Labour Party leadership election 2015

[Filuwaúrdjan]

So, the full list...

Leader - Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North)
Deputy - Tom Watson (West Bromwich East)
Chief Whip - Rosie Winterton (Doncaster Central)
Shadow First Secretary of State and Shadow Business Secretary - Angela Eagle (Wallasey)
Shadow Chancellor - John McDonnell (Hayes & Harlington)
Shadow Foreign Secretary - Hilary Benn (Leeds Central)
Shadow Home Secretary - Andy Burnham (Leigh)
Shadow Justice Secretary - Lord Falconer
Shadow Health Secretary - Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East)
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary - Owen Smith (Pontypridd)
Shadow Education Secretary - Lucy Powell (Manchester Central)
Shadow Defence Secretary - Maria Eagle (Garston & Halewood)
Shadow Communities Secretary - Jon Trickett (Hemsworth)
Shadow Energy Secretary - Lisa Nandy (Wigan)
Shadow Leader of the Commons - Chris Bryant (Rhondda)
Shadow Transport Secretary - Lillian Greenwood (Nottingham South)
Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary - Vernon Coaker (Gedling)
Shadow International Development Secretary - Dianne Abbott (Hackney North & Stoke Newington)
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland - Ian Murray (Edinburgh South)
Shadow Welsh Secretary - Nia Griffith (Llanelli)
Shadow Environment Secretary - Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East)
Shadow Culture Secretary - Michael Dugher (Barnsley East)
Shadow Equalities Secretary - Kate Green (Stretford & Urmston)
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury - Seema Malhotra (Feltham & Heston)
Shadow Minister for Young People - Gloria De Piero (Ashfield)
Shadow Minister for Mental Health - Luciana Berger (Liverpool Wavertree)
Shadow Minister for Housing - John Healey (Wentworth & Dearne)
Shadow Minister without Portfolio - Jon Ashworth (Leicester South)
Shadow Attorney General - Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Leader in the Lords - Baroness Smith
Chief Whip in the Lords - Lord Bassam

---

Factionally probably as balanced as could be managed and pretty regionally balanced as well. Names that people should note for the future include Owen Smith and Lisa Nandy.

[DavidB.]

There's nothing anti-Semitic about him sacking Ivan Lewis-it's just his nutty online following who are calling Lewis a Zionist.

For the record: I didn't claim it was.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Not a Corbyn fan but could he do? All top women prospects refused to sit in his cabinet, his leadership is unstable from start so it would be better to have an ally as chancellor, and letting Eagle who lost the deputy race get the 2nd most revered post isn't all that democratic either.

...while Creasy had apparently decided that she wasn't going to be in anyones Shadow Cabinet unless elected as Deputy, because Creasy's gotta Creasy or something. And a lot of the women appointed are hardly nonentities: if political journalists aren't familiar with them then I think that reflects more on them than anything else...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

McDonnell is a... um... potential... weak spot, but then he was always going to get a big post, like it or not. Though the trouble with him isn't quite what people think: it isn't that he's got extreme views on some things, that's not exactly it...

Anyway, Healey at housing is good, and a vegan and animal rights campaigner at Environment is excellent trolling of the NFU.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Did not expect De Piero to make an appearance.

[Blair]

Kerry McCarthy is brilliant, one of the funniest MP's I've meet.

I know Sky as Murdoch scum butt his summary is pretty funny, it's like the Blair reshuffles where he forgot to fire people and forgot to fill in posts! The balance ideologically of the Cabinet is good imo-2/4 great state offices being filled by centre left people, much like Miliband's 2010 cabinet Corbyn has surrounded himself with people who aren't exactly his political soulmates. However Cabinet lacks experienced front-line talent-Lucy Powell at Education hardly fills me with confidence

http://news.sky.com/story/1552307/corbyns-cabinet-chaos-the-inside-story

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Conference Arrangement Committee results:

Gloria De Piero (LF) 109,888
Michael Cashman (LF) 100,484
===
Katy Clark (GRA) 80,193
Jon Lansman (GRA) 37,270
Harry Taylor (Ind) 33,077

[YL]

McDonnell is a... um... potential... weak spot, but then he was always going to get a big post, like it or not. Though the trouble with him isn't quite what people think: it isn't that he's got extreme views on some things, that's not exactly it...

Anyway, Healey at housing is good, and a vegan and animal rights campaigner at Environment is excellent trolling of the NFU.

Apart from McDonnell it's not that bad, especially given the number of high profile people who opted out.

Corbyn needs to get a media strategy beyond "you're all evil".  Undoubtably some of them are, but it's not clear that he's distinguishing them from the rest at the moment.

[Angel of Death]

Why are the Tories demonizing Corbyn so viciously, as if they were right before, rather than after, a general election? Do they really believe this is somehow "necessary" already or are they just permanently stuck in campaign mode? Siting back and letting his perceived extremism speak for itself would strike me as a more sympathetic strategy and less prone to backfiring.

[ChrisDR68]

Why are the Tories demonizing Corbyn so viciously, as if they were right before, rather than after, a general election? Do they really believe this is somehow "necessary" already or are they just permanently stuck in campaign mode? Siting back and letting his perceived extremism speak for itself would strike me as a more sympathetic strategy and less prone to backfiring.

It's canny political strategy.

After the 2010 general elections but before Ed Miliband became leader the Tories repeated again and again and again that the financial mess they inherited was all Labour's doing and that they overspent and maxed out the nation's credit card when economic growth was strong.

Foolishly Miliband opted not to counter these charges (whether they had some substance in them or not) and they were largely accepted by the public. Those sentiments and Miliband's leadership were the issues that largely decided the 2015 general election.

Paint Corbyn as a dangerous loon now and repeat it often enough they hope the same thing will happen in the minds of the electorate again in 2020.

