gavreid
Pretty Words...
Say what you think gav, don’t be shy
Actually I was holding off
Say what you think gav, don’t be shy
As a strategy it relies on the majority becoming anti-conservative which hasn't happened yet but likely will as conditions deteriorate. The risk is that by standing for nothing much labour will cease to be seen as the opposition and the safe alternative to the conservatives. And if the conservatives change the rules and call an early election it is unlikely to be relevant for another 7 years or so.
Starmer just looks like another John Major at this point.
The current strategy is to not be the conservatives,
It's important that Labour continue to appoint women to leadership positions. One day, the party of equality and all might even elect a female leader.
Do you mean the post after that? I can't see one immediately before. If the strategy is just "deciding on a few key policies" then that isn't really a strategy.See my post prior to the one you are responding to. What needs to be done seems relatively straightforward and indeed the labour leadership has been saying it since Starmer took over. The problem is they don't seem to be doing much about it. They have also said and done other things like whipping to support a hard brexit which doesn't seem compatible with a progressive way forward to support the interests of working people. I expect Starmer and the leadership to change strategy and start better defining their position in order to hold things together. If not there is likely to be serious dissent with serious consequences for an opposition to this current government.
I hope they do elect a woman leader but not Thatcher reincarnated. Reeves is pretty much that, anti-union, rabidly anti-welfare, neoliberal etc etc...
I can’t see it ever leading to a majority as anyone who has any real opinion on any political topic (democracy, accountability, environmentalism, racism, authoritarianism, internationalism, education, equality etc etc) will simply go elsewhere to a party with a moral compass and conviction.
They are actually in very real danger of looking anti-working class/northern women at this point IMO with the removal of Rebecca Long-Bailey and Angela Rayner, and the suggestion even Lisa Nandy may be on thin ice. To my mind these are all real assets and stand out from a sea of dull grey Westminster establishment conformity.
PS I fully expect Labour to be crap, because Labour, but even so I’m disappointed with Starmer. He really is hopeless.
I wish he would win 42% of the vote like May.It's rapidly looking like Sir Keir has Mrs May levels of suitability for the job. Dull when campaigning, prone to panic, not a team player.
"“If they ever had the plot, they’ve completely lost it now,” said one frontbencher. … “At 7am yesterday, I would have said the chances of a leadership challenge were about 0% or as close to that as you could get,” said one exasperated Labour staffer. “By 7pm they were getting dangerously close to 100%.”" https://www.theguardian.com/politic...ings-labours-confidence-in-keir-starmer-slips
Probably in his mind, he imagined he was up to the task of leader because he thought he would be a natural at stuff like this:
Low levels of self-awareness, I suspect.
I can’t see it ever leading to a majority as anyone who has any real opinion on any political topic (democracy, accountability, environmentalism, racism, authoritarianism, internationalism, education, equality etc etc) will simply go elsewhere to a party with a moral compass and conviction.
Starmer just looks like another John Major at this point. Labour stand no chance with the ongoing growth of the real progressives (SNP, Greens, LDs etc) on one side, and the far-right merging so seamlessly into the Tories on the other. The best they can possibly hope for is to head up a minority government, but I doubt many of the smaller parties would agree to formal coalition given Labour’s hopelessly outdated or right-wing positions on electoral reform, Europe, independence, authoritarianism etc.
Harsh but fair...That's too generous. Major won a General Election. A closer comparison would be with Iain Duncan Smith.
It wouldn't, by itself, be sufficient to make me vote for them, but it's a start. It probably wouldn't do them any harm to start advocating electoral reform too, because under FPTP I seriously doubt they will ever be in a position to form a government on their own again.
What is this “strategy” of which you speak? The current Labour Party has no discernible policy, ideology, conviction or moral compass. It is nothing more than a dull grey man in a dull grey suit cowering behind a flag.
The 'tittle-tattle' I'm seeing in some news sources suggest that Angela Rayner is quietly positioning herself to take over once Starmer falls on his sword. She ticks several boxes: female, media-savvy, Northern, left-ish ....
With the Tories seeking to gerrymander future elections by reverting to FPTP for all elections and requiring the showing of i.d. to vote, there is a good opportunity to do so. Will they take?