Jim Murphy is new Scottish Labour leader.

[treelover]

Well, that could be the end for S/L, Murphy is a unreconstructed Blairite, as NUS leader he helped grease the way for the abolition of student loans, he was an Employment Secretary under N/L and facilitated the abolition of Incapacity Benefit and the introduction of ESA, he is a defence hawk, one could go on,

but he is very polished, media savvy and combative, so who knows..

 

[nino_savatte]

Talk about shooting oneself in the foot. If they wanted to stop the rot, they've failed. Scottish Labour are finished.

 

[treelover]

“There can be no excuses now: we have the power, the question is do we have the purpose?” Says the Scottish Labour party will use the powers for fairness and an end to poverty.
The SNP and in particular Nicola Sturgeon have ben accused of stealing Labour’s clothes on social justice in recent weeks. This morning, Murphy is taking them right back.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2014/dec/13/scottish-labour-leadership-election-results

Libby Brooks wrote the last sentence, its ridiculous, Murphy won't take on social justice issues, he helped create the misery in the first place.

 

[nino_savatte]

Murphy had been eyeing up Lamont's job for some time.

In a scathing attack, veteran Glasgow South MP Ian Davidson said Johann Lamont, who quit as leader last Friday, had been treated shamefully by the shadow international development secretary's allies, who conducted a whispering campaign against her.

He did not name Mr Murphy, but in a bid to derail his leadership ambitions, Mr Davidson said it would be "absurd" for Labour to elect a Scottish party leader who had never previously considered a role at Holyrood.

Mr Davidson spoke out as Sarah Boyack, Scottish Labour's former transport minister, announced she was standing for the top job while sources confirmed Mr Murphy's intention to throw his hat in the ring, probably before the end of the week.

Meanwhile, friends of Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Labour's highly rated education spokeswoman, said she was keen to stand for deputy leader if a vacancy arose.

Mr Davidson said: "We are in the middle of a coup.

"It's not Star Wars: Return of the Sith but it's certainly the return of the Blairites and the Network."

http://www.heraldscotland.com/polit...im-of-a-murphy-coup-claims-labour-mp.25722918

 

[J Ed]

I bet the nats are thrilled!

 

[Sue]

Interview with him now on R4. He's all about social justice apparently.

 

[articul8]

This could be the end for Scottish Labour. wouldn't rule out Unite in Scotland disaffiliating

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

wouldn't rule out Unite in Scotland disaffiliating

I would

 

[FiFi]

Interview with him now on R4. He's all about social justice apparently.

Since when?

 

[Sue]

Since when?

SInce he cynically realised that's what he needed to say..?

 

[Celyn]

Talk about shooting oneself in the foot. If they wanted to stop the rot, they've failed. Scottish Labour are finished.

Sadly, no. Some people will still go along with it, and with Jim Murphy, 'cos ma faither voted Labour and ma grandad voted Labour ... repeat and fade.

 

[danny la rouge]

Libby Brooks wrote the last sentence, its ridiculous, Murphy won't take on social justice issues, he helped create the misery in the first place.

And this is the point. The rehabilitation of Murphy will begin in the media. All of a sudden he'll be moderately left, with a heart of gold, a nice guy and the salt of the earth.

I can read the Daily record lionisations already .

 

[nino_savatte]

Sadly, no. Some people will still go along with it, and with Jim Murphy, 'cos ma faither voted Labour and ma grandad voted Labour ... repeat and fade.

You could say the same about Labour south of the border, yet some of those people will vote UKIP.

 

[William of Walworth]

Scottish Labour are finished.

nino_savatte : Do you actually predict this for definite?

May be somewhat premature. I post from strict realpolitik only -- ie I'm urging caution rather than overdetermined predictions.

 

[nino_savatte]

nino_savatte : Do you actually predict this for definite?

May be somewhat premature. I post from strict realpolitik only -- ie I'm urging caution rather than overdetermined predictions.

Well, I'm not a fortune-teller, but I do know this: Murphy is deeply unpopular with voters. For starters, he's a member of the neo-conservative and warmongering Henry Jackson Society (along with Gisele Stuart). When he was president of the NUS, he tolerated no dissent. Scotland's political landscape has shifted to the left. Murphy is no left-winger and even if he constructed a left-wing façade for the election, people will see through it.

