as I pay Unison dues and for some reason am thought to be a Unison activist by the local branch (I get all the activist emails, put up the posters, know the top players, go on strike), I think I'm entitled to a vote too :o

 

It's Andy Burnham. Anyone else is a vote loser. he talks human, talks direct, and seems clued up on what's what and more importantly, what's fair.

Andy Burnham was the runaway winner the last time Labour members were asked to rank the top Labour ministers.

 

http://labourlist.org/2014/11/burnham-rema...binet-rankings/

 

What did Tristam Hunt do to rile the Labouristas so?

David Miliband is waiting in the wings to be the next Labour leader. By-election in a safe labour seat with an elderly MP "retiring". Mark my words.

David Miliband is waiting in the wings to be the next Labour leader. By-election in a safe labour seat with an elderly MP "retiring". Mark my words.

 

No chance. People in the party are furious at him for how much of a sore loser he was.

What did Tristam Hunt do to rile the Labouristas so?

 

A lot of people in Labour get really irate about the Tories' education policies (personally even as certified loony leftie I don't mind those too much) and think Tristram Hunt has been too supportive of them.

 

Plus he's posh.

David Miliband is waiting in the wings to be the next Labour leader. By-election in a safe labour seat with an elderly MP "retiring". Mark my words.

Three words - Patrick Gordon Walker. He lost his seat in 1964 (the notorious Smethwick election where the Tories used the slogan "If you want a n****r for a neighbour, vote Labour"). Labour tried to get him back in to parliament (so that he could be Foreign Secretary) by engineering a by-election in Leyton. He lost. Fifty years on, voters are a lot more cynical and, therefore, even more likely to reject any attempt by a party to use them in this way.

A lot of people in Labour get really irate about the Tories' education policies (personally even as certified loony leftie I don't mind those too much) and think Tristram Hunt has been too supportive of them.

 

Plus he's posh.

They get irate about Tory education policy because it is utterly mad. Labour should be screaming from the rooftops about the amount of money spent opening schools where there is no demand, while leaving class sizes to escalate elsewhere.

They hate Tristram because he's not opposed to the principle of free schools (having a party membership made up of a lot of public sector workers and unionists means that a lot are ideologically committed to education being totally in the hands of local authorities, regardless of outcomes) in areas where there's a need for places (he opposes them elsewhere), because he's a strike-breaker (fair enough to the members for disliking him for that, to be honest), and because he's posh.

 

He's also faintly autistic in his interactions with people, so he's not great at winning over members and candidates.

 

-x-

 

It's really unlikely David Miliband will come back - especially as he won't be coming back to campaign during the election itself. I don't think members will look too kindly at someone swanning off then coming back after the fight's done and expecting to be elected. Also, his support base have moved on, to be honest. He really isn't good enough to justify someone like Chuka or Stella standing aside. And let's face it, if he couldn't beat a candidate as utterly fucking politically inept as Ed Miliband, I'm not all that sure I'd want him.

as I pay Unison dues and for some reason am thought to be a Unison activist by the local branch (I get all the activist emails, put up the posters, know the top players, go on strike), I think I'm entitled to a vote too :o

 

It's Andy Burnham. Anyone else is a vote loser. he talks human, talks direct, and seems clued up on what's what and more importantly, what's fair.

You don't get a vote unless you pay the political levy.

 

Also, on what planet is Chuka Umunna such a surefire vote loser? I don't disagree that Andy would be an appealing leader, but the field isn't so bad that he's the only one of 268 MPs that would be a net benefit to Labour! You've got Dan Jarvis for one, who I reckon would be ASTONISHINGLY good as leader (a lot of the same appeal and charisma as Andy coupled with a Forces background, moderate beliefs, and a really compelling backstory - the Tories genuinely wouldn't have any idea how to attack him, as he's one of the few MPs most of them respect for entirely non-political reasons), but who I don't think would run this time.

Chuka would probably be popular for about 4 weeks as people swooned at how handsome he is, before wearing off extremely quickly. He doesn't seem to possess a single original or interesting thought (this isn't purely a political thing because I think Liz Kendall for example atleast sometimes says interesting albeit horrifying things), he just mindlessly parrots the usual politicians' platitudes and meaningless sentences. Not to mention he'd probably have even less rapport with "traditional" Labour voters than Miliband does. Being charismatic might be necessary for a politician, but it ain't sufficient on its own if your policies are terrible.

Edited March 11, 201510 yr by Danny

The leadership options for all three parties are fairly limited. Tim Farron is the clear favourite for the Lib Dems in the highly likely event that Nick Clegg goes. I think he could do a lot to improve the party's fortunes, but it would be healthy if there was a serious challenger. Vince Cable may stand, but, for all his qualities, I can't see him getting anywhere near winning. His only chance would be if the Lib Dems do even worse than anticipated, and he promises to lead for a couple years to try to rebuild the party before handing over to somebody younger.

