• 180,000 people register to vote in UK Labour leadership election
    27 replies, posted
[IMG]http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/DE98/production/_90448965_corbynsmith.jpg[/IMG] [QUOTE]Labour has received more than 180,000 applications to vote in the party's upcoming leadership election over the past 48 hours, it has said. Some 183,541 people paid £25 to become registered supporters and qualify for a vote in the contest between existing leader Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith. More than 380,000 party members who joined before 12 January and members of affiliated unions can also vote. Mr Smith says he will offer Mr Corbyn the role of party president if he wins.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36851524[/url]
I wonder the split. I know the Saving Labour campaign gained more traction than I thought, but I expect Corbyn had a lot of supporters join too.
I don't see how SDP 2 Corbyn boogaloo can be avoided if he wins again [editline]20th July 2016[/editline] Except this time the new party could vastly outnumber Labour in parliament and become the Official Opposition
I will be interested to see if Smith takes on Corbyn in policy or in personal characteristics. Both have merits. As a leader, he has shown himself to be incompetent: *A must read*: [media]https://twitter.com/gusbbaker/status/754612709950382080[/media] To be terrible at handling the media (yes, they're hostile, but there is no denying that he has been as bad as he possibly can at dealing with them), very poor in PMQs (never presses questions, asks pointless wastes of questions), bad at just general management (as seen in the above), and to have no authority over anyone but his loyal inner circle. ...however, I don't think that it's wise to merely attack the man and not any of his policy. I don't think you can cede all policy ground to Corbyn and expect to win just off of saying he doesn't look like a winner. Yeah, he doesn't, but remember these are party members here. They want to be convinced in some way other than just that he looks like a substitute geography teacher and is useless with the media. The problem is: what can be attacked? I personally think the obvious targets in this area are foreign policy, in particular, his policy towards Iran and Russia and relationship with StW, but who knows how crazy Labour members really are? Avoid Iraq at all costs though, same with Israel, no matter how right your attacks on him are over these. Economic policy is also not too wise to be too different from him on in my view.
IF corby stays in charge i'm expecting an exodus of Tory Lite members forming their own party. And right now, i feel thats the best answer.
He needs to go
I imagine there's a fair chance they'll split. They're never going to shake the Corbyn's Witnesses that now saturate the party and that party's reputation has been damaged pretty considerably.
[QUOTE=Fr3ddi3;50745396]IF corby stays in charge i'm expecting an exodus of Tory Lite members forming their own party. And right now, i feel thats the best answer.[/QUOTE] Not everyone who doesn't support Corbyn is 'Tory Lite'. From the sounds of it, policy aside, he's simply terrible at leadership.
regardless of the corbyn factor, 183k people signing up in 2 days at £25 a pop is sort of insane. i hope whatever happens after the election that they can harness this groundswell of people, with affliated members included it's 600,000 - 700,000 people.. crazy.
[QUOTE=CatFodder;50745422]Not everyone who doesn't support Corbyn is 'Tory Lite'. From the sounds of it, policy aside, he's simply terrible at leadership.[/QUOTE] british communists see everything right of corbyn as right wing. it's a relativity thing if anything, the line of thought that 'YOU SHOULD HATE THAT CANDIDATE, THEY'RE A TORY IN DISGUISE!' just draws in more tory voters as they confuse them for a legitimately left of centre party.
[media]https://twitter.com/georgeeaton/status/755791495219863552[/media]
Corbyn is, in a lot of ways, a brilliant person to have in parliament. He's principled, he stands up for what he thinks is right, and he doesn't play politics in the way most do. In some ways, he's the victim of the way our politics work, where saying he's 7/10 on the eu and wants to fight for a better one gets quoted as if he said he didn't really like it, or a million other times where he answered a question genuinely and then got quoted with 0 context. I'll agree with flash that his foreign policy doesn't put him in a good place as leader because hard line pacifism, whilst admirable and a good voice to have in parliament, in key discussions, it's not the mindset for a PM. That said, I'm disapoointed that he'd rather let the Tories have another 5 years than settle for a centre left labour which isn't as left as he'd like, and in the corbynist followers who are vicious and represent a darker side to politics. In the end, I'd like him as a voice in the ear of a PM (with obvious other voices), but not as the PM himself.
