2004 Democratic Primary

[Ben.]

You underestimate quite how homophobic the Hate Mail is...(they have published an article called "how gay is my valley". Not funny, not clever, homophobic and possibly racist), and as Bryant is the M.P for Rhondda(and a good one from what I've heard) being attacked by a Tory newspaper is like christmas coming early(the Tories lost their deposit(5%) in Rhondda last election)
Of course Bryant is used to homophobic attacks;
Plaid's attempt to stop him getting elected in 2001 revolved around calling him "exotic".
Bryant won 68% of the vote on a low turnout.

If the Hate Mail wants to bang on about M.P's sexual preferances, they should look at Paul Marsden(and that IS worrying)

I have a very strong dislike of Bryant he is overall a very slimy and sycophantic individual who is viewed as such by many within the Party and importantly most Labour MPs... that said many MPs are ambitious and that isn’t a crime, but he annoys me a great deal that said I have heard him speak and he has made one or two very good  points.

It is interesting that such an Ultra-Blairite should attract the admiration of Migrendel who want Clare Short as Prime Minister (LOL, as she sinks deeper and deeper into a vain stupor of sanctimonious, hypocritical denounctions of the government)… I would advise Migrendel to look at Alan Simpson as the most credible hard lefty within the Parliamentary Party and Peter Hain as the only viable candidate for the leadership form the “soft left”.    

Of all the young stars of the party (and I don't count Bryant amougst them) Ben Bradshaw is most likely to be the first Gay Prime Minister.... that said there are a brace of equally talented junior members of the government who will be vying with him for that in the future... having met Bradshaw I'm a great supporter of his and genuinely like the guy, personally I have always thought that Blair should have promoted him to Leader of the House when Cook resigned… but ah well…

Al. What was your opinion of Alan Milburn?    

[Sibboleth]

You underestimate quite how homophobic the Hate Mail is...(they have published an article called "how gay is my valley". Not funny, not clever, homophobic and possibly racist), and as Bryant is the M.P for Rhondda(and a good one from what I've heard) being attacked by a Tory newspaper is like christmas coming early(the Tories lost their deposit(5%) in Rhondda last election)
Of course Bryant is used to homophobic attacks;
Plaid's attempt to stop him getting elected in 2001 revolved around calling him "exotic".
Bryant won 68% of the vote on a low turnout.

If the Hate Mail wants to bang on about M.P's sexual preferances, they should look at Paul Marsden(and that IS worrying)

I have a very strong dislike of Bryant he is overall a very slimy and sycophantic individual who is viewed as such by many within the Party and importantly most Labour MPs... that said many MPs are ambitious and that isn’t a crime, but he annoys me a great deal that said I have heard him speak and he has made one or two very good  points.

It is interesting that such an Ultra-Blairite should attract the admiration of Migrendel who want Clare Short as Prime Minister (LOL, as she sinks deeper and deeper into a vain stupor of sanctimonious, hypocritical denounctions of the government)… I would advise Migrendel to look at Alan Simpson as the most credible hard lefty within the Parliamentary Party and Peter Hain as the only viable candidate for the leadership form the “soft left”.    

Of all the young stars of the party (and I don't count Bryant amougst them) Ben Bradshaw is most likely to be the first Gay Prime Minister.... that said there are a brace of equally talented junior members of the government who will be vying with him for that in the future... having met Bradshaw I'm a great supporter of his and genuinely like the guy, personally I have always thought that Blair should have promoted him to Leader of the House when Cook resigned… but ah well…

Al. What was your opinion of Alan Milburn?    

Bryant tells people what they want to hear... and he's very good at it. He does often come over as annoyingly zealous though and I reckon he'd (literally) kill to become a minister... but he's good at constituancy work (including a really bizarre Early Day Motion in praise of "Mr Creamy" an ice cream company that employs people in the Rhondda) from what I hear... and as his seat is in the Valleys he doesn't really need to bother with it.
Which is a good thing.
I've a mixed opinion of Milburn as well... he's very clever and all that, but again he comes off as too eager to please.

[kevlar85]

I can't honestly believe the Labour Party will elect another Blairite as leader when Blair goes. I think the successor to Blair will undoubtedly be Brown, he has the values to win over the party and the record to win over Middle England.

A more interesting discussion is who from the next generation of MPs is a contender. I think the leader after Brown will be a woman (one of the 97 Blair babes, no doubt), Labour hasn't had a female leader yet and to be honest I don't think the British public are ready for a black or gay PM for a few decades yet, sad but I think true due to the undue influence of the right-wing press. For example, could you imagine The Sun and Mail's reaction to Labour leader Chris Byrant?

I think the good thing Blair has done for Labour has broken it out of its old chains so that it can target it's policies at Middle England and introduce a fair few Old Labour type policies by stealth eg; minimum wage, increased workers rights, even increased taxes for public services.

