Excruciating interview on ITV
Just when Labour’s standing as a party under Keir Starmer doesn’t seem like it could fall any lower, it dug down another couple of storeys in an excruciating interview on ITV this morning.
Asked to say what Labour stands for, Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth – still in the position despite years of abysmal performance and rumours earlier this month that he was going to be one of Starmer’s sacrificial lambs after Starmer’s electoral humiliation – told incredulous interviewers that he couldn’t say.
Because it’s ‘confidential’:
Jon, just admit you can’t name a policy because Labour under Starmer doesn’t stand for anything, doesn’t have any policies – except making the changes necessary to bring about the changes that are needed, whatever the hell that means.
Oh, and attacking the left and the members of course. That goes without saying.
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It gets better 🤣😅😆,and we were unfit to govern .
Israel is too busy killing Palestinians to tell Labour what they should do next.
These people are just complete morons in sharp suits aren’t they?
and driving huge 4x4s what is the point of them.??
Labour stands for selfish arrogant careerists who think the working class are fucking idiots open to swallowing a load of patriotic guff thought up by focus groups of middle class wankers.
BTW, SteveH, if you’re about to jump in to say “we need more information”…well, yeah…THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT!
kenburch – Why would I want to do that.
This is what Jon Ashworth went on to say in this interview
The Labour Party understands that we have got to speak to the British people about their priorities and their interests and their concerns and we are launching a big policy review which we are going to take to the country and engage in a discussion and a debate and we are going to listen to what it is that they want and how they want this country to change
When I travel across the country and I see it for myself when I it for myself in my own constituency in Leicester where I live we can do much better than we are dong at the moment.
Our schools could be much better than we’re doing at the moment.
Our NHS can be much better we have 5,000,000 people on the waiting list and we need to sort that out.
We can do much better to make our air cleaner and our communities greener, we can do more to invest to make our communities safer.
We’ve got to do more in the economy so that people can have well paid jobs, so that people don’t have to rely on zero hours contracts so they can afford to buy their own home these are the issues that we will be focussing on in the weeks and months ahead.
Will you be contributing to the policy review?
What a load of shit. They won’t outlaw zero hours contracts because they’re in hock to business and they’ve turned their back on Socialism. As for buying their own homes, that’s Tory policy that no one can afford. NuLabour won’t be able to provide the country with £75k pa jobs. It’s a load of lying shit.
lundiel – This was recently passed in Parliament by Labour
Keir Starmer
Andy McDonald
Ed Miliband
Angela Rayner
Lucy Powell
Nicholas Brown
That this House believes that all existing employment rights and protections must be maintained, including the 48-hour working week, rest breaks at work and inclusion of overtime pay when calculating some holiday pay entitlements, and calls upon the government to set out to parliament by the end of January 2021 a timetable to introduce legislation to end “fire and re-hire” tactics.
Will you be contributing to Labour’s policy review?
That isn’t a call to outlaw zero hrs weasel.
lundiel – Nobody apart from you is prattling on about outlawing zero hour contracts.
’48 HR working week’. There is no economic need for that.
lundiel – I think you’ll find that the 48 hours refers to the max that an employee can be ‘forced’ to work.
Don’t make weaselly accusations at me. I well know what the 48 he working week means and it’s 10 hrs too much. I say again, they do not intend to do away with zero hrs.
Then what’s this all about? “We’ve got to do more in the economy so that people can have well paid jobs, so that people don’t have to rely on zero hours contracts so they can afford to buy their own home these are the issues that we will be focussing on in the weeks and months ahead.”
You haven’t even read the nonsense you posted dickhead.
lundiel – Oh come on, don’t be silly. Where is there any mention of outlawing zero hour contracts. There is a vast difference between expanding the economy to increase the availability of well paid jobs and banning zero hr contracts. Your argument doesn’t make sense.
That’s my whole point you fucking idiot. There is no intention of challenging the status quo that was imposed on people with austerity. Ashworth thinks people are that stupid they will believe that “doing more in the economy” will magically increase their wages and conditions enabling them to leave behind their gig economy jobs and buy houses. Once you’re working in the gig economy you’re stuck there for good. It’s wrong and NuLabour are wrong for not wanting to get rid of it and being so out of touch they wish to sell people who know better, the idea that they’ll move into well paid jobs.
lundiel – Isn’t expanding our economy and skills base in this way part of the platform that Jeremy stood on.
No. NuLabour haven’t committed to public infrastructure projects or to increase borrowing to finance growth or to raising taxes. Therefore ‘growth’ will be achieved by what? Private investment? Attracting global corporates? That’s the same economic policy we’ve been practicing for 40 years and it’s brought stagnation.
Are you really so stupid that you don’t understand the gulf between Corbyn’s economic policy and Dodds or (God help us) Reeves.
As anyone who has studied Labour’s Policy Reviews or has actually contributed to Labour’s cynically barren , rolling ‘National Policy Review processes (the NPF) will know only too well – the entire vacuous process is purely a PR exercise – and no new detail policy ever emerges . And no Labour Leadership , and that INCLUDES the Corbyn circle from 2015 to 2019, pays the slightest notice of its vapid, ‘motherhood and apple pie, output when Manifesto construction time comes around. For instance, our hugely successful 2017 Manifesto, almost entirely written by Andrew Fisher, simply ignored the banal platitudes of the ‘National Policy Review ‘ process.
