Campaign Hits Scotland
Scotland has always been a bedrock of support for the Labour movement. That's why I'm particularly pleased to be up in Scotland as part of my national campaign to build up grassroots support for the campaign.
Yesterday I had a packed day in Edinburgh, including interviews with local radio, TV and newspapers as well as meetings with MSPs and students and a big public meeting in the evening. The enthusiasm of the evening meeting was contageous - and I was particularly impressed by the number of young people turning up. There were a couple of great speeches made by members of School Students Against The War which demonstrates that young people are once again becoming politically inspired.
At the meeting, we discussed putting together a campaign strategy for the New Year - including lobbying MPs and building support for getting on the nomination paper. As people said at the meeting, unless Scottish MPs nominate, tens of thousands of Labour party members and trade unionists will be deprived of a vote. We also discussed the issues that are particularly hitting Scotland at the moment - not least the new wave of PFI of PFI and privatisations in the health service and beyond, as well as public sector pay freezes.
Today I've got meetings in Glasgow, including a seminar on the Trade Union Freedom Bill with Scottish trade unionists, a meeting with students at Strathclyde University, and a public meeting at 7.30pm at the Scottish TUC.
I return to London on the Saturday for both the Campaign for State Education conference and the Stop The War People's Assembly.
What has struck me as the running theme of all of the meetings that I've been doing is that people are demanding a say over the future, the right to a choice on the ballot paper, and - most importantly of all - a radical break with New Labour. The enthusiasm for change continues to build.
I hope to be meeting a lot more of you in the months to come.
Yesterday I had a packed day in Edinburgh, including interviews with local radio, TV and newspapers as well as meetings with MSPs and students and a big public meeting in the evening. The enthusiasm of the evening meeting was contageous - and I was particularly impressed by the number of young people turning up. There were a couple of great speeches made by members of School Students Against The War which demonstrates that young people are once again becoming politically inspired.
At the meeting, we discussed putting together a campaign strategy for the New Year - including lobbying MPs and building support for getting on the nomination paper. As people said at the meeting, unless Scottish MPs nominate, tens of thousands of Labour party members and trade unionists will be deprived of a vote. We also discussed the issues that are particularly hitting Scotland at the moment - not least the new wave of PFI of PFI and privatisations in the health service and beyond, as well as public sector pay freezes.
Today I've got meetings in Glasgow, including a seminar on the Trade Union Freedom Bill with Scottish trade unionists, a meeting with students at Strathclyde University, and a public meeting at 7.30pm at the Scottish TUC.
I return to London on the Saturday for both the Campaign for State Education conference and the Stop The War People's Assembly.
What has struck me as the running theme of all of the meetings that I've been doing is that people are demanding a say over the future, the right to a choice on the ballot paper, and - most importantly of all - a radical break with New Labour. The enthusiasm for change continues to build.
I hope to be meeting a lot more of you in the months to come.
posted by John at 12:05 PM
36 Comments:
The Scottish and Welsh \MPs know more than most that unless we break ranks with New Labour and Blairism, then we are toast politically.Unlike many of the lemmings in Westminster, they have followed their own policy paths. We do need them on board - and if we can achieve that, things will really take off. Good luck - and let's get lobbying in a positive and friendly way. We have the right polcies, and grasssroots support, we have just got to get those names on the ballot paper.
Hmm... if students were engaging in politics, why are they contributing so little to politics. yeah they get angry about top up fees and Iraq, just the NIMBY causes, but it dosent really incite them to action.
i would suggest any time in scotland is wasted- the only scottish MP who wont be giving Gordon thier nominations will be John reid. Good luck getting his support.
I would be very greatful if you would tell me who would make up your cabinet John...
Arjun, you dampest of squibs,
Have you actually departed your dank and sticky couch to attend any of the meetings that McDonnell has spoken at, or do you just lie there in the fug for lonely hours at a time, casting an online pall?
I am a journalist who has been following McDonnell about on the campaign trail. I am a jaded old slapper, to be sure, but I feel that I earn a few points for at least getting out of the house to have a look at the state of play.
I have to say that I've been surprised at the spirit and enthusiasm that I've seen at some of these gatherings. I was expecting neither, and rarely experience either in the personal sense.
The meetings are usually well-attended, and often very well-attended. I've interviewed people who are new to politics, or who've been around for a while, or who left a while ago and have become interested again.
