The bloke even [s]puts his family before[/s] [b]knows it is a hospital pass and paused[/b] his political ambition, what a man.
aracer - MemberI reckon I might trust him to do a better job of putting NS in her place if Labour needed the support of the SNP to govern.
Is this trust based on something tangible, or is just a hunch on your part ?
Tony Blair's and Gordon Brown's number one 'yes man' has never struck me with having any remarkable qualities much beyond being an excellent 'yes man'. Which presumably explains his hugely successful ministerial career accumulating in the post of Foreign Secretary. In comparison of course to Robin Cook the 'no' or 'not so quick man' whose ministerial career came to an abrupt end at the post of Foreign Secretary.
Assuming of course that putting Nicola Sturgeon "in her place" would be a vital requirement for any Labour PM which required "the support of the SNP to govern", as you tell us.
I would be very interested if you could explain what this greater trust in David Miliband to be a hard no man might be based on.
The bloke even knows it is a hospital pass and paused his political ambition, what a man.
How very cynical.
Classic risk of focusing on the messanger rather than the message
John Reid nailed it the other day when he said that labour had been on the wrong side of public opinion on every issue that mattered, the economy, wealth creation vs distribution, immigration, EU referendum, etc.
The left wing bubble did the most damage there - the policies formulated by those living inside the bubble did not reflect public opinion, rather what the bubble thought public opinion ought to be - Blair knew this, that the party had to appeal to a broad church, not just its traditional supporters, that it had to be aspirational and lay out what it stood for, rather than what it stood againt.
he also knew the essential truth, that you can't do f*** all unless you win elections.
jambalaya - MemberThe election proved that the more left leaning Ed was the wrong choice.
The election proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that Labour got completely hammered in Scotland because unlike England the Scots had an electorally credible party which fought very vocally on policies to the left of the Labour Party.
Ed Miliband was only "left leaning" in that he wasn't quite as right-wing as his brother David. But the difference was very minimal, there certainly wasn't a huge gulf between them - Ed Miliband was almost as right-wing as his brother.
How very cynical
not really, who would want to be the Labour version of Haig?
better to wait 10 years
the policies formulated by those living inside the bubble did not reflect public opinion, rather what the bubble thought public opinion ought to be
Indeed. Which is precisely why the SNP did so remarkably well in Scotland.
In fact so well that Labour, the Conservatives, and the LibDems, were all reduced to just one seat each.
jambalaya - MemberThe election proved that the more left leaning Ed was the wrong choice.
Ed was certainly the wrong choice. But not because he's left leaning; because he wasn't very good. I think a lot of people will try to extend this into "you can't be a left leaning Labour leader and win", unsurprisingly most of them will be rightwingers. But he got within 6% of the tories despite being a) a little bit more left wing than some would like and b) pretty bad, at the head of a pretty bad campaign.
So I don't think it's too crazy to suggest that a better leader at the head of a better campaign could do better with left-leaning policies.
It's like watching a pub team trying to play tiki-taka and then saying "Well that didn't work- therefore Barcelona should switch to hoofing it up the pitch and hoping there's someone at the other end"
And always entertaining to hear about how Blair made Labour electable; John Smith (and John Major) did that and would have walked the ball into an empty goalmouth if he'd lived. Then, who knows. But the Blair myth is absurd.
Funny, I remember Livingstone saying much the same in 92, that they lost because "the whole party has moved too far to the right" "too frightened to challenge vested interests" that (John Smiths) shadow budget didn't tax the rich enough...
So it's not going to be the other Mili next, but maybe the one after that following a caretaker leader. At least that's the usual interpretation of what he says here:
I'm clearly not a candidate in this leadership election…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32697212
Yeah it's been a while since the Labour Party had a leader who wasn't an MP. It's against the rules too I believe.
David Miliband said there was "absolutely no point in blaming the electorate" for the election result.
"They didn't want what was being offered,
Tend to agree with that. It sums ups Eds failure. Your policies have to appeal to the majority of voters. A lesson I hope the next leader takes on board.
Its not even that broad as it needs to appeal to the minority of voters who will jump ship between parties.
THM has no political allegiance perhaps we should ask him what would make him vote labour 😉
Thanks for the post @arcer. Yes impossible for a non MP to be leader of the Labour Party. I can't see how he'll be back, he has to win a by-election first and unless a Labour candidate stands down for him how can he know when he'll be back and only when he's back and elected can he stand. I think he's done and dusted with front line politics much like Portillo.
Your policies have to appeal to the majority of voters.
Not at all, as the Tories have discovered to their delight.
Wow Naz Shah's story/journey to becoming an MP was hard
For what it's worth, David Miliband is the rudest man I have ever met in 14 years in politics. Today he's shown he is also the least classy.
Quote from Tim Shipman, Sunday Times political correspondent
Labour have form in selecting leaders incapable of winning a General Election, and long may it continue 🙂
Today he's shown he is also the least classy.
