#128

but what an excellent one it is

#129

I like Starmdog, but my concern if he ever took the big job would be the right wing press constantly digging up anything negative that happened during his watch as Director Of Public Prosecutions and holding him personally responsible for it. Unfair certainly, but his previous career would provide a lot of ammunition unfortunately…

#131

May is going to force through a hard Brexit at any cost, start deporting, start selling off state assets and then Labour are fucked. No matter how bad the economy is or how many people are flooding into foodbanks the Tories will forever have the following 3 pronged attack

  • Labour cannot be trusted as they will reverse your Will of the People Brexit (this will be shouted for decades to come)

  • Labour want to reopen the door to immigrants everywhere

  • The economy is too precarious right now to hand it over to Labour/ their budget is not costed/ they want unlimited borrowing/ they will raise taxes

the third point (and to a certain extent the 2nd point) are already well-oiled anti-labour/left mantra from the Tories but seriously, for generations to come Brexit will still be used as a political threat against the opposition, that they want to take away your ruddy, bloody red, white & blue freedoms.
It’s so, so shit

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#132

Which could also mean they benefit from - depending on how young - a combination of not having been an MP during the Iraq War AND not having a demonstrable history of questionable relationships with problematic figures through the years.

Basically my own view on Corbyn is that a lot of the stuff he’s attacked for in the press is a result of having spent his career behaving like he was never going to leave the backbenches and therefore not thinking too carefully about the causes he publicly supported/people he hung out with. The antisemitic mural being a prime example of that.

If someone without that baggage is able to take the party forward, that could be really good. But corbyn - rightly or wrongly - can quite convincingly be painted as a member of ‘the hard left’ and that has always been a big problem.

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#133

That and the fact he’s a Sir. Solid ammo for the press, Labour being led by Sir Keir Starmer.

In fact both of the, shall we say, Adults In The Room contenders for the post-Corbyn leadership (Starmer and Thornberry) are a Sir and a Lady respectively so that could be bleak scenes all round.

#134

The Twitter Joke Trial. I mean JFC

#136

I was particularly thinking of that as that was supposed to be him personally intervening wasn’t it?

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#137

Sure, but as @Geoff says, I wouldn’t take it for granted that it would translate to significant inroads in a general election.

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#138

I worried about that when he first became leader, but it really doesn’t seem to have troubled him as much as people predicted it would - maybe because we’ve moved into a new era of information where that kind of thing isn’t crucial anymore, who knows. The mural thing was about as bad as it’s gotten, the IRA stuff the right wing press were clearly hoping to destroy him with didn’t stick at all.

I just don’t think there is such a thing as ‘no baggage’ for a Labour leader, the right wing press will always find something to sling into your face. This’ll sound a bit naive, but I’d personally be suspicious of a leader candidate claiming they have no baggage, because to me that suggests a) a lack of experience and b) a Macron type figure.

2 Likes
#139

What happened to Chuka’s leadership bid? Didn’t he back out because of some potential press dirt that was going to hit or something?

#140

Isn’t the lesson with the right wing press in the 21st century that it doesn’t matter how much you give to them, they’ll always want more?

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#141

Yeah. Because whilst certain politicos and journalists patronise on this point, the electorate does ACTUALLY know how First Past The Post bloody works.

#142

Yeah, they dug up the fact that he is fucking useless :+1:

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#143

My recollection from the time is sketchy. The reason he gave was that he was spooked by press behaviour (something about him being with a heavily pregnant Rachel Reeves as she was barged into by a photographer) above all else. But the most likely scenario was that he calculated early on (rightly) that he wouldn’t win, so pulled out.

Also some rumours about him being a member of some sort of underground sex club or something.

#145

yeah, that’s the first time I heard of him by name.

#146

Like with the ‘hostile environment’ these aren’t failures in the system, but deliberately built in.

You can tell how little the government care, and how little traction they think this will gain in the press because it’s been IDS doing the rounds today, bluffing his way through the BBC’s soft questions and poor research.

#147

Urgh.

#150

i think there’s truth in what you’re all saying. it’s clear that returning an unusually confident/inspired new movement of leftists to a state of hopeless pessimism, strangling even mild optimism, has been a major goal of the tories and the press since the election in lieu of being able to call another one with any certainty of a tory majority. only way we get another go is once they think enough people feel the way bugduv does. i’m thinking the demographics are on our side long term, I mean the tory base is literally dying off, but the worry for us and the hope for them is it’ll be too late by then.

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#151

in a sense the tories and the media are doing one long filibuster but on a national level

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#152

The Tories. Again. Second time today.