Labour MPs

Not everyone who votes for a Labour MP is a member of the Labour Party. This applies to MPs who are in different political parties too. It is by no means only "grass roots" who vote MPs in.

You could still offer a definition though, ab. If you have one.

Thank goodness there were MPs like Corbyn who recognised the volume of anti-war feeling and voted with their beliefs which many of us agreed with. I have no objection to any MPs voting with their conscience on such matters. As far as the Mandelson/Blairites are concerned they need to clearly state which areas of his policy they find unacceptable and stop doing this "oh but he will never get elected" carping. If the policies they are promoting then prove not to be Labour Party policy they then need to put up(i.e move or resign) or shut up. somehow I don't think they will do either. It will then be for their constituency party to deal with them.

Yes I did make an error thatbags ,grass root members refer to the party members not the voting public

Ok Anya

They probably don't regard it as carping, trish. They probably think it's the plain truth. Different point of view and all that.

I don't have a point of view about that particular thing yet but I'm fine with others having one and saying it. There's no essential difference between that and what it says in the OP.

There is a difference between openly disagreeing with the leader to munching on sour grapes and plotting to knife the leader in the back, they should cross the floor or respect the fact they are voted in as MP's by grass root members as Corbyn was voted in as party leader by grass root members

I whole heartedly agree with you Annie. Do we know exactly who didn't attend? Do you think we could see any of them mounting the Conservative platform next week?

Anya if you Google you will find it.

Apparently Corbyn is going to give a speech at a meeting at the Tory conference next week, Gracesgran.
He's been invited by the People's Assembly.
I wonder who will have the bigger audience.

This is what I found on Google when I put in "Grass roots members meaning". It's not difficult and should be within the capabilities of anyone on the forum. I don't think getting annoyed because someone doesn't feed you information helps discussion.

the ordinary people as distinct from the active leadership of a party or organization: used esp of the rank-and-file members of a political party, or of the voters themselves.

Um... this is awkward... but gg, you appear to be the only one who's remotely annoyed about that question, otherwise you'd just have answered it without any snide remarks.

Perhaps you were not annoyed thatbags any more than I was, it is so difficult to tell isn't it? However, one person asks and then you add You could still offer a definition though, ab. If you have one. Perhaps we should just call that harrying or something similar but, as I said, you have as much access to searches as Annie does. Why not look it up?

I may be wrong but possibly Anya spotted my error re grass root voters , asked for me to define it, I could reply party members which would then give her the chance to point out my error,

thatbags, perhaps you don't know that there a deep rooted loyalty in the Labour party , we accept open discussions on different views but we do not and never have accepted back stabbing. Now the Tories do the very opposite, they all agree at conferences then stick knives in backs behind closed doors. One only has to remember how distressed Thatcher was when her own cabinet did it to her, I so disliked that woman but felt so sorry for her when she cried as she left No 10

Labour has never kicked out a party leader - not that I can recall

It's so interesting to read the different points of view. Most of my family and friends are somewhere in the middle, Liberal I might say. The skies would fall before any of us would vote Tory yet none of us would vote for a Labour government led by Mr Corbyn. The thing is that most of us remember the days of state ownership. I expect some of you do too.
I was living in London at the time. We didn't have wheelie bins then. We had black bags. After weeks of non collection they had been ripped apart by rats. Shopping in Bentall's department store by candlelight was a novel experience but not one I should like to have to repeat. Then there was the horror of the dead piling up because no-one would bury them.
With a left wing Labour government the unions rule. Strikes abound. Notice how they're already licking their chops? There were continual strikes, the nationalised industries were a disgrace, badly run, inefficient and costing us millions of pounds a week. No wonder we became known as the 'Sick man of Europe.' We were a joke. Led by that very honest and likeable, informally dressed Michael Foot. I'm not sure about his riding a bike though.

Meersbrook123 and now we have uncertain zero contracts which only suit some but that others are trying to depend on hours and have had to fight for 'living' wages and it makes front page news when shops start to pay decent hourly rates!

Unions grew out of the dreadful working conditions 'hard working' people had to endure to scrape a living. Without them so many more would have died, been injured, lived in poverty....Unions are not all bad! I have been a union member all my working life and know that they are on the side of hard working people (Tories' new catchphrase).

If employers are fair and listen and make sure the workforce is well looked after then I think unions also listen and can be fair to employers. It takes two sides to cause a strike!

p.s. I also shopped by candle light in Bentalls!!

Meersbrook, I assure you Michel Foot did not use a bike, he was disabled so used a walking stick.

Yes there were strikes , the grave diggers strike was unofficial so not the fault of unions

Yes rubbish did pile up for a while but we didn't have the number of homeless on the streets we now have

Also Meersbrook we had social housing , at least thousands of families had homes to light candles in

I suspect most of you are too young to remember the frequent train strikes that afflicted all administrations, not just the Tories. Once union bosses attain power they love to use it and will hold the country to ransom.
These issues affected miners & steelworkers as well. Nationlisation was and would be a disaster for the country. History proves it.
No matter what your voting preference is, Corbynism would be a disaster. Also he uses words that he thinks people would like to hear, but watch out if he ever gets into power. Fortunately, I trust the majority of voters to reject his policies so I'm not really worried.

Well cheer up, the Tories got rid of the mining and steel industries

History proves unions gave the workers a voice, protected the workers from slave labour ,

ab, what about Blair and Brown? At each other's throats is the same as back-stabbing in my book. Not that I'm saying they shouldn't have been at each other's throats, just that people are people whether they're Labour people or Tory people or any other kind.

My grandad, and many generations of the family before him, was a miner so I was brought up on what the unions did for workers. I applaud it and the early Labour Party.

I don't feel things or unions are quite the same now. It'll be interesting to watch what happens in the Labour Party over the next few years. I wish themgood luck but I'm feeling doubtful of their success right now.

.thatbags, I have said many times the back stabbing happened then , Mandelson was in the thick of it as he is now , but we have never got shot of a leader and we openly disagree at conferences , yes it is happening now and who is pulling the strings ?

There doesn't need to be anyone pulling strings for there to be back-stabbing, people at each other's throats, alliances, feuds, you name it. Politicians of any party are normal people, not holy martyrs. The colour of their politics doesn't make them perfect, and if you think it does then what you are looking for is a messiah.

NOTE By saying that I did not attack Corbyn! I have nothing against the man. It was about human nature vs conspiracy theories.

Though I daresay that while the honeymoon goes on anything other than uncritical adoration will be construed as an attack.

Elegran, who has said they seek perfection in a politician ? You may think attending a conference but leaving before the leader makes his/her speech is acceptable , I do not, no matter the party I think disagreeing with the party leader is acceptable , insulting or trying to insult is not

Why the hostility?