The NPR process was specifically set up by Blair – to rob Conference of its sovereign policy role – and , to the shame of the Corbyn Circle, they just continued to use this bankrupt , cynical PR, process too (after constantly promising to abandon it ! .
But you should know thi, Steve H, the ceaseless Right Wing Troll. So your mantra of ‘ will you be contributing to the policy review ‘ is just your usual deliberate distracting bollocks. At the end of any promised ‘Policy Review’ process, any proposals from members not meeting the new restored neoliberal consensus will be put in the waste-bin, and ‘policy guru’ Lord Mandelson’s toxic 1990’s style Blairism-reborn sad old neoliberal crap will be Starmer’s ‘policy bundle’ . So Labour will be wiped out in the next General Election !
SteveH: you would want to do that because that’s what you always do when you’re confronted with things that discredit Starmer but which you have no rebuttal to. You do it over and over and over again “we need more information” “we need more information” “we need more information”. Well, in this case, that
is the point…Labour has an OBLIGATION to publicly declare what it stands for and “it’s confidential” is never an acceptable response to that. There is no reason for Labour ever to keep its policies or core values secret. None. End. Of. Discussion.
We all know there’s a bogus “policy review”, and we all know Keir will ignore it and probably lower the party to the discredited, outdated and irrelevant 1997 policies…or possibly go to the right of those, as Liz Kendall and Rachel Reeves want.
kenburch – Sometimes it is wiser to hold back on commenting. For instance the recent story about the 14yr old boy who was excluded for shouting Free Palestine. It turns out that his school were quite justified in excluding him.
“- The school did issue a half day Fix Term Exclusions where the phrase ‘Free Palestine’ was directed at a member of our school community based on their ethnicity
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/school-issues-clarification-over-incident-20608654
It would appear that there was more to the incident than just one phrase. The problem with such situations, whether it is a school handing out a sanction or the LP handing one out, is that we very rarely find out exactly what was alleged to have been said. This case is one such. We can’t say that the school was, or was not, justified and I guess we never will know.
SteveH is equally guilty of taking a position without justification ……….. unless he is able to reveal the full text of what was said.
Indeed , kenburch. As anyone who has studied Labour’s Policy Reviews or has actually contributed to Labour’s cynically barren , rolling ‘National Policy Review processes (the NPF) will know only too well – the entire vacuous process is purely a PR exercise – and no new detail policy ever emerges . And no Labour Leadership , and that INCLUDES the Corbyn circle from 2015 to 2019, pays the slightest notice of its vapid, ‘motherhood and apple pie, output when Manifesto construction time comes around. For instance, our hugely successful 2017 Manifesto, almost entirely written by Andrew Fisher, simply ignored the banal platitudes of the ‘National Policy Review ‘ process.
The NPR process was specifically set up by Blair – to rob Conference of its sovereign policy role – and , to the shame of the Corbyn Circle, they just continued to use this bankrupt , cynical PR, process too (after constantly promising to abandon it ! .
But you should know thi, Steve H, the ceaseless Right Wing Troll. So your mantra of ‘ will you be contributing to the policy review ‘ is just your usual deliberate distracting bollocks. At the end of any promised ‘Policy Review’ process, any proposals from members not meeting the new restored neoliberal consensus will be put in the waste-bin, and ‘policy guru’ Lord Mandelson’s toxic 1990’s style Blairism-reborn sad old neoliberal crap will be Starmer’s ‘policy bundle’ . So Labour will be wiped out in the next General Election !
kenburch – Please don’t get enmeshed with him. Just smile and ignore it. Policy review? We all know what that means. You try to work out what most people will support and then say that that was what you believed all along. They’re marketing men. Politicians who have beliefs and try to convince people that they are right? They gape in disbelief that you could contemplate such a thing.
Labour does have polices, Starmer is a ‘Zionist without qualification’ therefore he supports Apartheid, and the right for Israel to ethnically cleanse Palestinians and murder them with impunity, without any possibility of Labour party action to deter them, the Labour party is led by one of the most obnoxious individuals in politics today, I hope he goes down in flames in the forthcoming by election.
He was tasked with one job, deal with ‘the left’ even if it means destroying the party. Who needs policies?
Sadly that seems to be a particularly accurate comment.Starmer has a
two fold plan to honour in all instances the demands of the BOD, to cleanse the Party of any with left wing leanings and to this end he has divided the Jewish community, overseen a mass decline in membership and in those of us who still remain a feeling of betrayal No doubt it is pleasing the Blarite grandees but it is worth remembering what New Labour actually did to the membership of the Party and by contrast what his cruely treated predessor actually did achieve.
Sandy – and your evidence that there has been a mass decline in the membership is ?
SteveH, I spoke to the chair of my one time CLP recently who confirmed that there has been a large drop off in membership. I doubt if it is untypical.
The latest report that I have seen is that the membership currently stands at approx 490,000. Although this is lower than the peak it is still 50,000 up on where it stood immediately before the 19GE.
Exactly Harry! The Personification of Reagan/Thatcher’s Neoliberalism come Neoconservatism aka “Centrism” sometimes even “Soft Left”, “Left Leaning”, “Socialist” has been all too clear for all the whole world to see in The Creep Biden! [He out-creeps bloody Trump by miles, mind you so does Norman Bates, agh! I mean Keith Strotter!]
