Next Labour leader

@Sluffy wrote:Labour leadership: Rebecca Long-Bailey enters race

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51012381

Charisma and likeability factor of my dustbin.

Sir Keir will win it because:
- He has an exemplary career fighting injustice
- He's a Knight of the Realm and a QC
- He has a reputation for being honest, straightforward and trustworthy
- He's a family man with two photogenic teenage children
- He's successful and a millionaire
- He is heterosexual
- He ain't bad looking and has a reasonably fit missus

...the last being his biggest asset in an election, sad to say.

Never been too impressed by RLB to be honest, and too close to Corbynism for what needs to be a clear split from the current leadership.

Starmer is currently the favourite, but so was Burnham when Corbyn got in so a lot can change.

I'm a myopic lunatic.    Why has no one mentioned this before?

@wanderlust wrote:Sir Keir will win it because:
- He has an exemplary career fighting injustice
- He's a Knight of the Realm and a QC
- He has a reputation for being honest, straightforward and trustworthy
- He's a family man with two photogenic teenage children
- He's successful and a millionaire
- He is heterosexual
- He ain't bad looking and has a reasonably fit missus

...the last being his biggest asset in an election, sad to say.

All compelling reasons (as is his impeccable working class background) but unfortunately for him he represents a London constituency and is a man.

I suspect the two candidates the Tories are most worried by are Starmer and Phillips, although I don't think Phillips will win.

I haven't seen your dustbin WL but if it is anything like mine I agree with your assessment of RBL. As TROY has already said the last thing the Labour party needs is another Corbyn.

@boltonbonce wrote:I'm a myopic lunatic.    Why has no one mentioned this before?

Don't worry, but perhaps it would be wise to have a chat with your GP.

@xmiles wrote:

@wanderlust wrote:Sir Keir will win it because:
- He has an exemplary career fighting injustice
- He's a Knight of the Realm and a QC
- He has a reputation for being honest, straightforward and trustworthy
- He's a family man with two photogenic teenage children
- He's successful and a millionaire
- He is heterosexual
- He ain't bad looking and has a reasonably fit missus

...the last being his biggest asset in an election, sad to say.

All compelling reasons (as is his impeccable working class background) but unfortunately for him he represents a London constituency and is a man.

I suspect the two candidates the Tories are most worried by are Starmer and Phillips, although I don't think Phillips will win.

I haven't seen your dustbin WL but if it is anything like mine I agree with your assessment of RBL. As TROY has already said the last thing the Labour party needs is another Corbyn.

With an 80 seat majority, they aren't worried by any of the candidates.

@Cajunboy wrote:

@boltonbonce wrote:I'm a myopic lunatic.    Why has no one mentioned this before?

Don't worry, but perhaps it would be wise to have a chat with your GP.

I did, but he kept laughing.

@boltonbonce wrote:I'm a myopic lunatic.    Why has no one mentioned this before?

Don't worry Bonce, this phase will pass, as will the current Labour party 

T.R.O.Y wrote:I hope they keep the main policies - nationalise rail and energy and properly fund public services. That’s what I voted for. Am I not entitled to want that?

Of course you are entitled to want that, in fact as well as the rail and energy enterprises, I would also add buses. i would prefer them to be run on a business basis, but without as much profit generated as there is now, which would not only pay for the service, but also allow a little profit that could be plowed back into developing the business.

I'm not sure what Cummings intends to do with the Civil Service, but would ask this: How can an adviser seemingly do what he likes with the biggest institution in the country? 
I neither like nor trust Cummings, and though he successfully steered Brexit through a minefield I'll be happy to see him go.

@gloswhite wrote:

T.R.O.Y wrote:I hope they keep the main policies - nationalise rail and energy and properly fund public services. That’s what I voted for. Am I not entitled to want that?

Of course you are entitled to want that, in fact as well as the rail and energy enterprises, I would also add buses. i would prefer them to be run on a business basis, but without as much profit generated as there is now, which would not only pay for the service, but also allow a little profit that could be plowed back into developing the business.

Glad you agree, got to say I am now even more confused you’d vote Tory - a party who are completely opposed to such a policy.

