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Posts Tagged ‘leadership’

Peter Hain on Ed Miliband’s X-factor

01/06/2010, 08:15:12 AM

Labour is blessed in its choice for Leader by having dynamic fortyish main runners each with Cabinet experience – not a benefit either the Tories in 2010 or Labour in 1997 enjoyed. Each could do a good job.

But doing a ‘good job’ is not enough. From a 29 per cent base – lower than the Tories polled when they lost so badly in 1997 – it is not going to be easy to win next time. And, for me, the candidate who has the winning X-factor is Ed Miliband.

His support is spread right across the Parliamentary party – male and female, black and white, all regions and nations, new and experienced, shadow cabinet and backbench, left, centre and right.

With an open, comfortable, media-friendly personality, he appeals to the public. He offers both freshness and governmental gravitas; super-bright yet highly approachable. People warm to him, and he talks like a real person, uncluttered by New Labour’s grating technocratic jargon and on-message guff. (more…)

Posted in Uncut | 8 Comments »

Pressure mounts on undecided MPs to back likely losers

31/05/2010, 10:50:47 AM

The weekend has seen a flurry of letters to MPs from unrelated activists all over the country asking them to nominate John McDonnell. Several MPs report having received literally dozens of such emails in the last 72 hours.

There was a short burst of similar activity in support of Diane Abbott just after she announced her candidacy, but it soon tailed off.

The current deluge is the result of an impressive organisational effort by McDonnell, who has also succeeded in getting the leaders of several unions (for instance, the bakers, the Fire Brigades Union, the Communication Workers Union) to write to MPs in his support.

Reports from constituency parties reveal an almost universal desire for as many names as possible on the leadership ballot paper. Regardless of their individual allegiences, party members want the widest choice. (more…)

Posted in Inside | 3 Comments »

Jim Garner’s Letter to the Parliamentary Labour Party

31/05/2010, 10:45:50 AM

I sent out this letter to every Labour MP today, explaining why I am standing for the Labour leadership. I signed each letter personally. It took ages.

Dear colleague,

As a Party, we have just come through one of the toughest elections in a generation. Thirteen years of governing took its toll. We need to renew. We lost touch. We need to reconnect. Our ability to broadcast our values to our core root disappeared.

That’s why today I am putting myself forward to be considered for leader of our Party.

I realise I am not the most experienced candidate in the field, having only become an MP earlier this month. If you believe that having been a minister and dealing with the pressure that that brings, day in day out, makes you more suitable for the role of leader, then I am not your man. (more…)

Posted in Inside | 2 Comments »

Sunday News Review

30/05/2010, 08:59:44 AM

Next Labour

Ben Bradshaw backs David Miliband

“David’s breadth of leadership skills and experience, combined with his clear vision of where he wants to take the party and Britain also, offers our best chance of winning again in Norwich, Swindon and Milton Keynes, without which there won’t be another Labour government.” – Ben Bradshaw MP, The Observer

“The issue has been forced because of the doomed coalition talks in the last days of the Labour government which revealed a deep chasm between the “progressive” and the traditional wings of the party. That division wasn’t just about whether to do a deal with the Lib Dems, it was about a divergent approach to politics.” – The Scotsman

“It is more eyebrow-raising that the denigration of New Labour has also been joined by the Miliband brothers, Ed Balls and Andy Burnham, a quartet who served their political apprenticeships in the courts of Blair and Brown and then ascended to the cabinet. They are jostling to criticise the government of which they were very recently prominent members.” – The Observer

“Perhaps the Labour front bench believes that having been mercifully released from the death grip of G Brown, it is now under no obligation to accept responsibility for his errors: that expunging the chief perpetrator was itself an absolution.” – The Sunday Telegraph

Talent show

“David Miliband threw caution to the wind last night by calling for a full television debate between all candidates for the Labour leadership, in a move that could help boost his rivals.” – The Observer

“Labour leadership contender David Miliband is challenging his rivals to a TV debate. The former Foreign Secretary made the suggestion in a letter this weekend to the five other candidates.” – The Sunday Mirror

Old, New Labour

Campbell tells of power struggle at heart of New Labour

“The full extent of the explosive feuds at the heart of New Labour are revealed today in a new book by Alastair Campbell.Tony Blair’s former spin doctor discloses furious shouting matches between the ex-PM and Gordon Brown that left both men “with purple faces”.” – The Sunday Mirror

“Whilst many of us want to concentrate on the future and the rescue of our economy, the next few months will also see some reappraisal of the Labour years. For the first time we will be able to debate them without the choking blanket of spin coming from Downing Street.” – John Redwoods Diary

Baby boom

“Both the Prime Minister and Opposition leader could be on nappy-changing duty within months if Ed Miliband wins the race to succeed Gordon Brown” – The Mail on Sunday

“The family theme to Labour’s leadership contest took a fresh twist last night as it emerged that Ed Miliband is to become a father for the second time later this year.” – The Independent

Posted in Unbound | No Comments »

The Ed Balls interview

27/05/2010, 12:07:36 PM

Labour Uncut interviewed Ed Balls on Tuesday evening. We couldn’t ask all the questions you submitted. There were far too many. We gave Ed the option of whether or not to answer questions – in this Labour leadership interview – from people who clearly weren’t Labour members or supporters. He chose to answer, and we’ve included several.

Ed’s is the first of our leadership candidate interviews. We were impressed by his focus and presence. It will be great if the rest are as good.

Q. (From Alex R) When the leadership candidates say that they were guilty of ‘not listening’ enough in the last government, how and why were you not listening? What steps would you take to listen sufficiently if you had another opportunity?

