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Corbyn sacks Hilary Benn, Half Shadow cabinet expected to resign today (Labour)

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Maledict

Member
From an American perspective, it just looks like you guys are having a good old-fashioned party realignment. The problem is that the UK hasn't ever, to my knowledge, had one of those. (I mean probably there were some about, like, Jacobites, but nothing that made Wikipedia.)

Given that you guys have a multiparty system you'd really expect other parties to emerge and sideline the Tories and Labour. Theoretically, that would be UKIP and the Lib Dems, I guess. But the two main parties may just be too entrenched to be dislodged and so they're undergoing massive upheaval instead just as they would in America.

We're a first past the post parliamentary system. Whilst it doesn't shut out third parties as badly as the USAs system, it does basically prevent there being three equal sized parties at the top. Last time we had a proper realignment the labour party replaced the liberal party completely.

It's very, very hard to do that though - if the lib dems didn't have the tuition fees fiasco behind them, they might be able to replace labour by being the most pro-EU party. But UKIP will never replace the Tories.
 
Labour are such a disaster...I mean the Tories are in a genuine crisis for the time being, and Labour some how come out looking even more clownish. And gthen they blame it all on the one guy who many tried to sabotage from the start. What a shit show. I do hope the split, it would be the only intellectually honest thing to do. Personally, I would espouse the party playing the long game and building a meaningful, alternative political platform to the Tories. Which means they might not get in the next election, but give the Tories more time and they will inevitably fuck up even more, and people will be ready for change. We need less pyrric victories...
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
We did have a massive party realignment before - between '75 and '95 both the Labour and Conservative parties changed significantly and the Liberal Democrats were born. The relative stability in party platform from Blair onwards until the end of the Coalition is relatively anomalous.

It's just that normally party realignments were top-down affairs. This is very much bottom-up.
 

phisheep

NeoGAF's Chief Barrister
Eight days until the Chilcot enquiry gets published.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that this publication would be seen as a welcome relief from the shitstorm engulfing UK politics.
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Labour are such a disaster...I mean the Tories are in a genuine crisis for the time being, and Labour some how come out looking even more clownish. And gthen they blame it all on the one guy who many tried to sabotage from the start. What a shit show. I do hope the split, it would be the only intellectually honest thing to do. Personally, I would espouse the party playing the long game and building a meaningful, alternative political platform to the Tories. Which means they might not get in the next election, but give the Tories more time and they will inevitably fuck up even more, and people will be ready for change. We need less pyrric victories...

They can't split, though. We have a first past the post system; any party split is tantamount to electoral suicide. The '80s should be lesson enough of that.
 

tomtom94

Member
If they can convince Watson to stand against Corbyn, or some of the union support to break ranks, then they might have a chance against Corbyn's mandate from the membership.
 
Labour's Bloody Sunday:

Cl514-NWIAAfTKe.jpg

There's two eagles and a falconer in that mob.
 

mclem

Member
Cameron has just resigned and Labour is busy tearing itself apart. Looks like they've taken a page out of the Australian Labor Party's book.

It's the Lib Dem's chance to shine! After all, if they tear themselves apart, all that really means is they'll have to travel to parliament in two separate cars rather than a minibus.
 
Holy shit, this makes the mess down here in Australia look calm and civilised.

Cameron has just resigned and Labour is busy tearing itself apart. Looks like they've taken a page out of the Australian Labor Party's book.

Oh, this insanity makes the last six or so years of Australian politics look like a fucking picnic. None of the three PMs who got knocked off down here were openly loathed by their own party establishments (Labor tolerated Kevin Rudd until they decided they wanted him gone, Gillard was reluctantly removed in favor of Rudd so the election wouldn't be an even worse bloodbath, and Tony Abbot was outright loved by the right-wing of his own party but was so incompetent that they eventually had to remove him to avoid getting slaughtered at the election), and no Labor or Liberal leader has performed a head-hunting exercise of this scale.

