CL didn’t get past the first round of the last leadership contest

Probs not enough secret rich Blairite/Israel lobbyist funders 😉

CL didn’t get past the first round of the last leadership contest

Clive Lewis withdraw early on, not getting enough nominations.

But then again Boris Johnson didn’t fancy his chances in 2016.

Johnson/Tories plateaued at 40ish%

theres space there for Starmer to take a lead, still think itll be autumn before he does, but polls narrowing

still 2+ years until next GE so loads could happen

Westminster Voting Intention (9 Aug):

Conservative 40% (-1)
Labour 37% (+3)
Liberal Democrat 9% (-2)
Green 6% (–)
Scottish National Party 4% (–)
Reform UK 3% (–)
Other 2% (–)

Changes +/- 2 Aughttps://t.co/LbLp4GaSwG pic.twitter.com/yiqZMLDiXI

— Redfield & Wilton Strategies (@RedfieldWilton) August 9, 2021

Yes I’m keeping an eye on this.

Bit of Tory fatigue creeping in, and the electorate don’t like the hypocrisy they can relate to.

Still none of this is thanks to Starmer which means taking a lead is not on the cards.

Bit of Tory fatigue creeping in, and the electorate don’t like the hypocrisy they can relate to.

Still none of this is thanks to Starmer which means taking a lead is not on the cards.

not too much reading into small % moves, but labour taking away from tories there!

Starmer is on a tour if the UK with 2 day trips to ex red wall seats, with ex-voters

probably a rough ride for him but its the kind of engagement he needs to be doing

keep it simple core policy announcements in the autumn will help- Corbyn aparrnently announced 300 whilst leader, almost all of which Im sure were good, but thats no way to get your message out, doesnt have to be 3 word slogans, but keeping it simple is good.

I expected the Tories to be peaking at close to 50% this month, with the end of “restrictions”… perhaps they didn’t do enough to prepare people for what the summer would actually look like in terms of measures still needed and holidays requiring much hoop jumping and last minute changes.

EDIT: just remembered the last PMQs (few will I suspect) where Johnson challenged Starmer to back his summer plans… and he refused and said something like… “Back your chaos? No way!”

I think Starmer is waiting for conference as he needs to reset his policy commitments he made in his leadership campaign, some will stay, some will go, some will change. He’ll then get more stick internally than from anywhere else and the offensive on the polls will stutter under the weight of infighting

Great, so Starmer’s going round the country listening to a bunch of bitter entitled gammons who think the under 25s want to sit on their backsides? Do these people not have kids and grandkids? Much as I think labour need to refocus on the working class, these people are just entitled boomers who refuse to see the world as it is today rather than how they wish it would be. If Starmer thinks he’s going to win an election by focusing on this jaded, self-interested, closed minded group of idiots then he’s sadly mistaken.

Unfortunately a LOT of people are just like those people Starmer was talking to so he has to appeal to them some how.

Great, so Starmer’s going round the country listening to a bunch of bitter entitled gammons who think the under 25s want to sit on their backsides?

Except a lot of the people he met don’t match your description

But you carry on with your prejudices…….

He’ll then get more stick internally than from anywhere else

Because:

A) He’s so desperate not to offend everyone except left wing labour members

B) No one else really cares what he says

just to let you know, what you post here suggests shows you don’t know what the average voter is interested in, or more importantly, not interested in.

Lol! Please; do explain how you came to that conclusion based on what I post on here. I’m dying to know…

If people are prejudiced it’s Starmers job to show them a better way, he has to bring them with them, likewise those on the left of the party
Tbh I’m not sure how you do that, the Tories sort of managed it, but ended up purging most of their saner MPs over brexit.
FPTP doesn’t encourage that kind of compromise within or between parties,

He’ll then get more stick internally than from anywhere else

Yeah well it would be quite frankly ridiculous for the right-wing press to attack him, I’m sure that as far as they are concerned he is doing a grand job.

And other than attacking him for being too right-wing on issues such as corporation tax I can’t see why the Tories would feel a strong need to attack him.

What the Tories and their mates in the press will do is attack the Labour Party, claiming that it is full of dangerous lefties and racists/anti-Semites.