A. I think our problems about not listening started much earlier than the last Parliament. I think one of the great frustrations that we had in the election campaign, and in my case the year before, was that many of the things people were upset about, like public housing, the impact of unskilled immigration on terms and conditions, the obstacle of upfront tuition fees for young people going to university – these were issues we’d actually addressed. We’d put in place controls on immigration; John Healy was leading a big expansion on public housing; we’d got rid of upfront tuition fees. But the public weren’t hearing at that time what we were saying and it takes time for policy decisions to feed through to the reality of peoples lives.

I think the truth is that the time when we weren’t listening enough was probably during the second term in Government. My election campaign for the last 18 months has been all about repeated public meetings, listening to people and their issues – and lots of other MPs who were successful in their campaigns did the same thing in this last couple of years. If we’d been doing that five years earlier we’d have made different and better policy decisions at an earlier stage.

So your politics can’t be about telling communities what you’ve concluded; it’s got to be about asking them, listening to the voices of people who need us on their side and responding. That’s what I mean by listening. (more…)

Posted in Inside | 12 Comments »

INSIDE the leadership campaigns: website, text, office, er.. action

26/05/2010, 02:29:53 PM

The unifying theme of all the leadership campaigns remains as we reported it last week: shambles.

Front runner David Miliband’s organisation is the nearest to being slick. But it is not very near.

At the whizzy end of things, he is the only one with a broadcast text message system, which alerts targeted Labour MPs to forthcoming Miliband encounter opportunities. It tells them where he will be, when, and with what voter segment (Northerners, trades unionists, women etc).

This is a canny Pavlovian ruse by Team David: MPs are already accustomed to receive hourly instructions – from the whips – by this means. The whips’ messages show up as sent by ‘Rapide’. The young dauphin’s come through from ‘D_M’. You cannot reply. (more…)

Posted in Inside | 5 Comments »

Burnham supporter, Dominic Goggins, on why he’s backing Andy

26/05/2010, 08:32:04 AM

All of us connected to Labour know how vital this leadership debate is to our future. Too often in this party we tear ourselves apart when we should be piecing ourselves back together. This is a time for optimism.

It’s good that we sometimes disagree. We should celebrate that our party welcomes so many talented and principled men and women with different views on how we can turn our fundamental desire for fairness into action and inclusion. But we are mature enough to be able to conduct this debate openly and thoroughly without letting our differences turn into the bitter divisions that have dogged our recent history.

I hope each us of can recognise and celebrate the qualities that each of the candidates will bring to this contest, qualities that have energised so many to come home to Labour and rejoin the party. More than anything I hope that we can do so with full respect for the decisions our comrades reach as we each make our choice. (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 4 Comments »

Jonathan Todd on the emerging politics of deficit reduction

24/05/2010, 12:01:51 AM

The deficit must not become the elephant in the room of Labour’s leadership election. Labour needs economic credibility to form the next government. Good candidates should – among other things, obviously – demonstrate that they would provide the leadership necessary for this credibility.

The deficit will define much of the politics of this parliament. The temptation will be great for Labour to duck its tougher questions. This won’t just be because ducking is always a tempting response to tough questions, especially questions as tough as those raised by public spending cuts. Temptation will also derive from a Labour reading of the future that is so optimistic that it risks complacency. On this interpretation, the deficit will require the coalition to do deeply unpopular things and a horrified electorate will therefore rush to the comforting embrace of Labour government on the next occasion that they are offered the chance.

This analysis seems to come recommended by Mervyn King. The Governor of the Bank of England is said to believe that the present parties of government will be forced into such extreme austerity measures as will keep them out of power for a generation. But this thinking has a worryingly “one more heave” characteristic to it. It tends towards a view that simply says: “We told you the Tories and Liberal Democrats were horrible and they are now being horrible. Come home to Labour.” (more…)

Posted in Uncut | 3 Comments »

Andy Burnham’s letter to the Parliamentary Labour Party

22/05/2010, 08:29:20 AM

Dear Colleague

RECONNECTING LABOUR

Yesterday I announced my intention to seek enough support to be able to go forward as a candidate for the leadership of the Labour Party.

It is a big step but one I am ready to take. I have been a proud member of the Party for 25 years. In that time, I have served it at every level. In the last five years, I have held demanding Ministerial briefs, including Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Throughout all the ups and downs of Government, I always put loyalty to the Party and both leaders first and foremost.

My reason for standing is because I have a clear vision of how I think we need to rebuild our Party for new times. We must become a more modern, open and campaigning force for good.

We must reconnect with our own members and grassroots, bringing the wider Labour family back together.

We must reconnect with young people. I want it always to be the case that Labour is where all young people look first if they want to change the world.

And, above all, we must reconnect with the people who have lost confidence in Labour in recent years. I believe I can reach those people and ensure that their concerns are always our concerns. (more…)

Posted in Inside | 2 Comments »

Matt Finnegan is impressed by Andy Burnham

21/05/2010, 09:51:50 AM

Few expect Andy Burnham to become the next Labour Leader.

Too northern, too nice, too normal, seems to be the verdict of the metropolitan chattering classes. And maybe too Labour?

Burnham is certainly not an intellectual like the Brothers Miliband. Nor a bruiser like Balls. Nor on the margins like McDonnell and Abbott.

He is mainstream, hard-working, unspectacular. Neither left nor right, neither Blairite nor Brownite. But most certainly Labourite. And maybe these are just the qualities the party now needs to re-build and refocus? (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 2 Comments »