Interesting article from Cat Boyd in today's Scotsman
http://www.scotsman.com/news/cat-boyd-left-needs-to-fightback-against-blairite-1-3633968

 

[Threshers_Flail]

Is the NUS stuff and Henry Jackson Society membership common knowledge though? Or do people just see him as that twat with the crates of Irn-Bru?

 

[Sasaferrato]

Murphy had been eyeing up Lamont's job for some time.

Lamont was absolutely fucking hopeless. The charisma of a festering testicle and debating skills somewhat less than that of my cat.

Boyack, ditto.

Findlay is a swivel eyed loon.

Thee only reason that Findlay did as well as he did was the affiliate vote, i.e. the unions.

Of the three, Murphy is the best candidate by a long shot.

He has a hell of a job in front of him, and hopefully will not be undermined by Findlay and his cohorts. The days of the unions calling the shots in the Labour party are long gone, but in Scotland they haven't yet got the message.

Murphy hasn't got long before the next GE, and it is absolutely vtal that the Labour support in Scotland gets behind him, and gives up their factional infighting, for a while at least.

The next GE will dictate the shape of the nation in the coming days. He needs to hit the ground running, and work his balls off for the next six months, if he is going to stop the Scottish National Socialist Party from holding the balance in Westminster, which would be absolutely dreadful.

The SNSP lost the referendum, this needs to be hammered home.

 

[gosub]

Not too hard, Sturgeon is talking about oil being $100 dollars a barrel oil next year, OPEC is talking about $40 according to todays papers. At $40 all North sea production would be mothballed

 

[youngian]

And Murphy's an experienced hack who will have little problem reinventing himself if need be.

Not too hard, Sturgeon is talking about oil being $100 dollars a barrel oil next year, OPEC is talking about $40 according to todays papers. At $40 all North sea production would be mothballed

It would all be different if was England's oil and this is clearly Westminster's fault. What's the point in having Trident warheads if you can't bring a few OPEC members into line.

 

[weepiper]

the Scottish National Socialist Party

Sas. This is embarrassing.

 

[Frankie Jack]

Is the NUS stuff and Henry Jackson Society membership common knowledge though? Or do people just see him as that twat with the crates of Irn-Bru?

The IrnBru/egg twat. Concerted efforts going on to pass on just how much of a right wing Neocon he is though.

 

[Frankie Jack]

Sas. This is embarrassing.

He on the Nazi theme again?

 

[weepiper]

Most people in Scotland will still see him as the face of the No campaign. Draw what conclusions you will from that.

 

[gosub]

It would all be different if was England's oil and this is clearly Westminster's fault. What's the point in having Trident warheads if you can't bring a few OPEC members into line.

Russia has over 3000 nukes, isn't stopping OPEC fucking them over.

As more and more of the North Sea gets moth balled over the coming months, its going to get clearer how lucky an escape Scotland had in September

 

[youngian]

The nuke stuff was a joke by the way, I in no way advocate nuclear annihilation over oil prices.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Murphy was bad in the NUS/NOLS and hasn't got any better; as said earlier in thread the nats must be chuffed.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[William of Walworth]

Most people in Scotland will still see him as the face of the No campaign. Draw what conclusions you will from that.

Some of those conclusions might? end up (for some?) coming from the fact that the No vote ended up slightly higher than the level that the polls and media generally expected?/predicted?

The 'shy no' thing? Look at the hard stats.

Note those question marks, and bolds, above -- not trying to overdo this.

I'm not from or in Scotland, but I'd very gently urge against OVER-predicting a Labour wipeout there.

 

[William of Walworth]

And don't forget that machine politicians can be better and more efficient organisers** than leaderless chaos

(leaderless chaos as recently reflected by very high SNP levels in polls -- a bit unrealistically high perhaps .... in terms of how short term opinion polls REALLY work??)

**However dislikelable they may be politically, don't overcomplacently underestimate their chances of getting their old style machine-shit together ....

 

[Sasaferrato]

Sas. This is embarrassing.

Ask youself 'What can I do that I could not do before they were elected?' then ask yourself 'What can I not do that I could do before they were elected, and what is in the pipeline'. Then ask yourself, is there any real need for such legislation, or is it simply a body creating legislation because it can?

 

[The Boy]

Ask youself 'What can I do that I could not do before they were elected?' then ask yourself 'What can I not do that I could do before they were elected, and what is in the pipeline'. Then ask yourself, is there any real need for such legislation, or is it simply a body creating legislation because it can?

Have you been drinking?