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What now for Labour? (Part 1)

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Post by Ivan Fri May 08, 2015 11:43 pm

First topic message reminder :

A post mortem

We lost. I feared the worst a few days ago when walking my dog. I met a left-wing man I’ve known for years who said that he was voting for the Peace Party. Someone of his persuasion was going to throw his vote down the drain instead of opting for the only party which could replace the Tories. That made me apprehensive about whether millions of anti-Tory voters would use their votes effectively. (The Peace Party came seventh in my constituency.) Worse was to follow when I logged in here. To read that a serious Tory hater couldn’t “become enthused by any party on offer” and chose not to vote for the only viable alternative to Cameron’s evil regime, was further evidence, albeit anecdotal, that the Labour campaign, despite having so many troops on the ground, was failing to motivate enough people to secure a victory.

About eleven million people in the UK (about 37% of those who voted) chose the Tories, and it resulted in them winning 331 of the 650 seats in Parliament, 12 more than all the other parties combined. In our so-called democracy, we have to respect their choice, even if it’s difficult to understand it. I’ve never come to terms with how anyone of modest means, or anyone with a social conscience, could ever vote Tory. I have a brief encounter with OCD whenever I go into a polling booth, checking what I’ve done on the ballot paper several times before I put it in the box.

What makes it even more difficult to understand now is that many people believed Cameron in 2010, he lied to them and has since broken a string of promises (which have been recorded elsewhere on this forum any number of times). He’s presided over the cruellest government in living memory, and yet so many people don’t seem to care. He’s stuffed the House of Lords with cronies, often after the Tories have received generous donations from them, and he's sold off state assets at knockdown prices, in the case of the Royal Mail enabling Osborne’s best man to make a fortune. He and his government have even been reprimanded several times for falsifying statistics.

The Tories often complain that the BBC is ‘left-wing’, which it isn’t, as a thread on this forum fully demonstrates; if anything it leans to the right these days, and it has always fawned over so-called ‘royalty’. But the Tories never complain about the rabid right-wing nature of most of the press, with even ‘The Independent’ giving them a tepid endorsement this week. That press, and programmes such as ‘HIGN4Y’ and ‘News Quiz’, have participated in the character assassination of Ed Miliband over a long period of time, gradually corroding his credibility, and dismissing him as “not being prime ministerial”. Whether he is we will never find out now, but does Cameron fit the bill? So often he’s shown himself to be an arrogant, bad-tempered, out-of-touch bully with a sense of entitlement. His behaviour on the day after the Scottish independence referendum incited the Scots and drove many of them from Labour into the arms of the SNP. In this campaign, he created fear of the SNP to scare many English voters towards the Tories. Had he been alive today, Machiavelli could have learned lessons from Cameron.

Ed Miliband sometimes looks awkward on television and isn’t very good at eating a bacon sandwich (who is?). But what does it say when the issue of choosing a potential prime minister is reduced to the level of a vote for ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ or ‘The X Factor’? Would Clement Attlee - in my opinion the greatest PM we’ve ever had - have won many votes for his celebrity status? Shouldn’t it be more important to choose between the bedroom tax and a mansion tax, and between democratically managed public services or private ones controlled by unaccountable corporations? Did those who voted Tory really want the ultimate destruction of the welfare state? Are they really so blasé about the possibility of becoming sick, unemployed or disabled one day? Instead of thinking about such issues, so many were distracted by the Tory charge that Miliband was ‘weak’, even though Cameron was too scared to debate head-to-head with him.

So it was rather like 1992 after all. No triumphalist Sheffield rally this time, just a silly stone monument, but the polls telling us that it was neck-and-neck and then the Tories winning easily. Three party leaders have resigned, but so should the pollsters. Electoral Calculus was claiming only yesterday that the chance of a Tory majority was just 4%. I don’t think I’ll ever bother to look at an opinion poll again; studying tea leaves is probably a more reliable guide to election outcomes.

Maybe the similarities with 1992 (which turned out to be a good election to lose) won’t end there. Five months after John Major lied his way back into office with scaremongering and promises of “tax cuts year on year”, Tory economic incompetence was there for all to see on ‘Black Wednesday’. His hapless government, riddled with sleaze and tearing itself apart over Europe, limped through five unhappy years, and we all know what happened next. So maybe 2020 will be like 1997, but five years is a long while to wait to find out, and sadly a lot of vulnerable people are going to suffer in the meantime.


