The Labour Party

Russia is just a diversion to keep our minds occupied away from the mess that is Brexit and the tories disastrous ruining of the UK ...Annie ..with all due respect I dont believe you are a Labour party member and I'm sure many others feel the same .I dont understand WHY you say you are and then support and even ADMIRE tory policy ...but then your "friend" Mr Corbyn does the same ...two peas in a pod !I'll go even further and say I dont think you and socialism are on speaking terms ..simply by your remarks on here .Salisbury IS an incident....these things have been happening worldwide for many decades ...and thats a FACT.The only difference with this time is that it hasn't been disguised as a heart attack or an accident.That is very strange and would..to me..point to it being a set up to join the USAs Russia hating club .

ab so you won’t assist in the diversion you created - your use of SH’s death to have yet another tedious repetitive go at JC was pretty low imo - retreating from the discussion doesn’t make it acceptable. I’m quite prepared to criticise JC (and many leading politicians) but your posts seem to demonstrate that you pore over every word he says looking for the slightest thing to talke offence at. So there’s no sense of perspective and I have absolutely not the slightest idea of the sort of LP policies that you as a devoted member would support or pursue. You don’t seem to believe in universal benefits such as school meals but I expect you support WFA, bus passes and free TV licences. It woukd be really interesting to have a well informed discussion about the concepts of universality and social solidarity in the modern day LP and its manifestations in policy but I suppose the continual negative bashing of JC is much more important than discussing positively the way left of centre posters might envisage the future.

Diane Abbott is guest writer on Labour List this week. Just read her views on this.

She asks why the furore over Corbyns comments . She ends with " the incident in Salisbury has dominated the political news - but it is not the sole issue facing us. Labour will continue to set an agenda that promotes peace and prosperity for all our citizens. We will not be blown off course"

So what happened in Salisbury is just an incident ?

Ides of March today. I wonder who's playing Brutus and Cassius?

If you read a little further forward in Hansard, Chris Bryant said some pretty interesting things! I don't know who he was referring to in the LP, but I'd love to know who the Russian ambassador has been influencing in the LP. Even Bercow said 'he got nowhere with me'. Oh dear.

Anna Soubry said it was noticeable that everyone supported the PM with the exception of the LP front bench. That'll be in Hansard too.

No one is telling lies about Corbyn here.

If you read his statement it's very clear bmacca.

He condemned 'the event'
He supports action to strengthen chemical weapons conventions
This event should never happen again.

But! And he always has a but!
If only he had left it at that bmacca

Ok carry on with criticism of Corbyn but don't tell blatant lies. He did very clearly state this in HoC yesterday: "The events in Salisbury earlier this month are abominable and have been rightly condemned across the House. Britain has to build a consensus with our allies, and we support the Prime Minister in taking multilateral and firm action to ensure that we strengthen the chemical weaponsconvention and that this dreadful, appalling act, which we totally condemn, never happens again in our country"
This quote is from Hansard.

Here we go again. He said he supported the results yesterday.

Well, he didn't though, did he? I don't think you'll find any evidence to support your opinion there. Why did backbenchers file a motion & Nia Griffiths is explaining that he now supports the government?

It's highly unlikely that they all get it so wrong and you were the only person who picked up that he supported the government.

What baffles me is Corbyn is respected by his admirers for being a man with principles

If he becomes PM can we expect Putin to be in this country on an official visit

....but the nation are not fools Primrose and can see now for themselves what kind of a man he is!

Just listened to that too Annie. I think it was a poor move by Seamus Milne to brief journalists about 'problematic' intelligence. Emily Thornberry also spoke out last night to support the government. He was becoming a lone voice on his own front bench.

Whatever happens now, Corbyn's on the right side of history. If things go well, he supported the government, did the 'right thing'. If things don't then his initial reactions and gut feelings are on the money.

He's covered all bases by his flip-flop. He's less concerned with analysing a problem and finding a solution, as long as he's creating a narrative he can twist to suit his purpose. It's pretty pathetic in the circumstances.

All he had to say, all that was neccessary to say in fact on this subject, was to say that the Opposition was at one with the House with what the government proposes.
There was no need for any caveats or weasly words.
The whole debacle was an embarrassment for him and the front bench.

Ben Bradshaw

Yvette Cooper

Stephen Kinnock

Hilary Benn

Chris Bryant

Liz Kendall

Stephen Doughty

I as a party member , so proud of these true Labour MP's

Did all the Labour back benchers just emote as well?

Here we go again. He said he supported the results yesterday.

In my opinion it does appear that the Russian state must have been involved in some way at some point but we do need better and firmer evidence for that to be a truth, a fact and not an opinion. I don't think Corbyn said any more or less than that. He didn't disagree with what is being done by the government but neither was he jingoistic. That seems like a balanced point of view to me but, because it was held by Corbyn, it can never be right for you. You do not reason you emote wherever Corbyn - the leader of the party you are a member of - is concerned.

Rubbish GGM2 get off your high horse.

Whatever anybody says, Corbyn did use Hawking’s name to further his attack on the government about the NHS.
There was no need for it.

Corbyn wouldn’t support anything the government said on any subjecr under the sun including national security.
What he ( rather Team Corbyn) is now putting out there is purely damage limitation.Too little, too late.
Good for all those Labour back benchers!

Annie do you not understand that this is your opinion and only an opinion. Do you also not understand that not everyone agrees nor do they have to agree with your view.

As for "all I have done is criticise him ..." you never do anything else. I have never seen a moment when you have not take the opportunity to do just that and other people on here can read what you put too. Why should we not assume, in a area where opinions can differ, that you are doing exactly the same thing again and are prepared to use a death to do this?

I can see you now want, not surprisingly, to run away from what you are doing - so disrespectful to people's memories of a man who used his fame to support the NHS. So, if you are prepared to leave it at that, so am I.

Nia Griffiths just been on Today, seems Corbyn does now support the government on Russia.

No, Corbyn used Hawkins death yesterday in PMQ, all I have done is criticise him for doing so. I would say the same of any MP who did this.

This is all so very boring and I will not assist in this diversion.

Annie, we will have to agree to differ. If, on the day I die, people remember me, I hope it is not one dimensional but that they each remember the areas where they were personally involved with me.

Add to that the fact that I know and you know and I imagine everyone on here knows that you will say anything to attack Corbyn and that you have, in this instance, been prepared to use a very brave, wonderful and thoughtful man's death in order to do that.

The day someone dies you remember what their life meant to you? True, as so many did yesterday , sad that all his life meant to Corbyn was a name to use in PMQ to score political points.

Conservative ministers, MPs and party members have obviously been advised to counter every criticism of the current chaotic state of the NHS with a comment about the Mid Staffs scandal. As the Mirror reported last year:

" ... for seven years, the Tories have relied on two other words to defeat Labour over the NHS – Mid Staffs.

"Jeremy Hunt never misses an opportunity to say these words, recalling the scandal in 2005-09 when there were a heavily disputed number of increased deaths at Stafford Hospital, then run by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust.

"Hansard records reveal he has said them 82 times in the last two years just in Parliament. The Conservatives see the phrase as neutralising any of Labour’s well-justified attacks on the Tory record of slashing and privatising the health service."

But the man who headed the Mid Staffs Inquiry was reported in the Guardian last year to have said that conditions in many hospitals now are very like those that existed in Mid Staffs:

"Current conditions in the NHS ”sound familiar” to those that existed during the Mid Staffordshire scandal, according to the lawyer who chaired the inquiry into the hospital trust...............

"His remarks came after a week of scrutiny of the NHS, with performance figures showing a raft of missed targets and record waiting times..."

Stephen Hawking was very political.