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At last a fully functioning opposition

(397 Posts)
Whitewavemark2 Thu 23-Apr-20 08:18:16

PMQs

“The commons was transformed from a bear pit to a courtroom yesterday, when the government’s junior barrister was faced with a top QC.
No contest - master versus pupil.

What Starmer brings to the post is intelligence and a forensic attention to detail. Neither does he raise his voice or get rattled, rather he adapts his tone to the occasion.

He was near tone perfect.”

John Crace

trisher Mon 04-May-20 10:36:05

SirChenjin that takes no account of 2017. The only difference being I suppose that the MSM had had 2 years more to drip feed poison.

Whitewavemark2 Mon 04-May-20 10:38:53

If Starmer appears to be well up on the polls in a couple of years time, then he won’t be got rid of regardless of how the left think the investigation went.

I want a Labour government and will vote for whoever it takes to achieve this aim.

Yes Corbyn is a decent politician, but he isn’t the a Labour Party. Politics is a tough old game.

Grandad1943 Mon 04-May-20 10:51:16

SirChenjin, in regard to your post @08:54 today, you state that you " don’t give any thought to the "political movement v the political party, or whether a report needs to be published."

However, in a post @22:33 yesterday you stated: "I’m in Unite and I pay my political levy." In that SirChenjin you demonstrate that you care little for how your Labour Party affiliation subscription is used or even if it is disbursed legally.

Part of the allegations in the leaked report ascertains that money designated for the overall use in the 2017 general election campaign was fraudulently diverted to only some right-wing Labour candidates so as to give an impression that those candidates had greater electoral support than those on the left of the party.

A percentage of that allegedly diverted funding would have been from your Unite Union political levy subscriptions SirChenjin. Therefore, do you not wish to see that money used legally and the law upheld in this country, not just for the benefit of justice in the Labour Party but to the benefit of our overall justice system under the protection of which we all who reside in Britain live?

Whitewavemark2 Mon 04-May-20 10:56:13

Let’s wait and see what allegations turn out to be true before we fruitlessly debate the issue.

Grandad1943 Mon 04-May-20 11:19:26

Whitewavemark2, until the matter of the leaked antisemitism report is fully dealt with the entire Labour movement cannot move forward whether you like that or not.

Let us take just one possible scenario should the issues contained within those documents not be fully dealt with. The Tory party in any forthcoming election would rightly be stating that the Labour Party are pushing forward people and policies that even within their own organisation there are persons who do not wish to support such candidates and policies. In such circumstances, the Labour Party would stand little chance of being elected to any positions of office, and rightly so.

Allowing the right in the Labour Movement to sweep these overpowering issues under the carpet will not do. The whole matter must be investigated and brought fully into the open in the next few weeks so that both the TUC conference and the Labour Party Delegate conference can debate and bring forward actions and solutions to prevent a repeat of such an occurrence at any time in the future.

SirChenjin Mon 04-May-20 11:24:00

Exactly Whitewavemark

I repeat my earlier post - internal wrangling and political infighting won’t help get Labour into power and will turn voters off. Not helpful. If the reasons for my paying into the political levy through my union are called into question and it’s implied that I don’t care how it’s used then I could simply stop paying it - but that wouldn’t help anyone, so it’s probably best that you don’t.

Grandad1943 Mon 04-May-20 11:33:11

So judging by your above post SirChenjin can we take it you do not care if your Unite Union political levy contributions to Labour Pary are distributed legally or not.

Can we also take it SirChenjin that you also care little for the upholding of the law in general throughout Britain?

SirChenjin Mon 04-May-20 11:43:29

‘We’ (I take it you actually mean ‘I’ and that you’re not purporting to speak for anyone else) take it any way you want, your opinion is of no concern to me. My focus is on the future and a party with minimal or no infighting that’s led by someone the electorate warms to and that has a chance of getting this extreme right wing bunch out.

Whitewavemark2 Mon 04-May-20 11:51:31

But grandad I keep repeating.

Nothing has been proven one way or the other yet!!!!!

sirchen right on??

Whitewavemark2 Mon 04-May-20 11:54:07

grandad you are making assumptions not only about the issue under investigation, but also about my opinion and thinking of the matter. In the first case you may be entirely incorrect. And in the second you are entirely incorrect.

Grandad1943 Mon 04-May-20 11:58:49

SirChenjin if Kier Starmer can prevent bankruptcy overtaking the Labour Party in the coming months, and see all the issues brought out in the Leaked antisemitism report dealt with to the satisfaction of all he may have at least some chance of the electorate warming and voting for him at sometime in the future.

