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The Labour Party (and the blogosphere) has become hysterical about “our glorious return to power”

August 7, 2012 11:50 am

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It’s been a heady couple of weeks for Labour members and supporters. Our party is riding higher in the polls than it has in years. The Conservatives have been tearing themselves apart over Europe and Lords reform, while Nick Clegg’s pronouncement yesterday on the boundary review has been hailed as a death knell for the Coalition. To top it off, we’ve got an unexpected by-election coming up in a marginal seat with a strong local Labour candidate and the Tories in disarray. Suddenly, it all seems to be coming up (Labour) roses.

All of this optimism can be great, if it spurs people on to knock on doors, deliver leaflets and come up with creative ideas for our next manifesto. But I fear that the party, and the Labour blogosphere particularly, has become somewhat hysterical over the past week or so about the crashing end of the coalition and our glorious return to power.

Let’s be clear, the Coalition is going nowhere just yet. Neither party is in a fit state to contest an election right now, and clearly neither can go it alone. Right now, the numbers in Parliament don’t stack up for the Tories; a withdrawal from coalition with the Lib Dems would make it incredibly difficult to strike bargains on passing the Budget, let alone the party’s legislative programme. David Cameron is steadfastly clinging onto George Osborne, despite the latter’s spiralling unpopularity, due to personal loyalty. The Lib Dems, too, have little choice but to continue. Pulling out of the coalition at this stage would lack credibility, as the party has already made major concessions on tuition fees and the NHS without anything significant in return. The party’s unpopularity is such that they face near annihilation in the next election, given current opinion polls. Their best option right now is to stick it out and fight for a major concession on one of their manifesto commitments in 2014, which they can point to in the run-up to the next election.

The most likely outcome at this point is a renegotiation of the Coalition Agreement. The two parties have already carried out most of the reforms which they agree on, with the remaining provisions of the agreement more controversial. Immediately after Party Conferences might be a sensible time for this to happen, giving both of the parties a chance to bang their drums individually on a national stage for a week before getting down to the serious business of hammering out a consensus. Each of the parties needs one big policy concession from the other, so we’re likely to see a scaled-down legislative programme for the second half of this Parliament with a couple of big splashes.

The Coalition may be an unhappy marriage, but it’s a marriage nonetheless, and one that both parties are determined to see out to the end. Labour, on the other hand, is in a good place, but there’s a long way still to go. To win back a majority, we’ve got to first win Corby, and Manchester Central, and Cardiff South and Penarth. We’ve got to increase our representation in the European Parliament in 2014 and see off the UKIP threat. We’ve got to complete a fraught and opaque policy review process and originate a manifesto with enough radical ideas to provide a clean break from our unpopular last Government and galvanise disaffected voters and non-voters alike to come to Labour. So let’s enjoy our poll lead while we can, but there’s a lot of work still to do before 2015.

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  • Holly

    The public did not want Labour in 2010, and the vote had been falling year on year, so what makes you think the public will vote Labour back in?

    Labour are the party with the ‘mountain to climb’, because they are the one’s who wrecked practically everything. Do you think we will have forgotten in just five years? Let alone forgiven.
    Another couple of thoughts for you to chew on is the probability there will not be another hung vote, so no more coalitions,  Or the Conservatives form a minority government.

    Getting all excited over lords reform being scrapped, is a bit premature, and the general public couldn’t really give a rats bum about it.
    We sure as heck are not going to vote Labour back in just because this has fallen through.
    Clegg has shown how unfit for office he is, and Labour have not been out long enough.

    Out of the three party leaders it is Cameron who is in the strongest position at the moment, whether he will do anything with that position is another story.

    • Alan Giles

      I don’t think Cameron is in a strong position at all – he is in hock to his more rancorous back benchers on the right wing of his party.

      Truth be told no party is ready or capable of an election at the moment -financially, even intellectually.

      Clegg will obviously have to step down as leader if his party is not to be decimated, though even that might not be enough.

      Ed Miliband needs to stop shilly-shallying and start telling us what he believes and what he would do.

      But I think the days of landslide election wins for any party are long gone – perhaps that is for the best.

      • treborc

        What can one say, Kinnock.

      • Holly

        You are quite right about the Conservative backbenchers, who were elected to parliament by their constituents, so maybe some of their rancour may be coming from those they represent.
        If Cameron goes some way to putting a bit of meat on their bones Labour could find itself in bigger bother than they expected.
        Clegg is finished, and will be gone sooner than he thinks.
        I don’t expect the Conservatives to get anything like a landslide, but remember, they only need a repeat of 2010 minimum…Plus one would be a bonus.

        • ThePurpleBooker

          Ed Miliband is more popular than David Cameron. Gordon Brown was MUCH less popular than David Cameron. David Cameron could not even get a majority against Gordon Brown. How can he win the next election?

          • treborc

             We will see because in the end the Tories will vote for the Tories, Labour has to find a way of getting some Tories to vote for them and  hope that the people who gave up voting might return.

            But Labour has a problem the people still feel it was them that caused this mess, and many will look at Miliband and feel Blair is now back as leader.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            No Prime Minister has ever increased their share of the vote since 1974, not even Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair. Cameron is nowhere near as popular as Blair (nowehere near). How on earth can he win a majority against Ed Miliband. He can’t.