And Starmer will of course re-enforce those claims by attacking the left and alleging anti-Semitism.

Unsurprisingly it will, as you quite rightly point out, result in him being attacked from within the party.

It’s a win-win situation for the Tories.

I think this is the right kind of thing for him to be doing 2 years out. When he shows his cards I hope they are ambitious and things that the Tories cannot just copy.

Green Infrastructure (Transport/Energy/Jobs)
Electoral reform
Reform of care sector

Hopefully it won’t be his cards to show. I know that the current general secretary of the Labour Party David Evans is on record as saying, quote : “representative democracy should as far as possible be abolished in the Party”, and that Tony Blair had a damn good go at purging democracy from the party, but we haven’t yet reached a stage where one man alone dictates what the policies of the party are.

Let’s hope that the other half a million members also get a say. And perhaps also the affiliated unions who will actually be paying for the election campaign.

 I know that the current general secretary of the Labour Party David Evans is on record as saying, quote : “representative democracy should as far as possible be abolished in the Party”

In 1999. Are his views the same 22 years later?

Are his views the same 22 years later?

Why don’t you go and find out for us?

In 1999. Are his views the same 22 years later?

Yeah that quote doesn’t look good does it Nick, so I don’t blame you for suggesting that he might have changed his mind rather than trying to defend it.

However there is no evidence to suggest that is the case. And plenty that he hasn’t.

David Evans’s appointment as General Secretary of the Labour Party caused some serious disquiet within the party due to both his right-wing views and his known views on structural changes.

That above quote was used extensively by those who were concerned by his appointment. If Evans has since that time changed his views on inner party democracy you can be absolutely certain that he would have publicly declared that he had done so.

As far as I am aware he hasn’t, although I am happy to be corrected.

It should be remembered that Evans founded a consultancy firm which provides specialist advice to politicians. I am sure that he is very capable of managing his own public image.

Furthermore Evans’s use of his powers as an unelected party official to suspend the former party leader from the party gives an insight into his attitude towards party democracy.

The irony is that despite his endless crusade against the left within the party Evans owes his whole career to Ken Livingstone’s left-wing Labour policies.

Evans first came to Croydon as an employee of a local trade union support unit funded by Ken Livingstone’s GLC. It was a highly left-wing policy of paying young activists to forge links between trade unions and the local community, there were several dotted across the GLC area. It was that which launched Evans’s political career.

In the same way that the policies pursued by Priti Patel today would have stopped her parents from entering the UK Evans’s career would never have been launched had the right-wing been in control in London.

Yeah I thought you’d be more aware of him as he was local to you.

I was never comfortable with that statement he made as were many folk. (despite that one man one vote rhetoric that accompanied it) very surprised that he’d been Starmer’s “first choice”

Green Infrastructure (Transport/Energy/Jobs)
Electoral reform
Reform of care sector

Apart from the last one does anyone think the people in that video give a shit about any of this. Seems all they’re bothered about is forcing the under 25s to work on shit jobs.

I wonder if the crowd was selected to convey a certain narrative 🤔

Seems all they’re bothered about is forcing the under 25s to work on shit jobs.

Are shit jobs to be reserved for over 25s?

Electoral reform

Only people involved/ engaged with politics get excited by this, average voter wonders why they aren’t talking about something I care about and votes for someone who does

Lol! Please; do explain how you came to that conclusion based on what I post on here. I’m dying to know….

The slight obsession with Rod Liddle may have something to do with it……

That and your self professed ability to clear pubs of their racists

Only people involved/ engaged with politics get excited by this, average voter wonders why they aren’t talking about something I care about and votes for someone who does

It depends on how it is sold really. There were plenty of UKIP types a few years back realising why it was crappy when it was being applied to them.

Also Brexit voters loved to talk of ‘unelected bureaucrats’ see the House of Lords.

Shining a light on all the dodgy nominations a good thing plus drain the Swamp worked to whatever extent for Trump.

……very surprised that he’d been Starmer’s “first choice”

Yeah but only because Starmer’s stated aim was was to heal and unite the party. Why would anyone choose someone as devisive as David Evans to be General Secretary if their stated aim was to heal division? That is indeed surprising.