In Europe we saw what you’ll get in Macron, The EU and Happy Clappy Jesus Bashing Germany!
The Blair/Thatcher Project is nothing Short of giving The SLEEPING People Two Equally Neoliberal come Neoconservative Parties to vote for, one just needs to put on the Spin and learn to sound like your New Best Friend while the other needs no Pretences!
The longer the World remains fooled by “Centrism” The longer the World Suffers, they WILL infiltrate anything Left or Socialist only to destroy it. Then they will use the Name ie Labour as ‘their’ Neoliberal Corporate Brand Logo In Neon and Flashing LED! The PEOPLE then, like MSM sheep, worship that Brand like all their other Neoliberal Corporate Brands!
Yet, when they see Gaza Burning, and the Victims brushed in Crimson with EU, UK, USA Bombs, while still the Terrorist Apartheid Regime claims Eternal Victim and over the course of two week literally gets transformed from Villain to Victim by our Neoliberal “Centrist” Politicians and MSM!
The SLEEPING PEOPLE ask WHY! HOW! Well, “Keep worshipping The Brand!” ‘They’ LOVE Money for Bombs and do not care WHO ‘gets it’, just so long as the Money Keeps Rolling In, for them and Their War Pigs!
The Facts about “Centrist” Neoliberalism was Hardest learnt by Palestine, Once AGAIN! First Obama and his fake Palestine Empathy and now The Creep Biden, [This also reminds me much of our own dilemma of “any Labour Party is better than a Conservative Party”, is it!? Please go back over the Past 2 Weeks and see what “any Labour Party” equivalent Biden, The EU, Macron, etc did for/to Palestine!
WE NEED AN OPPOSITION TO THE TORIES!
NOT ANOTHER TORY PARTY, IN DISGUISE!
VOTE THATCHER’S NOELIBERAL NEOLABOUR PARTY TORIES OUT!
WITH A SMALLER, BUT PASSIONATELY DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST UK LABOUR PARTY, WE WILL HAVE A STRONGER OPPOSITION AND VOICE FOR THE PEOPLE!
WE WILL ONCE AGAIN HAVE A MISSIVE REJUVENATED/REENERGISED MEMBERSHIP!
ALL UNIONS ALSO DE-TORYFIED!
MEMBERS/CLPs/CANDIDATES/COUNCILLORS ALL WORKING OUR BUTTS OFF, IN AND FOR OUR COMMUNITIES, TO TAKE THE NEXT GE!
This is not just about us, This is also about Palestine, Yemen, West Papua, etc, etc, etc! We had our once in a lifetime, overnight opportunity twice and got robbed twice! Now we only have this one hard way to hold onto an already established Party with Unions.
Either that or we Reunite at the Socialist Party, but popping up little parties here there and everywhere, is helping no one, but the Neoliberals! We will need Cotbynism and the Unions to come along, is that even possible!? Will the Socialist Party be open to working closely with Jeremy and vice versa? Will the Unions/UNITE at least, come over to The Socialist Party along with us? With Howard possibly yes, but for the sake of Britain and The People of the World it can Protect from The Neoliberal Monster, we have to make ONE decision and go with that! Even if The Socialist Party is prepared to act as the umbrella Party to the several small parties in existence with an agreed set Manifesto as minimum requirement, but we need to think this through FAST and UNITE!
Like Mandleson said the working class have nowhere to go expecting us to vote labour what a fucking mistake these pricks are thinking we are illiterate I have a good feeling from what people have been telling me in Batley they will be wiped out and deserve it Ashworth is just a clown
Brian – Could you post a copy of the leaflet that you have been distributing. I have contacted a few friends who live in Batley and Heckmondwike to ask if they could email me a copy but unfortunately they haven’t received your leaflet yet.
Hahahaha. Tosser. 💩💩💩💩
lundiel – Thank you for your contribution.
you can collect one personally at Dicky’s GYM where we all meet tell your friends to come along and collect a handful we will be happy for you and your friends to contribute you might get a chat with George Galloway
Brian – Thanks for your kind offer but I don’t live in the area. I’m disappointed that I’ll miss Galloway’s comedy turn.
SteveH if you no people who live in Batley like you said i’m sure they will send you a copy
Brian – You must have missed the bit where I also said that none of them I contacted friends from 4 different areas of the constituency but unfortunately none had received one of your leaflets. Surely you have a campaign website that you can point me to where the leaflet is displayed. Will I be able to catch Galloway’s performance on YouTube and/or your campaign website.
Get over yourself centrist Dad Steve H,dont make innuendos about a good comrade getting off his backside to inform the public about the knight and his misfits.You can tell youve never done a day in your life either leefleting or door knocking..Well done Brian 61for shining a light on the knight and his flotsam.
Joseph – It is not an unreasonable request and I wasn’t insinuating anything. Batley, Birstall & Heckmondwike covers quite a large geographical area so it comes as no surprise that he and his comrades haven’t managed to leaflet every house yet.
No, steven… You don’t.
You do have few friends though. So few as to be counted on no fingers.