At least we have a preferential system rather than FPTP, I'm surprised the Brits haven't followed our lead yet, FPTP is terrible for government elections.
 

Par Score

Member
From an American perspective, it just looks like you guys are having a good old-fashioned party realignment. The problem is that the UK hasn't ever, to my knowledge, had one of those. (I mean probably there were some about, like, Jacobites, but nothing that made Wikipedia.)

We've had plenty of those. Labour and what are now the Lib Dems have gone through two each in my lifetime alone. The SNP too.
 

bomma_man

Member
Holy shit, this makes the mess down here in Australia look calm and civilised.



Oh, this insanity makes the last six or so years of Australian politics look like a fucking picnic. None of the three PMs who got knocked off down here were openly loathed by their own party establishments (Labor tolerated Kevin Rudd until they decided they wanted him gone, Gillard was reluctantly removed in favor of Rudd so the election wouldn't be an even worse bloodbath, and Tony Abbot was outright loved by the right-wing of his own party but was so incompetent that they eventually had to remove him to avoid getting slaughtered at the election), and no Labor or Liberal leader has performed a head-hunting exercise of this scale.

At least we have a preferential system rather than FPTP, I'm surprised the Brits haven't followed our lead yet, FPTP is terrible for government elections.

They had their chance but they rejected it in a referendum.

...I can see a pattern forming.
 

darkace

Banned
Holy shit, this makes the mess down here in Australia look calm and civilised.



Oh, this insanity makes the last six or so years of Australian politics look like a fucking picnic. None of the three PMs who got knocked off down here were openly loathed by their own party establishments (Labor tolerated Kevin Rudd until they decided they wanted him gone, Gillard was reluctantly removed in favor of Rudd so the election wouldn't be an even worse bloodbath, and Tony Abbot was outright loved by the right-wing of his own party but was so incompetent that they eventually had to remove him to avoid getting slaughtered at the election), and no Labor or Liberal leader has performed a head-hunting exercise of this scale.

We've also never had such an ineffectual leader electorally and as a leader. Corbyn is an absolute joke.
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
The Labour Party is now functionally two parties, the new cabinet is almost all Corbynites.
 

Jezbollah

Member
BBC Breaking News ‏@BBCBreaking 25s25 seconds ago
Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson tells Jeremy Corbyn to resign, after spate of UK shadow cabinet resignations

Yep. Half an hour after "sources" say he didnt ask JC to resign.
 

darkace

Banned
The Labour Party is now functionally two parties, the new cabinet is almost all Corbynites.

This is what happens when you have an ideologue as leader. People more concerned with ideological purity than practical outcomes ensure you get neither.
 

klonere

Banned
Nothing like a good old liberal purity test purge.

Glorious Leader must be assured that his army will not waver in their devotion to him /s
 

Tak3n

Banned
If Corbyn runs again it is going to be a bloodbath if he gets returned to power...

the PLP will be literally on bended knee to Dan Jarvis right about now
 

Par Score

Member
Looks like Lisa Nandy might run against Corbyn, and as a Corbyn supporter she's someone who might tempt me away from him.

Solidly on the Left of the party, elected in 2010 so post Blair/Brown and still fresh, potentially more able to get the rest of the PLP on side.

This is what happens when you have an ideologue as leader. People more concerned with ideological purity than practical outcomes ensure you get neither.
Nothing like a good old liberal purity test purge.

Glorious Leader must be assured that his army will not waver in their devotion to him /s

For fucks sake. These people fucking resigned, and Corbyn has to replace them with people willing to take the job. Those people are unsurprisingly more inclined to his point of view.

But of course you know all this and just want to engage in needless shit stirring.
 

Blue Lou

Member
Apparently..

“It seemed a bit odd – ‘Why the hell didn’t you bring them with you, Jeremy?’ So we all bowl along to his bedsit, follow Jeremy into the room; there on the mattress on the floor in the one room is Diane with the duvet up to her neck, saying: ‘What the ****’s going on?’

