Labour Party (UK) Leadership Election, 2016

[Blair]

Sooo the Times had a very good article up (paywalled sadly) saying that Corbyn had a wobble on Wednesday and almost resigned... it's been briefed what his exit plan was making me think his team are starting to negotiate- he wants a Shadow Cabinet Position, John Mcdonnell to stay as Chancellor and a Corbynite on the ballot.... so he basically wants to keep control of the party.

Interesting side aspect- the 'TB-GB's' the name for the Blair/Brownite rivalry very much still exists- the Blairites have gathered around Eagle, and the Brownites around Owen Smith. Does it ever end?

[Hnv1]

How exactly is he gonna force the elected leader to keep him and John in the shadow cabinet? Who is going to be the corbynite candidate? Someone from 2915 intake?
As I recall Eagle was brownite and definitely not a Blairite, that's weird

[Filuwaúrdjan]

As I recall Eagle was brownite and definitely not a Blairite, that's weird

Yeah but Smith is to her left you see.

[parochial boy]

As I recall Eagle was brownite and definitely not a Blairite, that's weird

Yeah but Smith is to her left you see.

Which is basically irrelevant, seeing as to the Corbyn crowd, anyone who comes forward to stand against Corbyn is a treacherous right wing Blairite who should go join the Conservative party...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

As I recall Eagle was brownite and definitely not a Blairite, that's weird

Yeah but Smith is to her left you see.

Which is basically irrelevant, seeing as to the Corbyn crowd, anyone who comes forward to stand against Corbyn is a treacherous right wing Blairite who should go join the Conservative party...

THIGMOO

[Blair]

Heard someone in the pub (Craft Beer pub which explains why they're talking up Corbyn) saying it's a Blairite plot to distract from Chilcott.

I still struggle to see how Angela Eagle is going to run against Corbyn with an Iraq war vote hanging over her head, and a rather weak performance last year in the Deputies race (along with her bottling her run since thursday)

However, as I've said 100 times the winds seem to be shifting with this talk of a peace treaty- its like Germany in 1945, they must know that any peace will mean the end of their glorious leader

[Famous Mortimer]

I feel like the Blairites (actual Blairites, not just people to the right of Corbyn) are defensively backing Eagle just because she's getting heat for the Iraq War.

[MaxQue]

I feel like the Blairites (actual Blairites, not just people to the right of Corbyn) are defensively backing Eagle just because she's getting heat for the Iraq War.

They better get ready, because the report of the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry about Iraq War is out on Wednesday.

[Hnv1]

I feel like the Blairites (actual Blairites, not just people to the right of Corbyn) are defensively backing Eagle just because she's getting heat for the Iraq War.

They better get ready, because the report of the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry about Iraq War is out on Wednesday.

I heard Salmond wants to impeach Blair in the commons, after 210 years it was not done and the ECHR that will make it unconstitutional as it is not a due process (the Commons could actually sentence him to prison). Seems superfluous to me, Blair is dead politically and he's not coming back (I can't even see him becoming a peer)

[Antonio the Sixth]

Didn't most Labour MPs vote for the Iraq War? I thought party discipline was the rule on this kind of stuff.

[Phony Moderate]

Eagle has a history of, er, hawkishness (ho ho ho); she was also in the minority of Labour MPs who voted for action in Syria last year. What's her position on Trident btw?

[Blair]

Eagle has a history of, er, hawkishness (ho ho ho); she was also in the minority of Labour MPs who voted for action in Syria last year. What's her position on Trident btw?

Think she's Pro-Trident- I know her sister Maria got sacked in January for it.

It's remarkable for Labour nerds that Eagle was the 'left wing' choice last year in the deputy leader, who ran with Union Backing and as being anti-austerity. I always wonder how well a hard left candidate could have done last year- although Tom Watson hoovered up the left wing vote (much like Sadiq did in London) Tl;DR... the soft left can win.

I hear JC was going to call Blair a war criminal at a Rally afterwards, but Blair has briefed he'll sue people who say political leaders who say that. Maybe Corbyn will say it in the House?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Didn't most Labour MPs vote for the Iraq War? I thought party discipline was the rule on this kind of stuff.

Yes, although there was a very big rebellion. Eagle was a minister at the time. But (bluntly) all of the people for whom this is a big deal would be voting for the Hard Left candidate anyway.

[Blair]

Out of interest to other UK posters with connections to the party- how's your feeling about the mood in your CLPs re Corbyn?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'm a currently inactive member in a hopeless constituency where the CLP is traditionally dominated by tankies so don't attend meetings...

[Famous Mortimer]

Didn't most Labour MPs vote for the Iraq War? I thought party discipline was the rule on this kind of stuff.

Yes, although there was a very big rebellion. Eagle was a minister at the time. But (bluntly) all of the people for whom this is a big deal would be voting for the Hard Left candidate anyway.

It was a crime against humanity. The fact that mainstream Labour people "don't care" reflects badly on them, not on the people who do care. Maybe if mainstream Labour people cared a bit more, they wouldn't now be in the position of having to fight off Trotskyites, homeopaths, and Hamas sympathizes for control of their party.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It was a crime against humanity.

You're usually a right-wing Democrat, and yet this is the issue where you feel the need to embrace loony left rhetoric on? Weird.

[DL]

Didn't Jeremy Corbyn run for Parliament in three straight elections under Tony Blair's leadership? Maybe I am projecting the Canadian political system too much onto Britain (though are systems are supposedly closely related)...but in Canada if you were a backbench MP and your leader and government did something you totally disagreed with and if you thought the leader of your party was a "war criminal" - it would be a race to see what would happen first - would you be expelled from the party or would you resign to sit as an independent or to form a new party - there is no way that you could be as critical as Corbyn was of his own leader and be allowed to stay in the party and furthermore if you did stay you would be called a hypocrit for staying.