Labour under Starmer and his neoliberal Tory-lite Blairite pals certainly DO of course really have an entire raft of (very nasty Right Wing) policies, as the ghastly creature of the private healthcare lobby, Ashworth , is well aware. Its the same old neoliberal, privatising ,policy shite that lost Blair/Brown five million Labour voters, and halved the membership, and lost Ed Miliband the next Election (even with his very slightly more ‘Leftish’ tinge of policy) . The problem for these corrupt creatures is that they simply don’t dare announce their preferred toxic policies to the general public . Because the potential voter will correctly say , ” we’ve got the Tories and Lib Dems if we want that crap “. So , apart from lots of chauvinist flag waving,, and smart suits, and ‘not being Corbyn’, Starmer’s Labour, even with that policy mastermind, Mandelson, as their guru, is pretty much stumped on future policy announcements !
As for the PLP ‘Left’, An article in The Guardian today says Diane Abbott claims the ‘left’ could back that total slippery opportunist, Andy Burnham, in a future Leadership contest – even though she openly concedes he has always been an opportunist snake who has in the past fully embraced Blairism ! And quite how Andy Burnham, not an MP, COULD even stand as Leader seems to be an issue she doesn’t think of ! The reality is that the Leader has to be Leader of the PLP as well as the UK Party, and Andy is mayor of Manchester, NOT an MP. The PLP ‘Left, if Abbott is correct, are as devoid of leadership potential, as they are in any strategy to fight the resurgent Blairism that is now totally in control of Labour !
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/19/losing-byelection-would-be-curtains-for-keir-starmer-says-diane-abbott
How much influence does Diane Abbott have nowadays.
You don’t need leaflets centrist dad. This is all you need to know: The South Asian population of Batley is now around 33% in Batley West and 54% in Batley
Goodbye Zionist NuLabour.
During my working life I interviewed a very large number of people for a range of jobs. Never did I interview anyone who performed anywhere near as ineptly as Ashworth on GMB. But I must say he gave me a really good laugh – Labour has a vision for the country BUT IT’S CONFIDENTIAL. Maybe I was mistaken and was watching a rerun of an episode of The Office.
The lot of them are just absolute dross – the sort of stuff I spread on my garden to help the potatoes grow. At this rate they’ll get a minus vote in Batley and Spen.
Andy Burnham
Give us your thoughts on the internal report
The AS Scam and the manifesto
Yes, Starmer’s Labour has a vision for the country but it’s confidential – only the billionaires need to know it – for Review and Approval purposes only, you understand.
Stamer’s Labour doesn’t need a 2021 Party Conference, it’s going to Davos instead.
Yes, it looks a bit like Biden, Macron and The EU, perfectly Neoliberal with Neoconservative Tendencies!
It’s quite simple really! Thatcher’s Neoliberal Neolabour Tory Party stand for whatever their cohort stand for: https://www.conservatives.com/our-plan
There is only one way!
VOTE THE PARASITES OUT!
Start again small and deToryfied, with a massive membership, Unions all deToryfied, CLPs with Counsellors and Candidates, for all available of 650 seats, all working our buts, off in the community, to take the following GE!
skellyknelly – So says Boris’s useful idiot.
Can anyone else hear a Viola play a sad song in the distance?
Sounds like Whining Neoliberal aka “Centrist”!
skellyknelly – Thanks for the encore.
Seriously though, when a centist careerist politician cannot spurt out some meaningless, hackneyed crap the drop of a hat, then either they’re not hungry enough for power, or their new leader is actually not that good.
And everbody knows that centrist careerist MPs like Jon Ashworth would eat their own vomit (or call their party leader ‘a fucking antisemite’) if they thought it would help them win power*.
* or not, as the case may be.
This just arrived in my inbox
Parliament is going to debate the petition you signed – “Introduce sanctions against Israel”.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/585314
The debate is scheduled for 14 June 2021.
Once the debate has happened, we’ll email you a video and transcript.
Thanks,
The Petitions team
UK Government and Parliament
The nation gets to see the exact same wee stevie tactics we see every day on here, being played out by another piss poor excuse for a human being.
And he thinks it’s something to laugh about. Dear god..
What a horrible fucking invertebrate Mr oldknow is. From his godawful Orville the duck voice, to his godawful axle-greased barnet, he has as much charisma as a roadkill seagull on a very busy ‘A’ road; even less appeal – and all the spine of a common slug (hence the grease, I s’pose)
I’ll bet he was the kid who said his mum said he wasn’t allowed to get wet when the kids were having a water pistol fight in the street. Not difficult to guess who wears the kecks in the oldknow household.
I’d ordinarily be agog at what I just witnessed, but it’s ashworth.
Leicester South…You know what you need to do.
Toffee – It was reported some time ago that they had separated, have they got back together again?
Who gives a flying one? They’re both as horrendously banal as you and stammer.
Oh, and where’s your evidence to support your oft-repeated claim that the party has a bigger membership under stammer than it did under Corbyn?
They can’t even hold (what WAS) a safe labour seat, and haven’t gone anywhere near regaining at least 25% of the votes they lost because of stammers shithousery.
But you reckon they, and he, are more popular than they were under Corbyn… So either back it up, or shut the fuck up.
I’m yet to see one single poster come in here to say the joined because of stammer or because he ratted on Corbyn and got shut of him.
And yet you’re still here, spouting your usual shite. In your entire time of plaguing this place, you’re still to have got a single fact, or prediction, correct.
Not one. Ever.
And you carry on as though you’re some sort of oracle, when you’re the exact opposite. As I’ve said before, that han dodges is widely regarded as a complete nincompoop who can’t even get his name right, yet he’s had as much right as you.
