And so…

Mark 42 Comments

…who would you vote for in the Labour leadership contest?

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42 Replies to “And so…”

  1. I would of voted for Tony Blair, but he is not standing in this election. Therefore it would be Emily Thornberry.

    1. To me, Pete, it seems a curious mix. I like to say that without the Iraqi war, Blair could still be PM. But why Emily Thornberry?
      I think they are all great candidates and as much as I’d like a woman to be the next leader I think Keir Starmer has the best chance of winning an election.

  2. Being right of Genghis Khan, none of them. Tony Blair was the best the party ever offered and he went to war as an American poodle. Hate the lot of them, most of all the present Labour incumbent.
    But every party has its downside. Heath was the conservative’s. Be grateful you haven’t got Trump!

    1. I would vote for Sir Keir Stammer. It is vital that Labour choose some one with a strong standing in the eyes of the public. It is just like managing a site for wildlife. It is not about what or who you personally like,it’s about what is best for wildlife.
      The labour election is basically about who has the best chance of beating the Tories and Sir Keir has that.
      If Rebecca LB ischosen then I think the Labour Party has. in the words of the prophet, “had it”.

  4. Jess Phillips. She has the wit and integrity to stand up to Johnson in the public eye, and I like her mix of pragmatism and passion. She’s also shown herself to be tough and, for an ambitious politician, remarkably lacking in ego.

    She’s also not afraid to speak the uncomfortable truth, that things that are worth paying for still have to *be* paid for. There’s a lot that needs doing and taxing only the rich more won’t be enough to pay for it all – we all have skin in this game and its worth it for all of us who earn at least average salaries to pay a bit more to have a decent society.

    She’s also very definitely not the Corbyn continuity candidate. Anyone – and there seem to be a lot of them in Labour – who thinks Corbyn wasn’t a big part of Labour’s electoral disaster is deluded. Whether you liked Corbyn or not, its very clear that the electorate rejected him and his spend spend spend policies lock stock and barrel. If Labour wants to be a party of government again and not just a protest group, starting with the assertion that the electorate is wrong isn’t a good place to start. We need someone different to Corbyn if lost voters are to consider voting Labour again and new ones enticed to do so for the first time. I think Phillips has that broader appeal. Whether Labour members and the Unions want to attract new people who don’t already think like them remains to be seen.

    1. She would have been the one I would vote for until she starting sounding like a Red Tory. Referring to Scotland as ‘up there’ and saying she doesn’t understand why Scotland would vote to break the union with England but then want to join the EU has done her reputation a lot of harm.

    2. Is this the Jess Phillips who said “Finally Julian Assange, everyone’s least favourite squatter, has been kicked out of the Ecuadorian embassy and into custody…'”? The one who constantly underminded the leader of her party?

  5. In order of preference:

    1. Lisa Nandy
    2. Jess Phillips
    3. Kier Starmer
    4. Angela Rayner

    Lisa Nandy is the outstanding candidate, imho, but the other three I’ve listed would be a huge improvement on the outgoing leader.

    Emily Thornberry’s record on electoral reform surely must rule her out. Plus she is incredibly tribal. The next Labour leader needs to be able to build alliances with other parties.

    2. Nandy ? The one who just told Andrew Neil that ‘we’ should look abroad to learn how to deal with Scotland’s ‘divisive nationalism’ and who cited Spain and Catalonia ? Impressive – though the credit for that probably goes to the focus groups who told her it would play well with the proper Nationalists you find ‘down there’. But still, respect.
      I’d be rooting for Phillips myself whose ‘up there’ take on the constitution was a masterstroke, summing up so succinctly what’s really needed. Labour’s heaviest hitter right enough and easily the best candidate for Scotland.

        1. The irony passed you by. The ignorant comments on Scotland from Phillips and Nandy this week will simply confirm the independence case for many. They are playing to the populist fundamentalist Nationalist vote in England in exactly the way Johnson is, stoking conflict over Indyref 2 and recommending Spanish methods of dealing with the Jocks. England is now a dangerous parody of itself and where Labour should be looking for solutions it has joined the mob. But then Labour has always been a monarchist, imperialist British exceptionalist party which goes a fair way to explaining why it has played second fiddle to the Tories for 100 years. The Tories just play that game a bit better.

