The Labour Party. All discussion here please

[Alan Ladd 10]

You did indeed and I for one thought it was a little ambitious.

I'm pleased I was wrong and you were correct

 

Thank you Ron, the worlds shortest film star salutes the king of the boudoir.

[Eater Sundae 12]

Interestingly, if the SNP were a UK-wide party I think a lot of people would vote for them (without the Scottish-centric policies of course!).

 

I'm v torn. I can't stand the idea of another Tory led government but I'm not sure I'm totally comfortable with the SNP being in power either. Rock/hard place.

 

---------- Post added 07-05-2015 at 12:29 ----------

 

 

I'm fairly sure if the Tories had been in power at the time the outcome would have been the same. But the point stands and I'll never forgive Blair for it. But as I've said on other threads I've tried to forget anything the parties have done in the past and focus on what they bring to the future. So I'll delete the Thatcher years from the Tories past and Blair from Labours etc.

 

Re bib. I generally do the same, but I still tend to remember how individual MPs were involved. There are still remnants of Blair's (or more importantly Brown's) backroom staff high up in the Labour party, whereas Thatcher's lot are no longer an influence. That's just related to when Thatcher and Blair/Brown were in power, not to the relative faults with their past actions.

[Alan Ladd 10]

Politics bores the <censored> out of me; but I did think David came across a lot better (more integrity and credibility) than his brother. Would Labour have done better with David at the helm?

 

Very good question, I think David was considered a bit of a Blair clone.So had he taken over instead of Ed in 2010 he may have run into opposition from the unions and the Brownites.

 

However, with the party now in meltdown it may be the time for David to re surface. He was a respected Foreign Secretary, seems to be a centrist and inclusive politician and may be the right man for the job.

 

I personally think that Labour now needs to become very introspective for a while, understand that left wing, class war type politics are a huge turn off to the UK public, try to regain the center ground, divest itself of its union paymasters, in other words do a "Blair".

 

Or come up with new exiting policies that will appeal to the public and challenge the Tories.

 

Government works better when there is a credible opposition.

[alchresearch 214]

Politics bores the <censored> out of me; but I did think David came across a lot better (more integrity and credibility) than his brother. Would Labour have done better with David at the helm?

 

Good question. He was also pretty weedy and nerdy looking. I don't think either of them commanded the presence required of a PM. Mind you, did John Major?

[L00b 441]

Politics bores the <censored> out of me; but I did think David came across a lot better (more integrity and credibility) than his brother. Would Labour have done better with David at the helm?

They'd certainly have got more economical credibility and presence (in 'statesmanship' terms), I believe David Milliband could have held much more of a PR candle to the Cameron-Osbourne-Clegg trio than Ed ever could.

 

As to whether that would have been enough to erase or soundproof the collective/public memory of the state in which Labour left the Nation in 2010, and whether David Milliband would have managed the Salmond-Sturgeon maskirovka any better than Ed did, and whether David Milliband could have gotten rid of Balls (a real ball-&-chain for Ed since 2010, IMHO) and steered the opposition's focus on issues apt to destabilise the Coalition rather than the mere pinpricks we've seen over 5 years...

 

Ironically enough I suppose, I'm not sorry the Unions got their way

Good question. He was also pretty weedy and nerdy looking. I don't think either of them commanded the presence required of a PM. Mind you, did John Major?

I think that David Milliband actually did. At least enough of it in 2010 to have developed it further for the better over the next 5 years. Edited May 8, 2015 by L00b
typos

[tinfoilhat 11]

Good question. He was also pretty weedy and nerdy looking. I don't think either of them commanded the presence required of a PM. Mind you, did John Major?

 

No but I think the country had about enough of blood and thunder under thatcher so probably preferred majors more centrist view. And although he was taking on kinnock nobody thought he'd win anyway. The left need someone with a bit blair (or Cameron) type of swagger and no more blundering brown or little ed. Do they exist?

[Eater Sundae 12]

Looks like Forsyth was wrong and Cameron won that 'game', from where I'm looking this morning.

 

Why am I not surprised at the tumbleweeds in this thread this morning?

 

The reference was to a short term win. So clearly he was right about the win. We will not know whether it is only short term for a while yet.

[alchresearch 214]

Hooray, he's resigned.

[L00b 441]

The reference was to a short term win. So clearly he was right about the win. We will not know whether it is only short term for a while yet.

The reference was to a Labour-SNP coalition (if Cameron's play backfired and the Tories did not gain enough of a majority, which according to pre-election polls was a not insubstantial likelihood). The SNP now won't have the influence they would have had in a coalition with Labour, so clearly he was wrong. Thankfully.

 

I'll certainly give you that the strength of the SNP is going to make that side of UK politics interesting over the next 5 years

[Eater Sundae 12]

Hooray, he's resigned.

 

It'll be interesting to see whether they now go for a new Tony Blair or a new Michael Foot.

[alchresearch 214]

Yeah, I think it will just be more of the same. I can't see Harman backing down on Labour's recent failings.

 

I foresee a few years of stumbling leader after leader, just like the Lib Dems after Ashdown and Tories after Major.

[Berberis 10]

It'll be interesting to see whether they now go for a new Tony Blair or a new Michael Foot.

 

The problem is, Brown was so scared of being disposed he made sure there were no big names in the party. This left Labour where it is today, a vacuum.

 

Labour need to sort themselves out and soon as they will not win against Boris come 2020 if they do not.