[Blair]

On Miliband spending he tried doing it at the debates and was booed, quite heavily. The Brownites (Yvette Cooper in this campaing) want to run saying that we didn't do a thing wrong with the economy from 1997-2010, yet the public will just see that as Labour shifting the blame.

I honestly think that no matter what stance we took we weren't going to have a good chance at getting back into power after 2010

[DC Al Fine]

Why are the Tories demonizing Corbyn so viciously, as if they were right before, rather than after, a general election? Do they really believe this is somehow "necessary" already or are they just permanently stuck in campaign mode? Siting back and letting his perceived extremism speak for itself would strike me as a more sympathetic strategy and less prone to backfiring.

It's canny political strategy.

Indeed.

Defining one's opponent before they can define themselves is a very effective strategy. e.g. Stephane Dion.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Indeed, we weren't helped in the public perception from that "hilarious joke" Liam Byrne made back in 2010.

[stepney]

Why are the Tories demonizing Corbyn so viciously, as if they were right before, rather than after, a general election? Do they really believe this is somehow "necessary" already or are they just permanently stuck in campaign mode? Siting back and letting his perceived extremism speak for itself would strike me as a more sympathetic strategy and less prone to backfiring.

It's canny political strategy.

Well, indeed. And it appears Corbyn for all his years isn't very savvy at rebutting this. Blanking Sky News reporters, and then having the Twitterati 'contextualise' and try to explain away the IRA and all that. Politics doesn't work like this, it really doesn't, sorry.

Anyway just to trololol, some positive news:

[Phony Moderate]

Maybe Corbyn should try directly insulting the electorate - it worked for Paul Keating in 1993.

[Phony Moderate]

Politics doesn't work like this, it really doesn't, sorry.

Well, modern politics certainly, given that it is based on mindless PC soundbites and not much else. Bring back Tony Benn...and Enoch Powell for that matter.

[stepney]

Politics doesn't work like this, it really doesn't, sorry.

Well, modern politics certainly, given that it is based on mindless PC soundbites and not much else. Bring back Tony Benn...and Enoch Powell for that matter.

No - no - you misunderstand me. Even Benn or Powell would not have refused a microphone put under their nose, or treated it as if it were low-level harassment. They would have had a pithy word, or even a Benn-type comment about how they'd had a wonderful rally just now and now they were off to the Miners' Gala with a cheese sandwich and a Thermos of tea... but Corbyn seems not to want to engage.

This is the world of 24-hour news. The world of true believers may think there is something noble in the thing; that it can be explained as 'not engaging with mindless PC soundbites' and so on. But I come from Nuneaton, kid. My finger rests on that bellwether. It sees the heir-but-two to Blair shouting angrily at the camera. It's not listening to how these things may be explained away. Corbyn needs to stop doing them in the first place.

This gives even me, most hyper-partisan of the hyper-partisans, not much pleasure.

[Phony Moderate]

Politics doesn't work like this, it really doesn't, sorry.

Well, modern politics certainly, given that it is based on mindless PC soundbites and not much else. Bring back Tony Benn...and Enoch Powell for that matter.

No - no - you misunderstand me. Even Benn or Powell would not have refused a microphone put under their nose, or treated it as if it were low-level harassment. They would have had a pithy word, or even a Benn-type comment about how they'd had a wonderful rally just now and now they were off to the Miners' Gala with a cheese sandwich and a Thermos of tea... but Corbyn seems not to want to engage.

This is the world of 24-hour news. The world of true believers may think there is something noble in the thing; that it can be explained as 'not engaging with mindless PC soundbites' and so on. But I come from Nuneaton, kid. My finger rests on that bellwether. It sees the heir-but-two to Blair shouting angrily at the camera. It's not listening to how these things may be explained away. Corbyn needs to stop doing them in the first place.

This gives even me, most hyper-partisan of the hyper-partisans, not much pleasure.

I understand your point - if Corbyn stated that the "IRA were less evil than Thatcher" or whatever then it would, I suspect, go down better than simply ignoring the cameras. I mentioned Paul Keating previously - he won a federal election despite referring to his opponents as "brain damaged" and "dessicated coconuts" and so on, plus he described a reccesssion as "one that we have to have".

He needs to be less PC if anything and state what he thinks.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I think we can be fairly clearly that Corbyn would... not be in his element... in a General Election. Up until that point, though, most people pay very little attention to politics (probably quite rightly) which is the reason why political attacks are often irritatingly repetitive: the person making the attack wants to make sure that it sticks.

[Phony Moderate]

Can we somehow make Eric Joyce leader?

Anyway, yeah, I feel it is only a matter of time before Dan Jarvis makes a move.

[Blair]

Corbyn needs to get a good staff, the fact his reshuffle was done by him, the chief whip and his campaign manager was clearly a disaster.

[Famous Mortimer]

They keep saying no women in top jobs but Maria Eagle is shadow defense secretary. Defense isn't considered a top job? Also, really disappointing that Corbyn's defense secretary voted for the Iraq War.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

They mean the Great Offices of State - the shadows of the the Chancellor of the Exchequor, the Home Secretary and the Foreign Secretary (the three most powerful and senior members of the cabinet aside from the drop dog himself) are all male.

[Hnv1]

Can we somehow make Eric Joyce leader?

Anyway, yeah, I feel it is only a matter of time before Dan Jarvis makes a move.

I wonder what were the pros and cons in team Corbyn with appointing Jarvis to the shadow cabinet. If Jarvis leads Labour in 2020 he'll have 0 ministerial experience or even shadow ministry to his record

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Some Hillary SuperPAC is going to attack Sanders because Corbyn praised Chavez. I know, it makes so much sense.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-jeremy-corbyn_55f73339e4b00e2cd5e79e11