    3. This Lisa Nandy

      Lesley Riddoch Retweeted Steph/en Paton
      Astonishing that only Scots & @paulmasonnews are reacting to Nandy’s incendiary assertion that Spain has “beaten narrow, divisive nationalism” in Catalonia -without mention of cracking skulls or imprisoned political leaders. South of the border, the left loved this interview. 2/2

      London Left’s verdict on Nandy v Neil. Guardian’s Peter Walker; “Direct, engaging, and handled [Neil] brilliantly. New Statesman’s Ailbhe Rea; “brilliant … unflappable, warm & totally on top of detailed policy.” Indy’s Tom Peck “bright, articulate, honest and tenacious.” 1/2

      https://twitter.com/LesleyRiddoch/status/1217740570900213760

      https://www.thenational.scot/news/18117075.eu-court-ruling-catalan-leaders-win-democracy/

  6. They all signed up to this.
    https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/letter-to-labour-leadership-and-deputy-leadership-candidates/
    https://www.thecanary.co/opinion/2020/01/13/the-board-of-deputies-of-british-jews-wants-to-erase-jewish-voices-like-mine-from-labour-politics/
    https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2020/01/14/jewish-left-wingers-slam-labour-leadership-candidates-alliance-with-controversial-board-of-deputies/

    So since they all signed that doesn’t narrow the field but Long-Bailey.

    1. Worrying that non of the candidates had the balls to challenge The Board of Deputies dividing Jews into Jew and Non Jew.

      There again this is the organisation that advised Jewish people to say away from Cable Street and said they would be as likely to endorse the National Front as endorse the Anti Nazi League.

      1. Sorry, probably being a bit thick here. BOD = Board of Deputies? And they have something to say about Muslims too?

        I follow politics closely than most non party members I suspect but not the ins and outs of Labour’s domestic disputes – if I don’t understand this conversation then it doesn’t say much for Labour’s ability to talk to ordinary people in the street!

        1. Jewish Board of Deputies.
          They claim to represent all UK Jews. They don’t, as Jewish Voice for Labour and others point out.
          They didn’t ask the Tories to make similar pledges and don’t ask the same for Muslims.

          In my opinion they have scared the hell out of the Labour party to such an extent that they have forced the kicking out many left wingers who are critical of Israel policies, e.g. Chris Williamson and Jackie Walker.
          https://twitter.com/DerbyChrisW/status/1206831392258232320

          Some compelling arguments by David Graeber Professor of anthropology, LSE
          https://twitter.com/davidgraeber/status/1201950245804027904
          https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2019/09/10/jewish-professor-tells-people-like-new-peer-john-mann-to-stop-weaponising-antisemitism/

          The Guardian is not reporting Antisemitism in the Labour Party fairly as many academic studies have shown.
          https://www.mediareform.org.uk/blog/new-mrc-research-finds-inaccuracies-and-distortions-in-media-coverage-of-antisemitism-and-the-labour-party
          https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/confronting-the-guardians-bias/
          https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/check-evidence/

          I had Long-Bailey as my favourite but she has made some ridiculous off the cuff comments about the Canary and Chris Williamson.

  7. Long-Bailey or Starmer.

    Starmer would be better at holding the Tories to account for the forthcoming Brexit shambles but the concern has to be that he will drift right.

    Absolutely not Phillips.

    The problem with most of them is you can’t be sure what you’re going to get. At least with Corbyn you knew.

    1. I’m genuinely interested – I have noted that some people seem to have a visceral dislike of Phillips but never understood why. Care to explain why you (or others in general) dislike her so much? She seems to attract a degree of loathing far beyond a simple preference for AN Other’s style.

      1. She’s thick, boorish, egotistical, arrogant and disloyal.

        And yes, you couldn’t mark her neck with a blow torch.

        1. So you don’t like her. Fair enough.

          But she is very clearly not “thick”. That’s just being randomly insulting. I loath Boris but I’d never say he was stupid. He’s very bright indeed (he’s severely lacking in emotional intelligence though).

          I’ve seen no evidence for Phillips being arrogant or particularly egotistical (at least no more than any other successful politician, way less than Corbyn or Johnson or Blair or many, many others).

          Yes, she criticised Corbyn. Turns out the electorate agree with her. Should an MP’s primary loyalty be to their Dear Leader, or to their constituents and their country? Note well that Corbyn was far, far more disloyal far, far more often to successive Labour leaders than anyone has been to him while he’s been #1.

          Care to provide some evidence to support the assertions? It was (is) a genuine question on my part but simply repeating that you loath her doesn’t really say why you do so.

          1. ps
            “And yes, you couldn’t mark her neck with a blow torch.”

            means what exactly? it could be read as an unfathomable insult or as a veiled threat. Either way it doesn’t actually convey objective information, beyond that you appear to hate members of the People’s Liberation Front of Judea more than you hate the Romans.

          2. Maybe you should Google ‘Jess Phillips brass neck.’

            Then reconsider whether she’s thick, boorish, arrogant and disloyal.