    • Redshift

      I can’t help but feel a little amused about the way you claim to speak for the entire electorate.

      • Holly

        I am not speaking for the entire electorate, just going by what the past shows, and even you have to admit Labour’s support had plummeted by 2010. 
        Or are you saying that I am speaking out of turn, and the ‘entire electorate’ voted Labour en masse in 2010?It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know the electorate did not want Labour to be in government at the last election, and wishing that we will all ‘come around’, cos Clegg’s an arse, isn’t going to change a great deal.Nothing Labour have said or done up to today has inspired, encouraged or enlightened us to what they would do if re elected….Stating the obvious about banks, how unfair life is, etc is not a vote winner…An opinion poll winner maybe, but votes??Would the ‘entire electorate’ really entrust the same bods with anything.How does Miliband get people like me to vote for him?Has he really got it in him to pull off what Blair did?I wouldn’t even care less if he made a fool of himself on the world stage, what I, like thousands of other voters do care about, is what on earth this chap would do at home…handcuffed to the likes of Balls, Coop & Harman.It is not the Labour, Tory or Lib Dem supporters Ed should be proving himself to, it is the millions of other folks who are sick of the infantile outings like Clegg pulled yesterday.

      • ThePurpleBooker

        As you can see that comment GREATLY amused me. Never heard taht much bollocks in my entire life.

    • Clem the Gem

      A sitting Prime Minister who has won an election is usually in a stronger position that any of his competitors. Cameron failed to win the 2010 Election against Gordon Brown.

      For the moment he is safe, yet he has failed to convert his honeymoon period into either popularity or gravitas.

      The essential truth of 2010 was that Britain voted for a hung Parliament, not the Tories.http://clemthegem.wordpress.com

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

        Problem is that we are clearly not very good at or used to coalition politics. In the Netherlands, it is an expected and built-in part of the way things work – and so the party system has developed to reflect that. On the left and the Right, there are a number of parties to reflect different strands of opinion. There are two Liberal parties – the right wing VVD and the left wing Democrats 66 who are both members of Liberal International and broadly reflect the social/economic liberal divide. The Christian Democrats are economically moderate but socially conservative. The Freedom Party is populist and a curious mixture of libertarian and conservative.  On the left, there is Labour, the left wing Socialist Party, and Green Left.

        Come election time, these parties know that they will have to work together after the election and that the idea of a manifesto wghich they put into practice a non-starter

        Our politics just doesn’t operate like that

      • Holly

        Regardless of the election result Cameron is the British Prime Minister, Clegg & Miliband are not.
        All Cameron has to do is get his backbenchers on board with a few titbits & bobs your uncle.
        The essential truth is the Conservatives won more in  2010 than they had for yonks, and Labour were soundly trashed.
        Now in all honesty, do you think those who wanted Labour out of power are going to vote them straight back in?
        All Ed & Co have done is talk the country down, spread scare stories, and agreed with most of the Coalition policies, yet voted against them…They are not ready for government yet, and that will be shown at the next election.
        The electorate know the state of things & have a better idea of how dire they were, so the chances of people changing half way through the correction is minimal.
        We don’t want Cameron to be ‘popular’, and he’s not there to be ‘liked’ either. We want him to get the country back on track, and will hate him while he does it, but come election day, even if there is a way to go, we will respect him for staying the course.

         

        • John Dore

          “The essential truth is the Conservatives won more in  2010 than they had for yonks” and since 2010 the Tories have shown themselves to be inept. So your point is?

          You see things through Tory eyes, a bit of reality may deflate your fervour.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Yesterday was their Black Monday.

    • ThePurpleBooker

      LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

    • John Dore

      “So what makes you think the public will vote Labour back in?”
      Council election results, opinion polls, the Tories doing an Alan Partridge and being crap, nothing major.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1557475545 Jack Bonner

    As Harold Wilson once said, a week is a long time in politics, he especially knew that you can’t trust opinion polls, as they got things wrong in 1970 and in February ’74. Personally, mid-term opinion polls count for nothing in my book, leads soon disappear.

    • Mr 0a

      Looking at the opinion polls we’ve all forgotten that it was only at the beginning of this year that Labour and Tories were last level http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/voting-intention.

      Any uptick of the Lib Dems, placating of UKIP, and economic recovery will only help the Tories.

      Coalitions make for interesting politics, whatever you think of their policies, you have to give them that!

      • ThePurpleBooker

        The bulk of the Lib Dem vote will vote Labour. That automatically stops the Tories getting the majority of seats.

        • Mr 0a

          What about with a new Lib Dem leader who promises complete change. I have no doubt (from the Lib Dems I know) that they are idealistic enough to fall for it again :)

          • ThePurpleBooker

            They won’t get rid of Nick Clegg. Anyway, a new Lib Dem leader is still a Lib Dem.  The whole brand has been infected.

    • ThePurpleBooker

      How does it count for nothing? There is a stage in politics where a political party can no longer recover. Also, nowadays polls are alot more accurate than usual. We already have got alot of councils in Tory and Lib Dem-held marginals for eg. Redditch, Reading, Nuneaton, Thurrock, Burnley, Plymouth, Southampton, Harlow, Carlisle. In other marginals we massively increased our councillors and our share of the vote even coming close to actually taking the Council such as: Crawley, Basildon, Worcester, Amber Valley, Swindon, Cambridge. This boosts our local presence in these areas where we have no choice other than to win.  However, what we can absolutely and definately say is that the Tories will not win the next General Election and a Labour majority is much more likely than a Tory plurality. But we have consolidate on our success and now build from it rather than being complacent and drift to political irrelevance.