But other than that I can see the obvious appeal of David Evans as General Secretary.

You are right Nick I am very aware of Evans due to the local connections, in fact apart from working on election campaigns with him we socialised in the same social group, pubs, parties, etc. and I can tell you that he is without doubt an extraordinarily talented political tactician, in terms of targeting voters, campaign logistics, focusing on areas which require work, and the whole election strategy.

I have seen him achieve huge massive swings to Labour locally which were completely at odds with what was happening in the rest of the country.

I remember the dark days when Labour were down to just 4 council seats in Croydon, today Labour has 40 seats and control the council, David Evans played a huge role in that.

So for those reasons I can understand the appeal of Evans to Starmer – he wants to be Prime Minister and feels that a gifted tactician such as Evans can help him.

Which is great if tactics is all that matters, but of course it isn’t. Policies also matter, and that is one area which Evans has no noticeable talent, unlike another local Croydon guy Andrew Fisher who wrote the 2017 Labour Party election manifesto.

Furthermore the Labour Group which today runs Croydon Council, and has David Evans fingerprints all over it, is utterly incompetent, self-serving, and right-wing. It is surrounded by scandals. Senior councillors, including the leader, have resigned in disgrace.

It has reduced Croydon Council to the role of slum landlord as highlighted on national TV by ITN special reports into Croydon Council housing stock which is unfit for human habitation.

And such is the level of incompetence by the Labour Group on Croydon Council that it is now bankrupt, it is penniless, it has to rely on central government for funding. A failed council owned property developer called “Brick by Brick”, which btw was one of David Evans consultancy clients, played a very central role in that bankruptcy.

Presumably next council elections Labour with lose control of Croydon Council and the Tories will inherit the mess.

If you want Labour to do nationally what they did locally to Croydon then Starmer, Evans, and all the other self-serving right-wing cronies, is the obvious choice.

The slight obsession with Rod Liddle may have something to do with it……

That and your self professed ability to clear pubs of their racists

If you don’t understand something, you could simply say ‘I don’t understand, can you please explain’, rather than resort to snidey ad hominems. That way, you’d both learn something, and stay safely within the remit of Rule No. 1.

If you want Labour to do nationally what they did locally to Croydon then Starmer, Evans, and all the other self-serving right-wing cronies, is the obvious choice.

Problem, is, the UK already has a right-wing party. So if Starmer continues with his neoliberal project to destroy the Left, all he’ll achieve is political irrelevance. There needs to be a balance in politics, and without a viable left-wing alternative, we’ll be living under a right wing dictatorship pretty soon. You’d think that a brilliant lawyer might have the intelligence to understand this, and to realise that what he’s actually doing is exactly what the tories want, but it seems not. It’s a bit like those university professors you get; brilliant in one subject, can’t tie their own shoelaces. Still; I suspect he’s currently more concerned with securing a nice cushy corporate junket for his post-politics days, than he is in forming an effective opposition. Must be really shit for all those who saw him as the messiah. In reality, he’s just a very naughty boy…

Yeah but only because Starmer’s stated aim was was to heal and unite the party. Why would anyone choose someone as devisive as David Evans to be General Secretary if their stated aim was to heal division? That is indeed surprising.

Yeah, that came as something as a surprise to me as well. I know that he’s got the “right” history of activism behind him, arrested giving food parcels to miners, petitions for his release signed by Corbyn and Skinner and all that, and stuff that one can read about him online (there isn’t much) emphasises his organizational abilities above nearly everything else. There’s no doubt his personal politics are to the right of the party. Seems an odd choice to dig out of (relative) obscurity to the centre of the Labour organisation for someone who once said Labour need to be more “small c conservative” (admittedly even further back than your quote)

I suspect he’s currently more concerned with securing a nice cushy corporate junket for his post-politics

Don’t underestimate just how self-serving the right-wing within the Labour Party is. Tony Blair immediately resigned his parliamentary seat when he ceased to be PM because Westminster had served his purpose and was no longer important to his career and he was more interested in making mega-bucks than sitting on the backbenches.

Although to be fair his overinflated ego probably wouldn’t have allowed it anyway.

