Comrade Corbychev's Cock-Ups

I see no-one has come up with an excuse why Corbyn has cancelled his visit to Barnet

What a strange comment, lemongrove. I haven't mentioned deselecting anyone. I do think that when MPs make these criticisms, then part of their job is to come up with solutions

bmacca that’s the problem with Corbyn admirers, they even do down their own Labour MP’s if they say anything they don’t like.
Perhaps she should be ‘deselected’ eh?

I’m not sure that that’s the alternative lemon probably a little bit more nuanced than that

Oh? What is she then, an eccentric billionaire?

It would be helpful if the likes of Jess Phillips came up with some solutions rather than just criticism. What has Jess done in her own constituency to promote Labour to the group she's taking about. Most councillors in wards in her constituency are LibDems so maybe she hasn't got the answers? As for her being a "straight politician", well she's not quite the working class Brummie that she likes to claim

The term manual workers has changed in its meaning over the years. In that, over the first eight decades of the last century the term manual worker was used to describe someone who worked in mining, the steel industry, the road haulage industry or any occupation that requires heavy manual handling. Many of those occupations no longer exist due to globalization or are now largely mechanised due to the introduction of the Health & Safety at work act 1974.

In modern times, many of Britain's so called manual workers are not in reality manual workers at all. They are people who are employed in call centres, the retail trade, home delivery drivers, the NHS etc. They in their millions are Theresa Mays "just about managing" which are those that have joined Labour recent times or see in that parties polices meaning for them.

Outside of that group are the professions, many of whom are drawn to Labour, especially in the greater London area (what have become known jokingly as the chattering classes).

However, in many former Labour strongholds, many who have traditionally supported Labour have in recent years supported UKIP due to immigration bringing large-scale ethnic change to many areas very quickly. Unfortunately for Labour it was in the years of the Blair/Brown era it was witnessed as that immigration and ethnic change being at its highest.

Therefore, those who wish to see a return to that centre left socialism in the Labour party should think on that it was those policies along with the banking crisis and the Iraqi war that indirectly have brought Jeremy Corbyn and much further left polices to the fore

mostlyharmless, you spoke of miners , If you think they were not Manual workers will you give your opinion of manual workers
I don’t know what you mean annie. I didn’t use that phrase at all!

Or perhaps you meant that Jess Phillips has a “very patronising view” of the white working class annie because you were referring to her words not mine.
I thought you were a fan of hers?

mostlyharmless, you spoke of miners , If you think they were not Manual workers will you give your opinion of manual workers ?

Jess Phillips also said she would stab Corbyn in the front and told Diane Abbot to “f. off”.

annie it’s your link quoting Jess Phillips that mentions run down council estates - not my choice of phrase. Where did I mention manual workers Annie? That’s your words not mine. And then you say I am “patronising”. Look to yourself Annie.

You provide no answer about your definition of “middle England” either.

right to buy was passed in the housing act 1980, closure of pits started in 1984, unions powers were clipped during thatchers government

Yet Labour won a landslide victory in 1997 !

A very narrow view of ‘white working class’ in my opinion.

Working class = manual workers, union members, those living in council houses , sorry but very patronising mostlyharmless

Jess also said, that politicians concentrated too much on wealthy people or very poor people, forgetting the huge percentage inbetween!
This is a perceptive remark that Labour and Conservatives need to chew on.

Jess Philips:
“Clearly [Labour] is not reaching out to these voters. Without feeling that we have to have dogwhistle racism on our side, we have got to go out and really listen to those people [who voted Ukip]. Disaffected council estate areas that have been really run down, we really need to be going in and not lecturing them on what is good for them but actually listening to them,” she said.

I think that ALL mainstream political parties have neglected the needs of the traditional working class. The Tories with their empty rhetoric about helping “the Just About Managing”, the Green Party, Libdems, as well as Labour whose supporters are often the educated Cosmopolitan city dwellers. UKIP exploited this vacuum by blaming the problems of the working classes on immigration.

You could say that this group are no longer the powerful class that they were before Thatcher closed the mines, sold off council houses, curtailed the power of the unions etc.

I’m not sure what you mean about “middle England” Annie. Do you mean that Corbyn hasn’t made inroads into the Shires (most of which didn’t have elections this time) or the Middle Classes (urban middle class voters DO now tend to favour Labour), or the centre of England? (Labour stayed in control in Birmingham).

anniebach, as you state that you have held a fifty year membership to the Labour party, I would have felt that you to would have been celebrating Labours gains in the local council elections. The foregoing has been achieved in the light of the anti-semitism allegations that appeared to be so disastrous for Labour only a few weeks ago

.lemon, I posted a link on Jesse Phillip, it has been ignored whilst celebrations are posted praising the so called successful results.

mostlyharmless. What matters is Labour failed to gain outside of London and likes of Birmingham , it is pointless claiming victory in 75 gains , the Tory government is in turmoil yet Labour failed to make inroads , coming a close second in a general election is not winning an election, this is Corbyn’s problem, he will not look at his weaknesses or faults . Labour MP’s spoke out last night that Labour is ignoring the white working class, this is true and Labour needs to win them back, he ignored the anti semitism in the party , he dicided it wad false then two years later apologised for anti semitism in the party. He only listens to praise when he should be listening to his MP’s

Corbyn will never speak out against Brexit! Why should he, he agrees with it.

Everybody who supports Corbyn should listen carefully to what Jess Phillips said today ( won’t hold my breath though.)
I have a lot of time for Jess, she is a straight politician.

I don’t claim to be a “Corbyn devotee” annie, despite what you think.
But I kept wondering why the news headlines didn't reflect the actual voting figures. Labour made 75 gains while Conservatives lost 33 seats.
Laura Kuenssberg claimed that Trafford was not a loss for the Tories, (just going to no overall control) while in Derby in the opposite situation it was a loss for Labour! Such blatant bias.
Labour didn’t win many of its “target” seats although they did increase the vote in target seats.
Not a major failure.
The Tories had a major collapse last June. Labour’s slight disappointment in not achieving more this year pales by comparison with the Conservatives GE disaster.

I wish Corbyn would speak out against Brexit which might gain him more votes in the Remain areas. The Libdems Remain message worked well for them.

Alastair Campbell, yesterdays man. He very much demonstrates that when he speaks of Momentum as being a primary force in the Labour movement. Momentum were instrumental in returning power to the grassroots membership following the Blair era.

However, in similar fashion to UKIP, having achieved that one objective the organization would seem to have little future. Anyone who looks at recent changes to the overall Labour movement in the country can witness that it is the trade unions that once again have very strong influence in all appointments to office and policy decisions.

By example of the above, anyone need look no further than the election of Jennie Formby as General secretary of the Labour party and in that gaining what many see as the most influential position in the movement on behalf of the union

For me the above is how things should be in the Labour movement and it could well be that Jennie Formby will lead the parliamentary party in the not too distant future.

Labour has always been at its best when in tandem with its trade union founders and drawing on their huge depth of experience and real working people rather than career politicians who have never held down any real job in their lives.

Always a refusal from Corbyn devotees to discuss why labour is not gaining ground, with all the problems of the Tory government labour should be powering ahead

No comment on Jesse Phillips interview last night . Just claiming the council elections were a success , they were not

On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Alastair Campbell hit out at the Momentum movement, which backs Jeremy Corbyn.

We are really clutching at straws,” he said. “If I see one more person from the Momentum side saying: ‘These are the best results since 1971’. What planet are they on? These are bad results

I see Momentum isn't his cup of tea either.