Both yourself and Cajun seem pretty smug about the Tory victory, and if your only criteria of success is to leave the EU no matter the damage to the economy then I can see why.

Whether that will be enough for the millions of other Tory voters who have been sold dreams of a positive Brexit that will transform the average man’s fortunes is a different matter.

Boris has a huge amount to deliver, a lot of which is out of his control now.

@gloswhite wrote:
I neither like nor trust Cummings, and though he successfully steered Brexit through a minefield I'll be happy to see him go.

Do you really think that the strategist behind Brexit and the election victory would plan his own demise?
He'll go if and when he's ready.

I see Corbyn is sitting on the fence again: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51021030

I have no idea who i want as leader to be honest as none of them other than Starmer seem up to the job of leading an opposition to a government with such a bug majority.

As much as i liked Corbyn i suspected he wouldn't win the election but was shocked how badly they did. I think Momentum has too much power within the party and the party as a whole has gone to far to the left for your average voter.
His stance on Brexit and the scattergun election manifesto didn't help either,  free broadband and promising to throw money at everything was seen as desperation and just not believable.

Andrew Harrop in the latest issue of Fabian Review.

'Individual voters didn't engage with all this policy detail. But they got enough of it to smell a rat. Unlike in 2017, this manifesto was an epic failure because Labour's programme was for the movement, not the country.
Once the leadership contest is over, on policy the party must start again'.

Anybody who rates Corbyn 10 out of 10 as leader of the Labour party is clearly totally unfit to be Labour leader.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi2hfq3q_TmAhVklFwKHcaVCXQQFjADegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2020%2Fjan%2F07%2Frebecca-long-bailey-defends-corbyns-legacy-as-she-launches-labour-leadership-bid&usg=AOvVaw2YfPVWNYtjqWEcoc_rNhM9

Unison backs Sir Keir

More votes than all the other candidates combined!

@wanderlust wrote:Unison backs Sir Keir

More votes than all the other candidates combined!

You do realise that Unison is only actually backing Sir Keir's nomination and they aren't actually voting for him as union block votes no longer exist, don't you, as the way you've posted seems to suggest Starmer's already won the leadership contest.

I'm not a Long Bailey supporter and note Momentum and all the other Corbynistas are giving her their full backing but I remember listening to her maiden speech when she was first elected to Parliament and thought she stated her views very well.

Certainly well worth a listen if you like such things -

One day in parliament under this Tory majority shows everything you need to know about them, and why this failure is a catastrophe:

Scrapping guarantees of workers’ rights
Stopping refugee children reuniting with their families
Clamping down on young people’s chances of studying abroad
Making sure Parliament has no say in any deal

T.R.O.Y wrote:

@gloswhite wrote:

T.R.O.Y wrote:I hope they keep the main policies - nationalise rail and energy and properly fund public services. That’s what I voted for. Am I not entitled to want that?

Of course you are entitled to want that, in fact as well as the rail and energy enterprises, I would also add buses. i would prefer them to be run on a business basis, but without as much profit generated as there is now, which would not only pay for the service, but also allow a little profit that could be plowed back into developing the business.

Glad you agree, got to say I am now even more confused you’d vote Tory - a party who are completely opposed to such a policy.

Both yourself and Cajun seem pretty smug about the Tory victory, and if your only criteria of success is to leave the EU no matter the damage to the economy then I can see why.

Whether that will be enough for the millions of other Tory voters who have been sold dreams of a positive Brexit that will transform the average man’s fortunes is a different matter.

Boris has a huge amount to deliver, a lot of which is out of his control now.

Some of my preference for the Tories is that they will push ahead with what they have promised, (where they can), but I get the distinct impression with the Labour Party that they are too busy jockeying for postions within the party(not just now, but always), and fighting influences from non-elected bodies such as the unions and momentum, etc. 
I genuinely believe their own so called 'working class' is rather more politically savvy than they are aware, and expectations are a lot higher. Hence their downfall recently with such poor and outdated attitudes.
Although Sir Keir Starmer is possibly one of the better ones from a bad bunch, he's still got the personality of a wet lettuce, I quite like Lisa Nandy, although she's more of a thinker than an orator.

