Webchat with Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith MP, Tuesday 23 August at 2pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Owen Smith MP on Tuesday 23 August at 2pm.

Owen has been the MP for Pontypridd, his hometown, since 2010, and has worked as a shadow minister for (at various times) Wales, health, the Treasury, and work and pensions. He spent three years at the Northern Ireland Office and most recently as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary he led on campaigns that forced U-turns over cuts to support for disabled people and tax credit cuts. He is now standing against Jeremy Corbyn for leadership of the Labour party.

Before Parliament, Owen worked as a journalist at the BBC and as a special adviser to the Labour government, and then as head of policy at Pfizer and head of public affairs at biotech company Amgen. He is married with three teenaged children.

The deadline for voting in the Labour leadership election is 21 September, and the result will be announced on 24 September.

Please do join the chat on Tuesday at 2pm, or if you can’t make it, please leave a question here in advance. And do bear in mind the webchat guidelines - one question each only (follow-ups allowed if there’s time) and please do be polite.

Thanks
MNHQ

Hi Owen, I will be voting for you - my question is how do you deal with abuse online or in real life and how do we get rid of it in the Labour party? What particularly upsets me is when people say that say Jess Phillips or Angela Eagle are lying about what they have experienced. The #webelieveyou campaign on her had a big influence on me and this seems the opposite of that approach

MNHQ - will we be having a webchat with Jeremy Corbyn too?

My question concerns the NEC membership vote. Why has Corbyn never been challenged on his appalling dereliction of duty in leaving the meeting before the second and third votes? Given that they were on the agenda, as acknowledged by Corbyn himself in his short press conference with TV reporters outside the meeting, why has the myth spread that he knew nothing?

I have voted for you, Mr Smith - Labour needs a leader who follows the party, not votes against it whenever the whim takes them or skips meetings when there's something more fun to go to (like rallies).

Good grief that article about your conversation with Leanne!

Owen, Jeremy has failed to unite his party and failed to lead effectively.

Succinctly, what would you have done differently in the past year?

Scotland feels like a labour no go area at the moment. What would you do to give the party a chance of winning seats?

Wow, just read the makeup quote attributed to you.

Did you really say that? Why? Am finding it hard to think of a way that comment can be construed positively.

Hi Owen,
I'd like to know why Labour didn't stand together on the EU referendum with a single stay message? I'd also like to know where you stand on Brexit and whether you would try to keep us in if elected to be the leader.
The Brexit issue is making me reconsider my allegiance to Labour in light of the lacklustre performance and I have a vote in the leadership election.

Owen, if you win - and I really hope you do, despite the awful, horrible, tone-deaf things you've said about women - will you promise not to strut about declaring you have a mandate and that everything you do is gold-plated, and instead work towards understanding why some of us are supporting you despite some of your views, and not because of them?

You say "We can indulge our principles but we would be letting down the British people." Surely principles are the foundation upon which the polices of a political party are built? Without them anything it does is only a hollow facade erected to win votes rather than serve the people they claim to represent.

You've previously stated that some parts of the UK have had too much immigration. Which parts exactly? How much is too much?

Do you support the refusal to allow new members of the Labour Party to vote in the leadership election?

I joined after the EU vote because I'm angry with the lack of credible Labour opposition. Jeremy jumped on people joining the Labour party as a sign of support for his leadership whereas I, and presumably many others, had the opposite motivation.

Will you publically condemn the comments of labour donor Michael Foster, calling Corbyn supporters 'Nazi stormtroopers'? Can you see how offensive that is to people who support Corbyn, particularly those who are life-long Labour Party members, and who have lost relatives to the holocaust.

Do you condemn Labour MP Simon Danczuk for his treatment of women, including his ex-wife, who was assaulted by Danczuk on holiday, but refused to press charges as she didn't want the father of her children to have a criminal record. How can this man continue to be a Labour MP (I assume his suspension from the party is pending the leadership election)

If you become leader, will you extend the code of conduct for Labour Party members and supporters in the leadership election to millionaire donors like Foster and MPs like Danczuk...or do they have special rules that only apply to people who support you?

(That might look like three questions (if not more ) MNHQ, but it's really only one question with some mini questions that set the scene (sorry!).

Do you honestly think you can unite the Labour Party? Honestly?

How would you cope with a coup against yourself? You claim to have left wing policies but a majority of the PLP don't seem very keen to support those. Or do you expect them to get behind you as your name isn't Jeremy Corbyn?

hi Owen

I am a floating voter probably unlikely to vote labour but maybe
how are you going to appeal to the public which is very centrist rather than the 600,000 that are members?
they are obviously not representative of the public at large so claiming to have a mandate from labours party members is not what wins elections

at the moment the party is an unelectable shambles Jeremy is not prime minsterial material I can't see much evidence that you are either

as a floating voter i don't care whether you can unite the party or no; I do care about whether you can be an opposition, whether you really listen to traditional working class people who voted for brexit in much higher proportions than the overall result and are worried re immigration or will it be more of the same we know what's best for you

I'm actually a middle class health care professional but I understand and feel the anger of many of my patients that the labour party is now full of metro liberal london based champagne socialists which do not either understand or care about them hence in scotland they vote SNP and in North and Midlands they vote UKIP

You claim to agree with Jeremy Corbyn on the majority of policy yet are contesting his leadership. What makes you think that you are any more electable to the voting public than him?

test

Hello all at Mumsnet. very much looking forward to answering as many of your questions as I can in the next hour....my typing isn't as fast as it should be....

@Tiggeryoubastard

Why are you a misogynist?

Thanks for the question, Tiggeryoubastard. I'm not. I'm a feminist.

Thanks for the question, Tiggeryoubastard. I'm not. I'm a feminist.

What branch of feminism do you identify with most?

@MooPointCowsOpinion

Regarding your remarks about 'bruises showing through the make up' and, more recently, about 'smashing Theresa May back on her heels', do you understand the huge part male violence against women affects our every day lives and how your comments are indicative of white male privilege?

I recommend you read the hashtag #yesallwomen on Twitter to get a sense of how your words and actions play into a broader picture of male violence.

I am acutely aware of the problem of violence against women and girls. 2 women in this country are murdered by an ex, or their partner, every week and many thousands are injured. I accept that as politicians we have a duty to take extra care with our language so as never to be insensitive to this real problem, still less be seen to condone it. I was therefore disappointed with myself that on a few occasions I have used clumsy language which has offended some people. I understand and accept that and i intend to take far greater care in future. However, no-one should read into that clumsy language any complacence on my part about VAWG or about the need to guard against it.

@JellyBelli

Will your style of leadership be more like Blair or John Smith?

Definitely more like John Smith, one of my great heroes, and a tragic loss to the Labour movement.

As a lifelong labour voter who is utterly dismayed and baffled by recent in fighting and character assassinations - what would you say to me to convince me to vote for you?