get the nod, it reduces the already small chances of the NIP being a meaningful factor in the by-election - Hartlepool might be willing to vote for a monkey, but it isn't going to vote for a woman from west Yorkshire.

[CumbrianLefty]

The sight of left wing s***posters rushing to canonise classic machine politician Anderson

Joined by Andrew Adonis of all people- who claimed that it shows that Keir Starmer isn't trusted to run the country somehow

It does seem the most questionable people in the Labour Party all seem to come from the private office of either Blair or Brown... Woodcock, Austin, Dugher, McFadden, Adonis....

https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1375022746116194305

Following his utterly abject "Alba" gaffe, Ren-tool really should be forcibly retired.

[Blair]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/starmer-to-axe-shadow-chancellor-anneliese-dodds-after-labour-poll-slump-n55z62dkg

Is it really a Sunday if there isn’t an aggressive article in the Times about Labour?

No great surprise though- Dodds has no particular base in the PLP, isn’t beloved by political journalists  and has a pretty impossible job.

Yet another article referring to the ‘big beasts’ of Benn and Cooper being sounded out... a shadow cabinet with them in it needs a lot of changing to get them the roles they’d expect (and the egos one of them would bring)

Also mentions Jess Phillips for promotion... which is baffling as she’s actually in a role that suits her professional experience (to non anoraks she is the shadow domestic violence minister and previously worked for a charity that deals with this)

It was always my guess that Dodds was picked by Starmer for party management reasons.

He wanted someone who he could trust and who who was seen as a relative olive branch to the left; Which ruled out Rachel Reeves and he was under pressure to pick a women... which ruled out Ed Miliband (and that choice would have triggered a lot of ‘sensible’ journalists)

[CumbrianLefty]

No evidence that this is anything other than Fat McPadden on manoevres again. The utterly ludicrous, almost deranged, comment that SKS has "appeased the hard left" is a massive red flag there.

And tbh my take is slightly different - Dodds is who Starmer genuinely wanted. The right wing were trying to foist Reeves on him, and to his credit he resisted that.

Whilst we are at it, why this fetishisation of both Benn and Cooper by so many lobby types? They had prominent positions under Ed M - its fair to say that neither pulled up many trees in that time.

[cp]

We'd all be better off if people ignored these glorified gossip columns the Times (and other outlets) produce.

As for Dodds, it seems sort of moot what faction the Shadow Chancellor comes from so long as the leader(ship) is going to be so timid when it comes to policy.

[CumbrianLefty]

The past year has made it unusually difficult for opposition politicians to make an impression tbf.

But yeah, people complain that (eg) Dodds hasn't "made an impact" when they often very deliberately have been given precious little to say.

[Blair]

No evidence that this is anything other than Fat McPadden on manoevres again. The utterly ludicrous, almost deranged, comment that SKS has "appeased the hard left" is a massive red flag there.

And tbh my take is slightly different - Dodds is who Starmer genuinely wanted. The right wing were trying to foist Reeves on him, and to his credit he resisted that.

Whilst we are at it, why this fetishisation of both Benn and Cooper by so many lobby types? They had prominent positions under Ed M - its fair to say that neither pulled up many trees in that time.

I honestly think it's because they want one story about 'Labour make big changes'... but much like sacking Dodds there's a good chance you do it & nothing really would change.

I don't even know though- I think in both cases it might just be a hang up from the anti-Corbyn years/remainiac tendency. In Coopers case there's certainly a rather wishful thinking from Lobby types that pointed questions at a committee hearing or at Home Office Questions will make a difference- yes Yvette is good at that, but the Home Office has always been an easy punching bag!

Both re-branded themselves significantly in the Brexit era too & people are lazy- it took about 2-3 years after Corbyns victory for people on the right to realise that there were better candidates for replacing him than Chuka, Yvette and David Miliband. 

There was also this exact same tendency in the Miliband years to say that he needed to bring back Darling, Alan Johnson and other ex-new Labour ministers because the then shadow cabinet (made up of Cooper & Benn) was lacking.

I actually think the that the current shadow cabinet is largely quite good... when you consider how hollowed out the PLP is.

[Blair]

I hadn't seen the Observer article which was even more stupid... one of Labours flaws was apparently allowing Ed Miliband to put forward a policy for green cars when he didn't own one himself!

Are people really this dense in the PLP?

[CumbrianLefty]

I hadn't seen the Observer article which was even more stupid... one of Labours flaws was apparently allowing Ed Miliband to put forward a policy for green cars when he didn't own one himself!

Are people really this dense in the PLP?

Um......yes??

Especially when it comes to right wingers factionally s***-stirring.

Anyhoo, it appears that Dodds has the dreaded "vote of confidence" from Starmer now.

[Blair]

UNITE General Secretary Election is now back on... I think I read to expect a result in Autumn.

There appear to be 3 candidates from the UNITE left and one from the right... who did rather well last time. It’s a FPP election I think and would be peak Labour if Coyne won because of a year old row over a virtual meeting.

[CumbrianLefty]

Turner deserves to win the most, Beckett the least. But yeah, Coyne is also not great.

[Blair]

A rather friendly write up, all things considered.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/year-of-keir-part-1-jittery-mps-politics-and-passion_uk_606654ccc5b6aa24bc60a48d

You call up and he’s basically managing you on the call and he sort of thinks he’s really smart and you haven’t clocked that he’s just managing. Obviously, we’re ing politicians so we know when we are being managed.

This was my favourite line, partly because every Barrister thinks they're much smarter than everyone else & frankly Starmer is smarter than most of the Labour right!

