Labour Leadership

Gamla Stan

Gamla Stan

At the Start
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
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Looks like Ed Milliband is going to get it ahead of his brother if you believe the betting.

Absolute reactionary electoral suicide from the militant union wing of the party in my opinion. They'll have no chance and get absolutely battered come 2015.

I speak as a Lib Dem voter too, I'm all for progressive liberal politics but it's high time the Labour party tried to live without the unions who are simply detested by the vast majority of the public.
 
Agree completely

This will be especially true if the public sector unions strike this winter. There will be very little sympathy for them (and thus a leftish Labour too) from the working sector of the economy.
 
I speak as a Lib Dem voter too, I'm all for progressive liberal politics but it's high time the Labour party tried to live without the unions who are simply detested by the vast majority of the public.
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Are you sure? Have you spoken to the vast majority of the public?
 
Anyone would think that the union vote is Arthur Scargill, Derek Hatton and Red Robbo. It's not, it's several million union members who have opted to pay a sub to the Labour Party. They are not monsters, they are ordinary workers. Talk of a militant union wing is daft, British unions are certainly the weakest in western Europe, maybe the whole of Europe.
 
The face of the unions at present are Bob Crow and Derek Simpson who happen to have caused enormous disruption to ordinary decent working people.

Like it or not, right or wrong, these are the figures that the media display to the electorate as "the unions".

The other issue is that Labour are absolutely skint and practically bankrupt, Ed won't be able to pull the money in from businesses like David would have done and the unions won't be able to pull the money in with dwindling membership and the fact their members will be hardest hit when the Con-Lib cuts start to bite.

Tories are a knocking bet to win a majority in 2015. I'm genuinely gutted, I'd have liked to see a credible realistic opposition to win the next election, as someone with very liberal social views (not so economic) then I now only have one choice in 2015.
 
That's true gamla but the other key issue is that polling is showing the public to be right behind the cuts. Not really suprising given how wasteful and over staffed so much oif the public sector is

The public sector unions will have little support if they strike and yet where will ed stand on this?

In fairness grey is right to point out that the dismal bob crow should not be seen as represnetitive but his actions will be seen as a signal of the way we could
drift
 
clivex said:
In fairness grey is right to point out that the dismal bob crow should not be seen as represnetitive
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Totally agree but he is portrayed as THE representative by the media and not just the absurd rags like the Mail and Express but even the BBC and other TV news channels, whenever a story about a union is on, it's never positive and always involves someone of Crow's like and causing disruption to the public.

I just don't know where Labour's funding is going to come from now. Like him or not, Blair pulled in bundles of cash for the party.
 
Well there is no real news unless there is a strike. Of course crow is fighting a worthwhile cause on behalf of permenenantly sick 40 day holiday 60k a year tube drivers.

I am concerned that the council Race Advisors will go on strike. How would we cope without them ?
 
Grey said:
Anyone would think that the union vote is Arthur Scargill, Derek Hatton and Red Robbo. It's not, it's several million union members who have opted to pay a sub to the Labour Party. They are not monsters, they are ordinary workers. Talk of a militant union wing is daft, British unions are certainly the weakest in western Europe, maybe the whole of Europe.
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Grey, the union bosses heavily influenced how their members voted, and they went to bizarre measures to get around the technicalities of the rules.
 
Hamm, that's the sort of explanation Trots come up with when explaining why Tory governments get elected.
 
I know that one union included a message of support for Ed Miliband with the ballot papers it circulated to ite members.
 
Party rules state that no literature in support of individual candidates can be included in the ballot envelope.
The GMB stuck to the letter of the guidance: it sent its 700,000 members ballot papers within a larger envelope featuring Ed Miliband's picture. The ballot envelopes were in smaller envelopes, put together and sealed by the Electoral Reform Society, before being delivered to the mailing depot where the GMB also watched over their loading into a larger envelope that was then sent out to members.
The union, again within the rules, put its endorsement for Ed Miliband on the front of the package sent to all members which included a magazine with his picture on the front and a letter from the leader of the GMB, Paul Kenny, explaining the union's endorsement of the younger Miliband brother.
But there is concern at senior levels in the Labour party over whether the literature fell within the principles set out by the party.
Mark Wickham-Jones, professor of politics at Bristol University, was worried by the GMB's mailout. Speaking before the result, he said: "The GMB appear to have broken the spirit of the rules guiding the conduct of the Labour party leadership election by sending out a strong recommendation for Ed Miliband together with the ballot paper for political levy payers.
"In the event of an Ed Miliband victory, if the GMB has broken the [spirit of the] rules laid down for the election, it may well be more than an embarrassment for both the new leader and the party.
"It may well suggest that the margin of his victory depended on votes cast in dubious circumstances. It will be particularly uncomfortable for a candidate already seen as being close to the trade unions."
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I think people are capable of thinking for themselves, Hamm, especially the sort of person who chooses to join a union and chooses to pay a sub to a party.
 
Already Ed the Red is distancing himself from union protests and "days of action" abouts cuts. Hes not stupid

The vast majority of the shadow cabinet voted for DM as did the constituency parties. That should tell everyone al they need to know about labour and it wont be lost on the electorate

Eds reputation for being a poor decision maker is a bigger issue IMO. The old joke in westminster was that he drank eose wine because he couldnt choose between red and white... In my experience, leaders who have this trait (and it was one of Browns many failings) rarely shake it off. Its too ingrained in character
 
Nice guy but can't imagine too many look up to him as you should to a good, strong leader.

Agree about the decision making - he looks light.

Bob Crow's comments about him were funny. That man makes me laugh like no other!
 
Crow has just put out a statement suggesting that he (Crow) is not Ed Miliband's man either.
Ed Miliband will be judged by trade unionists on whether he is prepared to stand alongside us in our fight against the ConDems cuts assault ... Ed Miliband has to decide for himself whose side he is on – the working class or the ConDems and the bankers who created this crisis.
​
 
What planet is he on?

Hope Ed tells him where to go when the tube staff walk out again at the weekend.
 
So he should. Crow is a moron and a bigot.

Reagan sacked all the air traffic controlers when they went on strike in the 80s. Thats a skilled job and yet somehow they managed to keep the service going. Tube driving is not a skilled job but is paid as if it was.

An abolsutely wonderful solution would be the immediate firing of all tube drivers. Sure they can reapply for their jobs but at a market rate (ie half what they get now). And they would. They are useless outside of their current employment.

The public would be right behind this, even if it meant that tubes were affected for weeks. They are absolutely despised
 
clivex said:
So he should. Crow is a moron and a bigot.

Reagan sacked all the air traffic controlers when they went on strike in the 80s. Thats a skilled job and yet somehow they managed to keep the service going. Tube driving is not a skilled job but is paid as if it was.

An abolsutely wonderful solution would be the immediate firing of all tube drivers. Sure they can reapply for their jobs but at a market rate (ie half what they get now). And they would. They are useless outside of their current employment.

The public would be right behind this, even if it meant that tubes were affected for weeks. They are absolutely despised
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Agree with every word of this, and would love this scenario.
 
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