Last edited by Ivan on Sun Jan 10, 2016 2:10 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Post by Redflag Sun Sep 20, 2015 12:26 pm

boatlady wrote:Sickchip
I agree with you that Corbyn definitely could win the next election - it's all still to play for, in my opinion.
He's as likely a candidate for PM as any and if he gets the support he deserves from his own party may well confound his critics

I agree boatlady I just wish all Labour MPs would give JC a chance to show what he can do, then after 18 months things are no different as regards to Labour being in a position to win the general election in 2020 they will need to sit down with him and talk things over as too the best way to proceed.

I did not vote for Jermy Corbyn but I am willing to give him a good crack of the whip, the Labour party has lost two election allowing the Tories to punish the low paid sick & disabled people of the UK, but do believe that when they bring in working tax credits the SHIT will hit the FAN.

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Post by oftenwrong Sun Sep 20, 2015 7:46 pm

To nobody's surprise, the Murdoch Press continues to characterise the new Labour administration as doomed to failure.  Today's Sunday Times has two full pages of put-down, including an unflattering comparison of Jeremy Corbyn with Michael Foot.  Along with a first editorial leader expanding on the topic.

I can't help wondering why they think it worth devoting so much space to a "lost cause".

Coverage of Labour's Annual Conference in Brighton next week may provide some clues as to actual right-wing fears.
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Post by Phil Hornby Sun Sep 20, 2015 8:57 pm

It is indeed strange that four-and-a-half years out from a general election the Tory Press should be so exercised.

Maybe they have concerns about interim electoral activity at a local level and are seeking to stop any Corbyn-inspired enthusiasm taking root.

Perhaps they also have fears surrounding the mud-slinging which will accompany the Tory Party over Europe and when Cameron's successor is chosen ( assuming no u-turns on the great leader's part in order to 'save the nation') and need to already have in place a tried and tested demonization of JC in the public's consciousness to deflect its attention from the gruesome and embarrassing spectacle of the Tory Party's capacity for internal argument and division...
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Post by Redflag Mon Sep 21, 2015 6:14 pm

The latest story of piggate show the signs of divisions in the Tory party PH, I think when the working tax credits is cut in April 2016 and anything else Davy boy & Giddy-up have in mind will stir up more Tory hatred.
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Post by Phil Hornby Mon Sep 21, 2015 6:21 pm

Oh, I do hope so , Redflag...
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Post by sickchip Tue Sep 22, 2015 12:17 pm

Re: The faux outrage of the press at Cprbyn not singing the national anthem.


I wonder if Cameron was singing the National Anthem as he put his penis into a dead pig's head?

It would seem like an appropriate occasion to sing our National Anthem.
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Post by oftenwrong Tue Sep 22, 2015 12:46 pm

How can you tell when a Politician is lying?

What now for Labour? (Part 1) - Page 24 Ad_181139719
© metro.co.uk

YOU CAN SEE HIS LIPS MOVING!
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Post by Redflag Wed Sep 23, 2015 5:13 pm

That is an easy one OW, every time a Tory opens there mouths its just to repeat another BLATANT LIE
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Post by Phil Hornby Wed Sep 23, 2015 5:22 pm

That's very unfair - quite often they originate a new lie... Smile
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Post by Redflag Thu Sep 24, 2015 12:22 pm

You could be right H, but I have taken the stance that no matter what the Tories say "ITS A BARE FACED LIE" that way the Tories will not get me on there hook of believing them.
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Post by astradt1 Thu Sep 24, 2015 12:33 pm

There was an interesting line in Tim 'nice but dim' Farron's key note speech yesterday. He repeated the Tory/Coalitions line 'The Banking Crisis caused by Brown'.....Yet there he and other senior LibDems saying they are the future home of disaffected Labour Voters.....As they will 'are' the party of Center Left but seem to carry on with their Moderate Right ideas they caught from the Tory's.......
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Post by Penderyn Thu Sep 24, 2015 2:54 pm

astradt1 wrote:There was an interesting line in Tim 'nice but dim' Farron's key note speech yesterday. He repeated the Tory/Coalitions line 'The Banking Crisis caused by Brown'.....Yet there he and other senior LibDems saying they are the future home of disaffected Labour Voters.....As they will 'are' the party of Center Left but seem to carry on with their Moderate Right ideas they caught from the Tory's.......

