Posts Tagged ‘angela eagle’

As the Labour leadership contest inches closer, MPs are getting very nervous. But all might not be as bleak as they fear

04/07/2016, 11:32:22 PM

by Atul Hatwal

Q. When is a coup not a coup?

A. When it is organised by the Labour party.

Well over a week since Hilary Benn’s departure from the shadow cabinet sparked wholesale resignations, there has been no challenge to Corbyn.

Instead, there is stalemate between PLP and leadership, with a front bench that is effectively on strike but has been too scared to put its concerns about the leader before members in a leadership contest.

On Monday night, following the PLP meeting, it seems there was finally some movement.

Tom Watson’s commitment that meetings on Tuesday would be a “last throw of the dice” at coaxing Jeremy Corbyn out of office was widely taken as the final step before a challenge (it also assuaged some of the simmering discontent among MPs at his role in the drawn out nature of events.)

The choice for challenger would appear to be between Angela Eagle and Owen Smith, although Yvette Cooper is rumoured to be still interested.

Given the Tory party is potentially about to have an all-woman run-off between May and Leadsom, it’s hard to see how Labour could run an all-male equivalent with Smith.

With a contest imminent, a new wave of jitters was rippling through the MPs that Uncut spoke to on Monday night; the nightmare scenario of a Corbyn victory a constant topic of conversation.

These fears have been driven in part by last week’s YouGov poll of Labour members which unnerved many of the PLP.

(more…)

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Eagle promises to learn from “heart-breaking” election defeat as she launches bid for deputy leader

18/05/2015, 01:54:24 PM

Angela Eagle has become the fifth Labour MP to launch a bid for the party’s deputy leadership.

The Wallasey MP and former chair of the party’s National Policy Forum, said Labour had suffered “a heart-breaking election defeat.”

It was all the more painful because “the scale of it had not been anticipated.” Labour had, she said, “endured a total political and strategic failure.”

Eagle, a former pensions minister under Gordon Brown and shadow Leader of the House under Ed Miliband, launched her campaign in a video, featuring party members endorsing her candidacy.

She joins Tom Watson, Caroline Flint, Stella Creasy and Ben Bradshaw in her bid to succeed Harriet Harman.  One candidate fewer (so far) than the last deputy leadership contest in 2007.

Promising to be a “campaigning deputy” and “brutally honest about what went wrong,” Ms. Eagle said Labour needed to hear the views both of ordinary party members, but also those who did not support the party.

“I will also ensure we have a no holds barred debate about the way forward for our Party both politically and organisationally. This must be followed by robust action to learn the hard lessons and ensure that we are fit to win the many battles which lie ahead” she said.

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The shadcab mini-makeover – It’s not just the party’s policies that are getting refreshed

05/08/2011, 08:00:40 AM

by Atul Hatwal

Step back Gok Wan. Take a break Trinny and Susannah. Competition is on the way.

Although the identity of the new makeover maestro remains secret, what we do know is that they work with the Labour party and they are operating at the highest levels.

A few weeks ago the news section of the Labour Party website got a facelift. But it wasn’t just the site that changed its look. At the same time, a small number of the file photos of Labour’s top team were also miraculously transformed.

Amongst the lucky few, the leader of the Labour Party went through a metamorphosis.

Before the change, Ed Miliband’s manic grin and staring eyes were reminiscent of a crazed teddy bear. The composition of the picture and the stark white background made it look like something from a school year book:

“Ed Miliband, student most likely to join the U.S. postal service”

What a difference a simple snap makes.

In the new picture the grin is gone, the colours are more sobre and the little dab of white in his hair is in shot to lend gravitas. And then there’s the expression. He’s looking the viewer knowingly in eye, measured and focused. It’s an expression that’s strangely familiar.

Ah yes – Blue Steel. (more…)

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Shadow Cabinet: vote for Angela

17/09/2010, 12:40:25 PM

From: EAGLE, Angela
Sent: 17 September 2010 11:01
To: EAGLE, Angela
Subject: Angela Eagle – for Shadow Cabinet

Angela Eagle for Labour’s new Shadow Cabinet

Today I announced my intention to stand for election to Labour’s new Shadow Cabinet. I hope that you consider giving me your support.This is an important time for our Party and it is right that the best team is elected to take on this Demolition Government. Since the election, I have worked as part of the shadow Treasury team to take the fight to the coalition on the economy and the profound risks they are taking with the fragile recovery. There was no mandate for the vicious decisions they took to impose the largest spending cuts in peacetime history – the result of which is an attack on the most vulnerable in our society and will see genuine hardship for many.I have used every opportunity to expose the dangers the Con Dems pose and now I want to be in the Shadow Cabinet, working with you, leading the fight against the Con Dems and returning Labour back to Government.

I have the energy and the experience

I was elected in 1992 in the most marginal seat in the North West famously defeating Tory International Development Minister Lynda Chalker. Between 1992 -1997 I served in the Whips office and served on numerous Select Committees including: Members Interests, Employment, Public Accounts (three times) and Treasury.

In government I spent eight years as a Minister in DETR, DSS, Home Office, Treasury and DWP and on the Government backbenches I was elected Vice Chair of the PLP and served on the Parliamentary Committee.

I can connect with the party and the public  

I have been a bridge between the PLP and the Party on the National Executive Committee first elected as PLP representative and later as one of the leaders Government Nominees. I am also an Ex officio member of the National Policy Forum.

I am also an active campaigner for Labour up and down the country and will continue to do so as a member of the Shadow Cabinet.

I will take the fight to this Con Dem Government

We must be strategic and flexible in our response to the coalition. It might be highly enjoyable to focus on the Lib Dems discomfort but it is the Tory small state ideology which we must defeat if we are to stand a chance of making a swift return to Government.

To return to Government we must win the country’s trust again and this will be no easy task – but with the right arguments, the right ideas and the right team – we can and we will.

I’d be honoured to have your support. Please feel free to call me on XXXX XXX XXX.

Best wishes

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