Anyone else with a modicum of sense would put a sock in it, but you just have to waffle on. It doesn’t matter to you that you come across as a total prick to everyone else, as long as you get a rise out of people…
And then you tell us you have friends… As if anyone believes your membership numbers claim!?
Seek professional help, sonny. It’s for your own good.
Right, am away back to me pit. My night duties are (hopefully) over.
Toffee – Have you any credible evidence that Labour’s membership is currently lower than the c440,000 it stood at immediately before the 19GE…
A passed recently by the Irish Parliament without mention in ant British MSM.
Please find enc.
https://bdsmovement.net/tags/ireland
Phhhffffff!
Love it! 🙂
Subtle, Dry, Smart
If the rumours are to be believed that shadow cabinet MPs were complaining about the lines they were issued with in defence of what happened in Hartlepool etc. Only to be told by a LOTO staffer that the lines had been passed by Mandelson so there’s nothing to be done about it. Such is the power of Mandelson the rumour also suggested some staffers are enamoured by him.
Therefore I’m not surprised that Ashworth is spouting confidentiality. Like other shadow ministers he has probably not received an email from Mandelson telling him what the party stands for yet.
I suspect the reason for this is Mandelson has been too busy telling the media how it’s still all Corbyns fault and insulting him a word I’d never heard before. incubus.
Yes BoB, the “in confidence” line was not a waste-of-space careerist politician (Ashworth), panicking with empty words, it was the effects of Starmer’s atrocious ‘new management’ dictatorial style.
The real “boss”, Lord Mandelson, had issued a briefing note or informed the shadow cabinet to indicate that boring things like “vision” and “policies” were to be treated as ‘confidential’ intellectal propertiers until he and the titular Leader of the party, Sir Keir Trilateral Starmer, got sign-off from various billionaires or their NGO mouthpieces.
Starmer, Evans, Mandelson et al are not just bad Labourites, they are anti-Labour, class enemies of the worst type.
The enemy used a trojan horse to enter the Labour Movement and now manages the people’s party like an occupying power.
BoB – Did Mandelson actually call Corbyn an incubus? If he did there are clear grounds for suing him.
An incubus was a mythological creature, a demon which engaged in sexual activity with sleeping women.
Bad Penny
Hits the nail on the head, if Andy Burnham is the answer then your asking the wrong question
The only glimmer of light with Andy Burnham is Hillsborough, he was shamed into doing something
My suggestion to him is, use the internal report to rid us of Red Tories, call out AS Scam and start campaigning from day 1 on the manifesto
Otherwise we have to accept that we are going to have to skip two generations for our next Leader
An extensive debate.
May I offer one bit of clarification, and ask one question.
Clarification – SteveH – It was suggested that you ask your friends in Batley and Spen Valley to collect a leaflet from Dickie’s gym and send it to you. Unless the area has grown significantly, and the quality of public transport has declined since I knew the area, that should be a simple matter for your friends now that we are much freer to move around and many people are fully vaccinated.
Question – quertboi – I have been told that the constituency in which you live has registered a 5% fall in LP membership over the last month. Are you able to confirm this?
It’s at least 5% goldbach. The only person locally who knows the official party figures, the Secretary of the CLP, is saying nothing (but hasn’t denied that it’s at least 50 people who have been listed as recently departed), but I know of about 120 former members who now have stated (to me or others) that they have ended their membership either by i) informing the party of their resignation, or ii) simply cancelling membership payment with their bank.
Of course, plenty of members are remaining primarilly to provide Labour with an ‘apostolic connection’to democratic socialism and to serve as a CLP reminder of true Labour. Bookclubs and ghost parties are as popular with remaining members as with the departed.
Is it unreasonable to expect that this ‘campaign’ leaflet should be available to view on a website somewhere..
Here’s something else that the LP seem not to want to say anything about.
https://electronicintifada.net/content/today-we-are-nazis-says-member-israeli-jewish-extremist-group/33081
“Rail passengers should see more punctual services and cheaper tickets as part of a huge shake up of UK’s railways, the government says.
It says a new state-owned body, Great British Railways (GBR), will set timetables and prices, sell tickets in England and manage rail infrastructure.”
While the Tories steal ‘the idea’ of Corbyn’s popular policies (in reality this is subsidising private companies), Labour are doing everything in they can to distance themselves from those policies.
The loud crunching noise you can hear is Starmer’s brain forensically looking for his values. It’d help if he knew where he would logically keep them.
He’s already discounted the staffers’ values & Nuttyyahoo’s. He’s waiting to learnt what the LP’s target segment want him to have in the way of values. It’s only then that he’ll find what he’s looking for.
Once again, Jon Ashworth is an embarrassment – Even to his embarrassing boss.
I’ll rreserve my final judgement until I know the candidate in Batley anbd Spen.
I fear the worst.
I can’t see myself travelling the short distance to help Lasbour in this one.
The important goal now is to get rid of Starm-Trooper
There’s a need for something like LIEN (Labour in Excile network) to put up leaflets or posters asking people to NOT VOTE LABOUR when the candidate is an anti-socialist Starmer-type socialism-hater,
I’d forgotten that there was some mention of LIEN a while ago. It was reported on these pages that they were on the eve of holding their first public meeting and then…………
What happened next ???