[QUOTE=NeonpieDFTBA;50746828]Corbyn is, in a lot of ways, a brilliant person to have in parliament. He's principled, he stands up for what he thinks is right, and he doesn't play politics in the way most do. In some ways, he's the victim of the way our politics work, where saying he's 7/10 on the eu and wants to fight for a better one gets quoted as if he said he didn't really like it, or a million other times where he answered a question genuinely and then got quoted with 0 context. I'll agree with flash that his foreign policy doesn't put him in a good place as leader because hard line pacifism, whilst admirable and a good voice to have in parliament, in key discussions, it's not the mindset for a PM. That said, I'm disapoointed that he'd rather let the Tories have another 5 years than settle for a centre left labour which isn't as left as he'd like, and in the corbynist followers who are vicious and represent a darker side to politics. In the end, I'd like him as a voice in the ear of a PM (with obvious other voices), but not as the PM himself.[/QUOTE] I won't deny he's a good protester, but he's a bad leader overall. He really feels like he should start his own pressure group rather than lead the labour party.
TBH I don't know much about Smith, is he another Tory-lite or is he actually decent?
[QUOTE=GordonZombie;50748514]TBH I don't know much about Smith, is he another Tory-lite or is he actually decent?[/QUOTE] Honestly, hard to say cause he's a reletive new comer. You can see how he's voted in the past to get an idea of what he wants. [URL]https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24797/owen_smith/pontypridd[/URL] However what sticks in my memory is that he abstained on the wellfare bill vote. Rolling over and letting something pass that you should be dead against is always aparticularly shit thing to do.
[QUOTE=Bobie;50746548]british communists see everything right of corbyn as right wing. it's a relativity thing if anything, the line of thought that 'YOU SHOULD HATE THAT CANDIDATE, THEY'RE A TORY IN DISGUISE!' just draws in more tory voters as they confuse them for a legitimately left of centre party.[/QUOTE] Supporting Corbyn doesn't make you a communist at all. Your second point is also a bit stupid given that no one would EVER confuse the Tories as a "left of centre" party. [editline]21st July 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=GordonZombie;50748514]TBH I don't know much about Smith, is he another Tory-lite or is he actually decent?[/QUOTE] Apparently ideologically similar to Corbyn but not as hardline.
[QUOTE=Fr3ddi3;50750410]Honestly, hard to say cause he's a reletive new comer. You can see how he's voted in the past to get an idea of what he wants. [URL]https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24797/owen_smith/pontypridd[/URL] However what sticks in my memory is that he abstained on the wellfare bill vote. Rolling over and letting something pass that you should be dead against is always aparticularly shit thing to do.[/QUOTE] 80% of Labour MPs abstained on that as they were ordered to do so by the whips
[QUOTE=smurfy;50750640]80% of Labour MPs abstained on that as they were ordered to do so by the whips[/QUOTE] Shit quality, but shows that she took a right-wing stance given that the Conservatives cheered her+made gestures for her to come to their side. [video=youtube;O-n-0Dz5lTw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-n-0Dz5lTw[/video]
[QUOTE=smurfy;50750640]80% of Labour MPs abstained on that as they were ordered to do so by the whips[/QUOTE]i do not feel comfortable with the given reason by harriet "Harman said the public did not vote for the Tories because they particularly loved the party but because they did not trust Labour on the economy and on benefits. “We cannot simply say to the public: you were wrong, we are going to carry on saying what we said before the election." “The temptation is always to oppose everything. That does not make sense. We have got to wake up and recognise this is not a blip and we have got to listen to why. No one is going to listen to us if they think we are not to listening to them.” i understand the point she is making but the that specific stance on the welfare bill was just towing the tory line for no good reason, it's clear it wasn't something the membership or any left leaning person was comfortable with as seen by it being repeatedly brought up after the fact. the tax credit cuts were eventually defeated but that they took them not being trusted on welfare to mean they should abstain against a bill that would effect the very people they were supposed to be defending was crazy.
