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Brexit
Original poster

Andrea Leadsom - please stand for leadership!

684 replies

Millyonthefloss2 · 29/06/2016 10:46

Anyone agree?

OP posts:
Vri123 · 07/07/2016 20:09

It was a bit before I had much awareness of politics, but breaking away from a hard-left Labour party by moderates - I guess they'd call themselves "Progressives" now - has already been tried.

The Gang of Four (Labour big hitters in their day) broke away and formed the SDP in 1981. I was still a child, but I remember the fuss it caused, so it must have been a very big deal. They were supposed to sweep the board at the next elections, but they got nowhere and eventually merged into the liberal party. Now the name Lib-Dem seems to be dying out, so they didn't even leave enough of a mark to do achieve that.

I am guessing that the Labour MPs don't want the same fate for themselves, especially as there isn't that much evidence that the majority of their electorate actually want their kind of politics.

Vri123 · 07/07/2016 20:12

Actually, now that i think of it, history really is repeating itself. The Tory party were extremely unpopular under Margaret Thatcher at that time, but they were able to stay in power for well over a decade and do things they'd never have got away with otherwise (miner's strike, poll tax) because the Labour party wasn't making itself electable.

roundaboutthetown · 07/07/2016 20:36

Some form of proportional representation and more parties to choose from would be good at times like this - people might actually be able to vote for something they believed in and politicians might actually stand for what they believed in, too. We got the Government we deserve with our voting system - one that the majority of people really didn't want at all.

ManonLescaut · 07/07/2016 20:57

This is a different situation though, SDP was formed of only 28 Labour MPs.

Whereas in this case 80% of Labour MPs voted no confidence in Corbyn, which is 172. If they all broke away, it would turn Corbyn & mates into the SDPs. (That is a great insult to the SDPs - who were really quite good). If that happened I doubt all 40 who supported Corbyn in the vote would stay.

ManonLescaut · 07/07/2016 20:59

I should say the turnout was 95%.

roundaboutthetown · 07/07/2016 21:24

It wouldn't turn Corbyn and mates into the SDP, as he has entirely different principles. You may entirely disagree with his principles, but he does have a few more of them than 80% of the Labour Party, who stand for I know not what (whatever they think the right wing press might support them on?). I think they do need to break away and work out what the hell they actually think they stand for, rather than just telling themselves it's not Jeremy Corbyn. "We are not the Jeremy Corbyn Party" is not going to win them any votes. Nor is their old trick of being rather right wing, but more extravagant than average.

ManonLescaut · 07/07/2016 21:31

You're taking my post a bit literally, I don't mean he will espouse SDP politics I meant simply that he would end up the much smaller party.

JC has absolutely no principles whatsoever, but the tenacity of a terrier.

roundaboutthetown · 07/07/2016 21:43

No, I think he does have principles, but not necessarily characteristics that make him a good leader, or appealing to the majority of the country. But then this is a country that stomached Bliar for years.

roundaboutthetown · 07/07/2016 21:46

It seems to me our political parties just scramble to become whatever they think the right wing press will support them to be.

ManonLescaut · 07/07/2016 21:56

Either way he's a tit.

roundaboutthetown · 07/07/2016 22:00

Blue, coal, or great? Grin

ManonLescaut · 07/07/2016 22:11

All three.

JudyCoolibar · 07/07/2016 22:19

Oh, for God's sake, now she wants to bring back fox hunting. Does it not occur to her that there are one or two rather more urgent issues at the forefront of people's minds at the moment? You have to be stupid to want to bring it back, but you have to be even more stupid to think that is even a sensible issue to mention at this point.

squoosh · 07/07/2016 22:29

Well of course she does. As everyone who wants to see foxhunting re-introduced is a paid up Tory party member who is currently pondering who to vote for.

roundaboutthetown · 07/07/2016 22:31

Tally Ho.

Girlgonewild · 08/07/2016 07:45

(To be fair on the hunting issue it genuinely does cross all classes in the countryside)

ErrolTheDragon · 08/07/2016 07:56

Oh, FFS, foxhunting? Hopefully though tory members will be thinking more about their savings and pension funds and so want whoever is best for the economy.

Re the ornithology - obviously, bearded (a few days ago there was a little joke in the Times re BBC bias, at the point Stephen Crabb was still on the card, pointing out that their bird of the day was the bearded tit).

UnderTheGreenwoodTree · 08/07/2016 10:05

I was so pleased when fox-hunting was banned - by Blair, in fact, and at a time when I was still a bit of a Blair hero-worshipper (ie. pre-Iraq).

But Blair has since said '“If I’d proposed solving the pension problem by compulsory euthanasia for every fifth pensioner I’d have got less trouble for it.”

rookiemere · 08/07/2016 10:08

Those foxes could be a valuable source of protein when supermarket prices rise so much that people can't afford chicken any more.

ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe · 08/07/2016 10:17

Has she published her tax returns yet?

BreakingDad77 · 08/07/2016 10:20

It seems to me our political parties just scramble to become whatever they think the right wing press will support them to be.

Agreed the falling over each other at the last election to out austerity each other was disgusting.

ArcheryAnnie · 08/07/2016 10:45

I'm 21 pages in, I know, but the thought of a anti-gay, anti-single-parent, BNP-endorsed truth-embellisher with no experience at all of government, having their finger on the nuclear button, is not helping with my chronic insomnia problem. So, no, Leadsome would not be my first choice.

Theresa May might be a bit supervillan-y, and her politics are very, very far from my politics, but at least she's competent, even if I heartily hate what she's competent at.

Vri123 · 08/07/2016 11:17

The Daily Mail seems to have it in for her, and MN users generally have it in for the DM. So, why is this not a case of my friend is my enemy's enemy?

Also, what's all this with criticisms of her religious beliefs? If she was Jewish or Muslim and one person dared to imply that her beliefs were ridiculous, the entire country would be down on them like a ton of bricks. But its ok to bash Christians and make them out to be deranged fantasists??

TheElementsSong · 08/07/2016 11:29

criticisms of her religious beliefs?

What sort of criticisms? If people are panning her just for being Christian, that would be wrong. If people are pointing out that (because of her religious beliefs) she has a clearly homophobic stance, that is an entirely justified criticism.

Vri123 · 08/07/2016 11:55

A reporter yesterday was trying to get her to say that God is speaking to her inside her head and telling her what to do.
Then today, the newspapers are carrying the story e.g. www.thesun.co.uk/news/1407258/andrea-leadsom-forced-to-deny-god-would-be-driving-policy-if-she-became-pm-in-series-of-car-crash-interviews-during-tory-leadership/

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