In the case of the local self-serving right-wing Labour Group which controls Croydon they might be responsible for a scandal which hit the national headlines, as low income tenants were forced to live in housing unfit for human habitation, and of course bankrupt the council, but they richly rewarded themselves for all the hard work that they didn’t do with their innocently sounding “allowances” :

https://www.mylondon.news/news/staggering-amount-croydon-councillors-were-19497661

I heard that when Labour lost control of Croydon Council in 2006, and many right-wing Labour councillors lost their seats, some were devastated because they didn’t know how they would be able to pay their mortgages.

We understandably assume that these people enter politics because they want to serve the community but for many it is simply a career move.

There is however a tiny handful of Labour councillors who are very hardworking and undoubtedly motivated by serving the needs of the community, but needless to say they are on the left of the party and don’t have any role of authority within the Labour Group.

If you don’t understand something, you could simply say ‘I don’t understand, can you please explain’, rather than resort to snidey ad hominems.

I have asked what the Rod Liddle thing is all about several times you just choose not to lower yourself to explain

I thought your self professed ability to clear public houses of their racists was self explanatory, however if there is nuances to it feel free to explain to the hoi polloi

Still; I suspect he’s currently more concerned with securing a nice cushy corporate junket for his post-politics days, than he is in forming an effective opposition.

Do you actually believe the tripe you write?

We understandably assume that these people enter politics because they want to serve the community but for many it is simply a career move.

I think this is one of the main things that differentiates labour from the tories. Labour politicians do it for the career and ultimately the money, whilst most tories do it for the prestige as they’re already rich. Whilst the tories are answerable to the upper class establishment, labour are constrained by their inherent job insecurity. The result from both sides is inaction and failure to represent those who elected them.

Labour politicians do it for the career and ultimately the money, whilst most tories do it for the prestige as they’re already rich

Lazy stereotypes, my local council is stuffed full of working class conservatives, including the charity fund raising postie. It won’t be the only one.

Labour politicians do it for the career and ultimately the money

Which Labour politicians? Plenty are financially worse of, and have paused or ended successful careers, to serve as MPs. The leader of the party for one.

Plaid councillors near me are all brilliant, Tories and Labour are in general bad with some shockingly bad thrown in (paedophile and a gang rape)

Definitely some working class Tory councillors aswell as the snivelling Tory boys who follow the Tory MP round. They are definitely in it for the career/ money.

I have asked what the Rod Liddle thing is all about several times you just choose not to lower yourself to explain

It’s a Stewart Lee routine, which Bridges for some reason has chosen to not credit to the author.

I have asked what the Rod Liddle thing is all about several times you just choose not to lower yourself to explain

I thought your self professed ability to clear public houses of their racists was self explanatory, however if there is nuances to it feel free to explain to the hoi polloi

Do you actually believe the tripe you write?

If I felt you possessed the intelligence to actually understand, then I’d make the effort to explain it. But it’s pretty clear you’re not actually interested in anything but petty insults and point scoring. So I won’t waste my time. You can remain ignorant and angry.

It’s a Stewart Lee routine, which Bridges for some reason has chosen to not credit to the author.

😀 See; intelligent people get it…

Which Labour politicians? Plenty are financially worse of, and have paused or ended successful careers, to serve as MPs. The leader of the party for one.

Lol! Have you any idea what Starmer is actually worth? For starters, his London home is worth more than most voters will ever be able to afford. He’s a landowner, and no doubt has income from other sources besides the paltry £81,942 per year (plus expenses) he earns as an MP. I very much doubt he’s ever going to be ‘financially worse off’ as a result of his time in politics…

Have you any idea what Starmer is actually worth?

Yes. That was my point. The cliche that Labour politicians are in politics because they need the money, and that Conservatives are just after prestige, doesn’t hold, does it.

If I felt you possessed the intelligence to actually understand, then I’d make the effort to explain it. But it’s pretty clear you’re not actually interested in anything but petty insults and point scoring. So I won’t waste my time. You can remain ignorant and angry.

Petty insults. Point scoring. Hmm….

Plus they get fabulous pensions on the grounds that no-one wants to employ an ex-MP. Messrs Watson, Cameron and Osborne might like to challenge this view however.