The campaign seems to have given them some sort of interest and, more to the point, some sort of focus. It's a gig to organise around, and that seems to be happening. There have been quite a few young people at these things too, and - despite what you've said in your comment above - they're saying that they want to come and hear what McDonnell has to say at least, because they're sick of sitting at home contributing, as you put it, so little.
I am a member of no political party, and am often very ambiguous in my own politics - sometimes I lean to the left and sometimes I lean towards a jolly old bit of capitalism. I stand to gain nothing by saying that I think McDonnell is doing something interesting. He may not get on the ballot paper. The campaign may falter. Who the hell knows.
What I can say for a fact is that he's getting excellent houses, providing a focus for organisation, and saying a lot of things that a lot of people apparently want to hear. Which is something that you may find out if you make a bit of an effort to shoehorn yourself off the sofa and get out and talk to some of the people who have bothered to do exactly that. The reason I know you haven't is that you'd be a little more upbeat if you had.
Thanks for listening, as I'm sure you have. Long live the hacks.
Excellent stuff, fellow hack. I'm in the NUJ too - and got lead story in my local rag about our John McD meeting in december - and lack of any real alternative from jokers in RESPECT. We have jeremy Dear on our side, too.
That is very good stuff. Could you let us know where your meeting is - I'd like to drag my sorry carcass along if that is cool.
And if you've got a shovel, we could drive round a few twee suburbs until we find Arjun, and pick him up on the way. It suddenly occurred to me that his posts are a cry for help.
The last post made me laugh out loud and what a kind thought to pluck Arjun out of the twee suburbs as you say, expec t he lives in one of Britain's many semilands like me! I was also wondering why Arjun is spending so much time on this site if he disagrees with everything it says; You obviously have faith that we will convince you in the end Arjun (or are you a spy from No.10?), what would it take to get you to vote for John??
I was going to post a dire warning to Blairites that it might be them rather than us lefties and socialist campaign groupies (joke,joke) that are going to split the party as we will still all have to work together when all this has died down as neither tendency is going to split off and operate on it's own unless there's going to be some Blairite elite party I don't know about! but I'm not in a dire warning mood tonight as it's Children In Need.
I hope John has enjoyed Scotland and found time to climb Arthur's Seat which does not take long unless you are in an inebriated state the locals told me when I visited Edinburgh.
Some time ago a letter from John Harris of sonowwhodowevotefor book/websit fame described John as "incredibly dour" in a letter to The Guardian, I thought at first that this was actually a misprint and he had been referring to Gordon Brown but I realised it's probably that he's never met John or heard him speak or failing that he caught him at a very bad moment!
So I would Arjun and any other twee suburb dwellers or cynical political anoraks out there to go and hear him speak and decide for themselves and indeed to hear the other candidate(s) if possible too; or at least try to catch their media interviews although because of the media blackout on John this can require pretty intensive bouts of viewing and channel hoppping and may thus annoy other inhabitants at your home; it's especially bad if a small child talks over the crucial sentence on News 24 and you have to wait an hour for the whole thing to be repeated. (Yes I have got a red button but it dosen't always work...)
forgot to say there was a fantasy political cabinet on the Daily POlitics part of BBC website recently but I don't know if it's still there, I had a go but don't know if any other lefties did, will check, I out Jeremy Corbyn as foreign sec
you can ask your MP to nominate John so there will be a contest, they can nominte more than one, dosen't tie them in to voting for John though we hope they will
Our meeting is in Halifax, December 20 @ Halifax Irish centre ,West Parade, next to Labour Rooms.There's also a meeting at Leeds Civic Hall on December 2,2pm.
As a colleagues of Arjun's I can state categorically that he isn't a Blairite No.10 spy...although I'm sure thats his dream.
On the Scottish campaign, I hope it went well John. In my mind Scotland is a real beacon to the left movement and can teach a lot to the England.
Finally, congratulations to Ms Royal in securing the nomination of the French Socialist Party. There is a palpable sense of excitement and change across the world, with right wing regimes being beaten all the time. There has never been a better time to be on the left.
John,
I am not from Scotland but I know people who went to see you.
You are according to these people an amazing speaker and I also enjoyed hearing you speak today at the people's assembly. You have our support.
Oh and for future reference it is not 'School Students Against THE War' it is 'School Students Against War' (SSAW)
left4blogs, it seems that either you don't get out, or shouldnt be allowed to. I think the policy of letting loonies out of the asylum is not working, and ought to be remedied swiftly- you are clearly insane and it says something about the John Mcdonnell campaign if they are hiring out certified idiots to attend their meetings.
