Excited about the Labour leadership announcement

Another born and bred northerner who can't stand Jeremy Corbyn - who, by the way, is about as metropolitan elite as they come. All he does is pop on his crumpled suit, bumble around looking a bit bewilderedsuit trot out a few soundbites ("I think we can all agree that food should taste nice") and people think he's principled and a man of the people.

I loved the bit where Ken commented that his wife found J Corbyn to be the nicest man she'd ever met!

It did make me laugh..

Bakewell, small mercies ?

I read Lilian Greenwood's account of trying to work with JC again the other day. Just awful.

i can't vote for anyone else, i won't campaign for that man (or Seumas/John who are the puppetmasters here)

'I consider Corbyn to be a wretched puritan and McDonnell, well he'd happily spit in someone's tea.'

I think that is a pretty accurate summation. I am not saying it is commendable, only that the great and the good are flummoxed by what has happened. It is a revolution - Corbyn, McDonnell and Abbott, long derided and laughed at by the 172, now in charge of affairs.

On a more positive note Ken Livingstone didn't mention Hitler last night on TV!

Hodd, yeah, that's more or less how I feel....but the rule book says you have to vote Labour. I am a rule follower to a fault and just feel rather....compromised...but I think the circumstances are exceptional. Oh hell.

claig: I consider Corbyn to be a wretched puritan and McDonnell, well he'd happily spit in someone's tea..

Neither of these types appeal to this traditional Northerner's sensibilities.

Find some more worthy heroes.

I'm very depressed that Corbyn will probably win. Oh well

i know 3 of the 172 well enough to ask what happened and have 'an in' on what did.

I will not vote for that man. I will not campaign for the party full.I have nowhere to go, but am not going anywhere because that's what the infiltrators want, and the can sod off, it's not their party.

'Today I read that 50% of voters who backed Labour in the GE AND voted for Brexit no longer support Labour.'

Probably because of Owen Smith and his suicidal 172 opposition to Brexit policy. Total disrespect of the voters by the "we know best metropolitan elite on expenses".

claig I will believe this so called mass support for Corbyn led Labour when I see it translated into a public vote. Not that I think Owen Smith would have fared much better.

Today I read that 50% of voters who backed Labour in the GE AND voted for Brexit no longer support Labour.

Once my slow brain digested this and formulated its own internal Venn representation, I realised that: Bingo! That's me.

Thanks Rorty, I agree [virtual handshake across political divide]. I thought Owen could have been a stopgap solution to stop electoral wipeout and have some functioning opposition, with a new leader taking over after the next GE to rebuild properly.

utterly depresses me to say, I'd rather the tories stayed in power than JC actually got into government.

lifelong labour voter, joined party to vote against JC, couldn't get excited when Owen signed up to JC's policies, can't vote labour in any capacity when he's the leader, he's splintered the labour party and had a lot of far left groups infiltrate it - I loathe him, I've got not a shred of respect for him.

Absolutely Solo although I may have to disagree a bit about Milliband. Some may have thought he was too left wing but to an awful lot of people he came over as a bit of a bumbling idiot. Combined with the fact that he 'forgot' to mention the economy in his conference speech the autumn before the election just made him look ridiculous.

Can anyone seriously see Corbyn in discussions with world leaders - they would laugh their heads off. Not to mention he would happily hand this country over to any of his 'chums' listed upthread without a backward glance.

In the 2015 election the Conservatives won 330 and Labour won 232 seats.

1. Milliband, Lost votes to the conservatives in 2015, loosing key marginals in the south. Milliband stood of a soft left platform, but Red Ed as the Conservatives portrayed him lost seats in the South to the conservatives indicating that voters considered him too left wing.

Scotland, Labour lost all but 1 of their seats in Scotland in 2015, there is no indication that they will be able to pull back a significant number of seats from the SNP at the moment. Meaning they need to take more seats from the Tories in 2020, people who voted for Cameron in 2015.

Boundary changes - Parliament could loose 50 seats by 2020, 30 of these are Labour held, yet again making it even harder to get a majority.

Does any one seriously think that Corbyn's curious mix of big state socialism, support for terrorist organisation and dislike of the US and NATO is going to win the votes of those who voted for Cameron a little over a year ago?

Lalsy I totally agree with you that the lack of an effective opposition is bad for the country. Whoever is in Government should be held accountable by the Oppposition but it certainly isn't by Labour at the moment. That will obviously get worse if and when it splits into two, all for one man's ego.

I don't see Owen Smith as being the solution either. There must be someone who isn't loony left, who is personable, politically savvy who can heal the Party and lead it forward. If not, then RIP and I feel genuinely sorry for real Labour supporters.

Rorty the usual reply from Corbyn supporters to his links with terrorists is well governments sell weapons to Saudi

And that will hopefully be stopped soon but what they don't get is that governements have to work with governments good and bad, on our side and those that are not

the majority of the press are happy for corbyn to be leading the labour party the longer he is the longer the tories stay in power, no tory is concerned about labout winning an election at the moment, the press mock him but the run up to an election it will be completely different

this is how bad things are around 40% of Labour voters would prefer May to be PM that Corbyn, I am included in that 40% and so are many people I know not because I am a torylite or redtory or Blairite but because I can see that May can run a government and deal with the pressures that come with being in talks with presidents and leaders of other countries I do not have that confidence on Corbyn at all

*party politics

Rorty I'm on the other side to you politically but agree with your assessment of the situation. And they (Corbyn and his circle) don't care about Labour being being electable, although they pretend to, of course. They'd much rather have a party which is ideologically pure - anything else is incidental.

I imagine a lot of conservatives think this is wonderful and Labour can go hang for all they care, but they should care. It's bigger than pay politics. The party in government needs an effective opposition and there just isn't one. I'm genuinely worried about what happens next.

Rorty, genuine question, I understand why you are pleased and wondered whether you think the lack of an effective opposition is a good thing for the country? I don't think it is, because of the lack of scrutiny and accountability, and because it makes political engagement seem pointless. I agree with you about how damning that list is.

Wow... 70% of the membership signed up after the last election. I'm another long term supporter in despair here. Leaving it to Corbyn to lose in 2020 is not good enough... There will be years and years of uncontested Tory government. And with Corbyn you get McDonell, Livingston, Abbott and a whole host of other treats. Not just as a member but as a labour voter this really does feel like a hostile takeover.

'A "mass movement" of people in the political minority'

Not necessarily. Very few people bother joining parties in general, most of us aren't interested. No one cares a hoot about Cameron or Osborne etc and very few people bother joining stuff like that. The fact that so many people (in unprecedented numbers) have joined Labour shows that something amazing is going on. These are ordinary people, students, teachers, trade unionists, environmentalists etc etc and they have decided to join because they feel they can influence events and have a say and they believe it is important that they do so in order to defeat the great and the good and prevent them from retaking control of Labour and not providing the kind of politics and society that they are looking for.

Behind each one of the hundreds of thousands who have joined, there are 10 others who agree with them but have not joined. No other party has such enthusiastic support in such large numbers. It is incredible and if Corbyn plays it right, puts the 172 back in their box, and speaks to the people with a new political message, then he could deliver the hope and change that most people are looking for and never believed would be allowed by the great and the good.

A "mass movement" of people in the political minority, making a longstanding political party unelectable and providing poor opposition to the incumbent government. Depressing.