      • Holly

        yeah right!!

        • ThePurpleBooker

          It is very true. Look it up. You clearly do not pay any attention to these things. By the way, it is very sad to like your own comment.

          • Homfray

            While I lean towards your optimism we mustn’t forget that Labour utterly dominated much of local government in the late 80′s but still didn’t win general elections. It’s important not to be complacent

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Absolutely Mike but in the ’80s as you well know we had different challenges, we were out of touch, we had a poor leadership and ideological disullionment so and so forth. The Tories built a good local government base in 2006 and 2008 and it did help them take seats. Also, Labour councils in the ’80s were awful. Usually having a strong local government base in marginal seats is very, very useful come the General Election. Also our landslide in local government in ’95 and the fact we won when in government in ’99 showed that they can be very indicative of whats next.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

            Don’t believe all the hype – actually many Labour councils in the 80′s were very good and did some really trailblazing things which are now absolutely mainstream, such as taking equality seriously. That’s why they won majorities time after time.

            I am also an optimist but I’m also cautious about being too over-confident. Given the absolute hash the Tories are making of the country there is still that pretty solid 30% bloc which can’ t be shifted – even though their vote does appear to be becoming ever more the ‘voice of the comfortable’ which will lead to them building up even bigger majorities in Beaconsfield and Windsor

          • ThePurpleBooker

            30% is lower than what they got in 1997 and 2001. It is appalling for the Conservative Party. They will take seats from the Lib Dems in the South, that can be for sure.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1557475545 Jack Bonner

        What a load of nonsense. In Nuneaton we had a great night, but we know it was on a 28% turnout, and we’re not going to sit back on our laurels 

        • ThePurpleBooker

          Load of nonsense. Whenever did I say Jack we should sit on our laurels. I said we should consilidate on our success and now build from it rather than being COMPLACENT and drift to political irrelevance? How on earth is that saying sit on your laurels. Fact is Jack, gaining local councils were there is a marginal seat and your MP is success. Obviously, voter turnout is important but if you look at the polls, Jack, it was bound to happen even with a higher turn out. Local elections historically have had low turnouts yet they have still helped boost local presence in marginals where victory is needed. We took Great Yarmouth and Norwich in Norfolk, too! But, Jack you should retract that comment.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

    Of course we still have work to do. Given the fixed-term parliament, we should be developing our policies to reflect what we will be faced with in 2015. I have every confidence that we can do this.

    Also, I think that the Government’s economic strategy has been proved to be wrong, and we do need to ensure that we step out and not be scared to contradict Coalition ‘wisdom’

    • treborc

      Have anyone seen Labours shadow  ministers of late, are they all on holiday.

      • http://twitter.com/_DaveTalbot David Talbot

        On holiday in the month of August? Whatever next!

        • treborc

           Yep a  whole month, working class lot.

          • http://twitter.com/_DaveTalbot David Talbot

            A perfect insight to your all-consuming bitterness, Treborc. 

  • http://twitter.com/RF_McCarthy Roger McCarthy

    a) Re-negotiating the coalition agreement can only expose just how little the Lib Dems have gained or can gain from continuing with it.

    b) However if Clegg can be dumped or sidelined this may be the best way for the LDs to go in that the process will reveal that that there is no value in the coalition and they can switch to a confidence and supply arrangement.

    c) In any case it makes no difference – the real aim was to wreck the NHS and the welfare state and this has now been done and is in practical terms irreparable by any likely Labour govt – all that is left now is to finish destroying  state education.

    We hugely under-estimate the sheer ideological fanaticism of the Tories and their Orange Book fellow travellers: they are not playing this game to rebuild the economy or reduce the deficit or even to win the next election – their aim is to change society completely and irrevocably.

    If only we had a fraction of that faith and commitment….     

     

  • Clem the Gem

    I share this articles’ feeling that we may be in for a nasty surprise. We need to be able to put opinion polls in perspective. Yes, it is great that we are ahead, yet this is still mid-term. If we are still this far ahead in 2014, that would be a different matter.
    It should give us heart that the Coalitions economic message holds less and less sway, but I do not believe that either Tories or LibDems have political suicide in mind…
    http://clemthegem.wordpress.com 

    • ThePurpleBooker

      A nasty surprise for us would be a Labour plurality of seats. That would not only failure but also mean we’ll either have to form a minority government or form a Lib-Lab Coalition. That is why we need to have a majority in 2015.

  • Mr 0a

    I’d be very careful with popping the champagne corks. A coalition government between unlikely parties in the depths of recession is quite unlike our normal political landscape.

    The Tories have 5-6% coming their way from UKIP when they announce the EU referendum. Clegg will probably be replaced and a good proportion of the Lib Dems that have gone to Labour will return. 

    The Lib Dems will also have to stand up and explain why they are voting for unequal and non-democratic constituencies when the Boundary bill comes to parliament. To quote Nick Clegg at Deputy PMQs in 2010:

    “It is one of the founding principles of any democracy that votes
    should be valued in the same way, wherever they are cast. Over the
    years, all sorts of anomalies have developed, such that different
    people’s votes are simply not worth the same in elections to this place.
    That surely cannot be right, and it is worth reminding those Opposition
    Members who object to the rationale that it was one of the founding
    tenets of the Chartists-one of the predecessor movements to the Labour
    party-that all votes should be of equal value.”

