Labour leadership « Labour Uncut

Posts Tagged ‘Labour leadership’

Friday News Review

30/07/2010, 07:30:11 AM

Ed: targeted?

The leadership

Both the Reading East and Reading West constituency parties voted to give Ed Miliband ‘supporting nominations’ at a meeting on Thursday, following a visit to the town by the shadow climate secretary the week before. Reading Labour Party chairwoman Sarah King said: “There is a strong field of candidates in this election, and Thursday’s was a well-attended and lively meeting, with a number of new members taking part. Over 100 new members have joined Reading Labour Party since the election, determined to fight back against the damage the Conservative-Lib Dem Coalition is inflicting on our country. Ed Miliband has a sense of vision that appeals to members in Reading, but local people know that, whoever wins the leadership, Labour will be in there fighting hard on their side.” – The Reading Chronicle.

Ed Balls’s campaign, pitched at school building cuts and VAT closures, has a concrete quality that his opponents’ have lacked. He would make the case for spending and borrowing more with economic literacy. Nor can the craftsman of Bank of England independence be easily dismissed as a wild man. However, his platform plays into the Tory narrative. Is that what Labour members want? – The Guardian.

Ed Miliband is under fire from all sides. “He just tickles the tummy of the party,” say some of the Blairites backing David Miliband. “He’s far too junior to be party leader,” say some of the Brownites backing Ed Balls. “He’ll take Labour back to the 1980s,” say the conservative commentators supporting David Cameron. We are witnessing Operation Target Ed Miliband. As he sets off for his summer holiday in Cornwall, the younger Miliband brother could be forgiven for thinking that he must be doing something right to be attracting such pointed criticism from rivals and right-wingers alike. – New Statesman.

(more…)

Posted in Unbound | No Comments »

Thursday News Review

29/07/2010, 07:30:56 AM

Panic over: Brown spotted

Spotted!

It was the rare appearance of the not-very-often-spotted glowering Gordon at the weekend which reminded the nation we were not just short of a few bob but a leader of the Labour Party. Gordon Brown, aware of his popularity in certain circles, chose that well known suburb of Kirkcudbright, Uganda, to re-emerge on the public scene. – Channel 4.

Reform

Labour is trying to score cheap party-political points. The Opposition wants to exploit potential Tory divisions on the issue, even if it means performing a policy somersault. Jack Straw (who has form, having first promised and then abandoned the EU referendum) sought to justify this shabby volte-face by insisting that it is not AV that Labour opposes but the other half of the Bill, which seeks to cut the number of MPs by 50 and make constituency sizes more equal. With an apparently straight face, Mr Straw claimed that redrawing constituency boundaries was “very, very partisan” and amounted to “gerrymandering”. – The Telegraph.

Straw on AV

A large number of Tory MPs are unhappy about the proposals for constitutional reform. They feel that these have not been thought through and that they could prove to be a second instalment of Blairite recklessness. The referendum on AV (the alternative vote) is the immediate challenge. It will require legislation. Bernard Jenkin and other Tory rebels would be ready to co-operate with the Labour front bench to defeat it. Mr Jenkin has form. In the 1992 parliament, he was one of the Tories who collaborated with Labour to sabotage legislation on the Maastricht treaty. Today’s Labour leadership might conclude the coalition could not survive the death of AV. – Financial Times.

…with Labour now likely to oppose the referendum bill, which also promises to cut the number of lawmakers and make boundary changes to electoral districts, the government could face its first defeat when parliament debates the issue in early September. And most Conservatives will line up against the referendum if a vote does happen. Under the terms of the coalition deal, Mr. Cameron’s party were free to campaign for a “no” vote just as the Liberal Democrats were allowed to abstain on certain issues in parliamentary votes. Mr. Cameron and his party support the current First Past the Post voting system which favors the two biggest parties: the Conservatives and Labour. – Wall Street Journal.

The leadership

“I am proud and honoured to receive the support of so many of Labour’s leaders in local government and grassroots activists. These are the people at the frontline of Labour’s fight against the Tory-Liberal coalition. These are the people we need to engage to rebuild and renew our party if we are to win back power.” – David Miliband, Carlisle News and Star.