@wanderlust wrote:

@gloswhite wrote:
I neither like nor trust Cummings, and though he successfully steered Brexit through a minefield I'll be happy to see him go.

Do you really think that the strategist behind Brexit and the election victory would plan his own demise?
He'll go if and when he's ready.

I believe Boris is, and can be, as ruthless as anyone when the situation calls for it, and Cummings isn't immune to that.

That's the trouble, Glos.....Boris is all ruthlessness and hard-heartedness and no compassion.

@okocha wrote:That's the trouble, Glos.....Boris is all ruthlessness and hard-heartedness and no compassion.

I genuinely believe that once we are clear of the recent upheavals, things will settle down, for the better. I also think that we need him and his directness at this time. We will all be affected in one form or another. 
Makes me think of a saying I heard years ago that the measure of how good a society is, can be determined by how well they look after their sick, old, and dependents. This country still has a way to go, and it will take time to manage the many changes society is going through.

@gloswhite wrote:

@okocha wrote:That's the trouble, Glos.....Boris is all ruthlessness and hard-heartedness and no compassion.

I genuinely believe that once we are clear of the recent upheavals, things will settle down, for the better. I also think that we need him and his directness at this time. We will all be affected in one form or another. 
Makes me think of a saying I heard years ago that the measure of how good a society is, can be determined by how well they look after their sick, old, and dependents. This country still has a way to go, and it will take time to manage the many changes society is going through.

This post illustrates why I struggle to understand you at times glos.

Do you really think that Boris, a man who has zero interest in anything or anybody but himself, and the Tories who are only motivated by greed and self interest are seriously going to improve the lot of the ill or disadvantaged?

@gloswhite wrote:

@wanderlust wrote:

@gloswhite wrote:
I neither like nor trust Cummings, and though he successfully steered Brexit through a minefield I'll be happy to see him go.

Do you really think that the strategist behind Brexit and the election victory would plan his own demise?
He'll go if and when he's ready.

I believe Boris is, and can be, as ruthless as anyone when the situation calls for it, and Cummings isn't immune to that.

He can bluster a bit, but what he blusters about is what he has been told to say on any given day - not by Cummings (who is an operations delivery vehicle) but by the likes of Murdoch and the others who have a vested financial interest in Brexit and a Tory Government. Boris is a puppet, and now he has to kowtow to Trump as well as his bosses.

@xmiles wrote:

@gloswhite wrote:

@okocha wrote:That's the trouble, Glos.....Boris is all ruthlessness and hard-heartedness and no compassion.

I genuinely believe that once we are clear of the recent upheavals, things will settle down, for the better. I also think that we need him and his directness at this time. We will all be affected in one form or another. 
Makes me think of a saying I heard years ago that the measure of how good a society is, can be determined by how well they look after their sick, old, and dependents. This country still has a way to go, and it will take time to manage the many changes society is going through.

This post illustrates why I struggle to understand you at times glos.

Do you really think that Boris, a man who has zero interest in anything or anybody but himself, and the Tories who are only motivated by greed and self interest are seriously going to improve the lot of the ill or disadvantaged?

The playing field has changed drastically XM. I would say that from your point of view, Boris has to change what you consider his personal traits, as to remain in power in 5 years he will have to have fulfilled, or at least tried to, all his manifesto promises. Purely from this point of view, many people will benefit far more than they are currently.
Try not to see flaws, issues and problems in everything Boris or Tory, the times they are a-changing. It may not be how we want it to in the short term, but change it will.
XM, its obvious that I'm a natural optimist, and you and Wander prefer to be pessimistic in your outlooks. I prefer to look forward, whilst you two judge everything by looking back first. Of course, I have the right approach 

Ye if you’re willing to ignore the lies, deceit and failings of Boris throughout his career I’m sure it is easier to be positive about him in the future.

Look at post 80 if you want to see why he’s a disaster in the present as well as the past though.

As FDR said, "A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward".
Extra difficult for Boris, with his trousers forever round his ankles.

Tracey Brabin and Floella Benjamin. And I know one of them sits at the back a lot eating Kettle Chips.