mayor of london « Labour Uncut

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Week 5 of the campaign: the good, the bad and the ugly

03/05/2015, 12:20:13 PM

Uncut’s weekly review of the campaign looks back at the events of week 5.

The good

Labour’s sharpened up its act in Scotland

Labour nationally finally focuses on the SNP threat, and zeroes in on the exactly right message against nationalism: its fundamental pettiness.

As Tom Harris MP, sometime of this parish, put it:

Reading and writing standards among Scottish pupils have fallen steeply. “Yeah, but ANOTHER REFERENDUM!”

— Tom Harris (@TomHarris4MP) May 1, 2015

While the best line of the Glasgow rally from Miliband reflected the same theme: “Nationalism never built a school”. A genuinely superb encapsulation of all that’s wrong with the SNP.

New arrivals

Uncut sends our congratulations to Lisa Nandy, Labour’s candidate in Wigan, and her partner Andy Collis on the birth this week of their son, Otis. A Wigan party spokesman has said that the shadow minister for civil society, “is incredibly grateful to the NHS staff in Wigan for their amazing care and dedication. Lisa would also like to thank people across Wigan for their kind words and support during a very busy time.”

For better or worse, Otis won’t generate the same volume of media coverage as the Royal baby. Whether this torrent of national and international reporting will have any impact on the 2015 election remains to be seen but at least Labour should (hopefully) have a future voter in Wigan, ready for the 2035 election.

Celebrities for Labour

Labour is winning the celebrity war. Where the Tories have Katie Hopkins, Labour has Stephen Hawking. Tom Watson will be taking Steve Coogan campaigning in Battersea, Croydon Central, Bermondsey & Old Southwark, Brentford & Isleworth, Harrow East, Ealing Central & Acton and Hornsey & Wood Green on Monday and Tuesday. I’m sure Coogan used to mock Ross Kemp as part of his stand-up routine but that didn’t stop Kemp giving Wes Streeting’s campaign to re-take Ilford North for Labour a boost.

The celebrity intervention to generate most headlines was, of course, Russell Brand interviewing Ed Miliband. As Brand reflected on the compatibility of capitalism and democracy, Miliband’s mind might have wondered back to discussions around the kitchen table as he was growing up. Nonetheless, he seemed more at ease in a video released by the Labour Party akin to something from Question of Sport. Simon Hattenstone painted Miliband well in a Guardian interview in March, which revealed Miliband’s eagerness to converse with Ronnie O’Sullivan. The video shows that Miliband has not only had his chat with O’Sullivan but used it to win him over to Labour.

It may be that Labour needs snookers to get back into government. In which case, Miliband could have uncovered a new guru at a most opportune moment.

The Bad (more…)

Posted in Uncut | 4 Comments »

Enough is enough. Labour should kick out Ken Livingstone

08/05/2014, 03:44:44 PM

by David Talbot

In January 2004 a controversial member of the Labour family was readmitted to the fold. Ken Livingstone, the hitherto independent Mayor of London, had submitted his application before Labour’s NEC in order to run as the official Labour candidate in the forthcoming second London-wide ballot.

Livingstone had been expelled from party membership for five years in 2000 when, having been blocked by the party’s hierarchy from running as its official candidate for Mayor, he stood as an independent. Labour’s gerrymandering of the selection procedure, coupled with its heavy-handedness in throwing out the longstanding MP, merely resulted in Livingstone beating Labour’s official candidate into a humiliating fourth place.

Upon his return to the Labour column a jubilant Livingstone described it all as an unfortunate misunderstanding and of a marriage that had temporarily broken down. It is near long-forgotten that this fiercely independent firebrand lobbied extensively for his readmission to the party. But since then Livingstone has abused this “marriage of convenience” with the Labour party to the point where many right-minded Labourites can no longer willingly tolerant his membership of their party.

