Browsed by
Category: Labour

Keiran Pedley says Corbyn is here to stay and Labour’s moderates have some thinking to do

Keiran Pedley says Corbyn is here to stay and Labour’s moderates have some thinking to do

Comments 0 Comment

After a bruising week, Jeremy Corbyn has emerged stronger than ever writes Keiran Pedley leaving Labour’s moderates with plenty to think about. Every now and then a week comes along in British politics that is genuinely important and shapes what is to come. Last week was one of them. All of the ingredients pointed to a disaster for Jeremy Corbyn. From allegations that the leadership was ‘bullying’ MPs with farcical ‘consultations’ to a divisive Syria vote and THAT Hilary Benn…

Read More Read More

The date of the next Labour leadership election betting

The date of the next Labour leadership election betting

Comments 0 Comment

Paddy Power have a market up on the date of the next Labour leadership election. I quite like this market because most of the other markets on the Labour leadership are about when Jeremy Corbyn ceases to be Labour leader, this market allows for an unsuccessful attempt to remove to Corbyn. I initially started writing this piece on Friday morning and was going to suggest that 2019 might be value, as a year before a general election might focus minds,…

Read More Read More

Oldham has firmed up the chances of a Labocalypse

Oldham has firmed up the chances of a Labocalypse

Comments 0 Comment

Corbyn is now safe for months It’s been an up-and-down week for Labour. Rows, splits, mishandled Autumn Budget replies – all forgotten in one swift and decisive victory. Except that’s not true: they’ve not been forgotten and although Labour’s right has gained a new MP, tilting the PLP even further away from the leadership, it’s the left of the party that’s gained the strategic victory. Most obviously but also most transiently, the news narrative has turned positive for Labour and…

Read More Read More

The Syria decision: Doubters make the best persuaders

The Syria decision: Doubters make the best persuaders

Comments 0 Comment

Donald Brind on Friday – from a Labour pespective “‘Oh gosh, yes,’ said the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby when asked if the terror attacks in Paris had caused him to doubt God. They had, he said, put a ‘chink in his armour’ of faith. But he warned against a knee-jerk military response, saying: ‘Two injustices do not make justice … If we start randomly killing those who have not done wrong, that is not going to provide solutions.” There…

Read More Read More

Ex-LAB MP Nick Palmer says “Don’t underestimate the interest that MPs have in survival”

Ex-LAB MP Nick Palmer says “Don’t underestimate the interest that MPs have in survival”

Comments 0 Comment

How do modern political parties cope with change? The current turbulence in Labour is part of a wider picture seen across the West. Simmering dissatisfaction with established parties and politicians is generating support for iconoclastic individuals and movements in nearly every country to an extent not seen for a long time. From Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump to Syriza, Podemos, UKIP, the AfD, the FN and numerous others, merely being not part of the familiar establishment attracts a wave of interest. In Britain, it’s…

Read More Read More

The diminishing options of the average Labour MP

The diminishing options of the average Labour MP

Comments 0 Comment

Picture: Scene from Resident Evil, this might be how the typical Labour MP is now feeling because of Corbynmania. The typical Labour MP started off unenthused with Jeremy Corbyn as their new leader in September.  He commanded little respect among his parliamentary colleagues and he only crept onto the ballot paper for the leadership election with loaned votes.  It is fair to say that nothing that has happened since has improved the view of the average Labour MP of their…

Read More Read More

Leader of the Opposition is the toughest job in British politics. If Jeremy didn’t know it before, he knows it now.

Leader of the Opposition is the toughest job in British politics. If Jeremy didn’t know it before, he knows it now.

Comments 0 Comment

From a LAB perspective: Donald Brind’s weekly column The Bishop of Chichester George Bell was celebrated in a BBC Radio Great Lives programme a couple of years ago for a wartime speech in the House of Lords condemning the bombing of German civilians. Bell was no pacifist but he argued that “ to justify methods inhumane in themselves by arguments of expediency smacks of the Nazi philosophy that Might is Right.“ The speech was made in February 1944, months before Allied boots…

Read More Read More

The “Next PM” betting would be shaken up if David Miliband indicated that he’d like to return as an MP

The “Next PM” betting would be shaken up if David Miliband indicated that he’d like to return as an MP

Comments 0 Comment

He’d be Hillary’s choice as PM This morning’s disparity on terror related issues between the shadow foreign secretary, Hillary Benn, and Mr Corbyn highlights a problem for LAB that is not going to go away. The leader holds views that are way out of kilter with many of his party’s MPs not just his choice as shadow foreign secretary. A problem, of course, is that when the media senses blood it’ll go on looking for splits. Other shadow ministers will…

Read More Read More