Corbyn and No Confidence

Charisma must be in the eye of the beholder.

Ashdown YES!!! Definitely. (fancied him)

sorry about that
'Sleepless in Surbiton' (or wherever)

Was Boudicca a politician - she was a leader

Now, you know what will happen now....I will be sleepless tonight and in the wee small hours will find myself thinking about him, you have planted a seed.

Actually, I meant having both qualities as a politician.

I have never thought about Tony Benn in the middle of the night, or any other time either.

Probably not, but there must be someone in thousands of years of history that did rosesarered

Probably a woman
Boudicca?

Ah, but can you really have BOTH qualities Jalima ?

surely you agree on Benn?
Do you mean Tony? because he had it but I don't think his son has.

Re Tony Benn - I was thinking about him in the middle of the night (as you do when you can't sleep) and I wondered if he was such a Eurosceptic because of his fondness for the Soviet Union? I may be wrong.
I did not agree with his policies, but I did admire him as a person and have taken heart from some things that were written in his autobiography.

I don't think M0nica has ever said she supports Cameron has she?

Personally, I quite liked David M but I think he has history with the Iraq war.
Andy B with the Health Service (Stafford hospital)
Yvette Cooper with Pathfinder

Someone new with some charisma - and integrity?

Both main parties?

Jalima, poor Ed, not a scrap has he. I forgot Ken Clarke , I do like this man, I want to hear what he says, surely you agree on Benn?

Thank you for the lecture Monica, sadly not asked for and most definitely not interesting, but without doubt most patronising, very Cameron school

Blair yes I agree Anniebach a lot of conmen have charisma and charm, that is how they get away with the awful things they do!!

I must say I thought Ed had no charisma at all, but I always wanted to go and give him a hug and say 'there, there, never mind, Justine loves you'.

Well said, monica.

Ridiculous repartee and horrible back-stabbing are nothing new in parliament. It's just that we can see it nowadays. In the past, before it was recorded, we didn't. It still happened. Read any history with stuff about what went on in parliament in it.

Aniuebach The first rule in any battle is to understand and appreciate the strengths of your opponents.

No political party is all good or all bad, nor are all the politicians in one party evil. The majority of politicians in all parties come into politics to improve the lives of fellow citizens. Yes, some of them are venal, dishonest and in it for themselves, but they are few and evenly spread across all parties.

You may not agree with the vision of the future certain parties have nor the policies they espouse, but to refuse to respect them and judge them in an unbiassed manner is to shoot yourself in the foot

The Millibands didn't, Farsge like Thatcher no way. Blair yes. Brown not on tv but yes in the room. Major no. Wilson yes, Kinnock no. Foot no. Clegg yes. Ashdown no. Tony Benn most definitely.

Corbyn never had it.

It may not have been obvious to you, Annie, but for an awful lot of the electorate Margeret Thatched did have charisma. It's not all about elocution lessons and wearing the rght clothes - you've either got it or you haven't. I admit Farage has it, even though I can't stand the man, and Blair had it in spades, of course. Ed never did, but I think his brother's would have emerged had he been given the chance.

Thatcher had charisma ? Not even voice coaching managed to give her charisma , but at least the shrillness eased, thankfully

A good leader with bad policies and a bad legacy to live down willnot get elected. I think Ed Milliband was a useful scape goat that enabled Labour to avoid facing the issues it now has with popular support.

His losing the lection was a lot to do with him personally. If his brother had been in his place it might well have turned out differently. He was not popular with the masses. The op to his nose didn't do the trick.

Margaret Thatcher had charisma if not charm, but John Major? Ed Milliband was ousted because he lost an election, not because he lacked charm or charisma. The labour party lost the election on their manifesto and the deep distrust that still remained from their (mis)management of the economy prior to 2008.

ps just seen Jings thread on the same topic.

Did you see/hear Cameron today on PM's questions, asking Corbyn "why don't you just go?"
Maybe because he himself had resigned, but still very harsh.
Corbyn was elected leader by a big majority of party members (including me) but I agree he hasn't shown the force of character to unite the different factions in the party. He was never going to win over the Blairites.