That Brilliant British Prime Miisiter, seizing control of the US markets and international capitalism to produce a slump! The way the shitbags were allowed to spread this lie during the fuhrer elections should certainly teach us not to treat political figures like unsuccessful football managers.
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Post by oftenwrong Thu Sep 24, 2015 5:38 pm

It's many years since the right-wing Press wrote about "the loony left" but they may have been gifted a new hostage to fortune:

Meat-eaters should be treated like smokers, says the vegan shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/wellness/meat-eaters-should-be-treated-like-smokers-says-the-vegan-shadow-environment-secretary-kerry-mccarthy/ar-AAeIEJs?li=AAaeUIW
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Post by Redflag Thu Sep 24, 2015 6:57 pm

astradt1 wrote:There was an interesting line in Tim 'nice but dim' Farron's key note speech yesterday. He repeated the Tory/Coalitions line 'The Banking Crisis caused by Brown'.....Yet there he and other senior LibDems saying they are the future home of disaffected Labour Voters.....As they will 'are' the party of Center Left but seem to carry on with their Moderate Right ideas they caught from the Tory's.......

"Tim but Dim" Farron seems to think that the people will forget that the L/Ds went through the yes lobby with the Tories for the 2012 NHS bill & the welfare cutting bill astradt, it was not just it was Labour that caused the banking problem they repeated every Tory LIE so hell mend them if they are out of gov't for a long long time.
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Post by Penderyn Fri Sep 25, 2015 1:00 pm

oftenwrong wrote:It's many years since the right-wing Press wrote about "the loony left" but they  may have been gifted a new hostage to fortune:

Meat-eaters should be treated like smokers, says the vegan shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/wellness/meat-eaters-should-be-treated-like-smokers-says-the-vegan-shadow-environment-secretary-kerry-mccarthy/ar-AAeIEJs?li=AAaeUIW

Anyone to the left of Geghiz Khan is 'loony left' to those Murdochite liars, after all.
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Post by oftenwrong Sat Sep 26, 2015 5:16 pm

Jeremy Corbyn's maiden speech to Conference will be televised by BBC2 at 2 pm on Tuesday.

(and if you like to throw things at the telly another Jeremy, this time Clarkson, will be chairing HIGNFY on Friday.)
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Post by Redflag Mon Sep 28, 2015 10:52 am

This will be Jermy Corbyn time to prove himself of a leader of the Labour party also to prove to the right wing media he is fit to the "PRIME MINISTER" of the UK OW.
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Post by boatlady Mon Sep 28, 2015 5:12 pm

I thought he gave a good account of himself on Sunday with Andrew Marr
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Post by Redflag Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:51 pm

He did that boatlady but he was wise to the right wing media wanting to trip him up, in the hope of keeping the VILE Tories in gov't for good I think because this Tory gov't is letting big business + the wealthy ELITE do not want to pay there CORRECT amount of tax.
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Post by oftenwrong Mon Sep 28, 2015 11:09 pm

Few people WANT to pay taxes. The best to be expected is that most of us will rather grudgingly accept it as the price for living in a relatively civilised society. Certainly taxation is the most obvious means of re-distributing uneven levels of wealth amongst the general population. What skews the arithmetic is an attitude that nothing must interfere with the right of big-business to maximise profits.

The examples are numerous that global business considers itself above mere governments. Banks declared their self-interest in 2008, Commodity dealers have no conscience about plundering the World's natural resources, and Volkswagen is only the latest example of corporate greed, in the wake of Google, Amazon, Starbucks, Uncle Tom Cobley and all!

There is a glimmer of hope that a New Broom socialist government might begin to counter such antisocial behaviour. Voters could object to that only if they were already enjoying more than their fair share of the national cake.
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Post by boatlady Tue Sep 29, 2015 7:41 am

Or if they think that by supporting corporate welfare they will make powerful friends
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Post by sickchip Tue Sep 29, 2015 8:15 am

Penderyn:

That Brilliant British Prime Miisiter, seizing control of the US markets and international capitalism to produce a slump! The way the shitbags were allowed to spread this lie during the fuhrer elections should certainly teach us not to treat political figures like unsuccessful football managers.