    After the school fees fiasco, the Lib Dems will be looking at ways they can deliver on an issue they fundamentally agree with but have shelved for the moment.

    Fundamentally passing the boundary changes legislation is very much in the interests of the Lib Dems and The Conservative Party, and they are in power, not Labour.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

      The LD’s will lose more than any other party by changing the boundaries

      And given their other about-turns, this one will be very small beer to the electorate who don’t care in the least about constitutional reform

      • Mr 0a

         Very true, good points.

    • ThePurpleBooker

      Well we should popping the champagne corks now celebrating the fact that the Tories have lost the next election (not to say that we have won it already). The Tories will not announce an EU Referendum. If there is any party which will announce one it will be us. Also, the Tories are likely to come third according to current polling for the European Parliament elections which is only a year and a half away. If the Tories call for one, it will look VERY desperate seen as Cameron blocked one from happening in a three-line whip. UKIP will say Cameron won’t deliver and people won’t support them for it. Also, the Lib Dems will stop him from doing so. Labour on the other hand has not got that trouble at all, Europe is not nearly a dividing topic in our party as much as it is in the Tories and we are not in Government. Shadow Cabinet ministers (and former Shadow Cabinet minister who are close to Ed) namely Hilary Benn, Peter Hain, Rachel Reeves, Ivan Lewis, Ed Balls and crucially Douglas Alexander have all hinted towards a referendum. Emma Reynolds, our Shadow Europe Minister, refused to rule it out. Keith Vaz,a pro-European former Europe Minister, has lobbied Ed Miliband to back The People’s Pledge campaign and Peter Mandelson has backed a referendum. Other big figures in the party like Jack Straw, James Purnell and Jacqui Smith haven’t been “un-supportive” of a referendum on the EU. Maurice Glasman, Ed Miliband’s guru, has said that we should have a referendum. Crucially, Jon Cruddas who is a big supporter of the People’s Pledge and voted for an in-out EU referendum in 2011, is co-ordinator of Labour party policy! I think it would be the right thing to do but we have to be careful.

  • Amber Star

    Everybody is having a holiday from reason! Some are really on holiday (most MPs); some are in the holiday mood because the Olympics are going well for Britain; & some of us just want a break from the relentless negativity which has cast a shadow over the Labour Party since 2009.

    If Labour can do it without seeming smug or arrogant, we should try to be like Danny Boyle & make the Corby by election a celebration of all the good things which Labour have achieved, instead of just another ‘hard fought campaign’.  Let’s have fun events instead of boring hustings, let’s have a spring in our step as we deliver those leaflets, there’s no harm in whistling whilst you work. Yes, of course the issues are serious & we’ll take them seriously but we don’t have to be miserable about it!

    • Bill Lockhart

       Yes, you can smile while you explain to the punters that Labour will halve the deficit in four years- whilst also borrowing far more “to stimulate growth”.

      • Redshift

        Better than borrowing more because you’ve choked off growth!

      • Amber Star

        LOL. How to spend, spend, spend without increasing borrowing: It’s called QE, Bill. The Tories have done £375Bn of it already!

        • PeterBarnard

          Trouble is, Amber, I’m not so sure that anyone really knows where this £375 billion of QE has ended up ….

          It started in Q2 2009 (effectively), since when GDP has gone up by a nominal £150 billion or thereabouts. That leaves around £225 billion “floating around” somewhere, even if QE was used to finance the whole of the increase in GDP – which I think is unlikely, given that the PSND has increased by about £400 billion in the same period.

          Incidentally, QE was started by Labour ; if memory serves me correctly, Labour had the largest dollop of the stuff, at £250 billion.

          These big numbers are making my head spin …

          • Amber Star

            You are confusing the Asset Purchase Scheme with QE. They’re not the same.

          • PeterBarnard

            Take a look/listen at the Bank of England page “Quantitive easing – how it works,” Amber.

            You will hear a lady with a very well-modulated voice say, “The Bank purchases assets from the private sector …”

      • ThePurpleBooker

        The Government is borrowing £158bn more than planned and both OBR and IFS (even the Daily Mail) said they are borrowing more than the Darling Plan. The deficit should have been halved last year instead it was just about quartered and this year’s deficit is set to rise. William Hague’s former Shadow Chancellor, Michael Portillo (who was also Chief Secretary to the Treasury amongst other things under the last Tory majority government) said that the Coalition Government’s economic policy is ‘damaging’ and that you cannot cut the deficit without growth. Funnily enough, Cameron and Osborne supported Portillo for the Tory leadership in 2001!

        • PeterBarnard

          “The deficit should have halved last year …”

          Not true, Purple B.

          The forecast public sector net borrowings (and actuals) in the first Coalition Budget were :

          2009-10 : £155 billion (actual £157 billion)
          2010-11 : £149 billion (actual £137 billion)
          2011-12 : £116 billion (£124 billion)

          Labour’s forecast in its last Budget was :

          2009-10 : £167 billion
          2010-11 : £163 billion
          2011-12 : £131 billion

          • ThePurpleBooker

            It is true. Listen to Jonathan Portes. The deficit should have been halved already, it has only been down by a quarter.

