Labour leadership

[DotCommunist]

give the telegraph that much, their drivel is a lot more headbanging than the guardians

 

[DotCommunist]

must manage to work in a reference to the warsaw pact as if thats relevant to any fucking thing today

 

[ViolentPanda]

chinny recon to that last bit

"Cleaned up considerably" is more like "has better PR nowadays", IMO.

 

[J Ed]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ur-leadership-battle-would-be-a-disaster.html

Britain needs as many pro-capitalist parties as it can get. For a brief period in the mid-1990s, it had at least three: the Tories, a reformed Labour Party under Tony Blairwhich appeared ready to embrace markets for the first time, and the Liberal Democrats, who at the time were still pretty centrist.

One thing that I think has been fascinating in all of this is the number of Tory voters, members and journalists who think that they are actually entitled to have someone they like leading the party which they otherwise spend their time disparaging and despising. I would never dream of saying 'the Tories need a good moderate leader who can bring them back to the point where they can provide a strong opposition and win an election', I hope that the entire Tory party disappears from the face of the earth because they are scum. IMO It shows how much all of this is just a game to them, and how much it is about power and control of society beyond democracy.

 

[treelover]

An excellent piece about the influence of Lord Sainsbury on Labour. It aint a good one.

http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-7dd3-Who-are-the-real-entryists#.VbwQWflVhHy

Its pretty revealing just how little coverage Progress receives in the rest of the mass media.

 

[J Ed]

Its pretty revealing just how little coverage Progress receives in the rest of the mas media.

Yes, they aren't ideological, they are 'normal'. Not worthy of passing comment on.

 

[treelover]

Progress could not pick a candidate for deputy leader — which in fact shows how deeply Progress is embedded in the parliamentary party.

Three deputy leader candidates — Caroline Flint, Ben Bradshaw and Stella Creasy — are all Progress members, so they couldn’t choose which one to back.

At the forthcoming Labour conference you could go and see a Progress meeting with Chris Leslie MP, shadow chancellor of the exchequer — and a prominent Progress member. The meeting is funded by the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA). It is the lobby group for private equity investors who are keen to privatise the NHS. A BVCA paper on the NHS said its members would make money from “a trend towards outsourcing (to independent sector providers) of publicly funded healthcare.” BVCA has been funding Progress meetings for some years.

At the same forthcoming Labour conference you could go and see shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant speaking at a meeting funded by mobile phone firm Talk Talk and shadow energy minister Caroline Flint speaking on a meeting funded by Hitachi, which is deeply involved in our heavily subsidised nuclear power programme.

Decent LP members should picket Progress meetings, especially the ones with corporate backing.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I still don't think he will win. There are three right side candidates vs him. If they combine into one against JC somehow they have more votes. Am I right on this?

That's what single transferrable vote allows them to do. Cooper will get all Burnham's second preference votes and vice versa, and whoever Liz Kendall's mum and Liz Kendall's cat choose to vote for it won't make much difference either way. I would expect one of the blairites to narrowly win thus, despite Corbyn being the only candidate with genuine popular support.

 

[brogdale]

That's what single transferrable vote allows them to do. Cooper will get all Burnham's second preference votes and vice versa, and whoever Liz Kendall's mum and Liz Kendall's cat choose to vote for it won't make much difference either way. I would expect one of the blairites to narrowly win thus, despite Corbyn being the only candidate with genuine popular support.

AV system, not STV.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Just checking you're awake etc

 

[gosub]

One thing that I think has been fascinating in all of this is the number of Tory voters, members and journalists who think that they are actually entitled to have someone they like leading the party which they otherwise spend their time disparaging and despising. I would never dream of saying 'the Tories need a good moderate leader who can bring them back to the point where they can provide a strong opposition and win an election', I hope that the entire Tory party disappears from the face of the earth because they are scum. IMO It shows how much all of this is just a game to them, and how much it is about power and control of society beyond democracy.

Found the 2 tory councillors in the pub crowing about 10 more years of tory rule if Corbyn gets in far more exasperating.