Superb!
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Post by Redflag Tue Sep 29, 2015 1:15 pm

Danny Blanchflower was on the Politics show today and he along with others are predicting another bump in the economy which will prove this VILE Tory gov'ts AUSTERITY will be the cause of this fall of the economy sickchip.
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Post by sickchip Fri Oct 02, 2015 6:46 pm

What's happening? I'm heading to my underground shelter because according to the media, and a range of mps, and hordes of paranoid Brits, we are in imminent danger of a nuclear attack that will wipe out millions. Thank goodness Cameron - he who interferes with dead pigs heads, and a relative of the queen, former Bullingdon chap, member of the aristocracy, is there to press the big red shiny button and kill millions of people somewhere else. I hadn't realised we were going to be suffering this nuclear attack until Corbyn became Labour leader......I'm so pleased he became leader otherwise I would never have known about the imminent danger we're in.
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Post by boatlady Fri Oct 02, 2015 11:03 pm

lol! lol! lol!
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Post by Redflag Sat Oct 03, 2015 10:46 am

Sickchip the only danger that the UK is in is death by IDS & Davy boy Welfare cuts, then when they get sick there will be NO NHS to nurse them back to health.
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Post by witchfinder Sat Oct 03, 2015 12:55 pm

The nearest marginal constituency to where I live is Stockton South, around 40 miles away from where I sit, and Stockton South has for over 30 years always gone with the government of the day, except, that is, for a brief period after the birth of the SDP ( there is another story ). In May of this year the constituency remained in Tory hands after the Tory candidate won it back from Labour in 2010.

The striking impression that anyone would get from visiting this constituency is how it is dominated by aspirational, middle class people, many of which have roots in working class families who were probably Labour voters, but who have now managed to open doors, work their way upwards and buy a house.

Such people in such constituencies are the floaters, ones who would happily switch from Labour to Tory depending on whichever party they thought best suited their beliefs, ideals and goals. There are many such constituencies, especially in the Midlands and in the South East of England outside of London.

We must ask ourselves the serious question "would a middle class floating voter who sometimes votes Labour, be more, or less likely to support Labour with an agenda that has moved much further over to the traditional socialist wing of the party. ?

Personally I think not
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Post by oftenwrong Sat Oct 03, 2015 7:19 pm

The evidence of the last General Election is that many many voters took a "me first" decision, or to put it more kindly, charity begins at home.

Why should this surprise anybody, 35 years after Thatcher introduced us to "Greed is Good" and "There is no such thing as Society!"

The chattering classes seem to think that the extent of Cameron's unexpected success will have strengthened his hand in Parliament, but media opinion reporting shows the Tory Party as split over Europe as it ever was under John Major. During the next four years they have a golden opportunity to prepare for another rout like 1997.

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Post by Ivan Sun Oct 04, 2015 12:28 am

"Would a middle class floating voter who sometimes votes Labour, be more, or less likely to support Labour with an agenda that has moved much further over to the traditional socialist wing of the party?”
witchfinder. It’s really good to see you here and to read another of your thoughtful contributions.  thumbsup

I think it’s a pity, though understandable, that Ed Miliband resigned immediately after the election defeat in May. It would have been better if he had stayed on for a few months while the party analysed the reasons it lost. Was it too left-wing to capture floating voters, or not left-wing enough to stop people drifting off to the Green Party and the SNP? Was it so out of touch with its working class base that many of its natural supporters stayed at home on polling day or voted for UKIP? Was it, wrongly, still being blamed for the global credit crunch of 2008, and for being anti-business? Or was it that the party’s message wasn’t clear and distinct enough to offer people an attractive vision of the future? Perhaps it was all of those factors, and each of us will have our opinions as to which ones were more significant than others.

We were quickly thrown into a leadership election while still suffering the trauma of that unexpectedly bad defeat. Two of the candidates had been members of the New Labour government which was still being blamed for the global crash, while a third was a keen supporter of Blairism. The only candidate who offered something different, and who seemed to tap into the anger which had led to the rise of the SNP in Scotland, and UKIP in the European and council elections, was Jeremy Corbyn.

New Labour did win three elections in a row, but it can be argued that it then lost the next two, and it definitely lost four million votes between Blair’s first victory in 1997 and his third one in 2005. Would Burnham, Cooper or Kendall have fared any better than Ed Miliband? I guess we may never know.