I would say that by running as a Labour Party candidate in 2005 AFTER the war in Iraq vote etc...Corbyn was affiliating himself with everything that his leader Tony Blair stood for including the war in Iraq - so he is no better than any of the people he is attacking.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I hear JC was going to call Blair a war criminal at a Rally afterwards, but Blair has briefed he'll sue people who say political leaders who say that.

I don't think Blair was a war criminal, but now I believe every Labour Left figure should come out and call him that, just to piss off that arrogant little prick.

[Famous Mortimer]

It was a crime against humanity.

You're usually a right-wing Democrat, and yet this is the issue where you feel the need to embrace loony left rhetoric on? Weird.

this being the time the US and the UK invaded a country for no reason and needlessly killed tens of thousands of people, at least, and paved the way for the rise of ISIS.

Why in God's name is anyone on the left acting like opposing this is a fringe issue all of the sudden?

Again, if you don't think the Iraq War was a big deal, you are directly responsible for the rise of Jeremy Corbyn.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It was a crime against humanity.

You're usually a right-wing Democrat, and yet this is the issue where you feel the need to embrace loony left rhetoric on? Weird.

this being the time the US and the UK invaded a country for no reason and needlessly killed tens of thousands of people, at least, and paved the way for the rise of ISIS.

Why in God's name is anyone on the left acting like opposing this is a fringe issue all of the sudden?

Again, if you don't think the Iraq War was a big deal, you are directly responsible for the rise of Jeremy Corbyn.

I oppose the Iraq War and think it's a pretty big deal, but for f**k's sake words like "crime against humanity" shouldn't be thrown out casually.

[Blair]

FTR Corbyn was part of the pacifist left that has existed in the PLP since the 30's. The irony is that Corbyn voted against the whip something like 300 times over his career.

This sums it up

https://twitter.com/IsabelHardman/status/637637615475404800/photo/1

[parochial boy]

Out of interest to other UK posters with connections to the party- how's your feeling about the mood in your CLPs re Corbyn?

I've just been to my first ever Labour party meeting, admittedly a branch rather than CLP one, although I did manage to get nominated as a delegate to the CLP "GC", which apparently gives me the right to vote on CLP matters. Presumably down to me being on of the only people under the age of 70 in the room.

Any way, the mood was fairly mixed, a a few Corbyn loyalists, some who had gone off him and some who opposed him, although it was all fairly good natured.

There was, however, a lot of anger from both supporters and opponents that the CLP had been more or less "forced" into adopting a motion of no confidence in Corbyn, as a result of a last minute resolution being tacked on to the CLP meeting, which was apparently pretty heated.

[Babeuf]

As an outsider looking in I've been following this with interest, but I have a few questions about the PLP strategy.

I'm not sure exactly what they expected to happen. Did the PLP think they could get Corbyn to resign as leader without defeating him in a leadership challenge? From the loyalist point of view, elements of the PLP have been undermining Corbyn since his victory through constant leaks to journalists like George Eaton, etc. Furthermore, resigning before the NEC elections and before they have a chance to implement internal party reforms (along the lines of the Bennite/CLPD agenda) would be a massive lost opportunity for the left faction, possibly consigning them to the fringe of the party for the foreseeable future.

I don't know, it just seems like it should have been obvious to the PLP that Corbyn and his faction have everything to gain (from their point of view) by clinging to power as long as possible. Although, if it was orchestrated in this way to bring down his appeal among the membership that could make sense.

[Blair]

As an outsider looking in I've been following this with interest, but I have a few questions about the PLP strategy.

I'm not sure exactly what they expected to happen. Did the PLP think they could get Corbyn to resign as leader without defeating him in a leadership challenge? From the loyalist point of view, elements of the PLP have been undermining Corbyn since his victory through constant leaks to journalists like George Eaton, etc. Furthermore, resigning before the NEC elections and before they have a chance to implement internal party reforms (along the lines of the Bennite/CLPD agenda) would be a massive lost opportunity for the left faction, possibly consigning them to the fringe of the party for the foreseeable future.

I don't know, it just seems like it should have been obvious to the PLP that Corbyn and his faction have everything to gain (from their point of view) by clinging to power as long as possible. Although, if it was orchestrated in this way to bring down his appeal among the membership that could make sense.

Yes- the assumption in political thinking is that a Shadow Cabinet Walkout of more than 50% will always sink a leader. It was talked about last November with Miliband (with both Burnham and Cooper ready to strike)

The Shadow Cabinet walk out- namely the fact that he lost 50 odd ministers was to show that people who worked with him have no faith in him. The fact that people like Lisa Nandy, Nia Griffiths and Owem Smith resigned showed that even the left of the Party has lost faith in him.

The point is that Corbyn cannot continue as leader- he's got an 81 year with two shadow Cabinet jobs and still lacks an Shadow Attorney General, Business Secretary... (and that's ignoring the 100 odd juniour ministers he needs)

The likes of Hunt, Woodcock and other Progress MP's have been briefing against Corbyn, but that's the game. Corbyn's own team have been briefing some pretty crazy stuff in the last week.

I'm skeptical of reforms, as we saw Conference last year there's still Corbyn supporters (e.g the Unions) who've opposed the measures pushed by the Bennite faction. I'm not at all an expert on the NEC/Internal Party stuff but I honestly think this was the best time for a coup