However, along with all the above he and those around him must gain the belief and confidence of the labour Party and more importantly affiliate member activists whose belief in the whole Labour movement has been completely undermined by all that has come about in recent weeks.

For without those activists Labour in Britain is finished.

SirChenjin Mon 04-May-20 12:06:05

I’m sure it will all be fine - once the activists come together for the good of the party and the country (and they will, they’re not stupid) to focus their energies on the end goal of winning and getting the electorate back on their side.

trisher Mon 04-May-20 12:17:36

SirChenjin I wouldn't be entirely confident about that. If the activists feel that the whole episode has been somehow swept under the carpet they will take a long look at what is being offered to them and then decide. Some are already looking at alternatives like the Green Party and the Cooperative Party. The subject of cooperation and it's political aims is very interesting and much more appealing to some than a LP which is just conservatism under another name.

SirChenjin Mon 04-May-20 12:24:37

The bottom line is - no-one knows. Let’s face it, who would have predicted that the UK would ever elect a zip wire riding buffoon like Johnson, especially in some of the poorest areas in England? No-one can predict what will happen in politics, but endless infighting certainly isn’t going to win votes.

Grandad1943 Mon 04-May-20 14:06:03

This whole leaked report issue is no about "infighting" in the Labour party or even between the Parliamentary Labour Party and the Broader Labour movement. It is however about the whole credibility of the composition and structures of the whole Labour movement and whether that movement can go forward into the future in its present form.

We have in the past witnessed the ever holy right in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) speak of the left-wing in the Labour movement, such as Momentum and the trade union activists, almost as if they were dog sh*t on their shoes. However, what is now being alleged is the right in the PLP and employees in Central Office went much further than just using words and acted allegedly illegally and to the extent of even preventing a Labour victory in a general election.

Should it be established that the above is indeed fact then it will be so that those involved are nothing short of scum and slime in the body politic of the Labour movement and it will have to be "forcibly got out".

Until the above is established as fact or not then the Labour Party cannot move on, nor should it move on as much as the right in the PLP and elsewhere would wish that to happen.

SirChenjin Mon 04-May-20 14:31:08

Tomato/tomato

The wider electorate isn’t interested in the credibility of the composition and structures (yawn) - they just want unity and positivity.

Grandad1943 Mon 04-May-20 14:43:01

SirChenjin Quote [Tomato/tomato

The wider electorate isn’t interested in the credibility of the composition and structures (yawn) - they just want unity and positivity.] End quote.

SirChenjin, in your above rediculas posting you demonstrate that you have lost this debate and have no further constructive argument to put forward.

You have also demonstrated SirChenjin by way of other posts in this thread that you have no respect for the upholding of the rule of law in Britain.

SirChenjin Mon 04-May-20 14:54:13

grin

Or perhaps I simply cannot be bothered pursuing this with you (clue: it’s that).

Whitewavemark2 Mon 04-May-20 14:58:44

A pragmatic leader

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-i-won-t-be-defined-by-our-past-leaders-a4429356.html

SirChenjin Mon 04-May-20 15:13:45

I agree - and an excellent article.

Devorgilla Mon 04-May-20 16:06:11

Thank you WW2, an excellent article.

Grandad1943 Mon 04-May-20 16:25:59

The announcement that Jennie Formby is to stand down as General Secretary of the Labour Party demonstrates the deepening division between the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and the wider Labour movement in the country. Formby with a lifelong background in the trade unions has in her period of office as General Secretary acted as an unprecedented bridge between the PLP and the broader Labour movement.

That bridge has over the years of Formby's occupation of the General Secretaries position brought forward to the Labour Party unprecedented funding and membership so as to make Labour in Britain the largest political organisation in Europe.

It may well be that the question that is now required to be asked is can the Parliamentary Labour Party survive with all its present problems without the support and funding of the trade unions and other affiliate organisations that have supported the PLP for over one hundred and twenty years?

Whitewavemark2 Mon 04-May-20 17:05:17

Her statement seems pretty clear that she is/was a Corbyn supporter. I assume that a more centrist leader is not to her taste. Fair enough. She has done the right thing it seems.

SirChenjin Mon 04-May-20 17:26:55

It’s no surprise. When a new leader (or indeed boss) takes over it’s inevitable that a few people decide that they no longer wish to be part of that organisation. It’s better that she goes now than continues in a role she’s not comfortable with and I’m sure there will be others to take her place. At least it’s not his brother who’s stepped down.

trisher Mon 04-May-20 17:40:29

Golly he is the master of the meaningless phrase isn't he I’m not going to be defined by past Labour leaders. I am the current Labour leader and I am going to define myself. What on earth does that mean? Surely anyone is what people decide to think about them and that will differ from one person to another.