What a typical leftists approach, you cant take debate so you threaten violence against someone who disagrees with you and then moan about the Government not being democratic, and destroying civil liberties. Hmmm.......
If you are living your life by following a born loser then I think youre the one with the problem. John McUnelectable would be proud of his thuggish supporters I am sure.
Arjun, whoever you are, you have really gone too far this time.We don't do personal abuse on this blog - You may disagree as much as you wish to with the policies . but why don't you find somewhere else to vent your spleen. For the record, John McDonnell's Parliamentary majority has increased at every election since 1997 - he is far from being unelectable.
It's a shame that some members find it difficult being civil with those who they disagree with, it brings the whole party into disrepute with that behaviour.
Have you read the whole thread? Have you chosen to ignore some of the things written about me? Its only abuse of its directed at someone of your opinion? For the record I have had very civil conversations with most people here, but after what has been written here I think I am more than entitled to defend myself.
Jonathan, What brings the Party into disrepute is threatening to go off and do your own thing against the wishes of others.
Hey come on, calm down folks. I think Arjun may have misinterpeted an earlier post, and was therefore defending himself vigorously rather than meaning to cause offence.
It's great that these comments are open now, but that does require a bit of self-discipline on our parts too. Arjun - I'm glad you come on hear to listen to what's said from the left, but I hope you are open to being persuaded and haven't just popped in to make mischief.
Other folks - it's very hard to convey tone of voice, etc. in this format and know when somebody's being light-hearted or joking, etc. I suggest it's best to assume that anything beyond debating the issues is meant light-heartedly unless it is personally offensive. In that way, as well as avoiding offence, we can avoid over-reaction and debates sliding downhill to rows.
In an effort to change the topic, am I the only person who is concerned about the NAsdaq takeover bid of the Lodon Stock Exchange?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6164376.stm
If this is successful, how long before Nasdaq decide that in this electronic globalised world, there is no further need for a London Stock exchange at all and move the whole lot over to the big apple to save money? is this possible?
Will it be then that we are the 51st State?
Hi John,
I'm someone who'd consider supporting you if you get enough nominations. However, I have doubts that those MPs who are close enough to be being as like-minded as you on the main issues have no ministerial experience between them - how would you make up a theoretical cabinet - it would have no real credibility without vital experience which your MP supporters are, generally speaking, lacking - would yuo compromise yuor principles slightly & include some experienced ministers??
arjun, who said that jonnys comments were aimed at you? i do think your here just to cause mischief and make trouble.
Its a shame people have to ruin a site like this. John's campaign is one of hope and if you dont like what he's doing then go somewhere else.
No Labour ministers had any experience before 1997 so to use that as a criticism (which I'm not sure the poster was doing) is certainly not plausible from anyone on the right of the party.
I think I have met Arjun at a labour students event. He is a decent guy, just misguided, but as Anonymous says, not sure why your causing mischief here?
I take Arjun's mischief as a sign of hope, afterall if this campaign was not generating sucess then there would be no need for the tories/new labour people to come here to try and undermine it.
I think they are actually worried that it might suceed...
Arjun I hope it wasn't you who didn't want to let me in to help with the LRC fringe at the 2004 London Labour conference! I didn;t have a pass as I am SE region not London anymore but we were then worried that whoever the doorman was wasn't going to let anyone in who just wanted to attend the meeting!
I know Labour students were there that day so I just wondered if it was you but it probably wasn't !
If it was I will let you off in return for some serious grovelling on this site, perhaps you could list ten good things John has done in his constituency or something!
Arjun I hope it wasn't you who didn't want to let me in to help with the LRC fringe at the 2004 London Labour conference! I didn;t have a pass as I am SE region not London anymore but we were then worried that whoever the doorman was wasn't going to let anyone in who just wanted to attend the meeting!
I know Labour students were there that day so I just wondered if it was you but it probably wasn't !