Like the Levellers, the Tolpuddle martyrs or the Jarrow marchers, the Chartists of the 1830s and 1840s are up there among the Labour party’s most venerated secular saints. And rightly so. For the Chartists long ago placed democracy, reform and fairness at the front of the British labour movement’s forward march. –
Martin Kettle, The Guardian

Education

It was at the Labour party conference in 1999 that Tony Blair announced that by 2010 that 50 per cent of school leavers would be enrolled in higher education. Although the Labour government quietly abandoned that target last year, the latest numbers from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills show that they actually came pretty close to meeting it: by 2009, university participation rates among 17- to 30-year-olds had risen to 45 per cent. – Gulf News

And finally…

Celebrities and politicians including Peter Andre, Sarah Brown and David Miliband paid tribute to the World’s oldest tweeter following her death. Ivy Bean, 104, passed away in her sleep last night after being unwell for several weeks.
Leading the online tributes was Mrs Brown, who praised the late silver surfer for her ‘great spirit and sense of humour’. – The Mail.

Posted in Unbound | No Comments »

Stephen Bush and Alistair Strathern launch the “Back Burnham” campaign

27/07/2010, 04:17:39 PM

“We have become dangerously disconnected from ordinary working people, we’ve not been speaking their language, we’ve been dealing with issues that aren’t their main concerns..”

Andy Burnham MP

We are a grassroots alliance of party-members drawn from both left and right, North and South, united by the belief that our leadership election has been marked by the same damaging disconnection from the wider electorate that defined our worst days in government.

The narrative of our leadership election has all too often been shaped by the Guardian editorial team and a handful of influential figures within our party. We have focussed too much and too long upon fringe issues; and not enough on the voters we have lost, why we lost them, and how we win them back. It should be a source of considerable worry to Labour that, as the paper war over endorsements ends and the real battle for votes begins, we have a better idea on how the candidates stand on the alternative vote than deficit reduction. (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 1 Comment »

Crowdsourcing the leadership: Andy Burnham

27/07/2010, 09:12:33 AM

Next week, we’ve got Andy Burnham answering your questions in the Labour Uncut crowdsourced interview.

You decide what we put to him, so what should we ask?

Add your questions to the comment thread below this post by 6pm on Sunday.

Posted in Grassroots | 19 Comments »

Michael Dugher blasts the inward-looking new Bennites

26/07/2010, 01:50:10 PM

When the Labour Government lost the no confidence vote in Parliament in 1979, many cabinet and other ministers at the time expected Labour to lose the following general election, but they believed that Labour would bounce back quickly. The tragedy that followed was, of course, a generation out of power, and it was Labour’s traditional areas that paid the heaviest price for our electoral failure. Now is not then, but lessons can be learnt.

The aftermath of Callaghan’s defeat at the polls was a full scale civil war inside the party, with tensions that had simmered around the Cabinet table for many years in government finally boiling over. The party pushed the self-destruct button in electing veteran left-winger Michael Foot to the leadership and, despite narrowly losing the deputy leadership to Denis Healey, the influence of Tony Benn was ubiquitous and destructive. (more…)

Posted in Uncut | 5 Comments »

Sunday News Review

25/07/2010, 09:06:39 AM

Balls out?

There are Westminster rumours that Ed Balls may be considering dropping out of leadership contest

The Unite union’s national policy committee overwhelmingly opted for Ed Miliband in a significant boost for the former climate change secretary’s campaign. Mr Balls had hoped to win Unite’s backing – but only secured four votes compared to Ed Miliband’s 24. The decision left him contemplating withdrawing from the fray and backing either Ed Miliband or his brother David, the former foreign secretary, who remains the bookies’ favourite. Both Miliband brothers were attempting to persuade Mr Balls, who has won Labour plaudits for his recent attacks on the decision by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, to abandon plans to rebuild schools, to quit and support them. – The Telegraph

The main piece of hard information we have is that Balls will start well behind both Milibands in the Parliamentary third of the electoral college on the first round. Most, though not all, MPs first preferences are public. Left Foot Forward have estimated that Balls trails with 13.4% of this section behind David (38.9%) and Ed Miliband (27.9%). A winning Balls strategy would surely need to offet that deficit by topping the affiliated section, and doing so with a commanding double digit lead over at least one and preferably both Milibands there. – Next Left

More than 100 council leaders and Labour group leaders will today publish a letter backing Mr Miliband. A third of the votes in the Labour Party election will come from grassroots members. Last week bookies cut the odds on David’s closest rival – his brother Ed – after he received the support of most of Britain’s major trade unions. And yesterday Ed was backed by the Unite, in a severe blow to leadership contender Ed Balls, who had close ties with the union. But the turnout in the leadership ballot will be far lower among trade unionists than grassroots party members. – News of the World

(more…)

Posted in Unbound | 1 Comment »

The Ed Miliband Interview

21/07/2010, 10:29:55 AM

Ed Miliband in his campaign office

Yesterday we took your questions to Ed Miliband. Speaking from his campaign office, incidentally run from the same building Brown used for his 2007 leadership campaign, Ed Miliband is gearing up for the remaining weeks of the campaign with a team of volunteers he is particularly proud of.