So if it is to be a female leader, as I believe it will be, who? Patricia Hewitt would be good although, I think by the time the vacancy arises after Brown, too old. Yvette Cooper is obviously a contender, although someone I know who lives in her constituency says that she isn't that popular so maybe an increased profile would bring flaws to light? I have to say that Caroline Flint has impressed me recently, putting up a good defence of the anti-terrorism leaflet and is a good media operator, she also has a safe seat so is a safe bet to still be around by the time of the contest (a lot of Blair babes are in marginals), so in my opinion she's the best bet... after Brown of course.

[Ben.]

I’d agree with you that Cooper (a ultra loyal Brownite and wife of Ed Balls) and Flint (a protégé of Bluncket’s) are the two women from the younger generation of Labour MPs most likely to one day contest the leadership.

Pat Hewitt while a Blairite is popular within the Labour Party and has long and solid record and while I think that Brown will retain her in a Government lead by her (to appease Blairites and also because of her ability) I think that by the time a vacancy for the leadership re-emerges she will be too old, she could of course contest the leadership when Blair goes but I think she (along with Straw and Blunckett)are more likely to back Brown the three contenders who most likely will challenge Brown are John Reid, Alan Simpson and Peter Hain and all three will probably lose however I could see both Hain and Hewitt contesting the deputy leadership in the near future.      
David Milliband, David Lambey, Hillary Benn, Douglas Alexander, Alan Milburn (older than the others) and Ben Bradshaw are all other members of the younger generation who might one day vie for the leadership after Brown term has come to an end.        

[Sibboleth]

I suspect that Cooper will be overshadowed by Balls moving in next door
But both Cooper and Flint benifit from having nice safe seats... as you've said most of the "Blair Babes" hold traditional marginals (and in some cases seats that Labour have no business holding) and Flint's been getting a lot of airtime recently.

Some M.P's I'd like to see do well:

Kim Howells
Huw Irranca-Davies
Mark Tami
Tom Watson
Peter Bradley
Kevan Jones
Steve Hepburn
David Milliband

Howells for P.M!

[Ben.]

I suspect that Cooper will be overshadowed by Balls moving in next door
But both Cooper and Flint benifit from having nice safe seats... as you've said most of the "Blair Babes" hold traditional marginals (and in some cases seats that Labour have no business holding) and Flint's been getting a lot of airtime recently.

Some M.P's I'd like to see do well:

Kim Howells
Huw Irranca-Davies
Mark Tami
Tom Watson
Peter Bradley
Kevan Jones
Steve Hepburn
David Milliband

Howells for P.M!

Kim Howells

Don't know much about him...

David Milliband is mooted to be Blair's preferred successor after Brown's tenure and both he and Milburn seem set for promotion (well its a return for Milburn) at the next reshuffle (probably in September) and hopefully someone decent can replace f****** Ian McCartny... Peter Hain or Pat Hewitt being the strongest candidates IMHO, them or some younger MP hailing from the centre left of the Party (“Soft Left” Robin Cook, Peter Hain territory.. to placate activists and Trades Unionists in equal measure).    

[Sibboleth]

Kim Howells

is the MP for Pontypridd and is a minister in the Department of Transport.

He's a former Commie (which used to have a large following in various unions and should not be confused with the likes of the SWP), and a former senior official in the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) and was an enemy of Arthur Scargill.

He's on the pragmatic left of the Labour Party, has been a very competent minister (in the DfEE, DTI, DCMS and now Transport), is a cultural populist (see below), and likes to speak his mind...
A lot.

Examples:
"My idea of hell is listening to three Somerset folk singers"
"A bit bonkers" [describing the Royal family]

And most famously:

[nomorelies]

In the first gulf war:

The american tax payer paid 5% of the total cost.

In the second gulf war:

The american tax payer paid 95% of the total cost.

Because of this 90% more that the us had to pay. 45 million americans dont have healthcare. 7 million jobs were lossed and 6 million were replaced by lesser paid jobs. Many of these dont have health insurance. hEALTH PREMIUMS HAVE INCREASED TO RECORD LEVELS.

Jobs are leaving America and fuelling the growth of China and Indian economies. Has Bush spent wisely?

[Vasall des Midas]

What created this thread? It seems to be a number of old threads just pieced together into one...including a very nice thread on the Canadian Federal Election of 2004 which is wanted to read again (it's in the 80's).

[© Tweed the Younger]

What created this thread? It seems to be a number of old threads just pieced together into one...including a very nice thread on the Canadian Federal Election of 2004 which is wanted to read again (it's in the 80's).

It probably is a bunch of threads merged together to conserve bandwith.  Just a guess.

[crypto-fascist superhero]

Since it seems we're in the mood for megabumps it's... ...the oldest thread remaining!