Dudley North MP has reportedly already resigned from the Labour Party, having said only this week that he would decide by the end of the week. The news has broken on the normally very solid Zelo Street site.
Austin was also reported to have been seeking the opinion of his constituents, but it seems that didn’t take long.
Austin had not announced – and may have been waiting for the breakfast or weekend news cycle to maximise the impact of his announcement. Austin had been discomfited by a surge in the membership of his local party and managed to win his seat by only twenty-two votes amid the ‘Corbyn surge’ in 2017.
The SKWAWKBOX has been unable to get anyone at the Labour Party to deny the news. Mr Austin has been contacted for comment.
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Tatty-bye.
He’s such a nasty so & so I doubt if even the defectors will have him.
This gets better and better. Let’s have the rest – and then a GE
Goodbye to a really nasty piece of work. The splitters group has a few of them now – Gapes, Ryan, Smith and now Austin, if the reports are correct.
It is wonderful to see so many of the Bitterites and whinging squad purge themselves from the Labour Party fold, and Ian Austin’s departure is a fantastic win, all we require now is a few more of the Kamikaze Squad to show their true colours, which certainly never was red.
I’ll be chuffed if 20-25 leave the PLP in total, just shy of the SDP split figures in 1981, the reason to be pleased is quite simple, namely the convoluted formula agree at Conference to remove an errant MP is not really fit for purpose and actually ensured Traitors remained within the PLP midsts, so, it does save a lot of hard work by CLPs who deserve better than the likes of Gapes, Berger, Austin and the other Blairite baggage cluttering up the movement.
To quote Windsor Davies “Oh dear, how sad, never mind”
This is the person who shouted “Shut up and Sit Down” when Jeremy Corbyn was responding to the Chilcott report in the House of Commons. The families of some of the war dead were in the public gallery waiting to hear why their loved ones were sent to their deaths in Iraq ill equipped and on a false premise that there were WMDs. He shamed himself and showed totally disrespect for them. If I lived in Dudley I wouldn’t vote for Ian Austin if my life depended on it. I truly hope this awful man has gone though how he ever got to be selected as a labour candidate for parliament in the first place is beyond me,
Thanks for reminding us. If my memory serves me, he also said “You are a disgrace.”
Yes he did – I was watching the Chilcott report debate on live TV and was aghast.
I see that so far there is no confirmation that Ian has gone. I really hope that Skwawkbox has got it right and we have seen the back of this awful individual.
Congratulations, Dudley!
Do us a favour though and turn the music down a bit?
We can hear you in Preston.
The Tony Blair Party gets bigger by the day….. and WHO knows!!
The latest yougov poll for The Times puts the Tories eight points ahead of Labour – or I SHOULD say ‘fake poll’ – but the interesting thing is that it was conducted on the 18th and 19th of February AND was published the following day, unlike the polls yougov conducted for The Times in January, which weren’t published until three days after they were conducted.
So it’s perfect timing for BBC QT tomorrow (or tonight, to be precise). Could be interesting!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election
BBC QT? Oh, I know, you mean the Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Tory party shown every Thursday night on BBC1.
MPs on the Left of the party are rarely invited to participate and when they do ,they are constantly interrupted by the presenter and jeered at by a hand picked audience. Recently Fiona Bruce encouraged the audience in the warm up session to mock Diane Abbott and made sneering reference to Diane’s love affair with Jeremy Corbyn over FORTY years ago. Fiona’s behaviour was despicable and exposed her bias and lack of professionalism. I resent paying a TV licence to fund her massive salary when she is clearly not up to the job..
Spot on summary. I resent it too, but what can you do?
You are right to treat YouGov polling with scepticism – there is a consistent higher percentage for the Tories than other polls show.
The best information that can be gleaned is from the summary of all the polls. This shows a decline in support for both Tories and Labour, and a drift towards other parties. But the main issue is that there is little good news for Labour, with a notable decline of the 2017 advantage over the Tories.
‘But the main issue is that there is little good news for Labour….’.
Er… yes, exactly!
Quelle surprise !!
Labour’s emptying the trash week continues .😀
‘Austin was also reported to have been seeking the opinion of his constituents, but it seems that didn’t take long.’ Not surprising considering the number who wouldn’t give him the time of day…
s ‘smartboy’ has highlighted, Austin is definitely a case of ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish’.
But celebration is premature : as said before, the simple fact of splits is never good in electoral terms – particularly where there is a massive propaganda machine to take advantage. The SDP was a failure; but it was a failure that damaged Labour for a period of years.
My guess is, as others have said, that an election becomes less likely, however : this bunch of turkeys aren’t going to vote for Christmas, as has been pointed out.
It’s all good, saves us the MSM abuse of deselecting them,
Cherry on cake will be when Blair is caught supporting and funding them
Finally UKIP have already carried out a reverse takeover of Tories
Clear red water for electorate
we need to make sure open selection is introduced to prevent thi ever happening again (ie entryists ruining the party)
Wouldn’t it be ironic if after all the Red Tories leave the party to join The Ignoble Party, Theresa calls a General Election. Corbyn in and Red Tories at the job centre!
Has he joined the TINGEs?
There may be a problem with some of those wanting to join the Gang; they might not be wanted. If I was setting out to form a new Party the last people I’d want is Snarling Austin or Motor Mouth Jessie let a.one sociopaths like Mann. It will ruin the ‘nice Ladies’ image they’ve tried to fashion – and No, I don’t know how Mr Gapes got in, possibly not him either. If they allow it they’ll end up with all the under investigation abusers and become The Losers Party – all are invited to join on an exciting voyage to no where!
I think you have hit the nail on the head there Paul. Tony is quite picky about the company he keeps and I don’t think that any of those you have mentioned went to public school.
“Funny tinges” you mean – I am so glad that awful woman Angela Smith is no longer a member . She was a total embarrassment to our party and is now is now an embarrassment to the ” independent group ” that is if it is indeed possible to embarrass them
I think this insight from Dave Hinchliffe (MP for Wakefield until 2005) says a hell of a lot about the squitters :
“In trying to understand their thinking, I was reminded of being on a train travelling south with Chris Leslie, then MP for Shipley, not long after his election to the Commons in 1997. During a conversation with another northern Labour MP, Alice Mahon, and myself, we were both astonished when he informed us that he had always wanted to have a career in politics but had been genuinely unsure as to which major party to join.”
Got to wonder how many of them are that unprincipled.
All the Tories clearly, and what – nearly half of our lot?
Sad thing is that’s probably an accurate reflection of the public at large.
BREAKING NEWS – Ian Austin has just announced that he has resigned from the Labour Party but he won’t be joining the so called Independent Group.
Cos even they hate him!