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Original poster

Chuka withdraws from the leadership contest!

151 replies

MagentaVitus · 15/05/2015 10:41

With a turn around that quick, there has got to be a scandal.

What's your bet on? Mine is either scam girlfriend or money troubles.

Thoughts?

OP posts:
Preciousbane · 15/05/2015 22:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SonorousBip · 15/05/2015 22:17

Why is Ben Bradsaw doing all the commentary? What is the link?

ironmaiden999 · 15/05/2015 23:15

Skeletons in cupboards....................

jellybeans · 15/05/2015 23:43

I think he is biding his time too. Its a shame as I thought he would be good.

Rudebarbandcustard · 16/05/2015 00:18

I too thought he was more likely to bide his time, let the cards fall where they will, and then make a bid for PM. However, if that were his strategy, then he'd have been better to never have announced he was standing. Whereas this stunt has just made him look a bit daft.

I think a skeleton has been found in the closet and he's been advised to go quietly.

FireCanal · 16/05/2015 00:44

ironmaiden Why do you think Ben Bradshaw has skeletons in the cupboard? He's been out since before he started in politics if you are referring to his sexuality.

He used to be a journalist hence is media friendly and its not unusual for him to pop up in a commentating role.

GentlyBenevolent · 16/05/2015 08:46

Ben is media friendly, he was booked to do a lot of media on Friday anyway, because he was announcing his bid for deputy that evening, he also did any questions on the radio and he is doing the progress conference today. He's always quite active after elections because he's a media safe pair of hands and a reliable winner. As a pp poster says - he has no cupboard skeletons, he was subjected to an absolutely vile campaign in 1997 and if there had been any they would have been uncovered. He was probably going to support Chuka's bid which is another reason they were keen to talk to him yesterday.

homebythesea · 16/05/2015 09:09

The shame is that on any analysis CU has probably shot his bolt for evermore- possible scenarios:

A) skeleton in cupboard financial or sexual - will never leave him

B) hopelessly naive about the reality of the media in modern politics- will never change

C) cynical waiting for Labour's revival so he can lead the troops back to victory at a later stage - voters won't forgive

Idontseeanydragons · 16/05/2015 18:42

Having a pregnant gf won't be an issue, I seem to remember reading that Ed M and Justine didn't get married until after they had children and despite a half arsed attempt by certain newspapers to make an issue it never erupted as a scandal.
I think he's making an excuse because as mentioned above he wants to be the party leader who leads Labour into decent results rather than the one that has to sweep up the mess after the election.
IF he's gay then as much as it shouldn't matter to many voters it will unfortunately.

Sansarya · 16/05/2015 20:14

If he was wanting to be the leader who leads a resurgent Labour to victory in 2020 then why did he even bother putting his name forward for the leadership now?

claig · 16/05/2015 21:13

He was the bookies' frontrunner and he withdrew after 3 days. Nothing like it has ever happened before as far as I know. It is astounding. We have been told that one thing that upset him, after years in politics and in the media, is that his girlfriend's grandmother of 102 was doorstopped by the press. On Sky News just now, they said his girlfriend's grandmother is 97. What is going on?

RiskManagement · 17/05/2015 08:17

Sorry Amethyst, but you're wrong. The MPs actually have very little say, they nominate the candidates and they get a vote as a member of the Labour Party but they don't have any more sway than that. There are (or were) around 190,000 members. The party machine absolutely will be at work to make sure the "right" candidates stand because they don't trust the members to make the right decision.

AuntieStella · 17/05/2015 08:25

Being gay wouldn't matter ( as about 5% of Parliament are openly gay ).

Did anything emerge in the Sunday papers?

claig · 17/05/2015 08:36

The Mail has an article about the high-fliers club he belongs to. But that is obviously not it. A metropolitan agreement has probably been made where the public will not be told.

Money issues and tax etc can always be talked around and the public won't care so it is unlikely to be that.

claig · 17/05/2015 08:50

I think Chuka will be back as a leadership candidate in the future. I think he didn't realise the pressure he would be under now and thought that the metropolitan media would not scrutinise him now. I think the metropolitan media will not say anything now and he will be back after several years.

"Having initially given the impression that ‘media intrusion’ made him pull out of the Labour leadership contest, Umunna has now made it clear he was not blaming it. In an extraordinary change of heart, friends say that he has taken a fresh look at his life and that, aged 36, he may prefer to start a family than become Labour leader"

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3084677/Exposed-Chuck-Chuka-s-shady-secret-Labour-MP-belongs-members-den-300-cognac-locker-bar-named-rattled-leadership-contender.html

RiskManagement · 17/05/2015 09:12

I don't think the papers would vilify him for being gay, surely we're past that and I think the Laobour Party membership might have selected a gay leader, but sadly I think it would matter to too many of the electorate. I can't see a gay PM being elected any time soon, so he might have been discouraged from standing for that reason.

But it could be something as simple as a baby on the way and/or no agreement from his girlfriend before he announced he was standing.

Sansarya · 17/05/2015 09:21

Sorry Risk but I think you're being a bit naive there. The Mail and Sun would DEFINITELY vilify him for being a closeted gay. That's what they do and it reflects the feelings of their readership too.

RiskManagement · 17/05/2015 09:23

Yes, you're right they would vilify him for lying about being gay. I don't think even they would vilify someone simply for being gay.

And the readership thing is why we won't have a gay PM in the forseeable

Sansarya · 17/05/2015 09:27

Oh I agree there, if someone is openly gay then there's nothing to vilify them for unless they're found using rent boys or something like that. I'm thinking of the "Crystal Methodist" story from a few years ago. Not that I'm suggesting Chuka has been up to anything like that! But if he's indeed been hiding in the closet then that is plenty of fodder for them Hmm

claig · 17/05/2015 09:30

We have the highest number of openly gay MPs in any parliament in the world. There will also be others who are gay but not openly.

The press doesn't vilify anybody for being gay.

I think the metropolitan media knows about all of our MPs and they are all part of the Westminster club and are protected by our media i.e. the plebs are not told about their expenses or lives unless the owners of the club decide the public should be told. The expenses scandal came out, but it must have been known about for years before it was all revealed.

We were told by politicians that no one had the faintest idea that David Laws was gay, when in reality we learned in the press that it seems to have been an open secret in the Westminster bubble.

I think the rules of the club are to keep everything quiet and that is why all club members are confident that the plebs won't be told anything about them. But sometimes club members make powerful enemies or teh club owners don't want a particular club member to do that well, and then the media is told to tell the plebs something about the club members.

RiskManagement · 17/05/2015 09:34

That's why I think the Labour party might have leaned on him to withdrawn claig (if he is gay).

The press wouldn't make a big deal of him being gay, but it would come out and there would be stuff about him lying, particularly if it went to extent of parading a fake girlfriend.

The Labour Party members would vote for a gay leader if they thought he was the right man for the job, but the electorate wouldn't vote for a gay PM. Obviously the party want a candidate who can win.

claig · 17/05/2015 09:34

The more expenses scandals and other secrets the club owners know about the club members, the more control the club owners (the Establishment) have over the club members (the actors on the Westminster stage).

claig · 17/05/2015 09:37

Yes, if he is not being truthful, then the public would not like that.

claig · 17/05/2015 09:47

'the electorate wouldn't vote for a gay PM'

I think they would if the candidate was a good candidate and had good policies etc.

Pim Fortuyn, the Dutch politician, was gay and on the libertarian right and was very successful.