He has taken all he could from the relationship, and given scant in return. The charge sheet of abuse, varying in seriousness, is so extensive and so oft-repeated it is barely worth the bandwidth to detail further; campaigning against an official Labour candidate in 2010, admitting that he never voted Labour under Tony Blair’s leadership, whilst throwing in the customary charge that he should be tried for war crimes; his tax avoidance, his penchant for the mullahs of Tehran, telling the Reuben brothers to go “back where they came from”, likening a journalist to a concentration camp guard – even after he knew he was Jewish, his distaste for the Jewish community in general, and his patronage of Shaykh Yusuf Al Qaradaw, who denies the Holocaust, promotes female genital mutilation, and urges the throwing of homosexuals from rooftops as a punishment for their sin.

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Posted in Uncut | 21 Comments »

Crowdsourcing the mayoral race: Oona King

23/08/2010, 11:59:14 AM

The chair is back.

After the success of the leadership crowdsourcing interviews, Labour Uncut is embarking upon a new challenge: crowdsourcing the mayoral selection.

First up is Oona King.

What question would you put to Oona if you could? What would it take for her to win your vote?

We’ll be taking your questions to the mayoral candidate this week.

Get your questions in for Oona by adding them below by midday on Wednesday.

Posted in Grassroots | 12 Comments »

Who can beat Boris? Ken, argues Steve Hart

17/08/2010, 04:00:21 PM

The London Labour electorate will decide between Ken Livingstone and Oona King on a number of factors. Who has a strategic vision for London? Who can inspire Londoners? Who can defend London against the Tory- LibDem government cuts best? Who has clear policies on London’s economy; for jobs, for transport, for a green future, for diversity, against crime, against poverty? Who has the ability and experience to implement policies effectively? These are just a few of the factors to consider.

But the London selectorate want to be sure that they are electing the candidate with the best prospect of defeating Boris. My paper tries to examine some of the evidence and debunk some of the myths. But the key point is clear – the Ken Livingstone electoral premium makes him the strongest potential candidate for Labour in London.

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Wednesday News Review

04/08/2010, 07:38:14 AM

Bounce for Balls?

Ed Balls has won praise for his opposition to Tory plans

Coverage of him in the media has been too dismissive. Recently, when he failed to secure the endorsement of the massive Unite trade union (which he had long been cultivating), there was talk of his “humiliation”, and his impending withdrawal from the race. Some in the press make him out to be a figure of fun (an honourable exception was this Spectator editorial). In fact, many within Labour think Mr Balls has had his reputation more enhanced by the contest than either David or Ed Miliband, one of whom will nevertheless win the election in September. He has landed blows on Michael Gove, the Tory education secretary. His resilience in the face of difficult odds has impressed many. He now has a good chance of being appointed shadow chancellor by whichever Miliband wins the leadership. That was not so certain when the race began in May. – The Economist

Yet if you look at what the five have said and done in the past month or so then a different picture emerges – for the one who is demonstrating again and again that he’s the best equipped politician is the same Mr Balls. Just read his thinking and analysis of Labour’s challenge in his recent interview with the Times and you see observations and insights that are not coming from the other four. Take his assertion that Labour has allowed itself to be distracted by the Lib Dems when the main target for the party’s fire-power should be the Tories. Take also his observation that Labour did not lose the election because of its lack of appeal to middle income groups – rather it was the failure of the party to engage traditional supporters at the bottom end where they lost out. – Political Betting

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Westminster Labour party mayoral hustings: laughometer

30/07/2010, 03:35:50 PM

This is the laughometer from last night’s Westminster Labour Party mayoral hustings, held in the Stow Centre, Harrow Road.

As usual, tiny chuckles weren’t recorded.

We maintained our rule that to score, you had to get a proper laugh from a significant portion of the room.

It was a particularly dry night as far as laughs were concerned, at least from the candidates. Friend of Uncut and all-round man about town John McTernan chaired the event and kept the spirits up, dispelling the myth that he’s a dour Scotsman.

Ken Livingstone – 1

Oona King – 1

The results were taken by an experienced laughometer operator, who knows the difference between a titter and a roar.

Posted in Inside | No Comments »