To be ashamed of the Labour Party leadership

[20nil]

Long term member, did not support Corbyn, but even I am surprised by quite how bad he's been.

Where is the opposition? I get that Brexit is difficult, but where is Labour on the collapse of the NHS, the explosion of homelessness, the decimation of local council funding and the ticking bomb that is school funding?

Why is it that we now look to the Lords, the Cof E and petitions to be the opposition?

Shocking state of affairs.

Neil Kinnock actually did all the hard graft early work of reforming the Labour party. It was he that kicked out the militants and agitators and he who took the flack and ridicule from elements who believed Labour was a joke that would never come back from the Michael Foot era.
John Smith, then Tony Blair carried on the work that he started.

I think the trouble is that no-one of any stature wants to commit political suicide by becoming Labour leader right now. That leaves them with little alternative to JC.

I hear David Milliband mentioned. He may come back to politics - he hasn't ruled it out - but he certainly won't come back right now and he isn't what's needed yet. They need another reformer who will do all the land clearing, who doesn't care about getting their hands dirty.

The same sort of thing happened with the Conservative party after John Major's defeat.

Cross post

Great minds think alike tanith.

Totally agree Kinnock most certainly did the hard graft and paid for it. The press hated him for making labour electable again for Blaire to step in and win.

But who could be the reformer?

And yes also agree Foot didnr have the stranglehold on the party like Corbyn does. He's bindweed and strangling labour now.

People are drawing analogies with Michael Foot which I partly agree with but Michael Foot had a huge amount of integrity and was an intellectual

It's insulting to Foot to make a comparison.

a Paul Mason piece arguing that the Blairite plot to lose two bye-election seats in one night has failed

Paul Mason gets more and more bonkers.

I did think it was satire, then decided he must have lost it medium.com/mosquito-ridge/labour-won-stoke-jamie-reed-lost-copeland-b21b85662e9e#.zfp8n8j61

David Milliband He's too smarmy. That's my gut reaction.
Theresa May and the Tories are high in the polls because even though they may not 'like' them they trust them to do a tough job. I don't think people want another Oxford PPE graduate.
www.theguardian.com/education/2017/feb/23/ppe-oxford-university-degree-that-rules-britain

Michael Foot was a very cerebral man who spoke passionately at rallies. The press crucified him for wearing a 'donkey jacket'

I think Kinnock was an innovator in changing Labour into a more mainstream party. His problem was he was Welsh and he fell on a beach. Also the turn the light bulb out. It was the msm, mainly right wing in this country, and they still have the power to influence. Bacon sandwich comes to mind.

There are many excellent Labour MPs who could take up the mantle but I suspect they really don't want their private lives put under a severe fine tooth comb with regard to the media.

Blair got on board with the right wing media and that is what got him and Labour into power.

I also think that it is white middle aged men who are stoking the power of Corbyn, and the links with POTUS and this demographic are demonstrable in both countries.

Great post Elendon

In recent times the biggest mistake ever made by Labour was to reject David Miliband. The disaster that was his brother has directly led to this latest disaster. Your party is in free fall.

May's position is perilous at the moment, but her Party know this. It's a very slim majority, hence why Copeland should have been won. This is the fault of leadership on the side of the losing team. No doubt about it.

Thank you Derxa. My time in local politics have not been lost after all.

Michael Foot absolutely did have the same strangle hold on the party as Corbyn does

Difference is the way politics plays out down to social media

He was fully supported by the unions that had had a stranglehold on the UK in the late 70's

If he didn't have their support he would wouldn't have been leader Denis Healy would have probably won and Thatchers decade highly possible wouldn't have been

Under his leadership the party split we lost good politicians who formed the SDP Labour couldn't possibly win and Kinnock did start the changes in the party that lead to Blair winning three consecutive elections

Though MF was a far more intelligent person than Corbyn could have hope to be but he wanted the party to be a socialist party it was him an Benn that should have formed their own party not make the party into something they desired (and once again the similarities of being out of touch with the working class and knowing what is best for them)

Both men (unlike Corbyn) were principled and intelligent politicians just not the reformers they wanted to to be

And both would have been behind Corbyn 100% he is following their legacy

Just doesn't have their intelligence, charm or charisma is in an agitator where I believe they were principled

enthusiasm agree with you 100%.

Michael foot had charm and d

I'm not sure about that Enthusiam. What springs to mind is Callaghan and the 'Winter of discontent' regarding the unions. Foot may well have appealed to the Unions, but he was no reformer. A lovely man, highly principled, but he was very uncomfortable with his remit and knew when to go.

It wasn't just the breakaway Liberals at that time, it was also Scotland too.

Bugger charm and decency.

And I absolutkry agree too Elendon regarding Kinnock being Welsh there was a lot of nasty, would it be racism??? Around that aspect which we wouldn't see today. Hopefully.

I had/have a lot of time for Kinnock. I never took to Foot.

Rugby, who would I like as leader? Tough one! I really like Alan Johnson but he's ruled himself out and had no leader ambitions. I used to like Chuka Umunna but I can't quite work him out now. I know he's unpopular with many but I have time for Hilary Benn. I'm wondering about Tom Watson? I know he goes the part line now but he was very involved in the coup. Maybe I'm getting desperate?

Would like Ed Balls to have a crack now but with his not even being an MP that's s bit difficult!

I'm quite a centralist. Very unpopular with that member vote but I thought Liz Kendall came across well.

Any other ideas very welcome

*toes the party line

I think if May called an election tomorrow, and won with a larger majority, Corbyn still wouldn't stand down.

Jess Phillips, Keir Starmer, Yvette Cooper, Dan Jarvis. All are contenders.

lumberJack yes good list. I find Hillary Benn very impressive but think too posh I know that's silly but just thinking of the votes here.

My favourite was Alan Johnson too. And Yvette cooper.

I agree I don't think Corbyn will ever resign. He's power mad.

What I would really like is someone who could see the broad church aspect of the Labour Party as a strength, and find ways to build on that and compromise. Is that absurdly idealistic? I don't think Corbyn's wing of the party will ever be trusted on defence etc because of their schoolboy posturing and terrible judgement but I think JC managed to shift the argument a bit on austerity (now overtaken by events) and if he had been a better leader and able to work with the economists making that case, that could have been interesting.

I think Clive Lewis annoyed people recently over Art50 but I approved of his stance on Trident - not a fan myself but the country and the party are and we have debated it endlessly - so let's move on and fight a battle we can win.