Sorry about the spelling – But I can only see half a line of what I am typing – rather than the full-height COMMENTS box
Off topic, but is it just me, or has netanyahu gone full-on blue rinse benny??
Likud is like a erectile dysfuntional stud who feels virile despite its limp dick because Benny Gantz sacrificed his principles to support apartheid-loving Netanyahu with his limp schmuk of a government. Israel-watchers say Isrsel in 2021 is like Britain in 1997. Likud is the Conservative party sodden with sleaze, but they needn’t worry cos Benny Ganz is Tony Blair, and a bigger fuckng tory/lkuder than John Major / Benjamin Netanyahu.
The’re both working to the right-wing rule book – fighting Hamas is their Malvinas
Kim Leadbeater prospective Labour candidate admits she does not see herself as a ‘political animal’, but cares about the area. The perfect candidate for Starmers no policies Labour, hoping the sympathy vote will win the election and save his miserable skin.
Will the leadership try and fool the people of Batley and Spen like they tried and failed with the people of Hartlepool. Talk about carpetbaggers, Kim Leadbeater a member of the LP for a week, is she a member of a recognised Trade Union and does she contribute to the political fund of that Trade Union?
Clause 5. Rule 1 B [i].Nominating criteria of members standing for public office i. In addition to fulfilling any statutory requirements for the relevant public office, persons wishing to stand as a Labour candidate must have continuous membership of the Party of at least 12 months. Where not otherwise prevented they shall also be a member of a trade union affiliated to the TUC or considered by the NEC as a bona fide trade union and contribute to the political fund of that union. Any exceptions to these conditions must be approved by the NEC.
It has just been announced that Councillor Habiban Zaman is also seeking to be the Labour Candidate. https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-news/councillor-takes-kim-leadbeater-fight-20643988date.
“It’s been my honour and privilege to work with communities in Batley and Spen for the past 30 years, working as a council officer, a local councillor and working on various campaigns across the Kirklees area,” she said.
Harry – Have you forgotten that Jeremy also put aside the rule book for the infamous Salma Yaqoob .
The infamous Salma Yaqoob was right tho’ steveh: Zionists DO abuse the memory of the Holocaust to gain sympathy for Israel. It’s a fact!!
Harry Law – do you know anything about Habiban Zaman?
SteveH Not sure which rule Corbyn broke in relation to Yaqoob, However the NEC would not be breaking any rule by approving Leadbeater because that rule states ‘Any exceptions to these conditions must be approved by the NEC’. In my opinion Councillor Zaman a LP member for over 30 years is an eminently more worthy candidate than Leadbeater. Although because the by election is about Starmer, I hope whoever the candidate is and is approved by Starmer for the sake of the long term future of the party,I hope they lose.
Harry – It wasn’t my intention to imply that anyone had broken any rules. The Labour party rule nook is consistent in providing a get out clause or exception for practically every rule.
As for the issues against Yaqoob, here’s an introduction.
https://labourlist.org/2019/10/salma-yaqoob-shortlisted-for-labours-west-midlands-mayoral-selection/
Ms. Leadbeater seems like a really nice lady – gentle, compassionate and very attached to the area. That’s important for an MP, but it is not enough. Every constituency needs a politically experienced representative who understand the political dynamics of the day and the need to position the LP at a distance from the Tories.
My concern is that the LP will choose her as the candidate and shamelessly make use of who she is to try to rescue Starmer from another trouncing. If they do that then, regardless of whether the LP wins or not, Ms.Leadbeater will be the loser. I hope, for her sake, that they select a different candidate.
goldbach – I think you are being very condescending and grossly underestimating Kim Leadbeater. Seeking to deny Batley & Spen’s electorate the opportunity to vote for an exceptional candidate so that you can damage Starmer is perverse.
Really?
goldbach – Yes, really.
Well done. You have excelled yourself in your capacity for self-delusion. It is flattering that you seem to think that I could have even the remotest influence on whether Ms Leadbeater is selected as the LP candidate for Batley and Spen. I have to disabuse you. I have no power in that regard. Neither do I have the capacity to damage Starmer. He, himself, is infinitely better at that than I. I simply observe and comment ……… and occasionally derive some amusement from your contributions.
If Kim Leadbeater does get the Labour nomination, she will be used, abused and spat out like the rest of us. She’s probably a lovely person and should avoid allowing herself to be abused to save Starmer’s wretched skin.
SteveH It is possible neither Leadbeater or Yaqoob broke any rules or intended to, only that Leadbeater although probably a very fine lady has only been a member for a week. In the case of Yaqoob the party has previously said the National Executive had the power to exceptionally allow new Labour members to stand for selection.
“This often happens in selections when there are no women or BAME (Black, Asian minority ethnic) candidates,” they said.
“Other than Salma Yaqoob, no women or Bame members put themselves forward for the West Midlands Mayoral race.”
…..and?
If Leadbeater is successful Could she answer these questions on her campaign, 1/ do you agree with Starmer and other Labour leaders that criticism of Israels polices is Antisemitic [answer ‘yes’ by R L Bailey et al at the Labour Leadership hustings hosted by R Peston.
Second question B’tselem and the major NGO Human Rights Watch together with a UN Report compiled by Richard Falk who happens to be Jewish found with well researched factual evidence that Israel is an Apartheid state. Do you agree with them? If she does not know the answer, she should not be in politics, if she agrees, Starmer will suspend her like Corbyn. Choices, choices.
