Last week blogged about Independent columnist John Rentoul favouring a "dream ticket" of Miliband and Balls to lead Labour. It gets worse.......apparently the Telegraph is touting for uber-Blairite Andy Burnham and another "ex-Minister" has told Rentoul moves may be afoot to champion the odious right-winger Liam Byrne. Byrne, you may recall, has been at Westminster for only a couple of years and is famed largely for his reactionary rhetoric on immigration. The only cheering thing is that NONE of the aforementioned would stand a chance. And that the Blairites must be desperate...........
Thursday, 3 January 2008
MORE NIGHTMARE TICKETS.....
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6 comments:
Fortunately you're right that they'd never have a chance - but the sad thing is there doesn't seem to be anyone emerging on the centre-left to launch a broad and credible challenge to the New Labour orthodoxy, with the possible exception of Cruddas. I suppose the trouble is that there's no way for MPs to gain influence without complete loyalty, due to how long we've been in power. I reckon it'd be a good idea if the MPs got a section on the NEC elected by members/TUs - say 4/5 MPs - so that there would be a route to influence outside the PM's patronage. I dread losing the next election, but it would hopefully give all the cente-left MPs a chance to show their true colours. The absolute loyalty demanded of the PLP is really shameful - it's high time the cabinet was elected by MPs like the shadow cabinet, that would solve a lot of problems.
All the best,
John
Yes, years ago MPs WERE elected to the NEC by the members.That's how people like Dennis Skinner and Benn became so influential. And the Cabinet should be elected by MPs....something else to work towards
I may not have liked where Tony Blair stood policy wise, but the man had a gift for inspiring people, neither Milliband or Balls have that.
John, I think your right about the centre left, Cruddas seems to be the only one standing out from the crowd. He came across very well in the DL hustings and most people question time viewers quite liked him and what he had to say.
A big problem with the party leadership at the moment is that they still seem obsessed with exorcising the ghost of old Labour. Now the party needs to say who we are, not who we're not.
Yes, it's utterly bizzare that the New Labourites still define themselves against some myth that the whole party was riddled with extremism right up until 1994 when the messiah came to save us from our insanity. Very sad really; not least because the Old Labour right (Hattersley etc) was a mile to the left of New Labour - passionate about redistribution, if not nationalisation, disarmament etc. socialist ideas have never been tested on my generation - how do they know how we'd respond?
Other MPs to watch maybe Katy Clark - she doesn't rebel excessively, seems very competent & passionate, very good looking too...
John
The problem is that Katy would not stand a chance of getting into Government unless she ditched her ideals ( like Dawn Primarolo) Can't see her doing that.......
BTW Katy is certainly a fine-looking woman but not sure that helps when it comes to Govt office......or, er, relevant!
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