          • PeterBarnard

            The figures that I quoted are from Labour’s last Budget and the Coalition’s first Budget. In black and white.

            Table C3 in Labour’s 2010 Budget ;
            Table C6 in the Coalition 2010 Budget.

            The actuals may be found in Table PSF8 (“Public sector finances” ; published by ONS). Also in black and white.

          • PeterBarnard

            Change PSF8 to PSF 7.

            I’m still suffering from the big numbers …

          • jaime taurosangastre candelas

            The structural deficit should not exist at all.  Since 2001, the Government should have been underspending to prepare for the next recession.  If it had done so, and built up reserves to cover extra social spending in the next recession, we would not have a deficit now.

            Most of the over-spending in the “good times” of the 2000′s was wasted, as well in my opinion.  It is a shame that we do not have a law against deficit spending when not in a recession.

          • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZPXYLRVP4XOIGGDJWAL6HUO7U4 David

            @f9f79e8ab4d5a46a915f6cff53cf5feb:disqus How do the GDP / tax take forecasts compare in those chronologically distinct budgets?

          • PeterBarnard

            Which aspects, David? Real or nominal GDP, tax as a percentage or in £ ? Anyway …

            Labour

            2009-10 : growth – 2.75% ; money GDP £1,412 bn ; receipts by govt £496 bn
            2010-11 : growth 1.75% ; money GDP £1,460 bn; receipts £528 bn
            2011-12 : growth 3.25% ; money GDP £1,548 bn; receipts £577 bn

            Coalition

            2009-10 : growth – 3.7% ; money GDP £1,408 bn ; receipts by govt £515 bn
            2010-11 : growth 1.8% ; money GDP £1,474 bn; receipts £548 bn
            2011-12 : growth 2.4% ; money GDP £1,539 bn; receipts £584 bn

            In passing, I wasn’t trying to say “Labour good, Coalition bad,” but only pointing out that the Coalition quite emphatically did not say, in Budget 2010, that it was “going to halve the deficit by 2011-12.”

          • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZPXYLRVP4XOIGGDJWAL6HUO7U4 David

            Sorry it’s taken a day to see and respond here: the perils of multiple threads.

            Re your point: fair enough, and I do agree there, but was just keen to see how much of an apples vs pears comparison those pure numbers represented…

          • PeterBarnard

            Because Alistair Darling had different estimates for growth figures, compared to OBR in June 2010 (and they were both wrong, bigtime), I don’t think that it’s possible to make any comparison.

            I have mentioned before that events were in such a state of turbulence at the time (especially in Labour’s last eighteen months), that I can understand reluctance to lay out detailed spending plans, ie departmental vs AME.

            As an example of the turbulence and the effect on forecasting, Labour (from memory) were forecasting a deficit of around £175 bn in the November 2009 PBR ; in Budget (Labour) 2010 the forecast was £167 bn ; the outturn – just a few weeks after Labour’s last Budget – was £157 bn.

            After being appointed Deputy PM, “Honest” Nick Clegg was going around saying that “we actually found things a lot worse than we expected.” Only a Liberal Democrat could say that an improvement of £10 billion was “a lot worse.”

    • ThePurpleBooker

      LOL. Have a FUN, FUN, FUN campaign. What next, let’s offer people sweeties if they vote Labour? Let’s try and win the last election. This is nonsense. We have a Coalition Government in place right now not a Labour one and so far we have achieved nothing seen as we’re not in Government. We need to make the by-election a referendum on the Coalition but crucially also a referendum on Labour ideas and how we can change Britain in 2015.

      • Amber Star

        Don’t be silly. The Corby by-election is not the place to unveil Labour’s ideas for Britain 2015. Spreading doom & gloom about the Coalition will just make everybody miserable. Everyone knows that the Coalition isn’t doing well; they don’t need us banging on about it.

        • ThePurpleBooker

          It is the perfect place to unveil our ideas! Clearly your strategic acumen goes to saying FUN, FUN, FUN!

      • Sid

        Labour ideas? What ideas?

  • Mr E

    All Ed Miliband has going for him is that he is not David Cameron. Winning an election simply by not being some other guy is no way to become Prime Minister. The fact that someone like Miliband now seems like a plausible alternative to Cameron demonstrates just how badly Cameron is doing but really the British people deserve someone better as their leader than either of these shallow, superficial wasters.   

    • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

      Ed has more going for him than you allow. He is the only leader of a UK mainstream party who has recognised the demise of the 30 year neo-liberal consensus. 

      And by suggesting that there is role for government in ensuring the economy works to the advantage all* Ed has challenged not only the free-market austerity addicts within the Tory-led coalition but also those within his own party who are too afraid to come out from beneath their New Labour comfort blanket and meet the new reality.

      * “The next Labour government will have to play a more active role in making markets work for working people.” :
      http://www.ippr.org/juncture/171/9200/building-a-responsible-capitalism

      • John Dore

        Neo Liberalism isn’t dead at all, what policies had Ed floated that support your assertion?

        “recognised the demise of the 30 year neo-liberal consensus” meaningless mumbo jumbo.

        As for government making markets work, that’s one thing, but the other thing is making the people do it. Other than a couple of speeches there’s no meat on the bone and most people see politicians as snake oils salesmen. We need to make a move now and get some policy on the table now otherwise Miliband is going to do a Kinnock.