Most Tory voters will vote Tory regardless of whether the Labour leader is from the left, right or centre of the party, and they will even hold their noses and vote for vile scum such as Iain Duncan Smith. Pensioners are the most likely people to vote, and they are the group of the population most likely to vote Tory. Tory supporters have always been the most likely to vote, but that may be about to change.

24% of the electorate voted Tory in May. 34% of the electorate didn’t vote at all. I’ve met people who’ve never voted in their lives, sometimes for religious reasons (such as Jehovah’s Witnesses), and they’re unlikely to do so in future. Much depends on how many people who’ve felt in the past that voting is pointless can be persuaded that Labour is now offering something different. It could be significant that 50,000 people joined Labour in the first week after Jeremy Corbyn became leader; that’s more than the total membership of UKIP.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/more-people-have-joined-labour-since-jeremy-corbyn-became-leader-than-are-in-the-lib-dems-10512815.html

I don’t bet, but if I did I wouldn’t put any money on Jeremy Corbyn leading Labour to victory in 2020. But then I wouldn’t have put any money on Burnham, Cooper or Kendall winning either. I still believe that anyone, even Arthur Scargill, would have won for Labour in 1997 because enough people had tired of Tory sleaze and incompetence. There's an old adage that governments lose elections rather than oppositions win them, and as Harold Macmillan once remarked, the biggest problem facing a PM is “events, dear boy”. Add that to Harold Wilson’s “a week is a long time in politics” and the next four and a half years look like an eternity.
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Post by Redflag Sun Oct 04, 2015 4:58 pm

sickchip wrote:Re: The faux outrage of the press at Corbyn not singing the national anthem.


I wonder if Cameron was singing the National Anthem as he put his penis into a dead pig's head?

It would seem like an appropriate occasion to sing our National Anthem.

Sickchip are you in the mood to frighten all those poor Piggies, shame on you lol!
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Post by oftenwrong Thu Oct 08, 2015 5:40 pm

Oh, lucky Jeremy!

How pleasant it must be to have nothing to worry about.

Mr Corbyn has an unbelievable number of people in the media, and in the offices of other

political parties, who DO HIS WORRYING FOR HIM! Free, gratis and without even being asked.

Right-wing spokespersons agonise in Print, broadcasting and on social media about the The

clothes which Jeremy may wear, the views he is said to hold, his choice of associates, his

attitude towards women, support for religious creeds and terrorists, possible colour of his

Poppy, Clause Four - and whether he should curtsey to the Queen.

Heavy stuff, but selflessly lifted from his shoulders with no thought of personal gain on

the part of those uncountable volunteers.
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Post by boatlady Thu Oct 08, 2015 8:21 pm

So lovely of them
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Post by Redflag Sat Oct 10, 2015 10:43 am

oftenwrong wrote:Few people WANT to pay taxes.  The best to be expected is that most of us will rather grudgingly accept it as the price for living in a relatively civilised society.  Certainly taxation is the most obvious means of re-distributing uneven levels of wealth amongst the general population.  What skews the arithmetic is an attitude that nothing must interfere with the right of big-business to maximise profits.

The examples are numerous that global business considers itself above mere governments.  Banks declared their self-interest in 2008, Commodity dealers have no conscience about plundering the World's natural resources, and Volkswagen is only the latest example of corporate greed, in the wake of Google, Amazon, Starbucks, Uncle Tom Cobley and all!

There is a glimmer of hope that a New Broom socialist government might begin to counter such antisocial behaviour.  Voters could object to that only if they were already enjoying more than their fair share of the national cake.

The problem there OW the ordinary man/women has there tax take before they see there salaries (PAYE), the only people that have problem paying tax is those that earn thousands plus per month.
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Post by Penderyn Tue Oct 13, 2015 12:40 pm

I got my Party card this morning, with a message from Mr Corbyn. I found it truly heartening, a reminder of the decent, British Party I used to belong to.
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Post by Redflag Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:01 pm

I got mine last week Penderyn but mine was renewal time, I did not vote for JC but I am willing to give him a fair go
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Post by Phil Hornby Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:17 pm

Call me an old cynic, but it all looks like a complete balls-up just now.

