Labour Party leadership election 2015

[Antonio the Sixth]

I've cast my vote. I did not use all of my preferences. I've also voted in the other contests.

May I ask who you voted for? It would really help me make some sense out of this, so far I still don't really know what to think.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Elections are not decided 5 years in advance. Stop whining guys.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Why is Burnham polling so low? I assumed he'd end up being Corbyn's main opponent. He's probably the best choice to keep the party together.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm gonna make a few enemies among fellow leftists, but I really hope Corbyn doesn't win. Labour needs to win elections, I don't want the UK to fall back into the Thatcher-Major horror. And Corbyn won't lead Labour to victory - not because he's very left-wing, but because he's the wrong kind of left-wing.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I honestly think that many in the party's establishment view a Corbyn victory as the least-worst outcome now, hoping that he will eff up to the extent that he can be replaced with Dan Jarvis or whoever a couple of years down the line.

Where does Jarvis stand in the party? Is he significantly to the right of someone like Burnham in his policies?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well, brace yourselves... I really hope Corbyn surprises me and ends up leading Labour to victory (it's not impossible, many things can happen in 5 years). But the next couple years are probably going to be quite rocky.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I honestly think that many in the party's establishment view a Corbyn victory as the least-worst outcome now, hoping that he will eff up to the extent that he can be replaced with Dan Jarvis or whoever a couple of years down the line.

Where does Jarvis stand in the party? Is he significantly to the right of someone like Burnham in his policies?

Jarvis is associated with the Right but many of his expressed views on economics/social policy are very left-wing.

Seems like a pretty good backup plan, all things considered.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Shame about Reeves ruling herself out, I like her. I do think a lot of Labourite frontbenchers are shooting themselves in the foot here. It's like they want a "stabbed in the back" mythos to emerge.

Yeah, that's really dumb and petty. It seems they're already at work to undermine him, instead of actually giving him a chance.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yikes.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Obviously God Save the Queen is one of the worst anthems in the world, and any self-respecting human being should refuse to sing it.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This sh[inks] is just needlessly confrontational. If Corbyn is going to purposefully act like an internet troll and refuse to follow basic protocols then he has no one but himself to blame when he's called out on it.

Says the guy with Donald Trump in his username and sig. Can't make that stuff up.

[Antonio the Sixth]

What large swing in turn of events in just 10 years.  Back in 2005 I recall one can with legitimate arguments, say "Can the CONs win again?".  Now, with Corbyn in charge and another redistricting coming up one can with legitimate arguments say "Can the LABs  win again?"  What a difference a couple of redistricting taking away the natural LAB advantage in terms of vote share to seat translation plus a change in LAB leadership make in 10 years.

Nah, it's mostly the media being morons and needlessly overdramatizing narratives.

Labour will win again, either in 2020 or in 2025. They'll probably win two or three elections and then the will win again two or three elections, then Labour etc. That's how politics work.

[Antonio the Sixth]

so it's vital that Labour becomes more attractive to Scotland for its own survival.

Not it's not. All you need to do is prevent Tories from winning an absolute majority and enter a coalition with SNP. There's no question SNP will choose to prop up a Labour government, as their voters would never forgive them for keeping a Torie government afloat.

Focusing on Scotland is the exact opposite of what Labour should do. You need to take seats away from the Tories in England, or they'll have a majority forever.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Of course, who knows, maybe this isn't an either/or situation.

Maybe. But the focus should be on taking seats away from the Tories. Certainly not on taking seats away from a party that would coalize with you anyway if push came to shove.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm not saying Labour should loudly proclaim that they've given up on Scotland. And it sure would be nice if they could win back a few seats there as well. But I'm getting sick and tired of this bogus narrative that Labour absolutely needs to "reconquer" Scotland of they're doomed forever. That's a flat out lie and can be contradicted with basic math. Even if Labour had won every single seat in the entire Scotland, you'd still end up with Prime Minister Cameron, because he just won enough seats in England and Wales for an absolute majority.

So I don't give a crap if you don't want to have to deal with those nasty SNPers. The primary goal of any sane British leftist right now should be to stop the Tories before they completely wreck public services and the welfare system. If you're more concerned about something else, that means you're part of the problem.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm not saying Labour should loudly proclaim that they've given up on Scotland. And it sure would be nice if they could win back a few seats there as well. But I'm getting sick and tired of this bogus narrative that Labour absolutely needs to "reconquer" Scotland of they're doomed forever. That's a flat out lie and can be contradicted with basic math. Even if Labour had won every single seat in the entire Scotland, you'd still end up with Prime Minister Cameron, because he just won enough seats in England and Wales for an absolute majority.

So I don't give a crap if you don't want to have to deal with those nasty SNPers. The primary goal of any sane British leftist right now should be to stop the Tories before they completely wreck public services and the welfare system. If you're more concerned about something else, that means you're part of the problem.

Bloody hell, have you even been paying attention? It's not a case of not wanting to deal with "nasty" SNPers (I actually quite welcome their influence in parliament), but there was no doubting that association with the SNP, trumped up by the Tory press, cost Labour in SNP-phobic England, so how on earth does that help us fight the Tories? Yes, let's fight the Tories by losing Labour-leaning voters to them! Great idea.

I highly doubt association with SNP is the first thing the marginal Middle England voter is thinking about when deciding to vote Torie. I can envision why that might be a problem (especially after a Lab-SNP coalition happens), but that's far from being the main issue. Maybe Labour should be concerned about the image they are themselves projecting, before thinking about how another party's negative image is affecting them.