“We were quite shaken. You know what it’s like when people you know both sides of break up – you have no inkling they’re going to break up, then suddenly they break up. So there was a bit of people’s surprise at that. It was [the] late ’70s, it was still a point of interest, a white man with a black woman, so he was slightly showing off: ‘I’ve got a new girlfriend, and she’s black’.”
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Doesn't matter. It shows that he would rather surround himself with yes people than own up to his criticism.

This, at least, is unfair. Corbyn's first cabinet included a very wide spread of the party including some who vehemently disagreed with him. Corbyn has never really gone for purity politics, or at least, went for purity politics less than e.g. Blair. Corbyn's cabinet is now stacked with Corbynites because he doesn't have anyone else.
 

darkace

Banned
For fucks sake. These people fucking resigned, and Corbyn has to replace them with people willing to take the job. Those people are unsurprisingly more inclined to his point of view.

But of course you know all this and just want to engage in needless shit stirring.

If Corbyn was interested in outcomes he would have resigned. He's incapable of controlling the message. He's incapable of leading the Labour party to anything but a landslide defeat. He doesn't appeal to anybody but the true believers.

But he's super duper ideologically pure, and that's what matters.
 

TrueBlue

Member
I made the prediction that Corbyn might not be successful as a leader, but that his premiership might be a catalyst for a wider move to the left for Labour.

I hope I'm right.
 

PowderedToast

Junior Member
evidence for how corbyn would bring a landslide defeat? considering he won with a huge mandate and assuming you're not just regurgitating tory-rhetoric such as 'unelectable', which is still being spouted even AFTER he was elected.

centrist abandonment of the working class is what left labour is such an irrelevant state. now people want to go back to that. good luck.
 

Hazzuh

Member
evidence for how corbyn would bring a landslide defeat? considering he won with a huge mandate and assuming you're not just regurgitating tory-rhetoric such as 'unelectable', which is still being spouted even AFTER he was elected.

centrist abandonment of the working class is what left labour is such an irrelevant state. now people want to go back to that. good luck.

In a recent poll, 30% of Labour voters in 2015 said they would not vote for the party under Corbyn. Corbyn doesn't understand working class voters, even if he claims to speak for them.
 

darkace

Banned
evidence for how corbyn would bring a landslide defeat? considering he won with a huge mandate and assuming you're not just regurgitating tory-rhetoric such as 'unelectable', which is still being spouted even AFTER he was elected.

centrist abandonment of the working class is what left labour is such an irrelevant state. now people want to go back to that. good luck.

Socialism doesn't help the working class. They don't want it, nor should they. It's awful.

The working class loved Blair Labour. They have no interest in a far-left labour. Honestly you guys sound like the Republicans who think they just need to select a more pure Republican for the moderates to vote for them.

The Labour party true believers are not at all representative of the people as a whole. Something like a third of Labour voters wont vote for a Corbyn led Labour party.
 
In a recent poll, 30% of Labour voters in 2015 said they would not vote for the party under Corbyn. Corbyn doesn't understand working class voters, even if he claims to speak for them.

As someone who voted for Ed Miliband was genuinely sorry to see him lose, I have no confidence in Corbyn and would never vote for him. I would sooner see Boris or May rather than Corbyn in Number 10.
 

Condom

Member
Socialism doesn't help the working class. They don't want it, nor should they. It's awful.

The working class loved Blair Labour. They have no interest in a far-left labour. Honestly you guys sound like the Republicans who think they just need to select a more pure Republican for the moderates to vote for them.

The Labour party true believers are not at all representative of the people as a whole. Something like a third of Labour voters wont vote for a Corbyn led Labour party.
Oh wow why don't you join the libdems and leave labour alone please. Labour is a social Democratic party not some liberal movement. What is this for kind of idiocy? It's even worse than I thought.

If England isn't leftwing enough then they should be persuaded, hard left policies ARE better for the working class. That's the whole point of them.
 