Ffs there’s more to politics and definitely more going on to be dealt with than Israel. Why should THAT be definitive? How about she be asked on matters domestic, because last time I looked, people here are still being shafted by politics and politicians of all stripes.
Toffee whether or not you support Zionism and Israel is a litmus test. It is an indication of ones approach to racism and whether or not you truly appreciate the dangers that this hateful ideolgy presents to the world. Zionism controls the actions of the USA and also influences our democracy in Britain and as such it is our greatest threat. Everything else stems from whether or not we have a genuine democracy and who calls the shots.
Oh do fuckoff jackanory.
You telling us all that our socialism depends on whether or not we prioritise the Palestinian problem over and above seeing our own disabled and poor ethnically cleansed? Our workers rights withdrawn and a return to fucking feudalism?
Get fucking bent.
As for you Harry law, just who the fuck are you to tell me I want to shut people up about Palestine?
By all means discuss the situation… But for fucks sake, leadbetter is NOT the candidate for Gaza south.
You two need to learn this country needs to get its own house in order before prioritising anywhere else.
When it comes to Israel/Palestine and our own NHS, welfare state and worker’s rights all being roundly assfucked, I make NO apologies for putting Israel/Palestine down the list.
JackT , serial ‘Zionist conspiracy’ paranoid, sets up a completely intellectually bogus ‘litmus test’ , for deciding who is a ‘Zionist’ ! You claim , yet again, JackT that ” Zionism controls the actions of the USA” . This is of course the exact same hoary old line of sundry Nazi groups , from the Third Reich, up to the current day , and of course really simply means ” the Jews of Wall Street control the USA “. For you as with all anti-Semites, the term ‘Zionist or Zionism’ is simply a cover for ‘Jew’ – and the background old bogus meme of the ‘International Jewish Conspiracy’, which significantly predates the 1948 formation of the state of Israel. No doubt you have a nightly read of the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ forgery ! .
Mere basic recognition of the right to exist of a distinct and globally unique Hebrew-speaking Jewish majority state of Israel – within Internationally agreed boundaries (not the current post 1967 occupied territory ones), does NOT in itself make one a ‘Zionist’, you anti-Semitic nutter. One can be totally opposed to the actions and policies of Right Wing Israeli governments, and even support the BDS Campaign for as long as Israel continues its seizure of Palestinian lands, and still recognize the right to exist of a Jewish majority state called Israel. Jeremy Corbyn, the PLO, and most states around the globe, recognize Israel’s basic right to exist in some negotiated form alongside a Palestinian State. Only anti-Semites like you JackT, and your bedfellows in the clerico-fascist Hamas, Hezbollah, and Daesh, and the Iranian theocracy, AND the tiny numbers of the posturing Far ultraLeft, hold to a ‘Israel must be totally destroyed’ policy line.
A real ‘Zionist’ is someone who uncritically supports ALL the actions of the Israeli government . Starmer and sundry Labour MP’s do indeed often fit this category – but the basis of that support is as often down to their groveling to the dictates of long term US Middle East foreign policy, than to any deep ideological commitment to Israel or the Zionist political philosophy itself . And the overwhelming majority of Jews , in all countries, do support the right to exist of an Israeli , Jewish majority, state – simply because of the devastating experience of the WW2 Holocaust. But for many Jews this support , as with Jeremy Corbyn, is not unconditional. You never dare explain whether you consider Jeremy Corbyn or the PLP to be ‘Zionists’ too though often asked. Because of course , by your simplistic definition, they ARE !
But you have had this explained to you umpteen times, JackT – but as a rabid anti-Semite you just want to constantly air your obsession with ‘the Jews and ‘Zionism. Sad man. Give it a rest nutter.
Toffee [597] Its true foreign policy is not the first thing that comes into the voters mind, but Israel/Palestine is so important, 1/ its non resolution could lead to WW3 2/ It is Starmers desire as a Zionist without qualification which means he supports Apartheid and Jewish supremacy and domination of one group over another as outlined in the position papers of B’selem and the Major NGO Human Rights Watch which in turn confirmed the UN report compiled by Richard Falk that Israel is in fact an Apartheid state. You might not think this is important, I disagree, Starmers stance on this is a reflection on how all members of the Labour party may be treated, if we fail to take his position on the matter, [Corbyn is exhibit number one] or support Israel, with no criticism against it, you are out the party. In fact it is you, like Starmer who wants to shut people up. We will not be silent otherwise the party will treat us all like Palestinians.
And stammer’s stance on neo-fascist corporatism is a far FAR greater danger to society than zionism/irseali hegemony.
But it comes as no suprise that you don’t mention that particular fact. Well you can get thee to fuckery telling me I want to shut people up when you only present one side of the story and exaggerate it’s signifcance to outweigh the REAL and present danger to the planet.
Treat us all like palestinians? Well you’re allowing the corporates to do that right the fuck now. You obviously care more about palestine than you do our own poor, sick and unemployed – some of whom are indeed Palestinian by birth or origin.
You’d rather their problems were sorted than pour own NHS, welfare state, worker’s rights and freedom to protest that have been fought for over centuries.
Another thing, Mr ‘The party will treat us like palestinians’…
You fucking idiots what voted for stammer are seeing everyone reaping the benefits, aren’t you? He was the saviour of brexit – until he nigh-on immediately dropped that pretence when elected.
