Comments on: The Reshuffle Omnishambles

By: Synthetase

Synthetase — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 00:47:36 +0000

“To Synethase: you have to bear in mind that Timâ€™s description may be slightly biased.”

Well aware of that, which is why I said “your description” rather than Corbyn himself.

By: Ian Redfearn

Ian Redfearn — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 17:24:21 +0000

To David, I think the media is choosing to miss the point about the support Corbyn has from the membership. More people have joined the Labour since Corbyn was elected leader than the total membership of the Tory party. The MPs in the Labour Party crying about an unelectable left wing party no longer represent the membership. Mandelson has recently claimed 30,000 members have left since Corbyn elected – but the membership is close to 200,000 members bigger. Corbyn has made the Labour Party relevant for me for the first time in a long, long time, the sad thing is that the media are more interested in the internal disagreements in the labour party and not putting the current government under the microscope.

By: David Meadows

David Meadows — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 16:48:37 +0000

To Synethase: you have to bear in mind that Tim’s description may be slightly biased.

Jeremy Corbyn was elected by an overwhelming majority of his party members, and still has the backing of an overwhelming majority of those members. It’s very unlikely that he would be “sacked by his own party”.

His only real problem is dealing with a handful of sitting Labour MPs whose politics are completely out of step with his own — and therefore, by definition, out of step with the majority of party members who *they are supposed to represent*. And in the eyes of the media he’s damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t — if he tries to work with them, he’s compromising his principles, if he tries to cut them out, he’s a tyrant.

The national embarrassment are the media, who are feeding this because it makes good television and are letting the Tories get away with murder while the spotlight is off them.

By: Synthetase

Synthetase — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 15:59:44 +0000

Your description of the man himself reminds me of our recently-deposed Prime Minister in Oz, Tony Abbott – just replace left with right. Absolutely hopeless and a complete national embarrassment. If you think it’s really likely to be that bad if this man ever becomes PM of the UK, spare a thought for us. Abbott was sacked by his own party room two thirds into his first term after a continuous stream of poor political decisions and constant media gaffs on both the domestic and world stage.

By: David Meadows

David Meadows — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 07:31:10 +0000

The only point I can age with is your last one.

Cabinet shuffles happen all the time, in all parties. They are no big deal, and this was not an unusual or noteworthy example of one. The only thing that made it a big deal was the media circus, where they have spent the last 100+ days wilfully ignoring the horrors of the Tory government because they think Corbyn will give them better ratings.

I do agree with your comment, though. If we had something better than first-past-the-post, the right-wing malcontents in the Labour benches could split off into their own party and everybody would be happy it worked for Shirley Williams et al. Except they probably know that if they did, nobody would vote for them. Labour supporters have been pretty clear that they want a return to a left-leaning party (people didn’t overwhelmingly vote for Corbyn because they thought he was just like Tony Blair), so the new “right wing” labour party would be scrabbling for Tory and Lib Dem votes, which realistically they’re not going to get.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 23:35:17 +0000

I think the real villain is the first-past-the-post electoral system. Labour is really two parties, and always has been, locked unto an unhappy marriage.

But until we get some form of electoral reform, something that’s not going to happen under the Tories, they cannot divorce.

By: Ian Redfearn

Ian Redfearn — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 22:15:49 +0000

Sorry cannot agree with a single point in this. So we do have something we disagree on

The one thing I will concede is that too many times people on the left spend too much energy on trying to be more left than their comrades but I am a strong believer that the labour party does need to move away from the Tory lite of new labour.