Agenda 2019

Blairites launch bid to  topple  Jeremy Corbyn Margaret Hodge,  Ann Coffey and Jeremy Corbyn   During the course of the past few days, since the result of the EU membership referendum was announced in fact, the conspirators within the Parliamentary Labour Party (the PLP) seem to have been emboldened in their crusade to remove Jeremy Corbyn from the leadership. A crusade which has been smoldering within the PLP and supported by the media, has now been given impetus by the PLP disappointment with the referendum result and has encouraged the conspirators to break cover and table a "no confidence" motion in the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Over the past 36 hours, Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey have tabled a "no confidence" motion, to be closely followed by John Mann (who will grasp any opportunity to advance his own agenda), adding his "weight" to the "Plot". Caroline Flint Tristram Hunt ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyns-labour-party-must-leave-behind-internal-feuding-and-start-talking-to-voters-a6734106.html Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party must leave behind internal feuding and start talking to voters Jeremy Corbyn Labour Party must leave behind internal feuding and start talking to voters. I agree absolutely. Tell Tristram Hunt, Danczuk, Umunna, Flint, Kendall and the other usual suspects, to shut up, accept the decision and get on with targeting to Conservatives and their pernicious policies rather than plotting and undermining the party with self indulgent and divisive sour grapes because they lost the leadership arguments. Political debate has moved on, Blairism is dead and the electorate now have a distinct choice.          To those habitual moaners who seek to satisfy their own ego's and further their own ambitions by constantly filling  the media with ...

  http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/in-this-24-hour-media-age-a-divided-party-will-always-damage-itself-a6692961.html The outcry over John McDonnell’s "U-turn" reflects a potential gulf between sections of the PLP and the Labour leader and the PLP and the party membership. The media obsession with splits and divisions within the Labour Party continues unabated. The gulf between sections of the PLP and the Labour leader and the PLP and the party membership, provides the media and television, with the opportunity to emphasise, exaggerate and exploit (usually in support of their Conservative patrons) a debate which has been taking place for decades.     Since the 1908's there have always been the Tristram Hunts, Liz Kendalls, Ben Bradshaw's  and others going back to the Shirley Williams, David Owen's and the Roy Jenkins, who share the same view. They believe that they alone have the monopoly of ide...

  http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeremy-corbyn-will-not-spark-defections-from-the-labour-party--just-a-civil-war-10509520.html Jeremy Corbyn will not spark defections from the Labour Party - just a civil war John Rentoul   In his article on Monday 14th September, John Rentoul demonstrated his acute disappointment, pique and frustration that his preference gained little support in the Labour party leadership contest. Today his article, in another thinly veiled criticism of Jeremy Corbyn, argues that the election of Corbyn will not spark defections from the Labour Party, just a civil war. Rentoul goes on to state that “Left-winger's internal opponents do not want to abandon ship for the Lib Dems, but they do want their party back”, conveniently ignoring the simple truism, that in fact the party “belongs” to its members, and not an elitist clique within the Parliamentary Labour Party. Rentoul may well rue the day when Blair was consigned to history...

  http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/dont-mistake-the-freshfaced-enthusiasm-that-jeremy-corbyn-has-inspired-for-a-new-politics-10499227.html Don’t mistake the fresh-faced enthusiasm that Jeremy Corbyn has inspired for a 'new politics'   This is not a movement – it is a sense of frustration looking for people to betray it     John Rentoul: a "Labour-leaning journalist" with slavish admiration for Tony Blair       John Rentoul really is a spiteful and vindictive individual, and bad looser which seems to be typical of those sharing his side of the Labour party. Moreover he is wrong. By venting his spleen against Jeremy Corbyn, who after all gained a stunning victory with 59.5% of the votes cast from all sectors of the party in the leadership election, (a figure which Blair came no way near to achieving) Rentoul reveals his acute disappointment, pique and frustration that his preference gained little support. Th...

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/08/labour-up-to-eight-shadow-cabinet-members-may-refuse-to-serve-with-corbyn   As many as eight members of the shadow cabinet are considering declaring that they cannot serve on  if Jeremy Corbyn is elected as Labour leader.   In this article, (against which incidentally, the Guardian does not provide the reader with a "comments" section in which to reply), the Guardian make great play on a new faction of the Labour party which it calls "refuseniks", echoing the days of Soviet Russia where the label was an " unofficial term for individuals, typically but not exclusively Soviet Jews, who were denied permission to emigrate by the authorities of the former Soviet Union and other countries of the Eastern bloc". The comparison may have some significance for the editorial board of the Guardian, but it certainly escapes me. However the Guardian, who you will recall nailed its colours to t...

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/01/labour-jeremy-corbyn-chuka-umunna We must all work with Jeremy Corbyn, says Chuka Umunna Chuka Umunna: "We must accept the result of our contest when it comes" It is said that "a week is a long time in politics". Chuka Umunna, the Blairite prodigy who could not endure the spotlight on him, his family and his friends,  coming from the press and media during his short period as a prospective   leadership candidate, has however taken some 15 weeks, since May in fact, to reach the view that "We must all work with Jeremy Corbyn", and then going on to say that we must "not make the mistake of giving the impression that electability requires the party to ditch its principles" Now this seems a little different from his position of a few short months ago, but is a welcome departure from the idea that winning elections is the overriding intention,  no matter how many principles or commitments...