Well that's all very intriguing but what faux pas did our Dave commit? Avocado and salad cream? Socks and saddles? Cabernet Sauvignon with baked sea bass? What exactly?
Labour have form in selecting leaders incapable of winning a General Election
You are presumably unaware that the Tory Party's three previous leaders were all incapable of winning a General Election.
This muddled thinking probably helps to explain why you support the Tories.
This I imagine
Well presumably I lack class then too, because I can't see how that article explains why David Miliband is the least classy man that Tim Shipman has met in 14 years in politics.
Me neither ernie - I can only presume it's because he's being rude about his own brother, but does that mean it's less classy to say the same as everybody else is about somebody just because he's your brother? Given the owner of the newspaper he writes for, I do wonder whether it's an attempt to knock him and MRDA.
Well I must have missed the bit where he was rude about his brother, all I saw was that he expressed not exactly the same opinion as his brother. I thought he was actually quite nice about his brother.
Seems perfectly reasonable for David to point out that in his view a more centerist / Blair-ite Labour party would have done better. Ed and and the Unions went against the membership and the MPs and delivered a stunning loss, pointing that out doesn't mean you have no class.
I can only presume it's because he's being rude about his own brother
You definitely dont want to hear me talk about mine if you think that was rude
I thought he was fairly positive about his brother and tried to criticise the party rather than him directly
It seems like the more of the same negative stuff from the tories and the RW press such as Red, ed, his dads a traitor, he stabbed his own brother in the back etc than anything tangible from either Milliband
For public family feuds its as mild and as civilised as it gets in general never mind politics.
Ed and the Unions went against the membership and the MPs
That's the sort of nonsense that Richard Littlejohn makes a very comfortable living spouting.
If you are referring to the last leadership election the combined votes of individual members and MPs outnumbered the affiliated trade union votes 2 to 1.
Dan Jarvis has no leadership charisma
Should be a perfect choice then.
Anyway, I thought it was Yvette's go next.
Anyone watching Newsnight? I quite like this woman, Liz Kendall. She's being asked some deliberately nasty questions that she is obliged to evade, of course, but her style is pretty assertive and challenging in return. A bit of practice she'll be pretty convincing I think.
Yup saw that. She had me until like all those who came before, she refused to defend the right of workers to organise and take collective action in defence of their livelihoods.
Not read the thread but has anyone pointed out yet that Chuka Umuna likes jungle/dnb and one of his favourite tunes is Burial by Leviticus?
Ed was certainly the wrong choice. But not because he's left leaning; because he wasn't very good.
+lots
jambalaya - MemberSeems perfectly reasonable for David to point out that in his view a more centerist / Blair-ite Labour party would have done better.
Yup, nothing wrong with having an opinion on this, it's all the people stating it as fact that need to sort themselves out 😉
After my stratospheric success at Ladbrokes last week, I've had a wild punt on Yvette at 5/1. She may be Missus Balls, but even the Labour NEC/Unions/party proles wont be so daft as to select the unelectable Andy "save the NHS, again" Burnham. Will they?
They're not deciding anything until September. My guess is that the eventual Great Leader will not emerge until later and will be none of the current greasy pole climbers on offer.
Not Chuka.
Why the change of heart, I wonder.
I think all the current bunch have jumped way too early, including Mr Jermyn Street. Being backed by The Prince of Darkness won't help him now, Mandelson is yesterday's influence.
Turns out he doesn't like the added scrutiny.
So, either one of the Sunday papers has some massive dirt, or they now know that any added scrutiny would uncover some.
Not a clever statement.
No sooner said, than...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32748106
That's a good thing for the Labour Party. Imagine him trying to stand up to the "pressure" that leadership brings.
one of the Sunday papers has some massive dirt
This is the reason apparently
Perhaps he's got a proper job offer in the private sector! Why would he want to lead the Labour Party. He could go and work for the prince of darkness
The rest of his statement makes perfect sense... Thing is, if he does fear for some dark secret being revealed, there's no point in staying in high level politics, it'll be dropped on him sooner or later, if he takes a cabinet post in the next labour government or whatever. So it'll probably be possible to judge that...
Shame though, I was looking forward to the inevitable UKIP jokes about his name.
wonder what it could be?
affair? not a problem for most politicians, next tory leader Boris for example
drugs? not been a problem for osborne
tax dodging- the whole bally lot of em do that
im not exactly sure what is taboo for politicians these days
Id not relish the job myself- Ed had the murdoch and the rest of the rightwing press saying a lot of very nasty things about him and his family for the last 5 years, the daily mail ran an entire feature on how shit his kitchen was!
Maybe someones dug up some pictures of him with Jimmy Saville?
It could genuinely be what he says - I expect that the shock of his family, etc suddenly being followed, friends being called and asked for gossip on him and so on may have made him question his priorities.
Quite possibly not of course but if there is some scandal then he's hugely naive to have put himself forward thinking it wouldn't come out.
He looks a bit of a shagger. I reckon shagging
