Angela Rayner does a Diane

[lucydogz]

here

This is the Shadow Education Secretary.

Having said that, I can't bear watching T May on TV, she comes across so badly. But at least she doesn't come across as incompetent.

It's like a sad rerun of Diane's crash. What's going on with them? She doesn't know anything about schools or education either by the sound of it.

...or just take the relevent figures with you to an interview. It's not rocket science.

Yes just take the bloody numbers crib sheet.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/09/angela-rayner-mp-house-of-commons-notepaper-letter-complaint-star-wars-shoes_n_8509120.html She really is awful

Embarrassing to say the least.

Educaiton has no hope under her.

You'd think they'd be a little more prepared following Diane Abbotts interview FFS. It's like they just can't be arsed now.

This makes me so mad because Blair did promote lots of women, many of whom were/are competent. JC has managed to pick all the incompetent ones for his team. Really makes me wonder just how much respect he has for women.

While I'll concede that the Abbott interview was cringeworthy, & I wish that Rayner had had "about half a million" in her head, I'd like to know if Tory spokesmen (???) always have these sort of figures at their fingertips and, if not, if they are harangued to produce them & then ridiculed when they don't.
Because from what I've heard of their interviews they always oil their way out of being pinned down about anything (eg commitments re income tax, VAT & the pension triple lock currently) & are always allowed to get away with it.

(& seeing Angela Rayner mocked as being semi-literate on MN is shocking. How unsupportive. Do any of you know what she's come from? )

In May 2016, she spoke out against the government’s plans laid out in the Queen’s Speech. Although Labour lost the vote, she won plaudits from commentators and education professionals for her speech, where she outlined how grinding poverty and deprivation had affected her experience of school, saying:

“I was a NEET – not in education, employment or training – and I had no GCSEs at grade A to C; and, as I said, I had a baby at 16. School, for me, was not a place where you went to be educated, but a place where you got away from your parents for a couple of hours while they got some respite from you, and where you were able to see your mates...

"My mum could not read or write, so it was difficult for her to give me the ability to be school-ready.”

This is why Theresa May is only answering questions from journalists that have been submitted beforehand then.

seeing Angela Rayner mocked as being semi-literate on MN is shocking - I haven't seen anyone claiming she is semi-literate only that she is incompetent and unprepared. Do you think differently?

Do any of you know what she's come from? - I'm not sure that matters? she's either up to the job or she isn't? coming from a disadvantaged background should not mean someone gets a free pass.

I think May does come across as incompetent.

When was the last time you heard her answering even the most straightforward or innocuous question?

I haven't seen anyone claiming she is semi-literate only that she is incompetent and unprepared. Do you think differently?

You didn't look at the meme posted by glitteryunicornpoo then?

I think May does come across as incompetent - I agree. I think she is slightly better at handling questions she doesn't want to answer though which makes it less obvious. Argh who the fuck am I going to vote for!?

You didn't look at the meme posted by glitteryunicornpoo then? - I thought that was meant as a pisstake out of her accent to be honest, not that I think it's okay to mock that but different to making out she is illiterate. I can accept I may have got that wrong though.

Here is May dodging a question 4 times & then being allowed to get away with it by Andrew Marr

So she comes from a disadvantaged background. I'm a manager and know my teams strengths and weaknesses. I would expect someone from her background to probably need assistance with public speaking in terms of handling press.

I don't believe all these women under JC are so terrible. I think Labour has a huge problem with lack of preparation. Both of these MPs went for press events completely unprepared. The Tories manage their way around the questions.

"I would expect someone from her background to probably need assistance with public speaking in terms of handling press."

Handling the press might be new, but someone should have got the public speaking but cracked before being considered for a (shadow) government role.

To misquote Oscar Wilde' to have one foot-in-mouth interview is misfortune, but two begins to look like carelessness.

And that, plus leak of manifesto, does make them look somewhat disorganised. I am heartily sick of hearing the works 'coalition of chaos' but that tag-line is being reinforced by every incidence of incompetence.

Nick Ferrari's column in the Express suggests he is right behind the Tories. Maybe Labour people should stop speaking to him.

As I said before, we never seem to hear senior Tories being interviewed in this fashion & the media banging on and on about it afterwards. Their management of the economy & immigration has been very bad (never mind their abuse of the disabled & the poor) but there aren't endless headlines & mockery about that.

Diane Abbott claimed to have already done another half dozen interviews that morning but we don't seem to have heard about them. Did she lie? It hasn't been reported that she did (& I'm sure it would if she had). Where are they?

Also the Tories aren't being constantly undermined by opposition within their own party (who leaked the manifesto?)

sextrain Apologies. I didn't finish my thought. I expect her to need the training and to have received it. I expect public interviews to be prepared for by management. TM and her OH wasn't just an appearance. There was an awful lot of work that went into it and both were well prepared before going into that interview.

Nick Ferrari not giving May an equivalently hard time

In some countries an educaiton minister is a position reserved for those dealing with education matters. I do expect an education secretary to have good level of education, be professional - i.e. be able to develop an education policy and deliver education services - and be able to demonstrate her competence and vision.

It is a pity that Labour does not think a suitable person should be put into this position. I am a feminist and I don't give a toss what AR has come from. This is a position showcasing Labour's ability to run the country. A fail as far as I am concerned.

There is no way in the universe I would have voted Tory or, god forbid, UKIP. Labour is right next to them. Unelectable.

I don't think she is necessarily unqualified. Personally I'd like to have someone who has 20+ years of teaching secondary school aged children as the educational secretary. Even those in schools who are in management often have little idea of how bad it can be.

What I like about Raynor is that the current system failed her and she acknowledges that. She clearly is capable and just think of the skills gap we currently have and how it could be filled if we fixed our education. She is one of many.

She is also a whole lot more qualified than the Buffon we have here in the US. Betsy DeVos is an absolute disgrace.