If it was I will let you off in return for some serious grovelling on this site, perhaps you could list ten good things John has done in his constituency or something!
on experience (ministerial) the whole thing can be a bit of a misnomer, here are some facts I throw into the ring for you all to consider 1) even the "mighty" (heavy sarcasm) Blair, Reid and co were once just sitting in an unquorate meeting in someone's kitchen or having a pint after a CLP meeting in a shabby pub sounding off on what they would do whe they were in power... ok you could say they are experienced now though competent is another matter, but the Tories always accuse Labour of being incompetent yet we never throw this back at them. As the Life Coaching books tell you inexperience can be an asset as you may bring fresh ideas to your field....
at PM level I would guess that some experience of politics at a national level would be beneficial, John has this from being an MP, and dealing with people and decisions at all levels when he was at the GLC and ALG, it dosen't matter that he hasn't been a Minister as he can easily operate at that level as he has before and often deals with Ministers as an MP. Ministers aren't Gods, manyof them are sent to departments they have little previous knowledge of, it's the approach they take that's important. Anyone John chooses would also I think you'll find be able to run the Ministry completly competently though I don't like the word competent as to me it smacks of Toryism!
John any more thoughts on challenging Brown to a debate? K Maguire says he will just refuse it but then you can always hire a chicken to follow him round as has been done before...
I personally don't think he would have any credibility if he refused
It is strange that You think anyone who disagrees with you is a tiry or a trouble maker. I have said I like some of what john McDonnell has said, but not the Majority. it is you who havent been listening to me.
Helen, I dont know what you are talking about - I havent been to a party Conference. Even if it had been me you should always carry proper ID in any security area, and I would not let you in unless I had clear instructions that you were allowed in- i.e you were not a security threat. On the issue of praising Mcdonnell's constituency work I can't as no one i knnow who is a constituent has ever praised him.
I agree that having minsterial experience is not the only criteria- As you say, no one in the 1997 cabinet had been a minister, but the likes of Blair had been shadow ministers and MPs for 10-14 years which is experience- John Mcdonnell has been an MP for 9 years.
Andrew, If you think I am misguided then why did the position I supported and spoke for win the debate vote?
Please take cliquey comments about Labour Students events elsewhere. Ta.
Helen, I see what you're saying, & e10 - but I still think it might be beneficial if John were to utilise the experience/particular talents of at least some of the existing ministers/talented up & coming MPs, even though they may disagree on policy, I suspect his ideal would be to purely fill up an (unfortunately completely theoretical!) cabinet with those who agree with him on policy - those people generally not having any real political credibility.
Arjun said " On the issue of praising Mcdonnell's constituency work I can't as no one i knnow who is a constituent has ever praised him."
Having been born in John's constituency, I can think of no better example of an MP. Always available, always ready to help on any issue however big or small.
Arjun, who do you know in John's constituency that will not praise him?
Hi guys - a website called Labour Home is running a sweep on the leadership. Go and cast your votes for John. !!!!! He's currently doing OK but needs more lefties to get there - the site is pretty much newlabour but has spme decent bloggers - www.labourhome.org
The guy who set-up Labour Home, Alex Hilton, was the Labour candidate for Canterbury in 2005. He is a great guy, decent and hardworking and although not 'old' Labour he is Labour. John Prescott refused to come to Canterbury on his battle bus because Alex was in favour of rail re-nationalisation. Our lose I suppose....
Everyone should visit Labour Home!!
Arjun I wasn't talking about Labour party conference, the London Labour party conference 2004 (Hammersmith town hall) which did not require airport style security!
all of the "up and coming" Ministers we keep hearing about such as Miliband have sold out to the Blairite form of Thatcherite years ago as far as I can see!
I was an active member of Hampstead CLP, in London, when John was our parliamentary candidate in 1983. He was a superb candidate, who increased our vote and also increased the activism and unity of local party branches, at a time when, nationally, the party was very factional. From that direct experience, I’m sure he would make a very good party leader. Most people who I know - whatever their own voting habits - agree with the core of John’s message, especially on reversing privatisation, and on getting the privateers out of the health service. In the 1970s and 80s these ideas were controversial - today they are common sense.
I am writing to as many Labour MPs as possible, asking them to nominate John, whether or not they intend to vote for him. If John gets on the ballot, and is defeated, then fair enough - that’s democracy, and I will canvass for Labour at the next election whoever the leader is. But if we aren’t given a choice, if the rules are used to prevent loyal party members from being able to vote for the candidate we favour, then I fear that a party which has taken a century to build will disintegrate within months.
Labour Home is interesting, like the article about the "pass farce" at conf especially as I was caught up in it, will have to stand for CLP sec to prevent next year's delegate having to wait till the Mon for a pass as I did
interesting lists e.g.
of MPs who have nominated John and predictions of results he is second to Brown tho Read almost neck and neck acc to latest prediction of contest result
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