 

[frogwoman]

Just received this text:

Hi it's Unite. Do you want to vote in the Labour leadership contest? Text YES to become an affiliated supporter and we'll let Labour know. Reply STOP to opt out

 

[killer b]

There was about 500 people at corbyn's Preston rally this afternoon (which was announced on Wednesday) too big for the room so they did it outside.

Audience was mainly the usual suspects, but there was a load of new faces too. And some tit selling the socialist worker.

Good speech anyway fwiw. He's a very impressive performer.

 

[Libertad]

Just received this text:

Decision time Froggie

 

[butchersapron]

It's happening Reg, something's actually happening!

 

[frogwoman]

Decision time Froggie

I replied stop

A puncture in the wheel of the lorry of capitalism

 

[brogdale]

There was about 500 people at corbyn's Preston rally this afternoon (which was announced on Wednesday) too big for the room so they did it outside.

Audience was mainly the usual suspects, but there was a load of new faces too. And some tit selling the socialist worker.

Good speech anyway fwiw. He's a very impressive performer.

There's going to be a huge 'groundswell' of disillusionment and anger when that AV/pref system robs him of victory by a tiny margin on second ballot.
Are Labour people preparing for the split from Neo-Lab?

 

[SpookyFrank]

There's going to be a huge 'groundswell' of disillusionment and anger when that AV/pref system robs him of victory by a tiny margin on second ballot.
Are Labour people preparing for the split from Neo-Lab?

It will be interesting to see what the unions do if Corbyn loses. He must be their last throw of the dice in terms of having any kind of meaningful engagement with the Labour party.

 

[killer b]

His speech urges people explicitly not to (of course).

 

[Libertad]

I replied stop

A puncture in the wheel of the lorry of capitalism

That'll teach 'em

 

[andysays]

Just received this text:

I'm also a member of Unite.

I deliberately didn't give them my phone number (can't quite understand why anyone would, TBH) so I don't get texts, but they regularly email me and the most recent one was reminding me that I can vote for free and including a link to the Supporters Sign Up page.

Further to on-going discussion, you do have to declare

I support the aims and values of the Labour Party, and I am not a supporter of any organisation opposed to it.

but you don't have to say whether or not you intend to vote for JC

 

[butchersapron]

There's going to be a huge 'groundswell' of disillusionment and anger when that AV/pref system robs him of victory by a tiny margin on second ballot.
Are Labour people preparing for the split from Neo-Lab?

They've saved time by already being in other parties.

There is no chance of labour splitting.

 

[brogdale]

They've saved time by already being in other parties.

 

[frogwoman]

That'll teach 'em

Striking a blow for communism against the reformist platitudes of the labourite telecommunications juggernaut and their lackeys in the trade union bureaucracy

 

[J Ed]

It will be interesting to see what the unions do if Corbyn loses.

Nowt

 

[SpookyFrank]

There is no chance of labour splitting.

Not even if corbyn wins?

 

[butchersapron]

Not even if corbyn wins?

Nope.

 

[Rob Ray]

Not unless the coup fails, which it won't because the right has all but a handful of MPs, the rules allow them to do it and they will have absolutely no compunction at all about subverting democratic process, unlike Corbyn and co. He and his are totally outmatched regardless of whether he wins the vote.

 

[treelover]

There was about 500 people at corbyn's Preston rally this afternoon (which was announced on Wednesday) too big for the room so they did it outside.

Audience was mainly the usual suspects, but there was a load of new faces too. And some tit selling the socialist worker.

Good speech anyway fwiw. He's a very impressive performer.

How many out of 500 were the 'usual suspects'? that is a lot for a small city.

 

[Lo Siento.]

Not unless the coup fails, which it won't because the right has all but a handful of MPs, the rules allow them to do it and they will have absolutely no compunction at all about subverting democratic process, unlike Corbyn and co. He and his are totally outmatched regardless of whether he wins the vote.

Only question is whether the stitch up would be so obvious that Corbyn and his supporters would be forced to leave.