New Labour Leadership Plotting Deteriorates into Farce
I have just read the Guardian report that the Blairite faction around Milburn are still pressing Miliband to stand in the leadership election and intend to nominate him to force his hand. Their fall back stalking horse is Charles Clarke. At the same time David Miliband continues to play the role of the blushing innocent whilst in recent weeks has taken every opportunity to tour round tv studios and lunch with an exhausting list of newspaper editors and politics correspondents.
This puerile plotting within the different New Labour factions is making the Labour Party look ridiculous. The whole leadership election is deteriorating into farce and is beginning to look more like a student union election than a serious democratic process for determining the future leader of our party and our country.
I am calling on all these New Labour playground plotters to start behaving with some dignity and to think about the effect they are having on Labour's election campaigns in Scotland, Wales and local government.
The electorate don't mind a party having a proper political debate, in fact as we saw with the Conservative and Lib Dem leadership elections, they quite enjoy it if it takes place in an open and friendly atmosphere. What people don't like is the behind the scenes backbiting and plotting that New Labour factions around Brown, Milburn and Miliband are subjecting us to at the moment.
Let's demonstrate the political maturity of having an open, friendly and dignified election with a range of candidates representing the breadth of views within the broad church of our party.
This puerile plotting within the different New Labour factions is making the Labour Party look ridiculous. The whole leadership election is deteriorating into farce and is beginning to look more like a student union election than a serious democratic process for determining the future leader of our party and our country.
I am calling on all these New Labour playground plotters to start behaving with some dignity and to think about the effect they are having on Labour's election campaigns in Scotland, Wales and local government.
The electorate don't mind a party having a proper political debate, in fact as we saw with the Conservative and Lib Dem leadership elections, they quite enjoy it if it takes place in an open and friendly atmosphere. What people don't like is the behind the scenes backbiting and plotting that New Labour factions around Brown, Milburn and Miliband are subjecting us to at the moment.
Let's demonstrate the political maturity of having an open, friendly and dignified election with a range of candidates representing the breadth of views within the broad church of our party.
posted by John at 8:55 AM
9 Comments:
My blog ( see link) now has a list of MPs who are worth lobbying. Could people a) get e-mailing and b) pass it on to contacts in the CLPs and unions
Couldn't agree more, John... I saw it myself this morning, can't say I was surprised... These people do clearly not care about the future of our Party, which, at the end of the day matters little to them anyhow - unlike the importance it has for the lives of - and for the improvement of the lives of - working people of great Britain.
On a more humourous note, my favourite Miliband is Ralph. Who's Yours?
i always think of what ian chappell said about mark waugh 'best batsman in the world? he's not even the best batsman in his own family'
ed milliband is right in the brown inner circle and the real one to watch. his brother is grossly overrated.
'Student Union elections are not a serious democratic process'...now that's a shocker!
And while we discuss their pantomime, both we and the media ignore the serious business of the Pensions Bill next week.
See http://tradeunionists4john.blogspot.com/2007/04/pensions-bill-wed-18-apr.html
John has tabled 3 amendments to give justice to today's pensioners and we should be lobbying MPs to support him!
I've suspected for a while Hillary Benn might throw his hat in for the leadership election and i think this Guardian article suggests it. He refused to keep funding the world bank till it said it would stop funding privatisation - and now he's saying the "war on terror" phrase should be dropped as it legitimises criminals. Small differences from the Blairites and Brownites but at least he says far more sensible things than most of them.
He's still got nothing like the solid record John's got (e.g he voted for the Iraq war and still supports it - and i think - still supports PFI). Still - a more credible candidate than Brown or Milliband since he actually talks about alternative policies.
Hillary Benn is certainly not going to stand for leadership. This is just posturing and empty rhetoric because he's standing for deputy leader. Benn is a New Labour candidate to the core who has supported all the usual Blairite policies - war and privatisation. Don't be fooled by his last name!
I agree - that's his record - what he's saying recently though - no funding to the world bank unless it stops making privatisation a condition of aid ; that we should fight Al Qa'ida with ideas and by example - not through wars - i like.
John still has a much more solid record - but Benn might make a good deputy leader who could help unite the party and bring more MPs who voted for the Iraq war to accept John as leader?
sorry - silly idea - Benn would almost certainly be Blairite on policy again the minute he was elected - and re-reading that article he didnt rule out war as a method of defeating terrorism (which is like using petrol to try to put out a fire).
John Cruddas will make a much better deputy leader.
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