He was particularly pleased with his campaign’s appeal to younger party members. But who’s the Babe Ruth of the Labour Party? Covering that, his comments on marriage equality, the nuclear industry, Clem Attlee and more, Ed was next up for the Labour Uncut crowdsourcing hotseat.

Q. (from Jae): Following Ed Balls and Diane Abbott announcing their support for marriage equality, will he retract his comments about there not being enough people calling for it and come out in support of LGBT equality?

A. My position on this is pretty simple, which is that we did a consultation in the run up to the manifesto, and it wasn’t raised with me as an issue. But obviously if it’s something that is felt to be an important issue, I understand absolutely the reasons for that, then it’s something we should definitely look at. And I’m very happy to say that and I completely understand and sympathise with the wish for equality in this area.

(more…)

Posted in Inside | 8 Comments »

Wednesday News Review

21/07/2010, 08:00:58 AM

A bit of brotherly love from both Milibands at hustings

The Leadership

“It’s easy for me – it’s not on all issues that blood is thicker than water, but I only have one brother standing,” said David Miliband. “I nominated Diane but I fear I would disappoint her (when the votes are cast).” His brother Ed responded: “I would nominate David – I think his qualities speak for themselves but obviously he would be a fantastic leader.” Diane Abbott summed up: “You can see their mum has got them in line on this. Canary Wharf hustings – Docklands 24.

Normally in a Labour leadership election people like us either profess disinterest (or, possibly, even uninterest), or make jokes about intrusions into private grief. I think it would be unwise to be so flippant. I have never set foot in a bookmaker’s in my life, but were I that sort of person, I would be seeing what odds I could get on Ed Miliband’s being prime minister this time next year. Oh, I know he’s the less famous one, and it has been decreed that the Coalition is going to last five years: but stranger things have happened. Therefore, we might take notice of what the Labour Party, in what the media represent as being a quiet period in its fortunes, is up to. – The Telegraph.

(more…)

Posted in Unbound | No Comments »

Thursday News Review

15/07/2010, 07:40:50 AM

Peter in print

Labour figures from all sides of the party expressed fury that Lord Mandelson had committed private conversations to print, such as his reporting that Mr Blair believed Gordon Brown to be “mad, bad and dangerous”, and that his then chancellor was “flawed”. Neil Kinnock, the former party leader, was said by a friend to be “spitting”, and John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, “furious”. Lord Mandelson, who was lauded at Labour’s annual conference last year, was warned by some to stay away this year. Political friends and foes urged him to donate a slice of the money he was earning from the book to the party. – The Australian

She argued that Mandelson “knew perfectly well how useless Brown was”, so, by sustaining him as Labour leader, he had fatally undermined the party’s general election chances. In return for his loyalty Mandelson, who “adores pomp and ceremony” was rewarded with the bauble of an honorific title that, to most people, means little. He appeared, she wrote, “like a much-favoured Tudor courtier, stooping under the weight of his gold chains and medallions”. Sieghart concluded with a further jibe at Mandelson’s gross hypocrisy: “The man who ensured that Labour would spend five, possibly 10, years out of power now hopes to capitalise on his tales of those torrid years in government. – The Evening Standard

(more…)

Posted in Unbound | No Comments »

Tell the truth and trust the members, says Staynton Brown

13/07/2010, 10:08:26 AM

Across Europe, we are seeing the loss of influence of progressive, social democratic parties. It is time for Labour to be at the forefront of restating the values that re-engages those of us on the left.

This requires more soul searching and honesty than at any time in recent memory. No longer should Labour party members act solely as fundraisers and canvassers. The collective ideas, skills, experience and knowledge of members must be more readily tapped into.

We are no longer a party of government, so the process of renewal and reaffirmation of values needs to involve all party members in a way not seen over the past 15 years.? ?Honesty requires the leadership to be more transparent and committed to revisiting some of the conventional wisdom that leads people to say that there is not much to choose between the Conservatives and Labour. (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 2 Comments »