            I believe John Mann (as he then was) once suggested she’d be an ideal leader of the Labour Party. And I daresay he still thinks that.

    2. See rest of thread! I have no particular beef with Thornberry myself but she does seem to have a knack of rubbing people up the wrong way – she comes over as a bit snobby sometimes. Maybe its just bad luck but appearances matter in politics.

    3. Pete the Labour party has moved on and would no longer tolerate a near tory neo-con, none socialist as leader.

  9. I was for Clive Lewis but now my order would be
    Starmer
    Thornberry
    Phillips
    Long Bailey / Nandy

    Starmer got the nomination from SERA. I don’t dislike any of them but he is the only one I am optimistic that he could enthuse large support.

  10. I think you got the dislikes because you wrote “would of” rather than “would have” rather than your choice of candidate.

  11. None of the choices is very palatable.They all signed up to the BOD 10 commandments without a wimper The Labour party needs to engage with those against whom austerity has been weaponised. These people do not want a return to the Red Tory years of Blair and Brown.

  12. Starmer or Phillips, , the others are one too lightweight, one an excellent Home or foreign sec but not PM and one too much like Corbyn without passion or charisma

  13. I have a great amount of respect for Jess Phillips – she is genuine, I believe, to do her best for the ‘have-nots’, for want of a better expression. I would go for her but I think she lacks experience.

    I also have a lot of respect for Keir Starmer. However, if I was to get to vote on this, I would go for Lisa Nandy and hope she took on Jess as her deputy.

    However, I am not convinced that any of the ‘centrist’ candidates stand a chance. I might be wrong, but I think that the left has bent the rules towards their own advantage.

    One thing is for sure. If Labour wish to win the next election they have to ditch Corbyn and McCluskey et al. As one of the commenters above said, the voting public did not believe the promises they were making. IMHO they also didn’t like the leftist policies.

    I am a Labour voter in a very safe SNH constituency!

    If Long-Bailey gets the job, don’t even think of voting Labour in the next election. She is no more than a puppet of the present ‘management’ and we will have to endure yet another five years of the Tory shites, if not more.

  15. None of them stand a chance.

    The country has got what it wanted – a Liberal Prime Minister, yes Johnson is – look how he ran London as Mayor? You could easily say he was more left than Ken Livingston? Now the idiotic right wing of the Tory party which had got us into this mess, now must but be sitting on their hands wondering did they back the right horse? We are back where we all started under Cameron, this time though, Johnson can’t be overruled.
    We had the chance with the Brexit vote to finish-off the Tory’s once and for all, and perhaps change politics in this country for a more fairer reprehensive system, we didn’t take the opportunity.
    What we have just experienced is mini revolt against metropolitan government, where two politicians have tuned into the electorates fears, and branded their campaigns into two very simple messages – both succeeded and have got elected, other important policies were disregarded as superfluous. People I thought would never vote Tory – did.
    No one can lay a glove on Johnson for a year at least, until the unraveling of Brexit, we’ll then know what beat of the drum he’ll dance too. It should be an interesting decade to follow. I certainly think HS2 and Heathrow have the ‘Boris appeal’ and will go ahead, agricultural won’t changed, why fix something that’s not broke, the fishermen are in for a mighty big shock, the government will claw back from us the northern incentives, the arts and environmental funding will be hit. It is now more imperative than ever that the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts etc. start to look at funding themselves.

    1. I certainly agree that the fishermen are in for a huge shock! How utterly naive of them to believe that by voting for Brexit they would get rid of EU vessels fishing in our waters. It was obvious from the very start that the EU would insist on maintaining existing fishing rights as a part of any agreement!
      As for HS2 and the third runway at Heathrow…..these projects will test the resolve of the Government to get serious about climate change, especially with the Glasgow conference coming up in November. My guess is that both will go ahead and f*** the environmental damage, although I must admit, I am not wholly adverse to HS2, seeing as it is an all-electric railway. But I do believe that the route should be thought through more carefully (through the grounds of a few Tory-owned stately homes for example).
      I am not at all convinced that a third runway will even be necessary at Heathrow after December. I believe a considerable amount of the existing traffic will ‘follow the money’ and divert to other European airports. After Brexit, Canary Wharf could eventually resemble a ghost town as companies leave London – they’ve already started. That will be a considerable percentage of our GDP down the Swanee. Frankly, I believe we are all in for a big shock in the months and years to come! And for what? So a number of Tory MP’s, donors and Hedge Fund Managers can reel in piles of dosh and stash it away offshore. Boris et al will be alright, you can be sure of that!

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