[CumbrianLefty]

Slight embarrassment for Charlotte Nichols, a Labour front bencher on the Equalities team, after she made it obvious she hadn't actually read the party's leaflets that she was delivering.

[Blair]

I'm aware I do this every weekend but there's yet more briefing in the Times against Keir. A favourite line of mine...

''One shadow minister complained that 'it can sometimes feel like we're his paralegals', while another said of his team: 'they think they understand the red wall, when really all they understand is Westminster game-playing and a couple of postcodes in Camden.''

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-year-on-keir-starmer-is-feeling-the-strain-s5scj8mnm

If you believe the above why on earth are you on the frontbench? A bit ironic to complain about Westminster game playing while providing an off the record quote to the Times... at least we don't get 'senior labour source' anymore.

I'm aware it's rather ironic as I'm probably at the same stage that many on the left were after the constant sniping (and this is a lot more low level) but I really don't understand the strategy of these people?

If Keir gets hit by a bus do they really think there is someone from their faction in the PLP who can A.) Win the Leadership B.) Outperform Keir

The Labour party really does make my head hurt at times- there was a great quote saying that Keir needed someone like Karie Murphy (Corbyns former chief of staff) who was praised as 'tough' in said quote- when Labour MPs spent years saying she was awful, was ruining the party & was the reason we were doing so badly?

The Harold Wilson quote about the coach really was true wasn't it...


 

[Blair]

In Kremlinology news the article is quite interesting in showing the divides among the party; with claims that a lot of the briefing against Dodds is coming from MPs who backed Lisa Nandy.*  This would make partial sense as the two names both briefed to replace Dodds were Nandy & Rachel Reeves.

There was also some new reporting of tension between Rayner & Starmer; the biggest surprise for me over the last year has been how quite Rayner has been & how willing she was to go along (at least in public) with some of the calls made by Keir. While some will obviously put this down to her own politics I do wonder if it's because she is actually just relatively loyal?

There were some gripes in the article about her not getting a shadow job (I wanted her to have one) but she has been quite good in her internal role & frankly Labour does need someone whose sole job is to keep the activists happy.


*The group of MPs that backed Nandy in 2020 is actually much smaller than the larger tendency in the party; a lot of people backed Keir because he was going to win & was the best chance to beat the left.

[cp]

I'm aware I do this every weekend but there's yet more briefing in the Times against Keir. A favourite line of mine...

''One shadow minister complained that 'it can sometimes feel like we're his paralegals', while another said of his team: 'they think they understand the red wall, when really all they understand is Westminster game-playing and a couple of postcodes in Camden.''

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-year-on-keir-starmer-is-feeling-the-strain-s5scj8mnm

If you believe the above why on earth are you on the frontbench? A bit ironic to complain about Westminster game playing while providing an off the record quote to the Times... at least we don't get 'senior labour source' anymore.

I'm aware it's rather ironic as I'm probably at the same stage that many on the left were after the constant sniping (and this is a lot more low level) but I really don't understand the strategy of these people?

If Keir gets hit by a bus do they really think there is someone from their faction in the PLP who can A.) Win the Leadership B.) Outperform Keir

The Labour party really does make my head hurt at times- there was a great quote saying that Keir needed someone like Karie Murphy (Corbyns former chief of staff) who was praised as 'tough' in said quote- when Labour MPs spent years saying she was awful, was ruining the party & was the reason we were doing so badly?

The Harold Wilson quote about the coach really was true wasn't it...

Starmer getting a snippy review in an off the record gossip column from a hostile paper is in no way the 'same stage' as successfully facing down a pointless petulant leadership coup. The fact that Starmer's hacks are so thin-skinned about this sort of gentle ribbing is, if anything, indicative of just how much less political nous they possess than they think they do. After all, we're supposed to be 20 points ahead, right?

To answer your question, Clive Lewis would be a great leader for the party: properly on the left, great personal history, and unbeholden to the New Labour ghouls Starmer seems to love. I'd also love Zarah Sultana, but she's 10 years too young to be taken seriously as a leadership candidate (condescending though that prejudice is).

[Blair]

I did say that it's much more low level!

[Farmlands]

Starmer getting a snippy review in an off the record gossip column from a hostile paper is in no way the 'same stage' as successfully facing down a pointless petulant leadership coup. The fact that Starmer's hacks are so thin-skinned about this sort of gentle ribbing is, if anything, indicative of just how much less political nous they possess than they think they do. After all, we're supposed to be 20 points ahead, right?

Labour Party infighting and the minority lane discarding putting a stop to it because they had it worse sometime in the past. Name a more iconic duo. I can say this certainly doesn't help Starmer to get "20 points ahead".

[CumbrianLefty]

In Kremlinology news the article is quite interesting in showing the divides among the party; with claims that a lot of the briefing against Dodds is coming from MPs who backed Lisa Nandy.*  This would make partial sense as the two names both briefed to replace Dodds were Nandy & Rachel Reeves.

There was also some new reporting of tension between Rayner & Starmer; the biggest surprise for me over the last year has been how quite Rayner has been & how willing she was to go along (at least in public) with some of the calls made by Keir. While some will obviously put this down to her own politics I do wonder if it's because she is actually just relatively loyal?

There were some gripes in the article about her not getting a shadow job (I wanted her to have one) but she has been quite good in her internal role & frankly Labour does need someone whose sole job is to keep the activists happy.


*The group of MPs that backed Nandy in 2020 is actually much smaller than the larger tendency in the party; a lot of people backed Keir because he was going to win & was the best chance to beat the left.

I thought it fairly common knowledge that she wasn't happy with her best mate being sacked from the SC? (she famously went on "Twitter strike" for several days afterwards)