 

Who have the Tories got? Theresa May, someone who has only kept her job as Home Secretary because Cameron cannot afford to lose the only senior woman in his team. Any Labour Home Secretary would have been crucified after appointing someone to lead an enquiry into the conduct of, among others, her own brother. Then there's Boris Johnson, one of the few people who would be an even worse PM than Cameron.

 

Tim Farron and Andy Burnham share one distinct advantage. They both speak human and they speak it with a regional accent. They both represent constituencies slightly away from where their accent comes form, but at least it is reasonably local. For all Nick Clegg's claims to love Sheffield, his accent doesn't place him anywhere geographically. The same applies to Cameron and Ed Miliband.

Who have the Tories got? Theresa May, someone who has only kept her job as Home Secretary because Cameron cannot afford to lose the only senior woman in his team. Any Labour Home Secretary would have been crucified after appointing someone to lead an enquiry into the conduct of, among others, her own brother. Then there's Boris Johnson, one of the few people who would be an even worse PM than Cameron.

 

Tim Farron and Andy Burnham share one distinct advantage. They both speak human and they speak it with a regional accent. They both represent constituencies slightly away from where their accent comes form, but at least it is reasonably local. For all Nick Clegg's claims to love Sheffield, his accent doesn't place him anywhere geographically. The same applies to Cameron and Ed Miliband.

 

 

I'm pretty sure Osborne would stand in a Tory contest and might just win it.

 

So if not David Miliband then what about Yvette Cooper as Labour leader? Time for a woman a lot of activists and MP's may think. I could see her as a future PM.

Yvette might have stood a chance in 2010 (or if Ed had bombed and there was a leadership election in 2012) but she has zero momentum now and no discernible base. I was quite underwhelmed by Dan Jarvis when he came to Sheffield last week but I can see why people bang on about him.

 

Regarding the Tories, the only way Osborne will become leader this year is if they're the largest party in a hung parliament and Cameron is pushed by his backbenchers for failing to secure a majority for the second time. If they finish behind Labour then Osborne's entire economic schtick is completely tainted and it'll be May vs Johnson.

You don't get a vote unless you pay the political levy.

 

Also, on what planet is Chuka Umunna such a surefire vote loser? I don't disagree that Andy would be an appealing leader, but the field isn't so bad that he's the only one of 268 MPs that would be a net benefit to Labour! You've got Dan Jarvis for one, who I reckon would be ASTONISHINGLY good as leader (a lot of the same appeal and charisma as Andy coupled with a Forces background, moderate beliefs, and a really compelling backstory - the Tories genuinely wouldn't have any idea how to attack him, as he's one of the few MPs most of them respect for entirely non-political reasons), but who I don't think would run this time.

 

the levy is quite cheap I think...certainly less than the 20-odd quid a month in union fees that virtually nobody in our council pays. very much a minority interest these days being in a union, sadly.

 

Chuka Umunna comes over as a little a) posh b) humourless c) not exactly being free of the usual politician well-rehearsed cliched phrases. I don't dislike him, but he won't appeal to voters, say, in ex-coal-mining communities one iota. Andy Burnham will.

 

 

Humourless?! Dermot Murnaghan wasn't exactly doing a joke interview! :lol:

Chuka could be considered a future leader maybe but not yet as he's only 36. Needs a few more years and a bit more experience I think.

Leaders getting elected in their late 30s is starting to become the norm.

Chuka Umunna comes across as quite arrogant, imo. But I actually think he'd make a decent successor to Miliband. Over the past few years, he's appeared to be the rising star of Labour, waiting to take control when Miliband inevitably crumbles.

 

Who have the Tories got? Theresa May, someone who has only kept her job as Home Secretary because Cameron cannot afford to lose the only senior woman in his team. Any Labour Home Secretary would have been crucified after appointing someone to lead an enquiry into the conduct of, among others, her own brother. Then there's Boris Johnson, one of the few people who would be an even worse PM than Cameron.

 

Although Theresa May has made mistakes, I think she's the natural choice to succeed Cameron. She's strong and fairly radical by the standards of other Home Secretaries. I think she would be a good ambassador for Britain on a global stage because she's very composed and comes across as having the air of authority which the likes of Ed Miliband don't have. Other than her, I could see Boris being elected due to his popularity with certain groups of the public. I'm not sure what he'd be like as party leader or PM though, he'd either surprise everyone and be amazing or be expectantly awful.

May over Johnson all the way. Her speech to the Police Federation was fucking amazing, even from a left-wing perspective. I loathe her on immigration (and choosing a favourite Tory leader is a bit like choosing which type of stomach disease you'd like to have) but at the very least I'd trust her to sort out the Met.

Poll result released for Clegg's seat. Hope he's a goner. Will be worth staying up all night for.

 

Survation on behalf of Unite interviewed 1,011 residents of the Sheffield Hallam constituency from 22-26 January 2015.

 

Key findings were:

 

Voting intention (with change in brackets since the 2010 general election):

 

LAB 33% (+17), LD 23% (-30), CON 22% (-2), GREEN 12% (+10), UKIP 9% (+7)