Episode 2: Should we abstain on the welfare reform bill?
Posts Tagged ‘Tom Harris’
Half a minute Harris
09/03/2011, 12:05:16 PMHalf a minute Harris
04/03/2011, 01:55:13 PMWelcome, Uncut readers, to the mind of Tom Harris
What did you think? That he’d go gentle into that good night?
Or find another format to rage?
Having folded away his macbook and given up his celebrated blog last November, Tom Harris is back. But only once a week, only on Uncut, and for strictly thirty seconds.
Tune in on Wednesdays from next week to hear why he’s right, you’re wrong, and it isn’t like you thought it was.
We can’t afford the luxury of leaving the page blank for much longer
28/02/2011, 12:00:00 PMby Tom Harris
Ed Miliband was predictably mocked by the Tory benches after his “blank piece of paper” initiative was leaked.
Yet even those government MPs who were oh-so-cleverly holding up their blank order papers for the TV cameras knew that opposition parties, in the immediate aftermath of an election defeat, always – always – review their policy from scratch. The Tories did it in 2005, and in 2001 and in 1997. I seem to remember a perpetual policy review throughout the 80s and into the 90s (remember “Labour Listens”)?
The fact is that the 2010 manifesto failed. It was rejected. It is now deceased, an ex-manifesto. It has joined the Choir Eternal in manifesto heaven. And we will need a brand new one before 2015.
The danger for Ed and our party is that the current political and economic climate doesn’t allow us the relaxed timetable that Cameron enjoyed after his party’s third successive defeat. All the future prime minister had to worry about in those days was how to “detoxify” his party’s brand and capitalise on the inevitable imminent succession of Brown to replace the thrice-victorious Blair. It was all about strategy, message, image. (more…)
The week Uncut
22/01/2011, 02:00:45 PMIn case you missed them, these were the best read pieces on Uncut in the last seven days:
Uncut brings you the Johnson resignation and Balls promotion
Alan Johnson for the life and for the leaving of it – bravo!
Alex Hilton claims only electoral reform can save democracy in his Uncut debut
Dan Hodges thinks the NHS reforms are Cameron’s operation Barbarossa
Tom Harris’ frank open letter to the boss (Ed not Bruce)
Tory MP and all round comedy character Chris Kelly hits back at Cry baby jibes
John Spellar wants Labour to worry about the real middle
The Uncut editorial: neither Cameron nor Coulson are the real story
Dear Ed, remember that party members are not normal
17/01/2011, 01:46:28 PMby Tom Harris
Dear Ed,
2011 will be a tough year for you and for our party.
Remember when we last spoke, you asked me what I thought we needed to do in order to win the next election? Having given the subject some thought since then, I think I can now flesh out my original, admittedly unsatisfying, response of “win more seats than the Tories”.
Before being able to answer your question, however, it seems sensible to ask why we lost the last election. A recent YouGov poll of ordinary voters concluded that the three main reasons were Labour’s record on immigration, the damage the recession did to our economic credibility, and the personal unpopularity of your predecessor, Gordon Brown.
However, YouGov asked the same question of Labour party members, and the answers were significantly different. Neither Gordon Brown nor immigration figured prominently in their responses; instead they cited becoming out of touch with ordinary voters and failing to do enough to help its natural working-class supporters (although they agreed that the recession was an important factor). (more…)