Lashley

Why does he wear the mask!?
As someone who voted for Ed Miliband was genuinely sorry to see him lose, I have no confidence in Corbyn and would never vote for him. I would sooner see Boris or May rather than Corbyn in Number 10.

My exact thoughts, except for bolded.
 

Hazzuh

Member
As someone who voted for Ed Miliband was genuinely sorry to see him lose, I have no confidence in Corbyn and would never vote for him. I would sooner see Boris or May rather than Corbyn in Number 10.

While I definitely don't agree, I can totally understand why you and many other people feel like that. Unfortunately, these are the sorts choices people will be forced to make in the upcoming election.

Oh wow why don't you join the libdems and leave labour alone please. Labour is a social Democratic party not some liberal movement. What is this for kind of idiocy? It's even worse than I thought.

If England isn't leftwing enough then they should be persuaded, hard left policies ARE better for the working class. That's the whole point of them.

This country pursued socialist policies when we had a labour movement, with a political wing which was the Labour party. Unfortunately, that movement has been dead for 30+ years. Destroyed from within as much as without. People voted for Corbyn because they wanted social democracy without having any of the things which led to it. No single politician can deliver the policies you want, it requires a movement that could take years (decades) to build.
 
Oh wow why don't you join the libdems and leave labour alone please. Labour is a social Democratic party not some liberal movement. What is this for kind of idiocy? It's even worse than I thought.

If England isn't leftwing enough then they should be persuaded, hard left policies ARE better for the working class. That's the whole point of them.

Don't worry about him. He's just an undergrad who's done a semester of economics 101 and never had a real job in the real world.
 

faridmon

Member
He's utterly delusional. If nobody gave a shit about the cabinet he scraped together from Miliband's offcuts, I can only imagine how irrelevant the new one will be. That's if he survives long enough to announce it.

Yeah.

He have been pathetic and utterly demolerised every time he comments on anything Conservative related policies with no much conviction. And now he sacks couple while the rest, just walk out because they don't believe in him.

I am baffled on how some people are still saying that he should go on considering how damaged Labour is right now and many of it stemmed from his incompetence.
 

darkace

Banned
Oh wow why don't you join the libdems and leave labour alone please. Labour is a social Democratic party not some liberal movement. What is this for kind of idiocy? It's even worse than I thought.

If England isn't leftwing enough then they should be persuaded, hard left policies ARE better for the working class. That's the whole point of them.

Yea hard left policies like protectionism and subsidies. They're just wonderful for the working class. That's why they have the backing of exactly zero economists.

Hard left policies are much more about moral signalling than actual outcomes.

Even leaving aside the nuances of their policies, ideological purity is useless in governance. You need to temper it with pragmatism, or you get neither purity nor outcomes.
 

Omikaru

Member
It's Defence Questions today, and Labour's new Shadow Defence Secretary Clive Lewis may not make the meeting due to being in Glastonbury.

Considering the country is now in a deep crisis, I think it's crazy that our elected representatives are partying in Glastonbury. I mean, I'm not opposed to them having fun, but the country is quickly unravelling itself and all they can do is hang around in a field kicking shit all over the place. Quite frankly, whether you are in the shadow cabinet or not, it should be all hands on deck. You should either be in your constituency speaking to the people who elected you, or in parliament doing your job.

As for Corbyn, he's lost my support. I like him and many of his stances are stances I agree with, but the guy just doesn't inspire anything at all. I think he's a nice guy and while I didn't become a Labour supporter or member to elect him, I was broadly in support of choosing him over the rest of them and I still think he was the best of the bunch post-Miliband.

The left needs unity, and while I don't think the Blairites are doing anyone a favour by staging a coup when the narrative should be about the Tories selling the country's future for an electoral advantage in the 2015 GE, I do also think that Corbyn needs to go. He inherited a shitshow not of his own making (that is Tony Blair's fault, in the end) and devoted what remained of the party to his pet projects.
 
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