I doubt there will be another Labour Government for another 20 years or more - the best they can hope for is to come to their senses, reverse the current madness and strike up a coalition with other social democratic groups.
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Post by boatlady Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:40 pm

We shall see
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Post by Phil Hornby Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:22 pm

Few would be more pleased than me to see the Tories humiliated and booted out, but such is there cunning in terms of holding on to power against the odds, it will take clever strategies to remove them and I see precious few signs that anything currently on offer is likely to do that - despite the clear evil of Cameron and his cohorts.

Unless and until Labour get real about the pragmatic means needed to unseat the spiteful ones, the poorest in the country are doomed to continue their suffering.
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Post by oftenwrong Tue Oct 13, 2015 10:54 pm

It was a Labour PM who commented, "A week is a long time in politics!"

The Tories were astonished to find themselves with an actual majority after the May general election, and equally surprised by Jeremy Corbyn's selection as Labour Leader.  They recognise that things aren't likely to remain the same as they were during the Miliband Regency, but don't know quite what changes to expect.  Hence the scatter-gun barrage of knocking-copy.

Neither do we know what to expect, but I think it's definitely going to be different.
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Post by Ivan Tue Oct 13, 2015 11:29 pm

In May 2010, 34.9% of the electorate didn’t bother to vote (the figure was 33.9% this year). A survey of those non-voters revealed some interesting explanations:-

What now for Labour? (Part 1) - Page 24 CtUMM0_t24wBxbr_nEhbrt25NYUBPvWLcLabVmqGWKtk9GXQrLG3WuddflRI9pFuxx6Fxfxombu7LMOl9Q9vJJFZgLwpyk-ZYKQGyeTxzXrr5h-6HfLnUzs4Rw
http://survation.com/apathy-in-the-uk-understanding-the-attitudes-of-non-voters/

I doubt if Labour will win in 2020 – unless there is another global economic meltdown (quite possible), or the Tories get embroiled in a major scandal (always possible), or the Tories tear themselves apart over the EU (which wouldn't be for the first time). I think the old adage that "governments lose elections rather than oppositions win them" is generally true, and I doubt if Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper or Liz Kendall would have more chance of success than Jeremy Corbyn, maybe less. I say that because with Corbyn as leader, fewer people will be able to claim that “all parties are the same” (25% in that survey), or “what I believe isn’t represented” (17%). Even some of the 27% who said that “my vote won’t make any difference” might be motivated to use it, though our FPTP system probably has a lot to do with that.

Following the Tories as they move further and further to the right, and offering to be a little less ‘nasty’, wouldn’t motivate many, if any, of those non-voters. Even if that tactic was successful and enough Tory-inclined voters could be persuaded to give Labour another chance, the resulting government would have to be very Tory-lite or those waverers would probably return to the nasty party at the next election. Tony Blair persuaded 13.5 million people to vote Labour in 1997; 4 million of them had gone by 2005.

If the function of the Labour Party is to let the Tories determine ‘the centre ground’ and to just offer a watered-down version of their obnoxious and spiteful policies, it might just as well close down. Ed Miliband dressed smartly, wore a tie, and even sang the national anthem, but his mild policies were still too left-wing for some, not left-wing enough for others (“what I believe isn’t represented”), and not sufficiently distinct (“all parties are the same”) to present a clear choice to the electorate. Whatever happens in the next five years, Jeremy Corbyn is offering people an opportunity to reject the neoliberal consensus which has plagued us since Thatcher’s first victory in 1979. Whether they take that chance remains to be seen.
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Post by boatlady Wed Oct 14, 2015 8:30 am

After the last election, it was clear to me, and also it seems to many others, that Labour really needed to establish a clear distinction of its policies and its offer to electors as against what the Tories offer - clear blue (or red) water, if you will.

With Corbyn at the helm we will be able to do just that - his promise is to oppose the excesses of the most right wing government I have ever seen and to propose a different view of the problems facing us and their potential solutions.

It may well be that the majority will look at his offer and think 'no thanks - not for us' but at least he is challenging the Tory hegemony, which is something we have not seen for several years.

It's entirely possible that some abstainers will be inspired by this fresh approach to vote again - we may see some surprises in by-elections and local elections in the coming years.

At the end of the day, if Britain wants a right wing government that is what we shall have - but at least now a real alternative is on offer, and I do believe the current government are rattled - which to me is a positive sign. Anything that upsets Cameron and his gang is OK by me.
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