You were warned he’d do so. You were told he couldn’t refloat brexit and the election result was glaring proof that people weren’t having any of it, but you voted him in anyway.
Then once he shat on you and abandoned brexit, he turned on Corbyn, hiding behind the hyperbolised antisemitism as a convenient measure to eradicate left wing politics from the party…As again, you were warned he’d do as much.
But thise who warned of it were the ‘fascist knuckledraggers’. Now we’re the ‘fascist zionists’ despite our constant admonition both pre and post leadership election of the same stammer you wanted..
Well, now you’re complaining that he’s a zionist and you’re being treated like palestinians….Or will be
And at who’s behest does he do this?
‘Oh he’s being controlled by some Israeli mindfuck machine….’
It’d be funny if you lot werent so utterly fucking risible. It is MURDOCH and the corporates who’s tune stammer dances to.
But hey! I want you to shut up about palestine so you get ‘treated like palestinians’….
Not that imposing candidates and stammer’s general authoritarianism isn’t doing so anyway…Honest to christ, if you’re the best the party has to offer I’m mightily relieved I have nothing to do with it.
Excellent Opinion article by Labour’s Left Wing mayor of Salford in today’s Guardian . He’s only stating the ‘bleedin obvious ‘ – but the ‘bleedin obvious’ needs to be restated repeatedly, ie, that Labour’s huge vote gain in 2017 was directly because of its Left social democratic policy bundle (and its commitment to ‘respect the EU Referendum outcome’ of course), whereas the huge defeat in 2019 was NOT due to that same Left policy bundle suddenly , inexplicably, becoming massively unpopular . In reality it was due to another two and and half years of ceaseless sabotage by the Labour Right , and daily demonisation of Jeremy Corbyn by the entire MSM, AND the complete betrayal of our 2017 solemn promise to respect that EU Referendum result. A betrayal the UK ‘Left’ now has collective amnesia about – because this betrayal was supported wholeheartedly by most of Labour’s Left MPs too and most of that selfsame ‘Left’ , woke middle class, membership too – who constantly whine on about Starmer’s betrayal, and key role in the adoption of Labour’s disastrous Remain and 2nd Ref position in 2019, and forget theirs. .
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/21/labour-thrive-reprise-radical-values-salford
Up pops Zionist jpenney again trying to deflect attention away from the Zionist attrocities by appealing to the few on the left who were Leavers. Yet another example of the Zionist’s divide and conquer tactic.
Note the previous comments by jpenney who tried to blame Jeremy Corbyn for not being ‘left’ enough when in fact it was Corbyn’s criticisms of Israel to which he objected.
And up pipes jackanory t, who deflects from his complicity in backing the shithouse stammer to the hilt… So much so that anyone who questioned his motives was labelled fascist knuckledragger.
Yes, the same jackanory t who preferred to forego stammer’s Zionism right up until the point stammer shat on him, when he abandoned all pretence of trying to keep the UK in the EU.
Forget the UK has its own fascists to oust… Including the one jackanory helped to the party leadership.
Nope… If you don’t prioritise stating Israel are being a bunch a of bullies then youre the same knuckle-dragging fascist as you was when you told him hat stammer’s game was pre 2019 election.
Dearie me, nutty JackT – Still afraid to admit that by your special definition of who is a ‘Zionist’, Jeremy Corbyn, AND the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) are ‘Zionists ‘ , simply because they nowadays accept, however critically, the basic right of Israel to exist (within eventual boundaries set by International agreement with the Palestinians of course). JackT ! What a slippery, odious anti-Semite you are.
Your constant bringing up of ‘Zionism’ on this blog is apparently just aimed at both feeding your own conspiraloon obsession, and helping to discredit the Left – as a bunch of middle class, posturing, middle East politics obsessives who don’t give a toss about their local struggles to survive in neoliberal Tory Britain . Strange that currently ‘other Muslims’ are getting hammered, put in concentration camps, and pogromed by their local oppressors, as in Burma(Myanmar) by the Buddhist military , The Kurds in Syria and Iraq by Turkey, and in China of course. Obviously the ‘wrong sort of Muslim victim’, not being oppressed by Jews ?
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210517-ex-israeli-pilot-our-army-is-a-terrorist-organisation-run-by-war-criminals/
https://electronicintifada.net/content/warnings-israeli-fascism-should-be-heeded-not-condemned/32836
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/israeli-radio-incites-killing-expulsion-palestinian-citizens
Roger Waters at 8pm
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XWoRIztEWrQ
Diversionary posts, JackT. Still waiting for you to say whether Jeremy Corbyn and the PLO are ‘Zionists’, JackT. Your silence is deafening, you anti-Semitic conspiraloon. If you think they AREN’T, why not, by your daft, ignorant , definition, ‘litmus test’ ?
Toffee and jpenney two extremists whose extremism drives them to make silly and nonsensical claims. It’s difficult enough for those of us on the left to fight extremism from the right, let alone with a pair of clowns like you around. The two of you should grow up.
Maybe we could argue/discuss with passion but with civility.
Patrick Lawrence is adept at this. Try reading his latest article
http://patricklawrence.us/patrick-lawrence-1948-no-longer-shrouded-in-the-mists/
I am always a model of civility. Great article by the way.
Yes, as far as I recall, you are.