        • ThePurpleBooker

          It is mumbo jumbo but the consesus that worshipped the free-market which happened across the world especially the West, has now gone. However, Dave Stone seems to think Ed Miliband is actually Red Ed which is complete bollocks. If he still has not failed to realise Ed Miliband is on the rightwing of the Labour Party and the whole percieved ‘Red Ed’ mask was his way to win over the leadership contest.

          • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

            Amusing that you admit a radical left position is an election winner!

            Have fun dealing with Ed’s rebuttal to the Sainsbury party: “… we cannot let the Conservative’s pessimism stunt our ambition…  ”*

            *http://www.labour.org.uk/ed-milibands-speech-to-progress-annual-conference

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

            Even Ed’s friends wouldn’t describe him as on the right of the party, let alone those who were so shocked that he opposed his right-wing brother and then beat him.

            If he was so convinced by the right wing case then surely he would have backed David’s campaign, whereas he made it clear that he stood against him because he has different ideas.

          • John Dore

            How naïve. Politicians are ego fuelled. It didn’t matter a jot where DM was politcally, EM wanted it and took it.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

            Sad that you think that to be the case. I think its because he believes in things he wants to make happen to improve the society we live in. Not purely an ego-trip. 

            If what you said was true I could understand why some would be wary of him,but I don’t believe it to be the case.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Ed Miliband has his own ambitions. He is a proudly a Labour rightwinger not some Labour leftwinger. Name some leftwing that he said? He is card-carrying member of Progress for goodness sakes. He is on the same page as his brother. I mean he offered James Purnell a job as his Chief of Staff! No one with half a brain would argue he is not on the right of the party because he is!

          • Alan Giles

            Why not sort your ideas out?

            One day you say you are on the left, then (more typically) you sneer at other posters, goading them about the “conservative” Crudas and Glasman, Progress and how right wing Ed Miliband and the shadow cabinet are, as you yourself are (as  if we didn’t know).

            Frankly if people like you are the future of Labour then it has no future and it would be better if the party stayed in opposition until they decide where they want to be.

            Would you also quit the personal abuse calling people “bonkers”, or “mad” or “nutjobs”, or if it is part of your personality that you cannot resist name-calling, at least grow a pair and post under a real name.

            Any schoolkid can play knock down Ginger provided they can run fast enough – it isn’t clever and it isn’t smart, it is just puerile

          • John Dore

            Ooh ………… the harsh truths seem to really hurt.

            The AOI must love that Progress membership. RedEd my bottom, he’s a centrist.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Why can’t two brothers who both want to be Prime Minister and have thier own supporters both stand for the leadership? Why not. It happens in American politics. I think Ed should have backed David but he has his own ambitions.

          • Simon

            “Why can’t two brothers who both want to be Prime Minister and have thier own supporters both stand for the leadership? Why not. It happens in American politics.”

            Are you for real? 

            Americans have Presidents not Prime Ministers. Do you ever read what you’ve written before posting? You need to calm down and have a word with yourself.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Which means to brothers went for an even more important role. Simon, go way and shut up.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            I am sorry but that is rubbish. Ed Miliband is on the rightwing of the Labour Party. Andy Burnham stood for the leadership and is on the right of the party. Ed Balls is on the right of the party. Ed Miliband has got Maurice Glasman as his guru – enough said. Jon Cruddas has said ideologically there is not a cigarette paper between them, just read Tangled Up in Blue. Ed wants to be Prime Minister, he stoos for the leadership. Ed was a New Labour minister and a New Labour SpAD. He is committed to deficit reduction and has not backed a single strike. Dan Hodges, his biggest critic actually admitted that Ed Miliband is no leftwinger. I think those on the left of the party who were fooled into supporting him should lie low and accepted that their vote was stolen from them. Well played, Ed!

          • Simon

            “I think those on the left of the party who were fooled into supporting him should lie low and accepted that their vote was stolen from them. ”

            Only ThePurpleBooker could be proud of political phoniness, dishonesty and thievery and consider such things as a positive recommendation as far as Ed Miliband goes. 

            Incredible.

        • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

          But Ed recognised that the market alone could not deliver – hence the requirement for government intervention. This approach is antagonistic to the consensus of the last 30 or so years, where government was considered to be an obstruction on the pathway to neo-liberal nirvana.

          (How very odd that a comment favourable to Ed gets flagged! Here’s the link to the cited speech: http://www.ippr.org/juncture/171/9200/building-a-responsible-capitalism )

          • John Dore

            Without policy statements its nothing. If he had said I’n going to nationalise the railway, that would be entirely different.

          • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

            No John, it’s a statement of preparedness. Chuka Umuna is already developing an active government policy*. 

            *http://economia.icaew.com/People/Chuka-Umunna 

          • John Dore

            Perhaps until the policies are presented you can hold court in your living room with your friends singing I believe?

            I’m looking at the output of refounding Labour and thinking we’re going to be going into the 2015election saying we’re better managers than the Tories. 

            CU may be a  very nice guy but he has little experience and I’m sceptical. I want a fresh approach that’s going to know me off my feet. I’m to old to get excited about somebody of Chukka’s age promising the world, I want to see it first.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            John, do not underestimate the next Leader of the Labour Party. Read what I just said about Chuka and do not fall for Dave Stone who believes we are returning to the pre-Kinnock years.

          • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

            “Dave Stone who believes we are returning to the pre-Kinnock years.”

            Now you’re just being silly.

          • Brendan Howell

            But that is what you what. Isn’t it? A move to the hard-left with Big State which is a what Labour Left wants too. A return to the pre-Kinnock years.  

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Active government policy? That is a quote from Chuka Ummuna. Then again Chuka supports a benefit cap, will not support the 50p tax rate being permanent, he does not support the government intervening by creating mandatory pay ratios and he has said he is a centrist and that the Labour Party is a centrist party. Try again…. LOL!

          • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

            There’s more than a few important pointers in the Chuka profile: he says there will be NO cutting of red tape – this places an emphasis on regulation, training and quality – quite the opposite of the current government’s intention to suspend H & S legislation.

            And this is a radical departure: “The idea that we will become more balanced without any strategic thought or direction …  is absurd.” This signals an abandonment of the pursuit of the ‘perfectly functioning markets’ mirage.

            Clearly there has been a sea-change.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            No it isn’t. That is the position of John Denham, Peter Mandelson and many other former Business Secretaries in the Labour Party. You are just wrong.  

          • ThePurpleBooker

            You are arguing that somebody who is a self-proclaimed centrist who supports a benefit cap, a non-permanent 50p tax rate, no mandatory pay ratios, has Andrew Adonis as an adviser, is a member of Progress is somehow a sea-change moving to the left because he is reannouncing our previous position in Government and quoting Peter Mandelson? Really!

          • ThePurpleBooker

            How about Ed Miliband’s guru who is Maurice Glasman and his other guru, Jon Cruddas, who has called himself a ‘conservative’?

          • Simon

            Are you insane?

             Jon Cruddas has been hugely critical of New Labour most especially its latter godawful welfare reforms. Here are links to a couple of his articles.

            http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/16/welfare-incapacity-benefit-jon-cruddas

            http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/01/labour-mental-illness-coalition-cuts

            Cruddas is NOTHING like you. 

            Why do you spend so much time on this site making things up and writing complete and utter nonsense?

          • ThePurpleBooker

            You clearly know nothing about Jon Cruddas.

          • Simon

            And now because you flagged my comment nobody will know what my opinion was.

            Little man.

          • Brendan Howell

            You should be less rude to people and to be fair all your comments have been untrue and irrelevant. You aren’t in sync with the party or Cruddas’ views.

          • Brendan Howell

            Jon Cruddas actually supports recent proposals by James Purnell, he appeared in the video endorsing them. Cruddas supported David Miliband and has been a key leading thinker in Blue Labour which is hated by the Left of the party. You clearly have not had the pleasure of meeting and knowing Jon Cruddas, Simon.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            I am not against any of those articles, in fact the one in reference to Gillian Duffy I agree with many of the points. James Purnell did a video on it and Jon Cruddas was in agreement. You clearly are a thick little communist creature.

          • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

            Ah yes, Glasman – another radical.

            And as for Cruddas, I’m afraid you’re misreading the well-known Cruddas nuance if you take that as an indication of support for David Cameron…

          • ThePurpleBooker

            I never said Cruddas supports Cameron, I said Cruddas is not actually on the left of the party. Glasman, Purnell and Cruddas are all radicals developing the same ideas to win back support which rejects big state something you support.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Glasman has said he is on the right of the party. He is a radical. I like him (sometimes I think it is best he remains silent). The Left of the party hate him. But how can anyone who calls himself a conservative (as a nuance) claim to be on the left of the party? Cruddas has never said he is a leftwinger but a critic of what he believes New Labour became.

          • ThePurpleBooker

            If I said Cruddas was a Cameron supporter, I would have called him a Conservative. You use the word ‘radical’ in the wrong way, you think it means hard-left and moving away from the centre ground. It does not. Cruddas backs Purnell’s proposals on welfare reforms for example. They aren’t big lefties, I’m sorry to disappoint you.

          • Brendan Howell

            A radical who is not on the left of the party and backed Tristram Hunt’s chapter in The Purple Book!

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Active government? That is a phrase persistently used by Peter Mandelson. Active government not a big state. In fact who has Chuka Ummuna got as his adviser on industrial stretgy? It’s a Lord Adonis who happens to be honory president of Progress (amongst other things).

          • ThePurpleBooker

            Government intervention? What do you mean by that? Big State? If you do then Ed Miliband has said in his speech on Englishness that we should be devolving more powers from central Government and that people are the masters of their own lives? David Miliband has said that the current economic system failed too. He called for a cap on interest rates (something I sort of agree with), an international Robin Hood tax, a living wage and a ‘moral economy’ (which he shares with his brother)- does that make him some huge socialist or is he still an ultra-Blairite rightwinger who should join the Tories?