[QUOTE=GordonZombie;50748514]TBH I don't know much about Smith, is he another Tory-lite or is he actually decent?[/QUOTE] he's a member of labour's soft left, far more kinnock-ite than blairite. you'll see a lot of similarities between him and corbyn, and you'll also see a lot of similarities between him and miliband. far from the tories, yet i'm sure you'll see a lot of smug posts about how much of a right winger he is and how he is in the pockets of disgusting capitalism over the coming weeks. [QUOTE=MissZoey;50750570]Supporting Corbyn doesn't make you a communist at all. Your second point is also a bit stupid given that no one would EVER confuse the Tories as a "left of centre" party.[/QUOTE] are you sure about that? labour has lost everything; (barring a small majority in the north) even london. May's keynesian approach is going to attract a [i]lot[/i] of disenfranchised labour voters. Corbyn is doomed
[QUOTE=Bobie;50751300]he's a member of labour's soft left, far more kinnock-ite than blairite. you'll see a lot of similarities between him and corbyn, and you'll also see a lot of similarities between him and miliband. far from the tories, yet i'm sure you'll see a lot of smug posts about how much of a right winger he is and how he is in the pockets of disgusting capitalism over the coming weeks.[/QUOTE] already happened they're attacking him for actually having had a successful real job in the private sector working for Pfizer, a word enough to send shivers down the spines of the homeopathy-loving corbyn
[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50751314]already happened they're attacking him for actually having had a successful real job in the private sector working for Pfizer, a word enough to send shivers down the spines of the homeopathy-loving corbyn[/QUOTE] and its only the beginning, how exciting! [media]https://twitter.com/nedsimons/status/755845502097321984[/media]
[QUOTE=Bobie;50751353]and its only the beginning, how exciting! [media]https://twitter.com/nedsimons/status/755845502097321984[/media][/QUOTE] The paranoia I've seen from the Corbyn side has been hysterical, some of these people are legitimately unhinged.
[media]https://twitter.com/SnoozeInBrief/status/754599021243731968[/media] Come on guys don't let JEREMY down, we all love JEREMY don't we. JEREMY is really a great leader and a great politician!
[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50751556][media]https://twitter.com/SnoozeInBrief/status/754599021243731968[/media] Come on guys don't let JEREMY down, we all love JEREMY don't we. JEREMY is really a great leader and a great politician![/QUOTE] I dont like Jeremy for being Jeremy, I like his policies. I feel that's what labour should stand for.
I was just making fun of the creepy insistence of literally always calling him 'Jeremy'. Please could they stop that
[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50751314]already happened they're attacking him for actually having had a successful real job in the private sector working for Pfizer, a word enough to send shivers down the spines of the homeopathy-loving corbyn[/QUOTE] Haha this reminds me of every time there's a protest done by socialist groups in Australia. If you look in the crowd, you will hardly find any actual workers. Every time, it's always the same rent-a-mob folk, anarchists and gullible university students (I'm saying this as a uni student myself, not as an anti-intellectual). No tradesmen. No blue collar workers. No white collar workers. Aka no one who socialism is supposed to benefit the most. Many of those actual workers are instead involved with trade unions, who those socialist groups don't work with as 'they aren't socialist enough'. The far-left is such a damn joke.
I can't blame people for voting Corbyn, he's got good principles and honestly, I like a lot of his policies, it's just a damned shame he's not that great of a leader. Smith seems an unknown but from a look at some of his previous positions he doesn't seem too bad, just a little generic. It's a shame that the far-left can't learn to compromise and appreciate it as a part of the democratic values that they so often espouse.
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