what do we think of diane abbot's bid to be Labour leader?

[grumpypants]

thought Question Time editor bloke v rude to bring up nigel havers' letter, but otoh she is a bit 'feisty'...

they are all in unison about the talented Mr. Integrity. To be honest, I prefer Balls.

She is rude and racist, I am told.

Being rude and racist hasn't dented the popularity of Prince Philip at all

I vair vair much like Iain Duncan Smith. Not for labour leader, obviously, but I like him.

And William Hague. Would like to have him and Ffion round for dinner. I think he'd be a right laff.

Diane Abbott looks like my best freind, which is odd because she's not black.

Ha ha, true. He does seem to get away with a lot!

DB is appalling.
Thick, smug and hypocritical.

What an unpleasant mix.

Who is DB? Do you mean DA?

moondog I agree that Diane is smug and hypocritical, but all successful politicians are. She also has a nasty streak.

But she doesn't seem thick at all to me. She went to Cambridge, speaks very passionately and intelligently in the House of Commons, and makes very salient points every week on that sofa with Michael Portillo!

initially i didn't like her but i suspect her defensiveness and opinionated sort of attitude is because she is up against lots of mwaws in her profession.

Diane Abbott may be many things, but she's not thick- she read history at Cambridge.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

it is a joke, right?

Greensleeves I think Diane Abbott is bored with being a backbencher and commentator and wants a more senior job before she retires.

She obviously knows that she isn't going to become Labour leader but by raising her profile this way she could easily get into the Shadow Cabinet, or as I mentioned earlier, become a contender for Mayor of London.

Here is an interview Diane Abbott did, only a few months back in February

www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/diane-abbott-you-ask-the-questions-1892291.html

Do you want to be Prime Minister? Harriet Bloar, St Ives

No. But I wouldn't mind being Mayor of London.

Huh? The election is in 2012! Are Labour really selecting their candidate already? I know Ken and Oona have said they will stand, but surely there is loads of time for other candidates to come forward?

To see how silly that would be, look at Barack Obama. He only defeated Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Presidential nomination in June 2008, with the actual election was in November.

Labour's internal rules are crazy. Electing the shadow cabinet is a recipe for disaster. The leadership voting system encourages mediocrity than outright appeal - I predict the winner will be the person who can convert most second and third preferences. The three way split in the final vote for leader between the unions, MPs and members is also very arbitrary. And the 33 MP nomination rule would make it impossible for a relative newcomer like David Cameron for the Tories, or Obama for the Democrats in America, to make it onto the ballot.

I really like DA, she is someone I can relate to, much more so that the new breed of middle class bores like the Millibands. I don't think she will win. Her website used to be very odd, lots of uncomfortable staged but amateur photos of her which made her look a tad vain. She is not thick in any way.

The London Mayor theory makes sense to me.

No, it seems your first instinct was right Prolesworth.

Though Andrew Gilligan has a well-known animosity towards Ken, his source on this seems to be an official Labour spokesman:

blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100040426/has-labour-stitched-up-the-mayoral-selection-for -ken-livingstone-and-boris/

From that it seems that Labour are leaning towards selecting their candidate for Mayor at the same time as their national leader.

A stupid idea, if you ask me - but then again, we are talking about Labour here...

claig and longfingers.... your arguments might be more persuasive if you didn't look for every opportunity to say all Labour is bad and all Cons is good.

Andy Burnham?...no please, he strikes me as a shallow, nice, good-looking guy who wouldn't be able to come up with policies even if you held a gun to his head.

I am hoping that Ed Milliband surprises us as he has the best chance of connecting with the younger generation on issues such as sustainability. Anyway, I suspect that Labour is more likely to be out for more than one term so in a way the first opposition leader might not matter as much as we think.

PS Redwood is very clever but like Ed Balls, totally unelectable.

I think it would add to the gaity of the nation

I never said all of Labour is bad. I quite like Diane Abbott, even if she is a hypocrite. I think Prescott was effective. I think Kate Hoey is fantastic, as is Bob Marshall-Andrews. After that I have to start scratching my head. I like Balls, he is the best of the balls up that is the Labour leadership candidate list. I am a Tory supporter, so if I think Balls is quite good and the only real threat to Cameron, then I don't think he is as unelectable as many say. But it looks to me like David Miliband is the Crown Prince anyway, so it is entirely academic. All that will mean is that the Tories remain in power for many years to come.

I think its a self-serving and cynical move on her part to raise her media profile.

And I don;t think she would ever run against Ken for the Labour nomination for London mayor- she and Ken are as thick as thieves.

interesting 2cats2many, I didn't know that