        • ThePurpleBooker

          There was an  consensus on the economy which has been proved wrong which all government of all different persuasions have adhered to for around 30 years, that I cannot dispute – despite the ‘hard-left’ rhetoric. But to say that means moving to the hard-left as Dave thinks we should do it is nonsentical and to say Ed Miliband agrees with you for that matter is just bonkers. Ed has done speeches and other politicians have written on this subject from Hazel Blears right through to Tony Lloyd. Now Ed is fleshing out a bone to this policy, for eg. more competition in banking but let me tell you Dave he is not going to do what you think he will do. A few more appropiate policy suggestions, rather than Dave’s far-left nonsense, would be to incentivise pay ratios and a living wage in the private sector, so companies would be better off if they paid themselves less and paid their workers more; give tax breaks and cut red tape to mutuals, co-operatives and democratic business models; have that judiciary inquiry on the culture of the banking industry; introduce all the recommendations of the Vickers Report in full; forcing big banks to sell some of their branches to smaller banks; tax incentives for customers of building societies, ethical banks, credit unions and other financial co-operatives; more crackdowns on the financial crime – just to name a few. That is not Dave, nationalisation of all the banks, banning supermarkets and a 99.99% top rate of tax on those earning something like £85,000 (or something equally ridiculous)!

          • Alan Giles

            You think you know it all, don’t you?. You constantly demean other posters and call them “rubbish”. Nobody has mentioned “banning supermarkets”. You merely make yourself look childish, at the same time as you hint you know “important” people personally and you are privvy to the thoughts of the Conservatives.

            You either have a massive chip on your shoulder, or you have an inferiority complex. The only way you can make youself look big is to make others look small.

            The general public are no longer impressed by right wing rhetoric. They saw it fail under Brown and they are seeing it fail now under Cameron. If you think you will win in 2015 by offering more of the same – a lighter blue version of the Tories, you are in for a big disappointment.

  • ThePurpleBooker

    Clear break from our last unpopular Government? This language is coming from a Labour blogger and former candidate. I’m sorry but it’s incredible when though we made mistakes we made huge successes (and I’m not going to the Gordon Brown 2009 speech).  That unpopular last Government won THREE general elections. Christine should remember that the three main demands of Keir Hardie in 1900 when Labour was founded – the abolition of inherited privilege in the House of Lords, home rule for Scotland and a minimum wage – was delivered by our unpopular last Government. Rubbishing our record in Government is not going to win us the next election and basing an entire strategy on winning non-voters is folly. It’s quite telling that Christine does not mention Tory voters, Lib Dem voters and also those in the Green Party and UKIP i.e voters who voted for us in 1997 and 2001, but didn’t in 2005 and 2010. Also the words ‘radical ideas’. We all want radical ideas but voters don’t vote for ‘radical ideas’ – they vote for policies. And what type of ‘radical ideas’? Christine should remember these things.

    • Mike Homfray

      By the time we left office we were unpopular and both of our Prime Ministers increasingly so. That’s no surprise – all governments end up failing and we shouldn’t think that we are any different.

      There may well have been good things done by the last Government but we can’t keep harping back to that when most people’s memories are of something far less positive. Blair in particular is remembered with little fondness.

      • ThePurpleBooker

        Of course not but to join in with that when we should be proud of our record is not right. For a socialist not to be satisfied that it took 97 years until a Labour government – New Labour in particular – meant the three demands of Keir Hardie. Pretending its ’97 won’t win us the next election (though I believe we have to still operate in a reformed ’New Labour framework’) but constantly rubbishing our record and basing an electoral strategy on winning back non-voters who may not be on the electoral register is ludicrous.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

          Well – I think we have to recognise that the Tories are still liked by 30% of the electorate, who agree with what they are doing. And that many of our voters – particularly our ‘core’ – did begin to sit on their hands. That matters in marginals – a lot of the seats lost in the north west were because the activists couldn’t shift many of our usual supporters in the safe Labour parts of the constituency. They didn’t vote Tory, they just didn’t show

          • ThePurpleBooker

            The Tories are at 30% as I have said lowe than what they got in 1997 and 2001. Some polls, a minority admittedly and perhaps, in their recent time in danger have put them below 30%. Tim Montgomerie and others believe that their core vote is chipping away. We should complacent about the Tories losing the next election (that is going to happen), but what we should not be complacent is about us winning it. We saw what happened ot David Cameron in 2010. We both want a Labour majority government in 2015, and that means winning back those who did not vote for us partially because they did not vote (though they aren’t significant) but crucially those who voted for other parties – in particular Tories and Lib Dem. We should be haemorrhaging all our marginal seats which is why it is so frustrating that the NEC has not put all the marginal seats up for selection right now on the old boundaries? If we get all our marginals done by the end of year – especially in those areas where we won in the local elections - it would be really good for getting our PPCs involved in their communities and we could concentrate on the next council elections, County elections and European elections with ease.

        • Simon

          You are a very strange person. You join up the dots is peculiar and artificial ways. Are you Aspergic by any chance?

  • John Ruddy

    The problem I have with this article is this – where is this hysteria about us winning the next election – either online or elsewhere?

    I have yet to see any, and the article fails to link to any examples. 

  • Brendan Howell
  • Simon

    What’s with this ThePurpleBooker character? All these feverish, frenzied comments which nine times out of ten are self-contradictory and don’t make sense. Is this person OK? I’m beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable.

    • Sid

      I think he/she is an enthusiastic and excited inexperienced young person without much life experience who thinks they know the best way to put the world to rights. I am convinced that he/she means no harm. Just ignore the his/her many comments if you find them annoying or poorly reasoned and enjoy the rest of LabourList.

  • Pingback: The Labour Party (and the blogosphere) has become hysterical about “our glorious return to power” | Christine Quigley

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