Next Labour Leader - Confirmed as Keir Starmer

Busaholic said:

Unite and their ubiquitous spokesman McCluskey have refused to take their heads out of the sand and are endorsing Long-Bailey and Burgon. McCluskey was asked on 'Newsnight' just now why Burgon and not Angela Rayner, given that he had stated that it was necessary to get more working class people at the top in Labour, but (typical McCluskey) he then started to harangue the interviewer in his usual soft spoken but threatening style. Labour have no chance while this bullyboy continues to exert undue influence. Depressing.

Click to expand...

If McCluskey has all the answers, why doesn’t he just become an MP? I guess he just prefers being a puppeteer...

swt_passenger said:

If McCluskey has all the answers, why doesn’t he just become an MP? I guess he just prefers being a puppeteer...

Click to expand...

It's far easier to be a heckler than it is to actually go in there and do something.

swt_passenger said:

If McCluskey has all the answers, why doesn’t he just become an MP? I guess he just prefers being a puppeteer...

Click to expand...

Milne and McCluskey, Cummings, Banks and Farage, etc etc - far better to be a fixer (from their point of view) than be even theoretically accountable to an electorate. Parliamentary democracy may not quite be a distant memory yet, but I wouldn't give it too much longer the rate things are going.

FelixtheCat said:

It's far easier to be a heckler than it is to actually go in there and do something.

Click to expand...

Reminds me of the PFJ meeting in The Life of Brian.

McCluskey seems to have done the rounds of TV politics shows this morning. Seems to me to be living in a parallel universe...

Today’s news, having a go at each other over who’s committing the worst membership data crimes. I guess the people pulling the strings don’t want Starmer to win...

The Labour party has formally reported members of Sir Keir Starmer's leadership campaign team to the Information Commissioner, accusing them of hacking into the party's membership database, the BBC has learned.

The allegations were made against two members of Sir Keir's team - one of them is his compliance official.

They were passed to the Information Commissioner's Office on Thursday.

Sir Keir and his team said the claims were "utter nonsense".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51432440

Click to expand...

swt_passenger said:

McCluskey seems to have done the rounds of TV politics shows this morning. Seems to me to be living in a parallel universe...

Click to expand...

Ah yes, that would be Soviet Union c1930..

I'm from Wigan and my mum's side of the family are born & bred in the town which has been under Labour for many many years. As an ex-pit working class town, it's very unlikely the town will ever be anything other than Labour, although neighbouring Leigh surprised many people at last December's general election.

That brings me on to the subject in hand - Lisa Nandy. As the Wigan MP I can honestly say she would be an appalling leader - she is just oozing in ineptitude and arrogance and I, like many other people in the town feel she just doesn't have the same values or common sense as a her predecessor Neil Turner.

She isn't actually from Wigan and her wealthy background hasn't given her many sympathisers amongst the locals. Her expences claims for thousands of pounds of tax payers money definitely ruffled a few feathers among people in the town who are really struggling financially. Only yesterday, another tabloid article alleged that she had claimed back more than 4k in first class rail tickets. I can very well believe this if her reputation is anything to go by.

I am all for a female leader as it will of course be an important milestone for Labour and politics in general but I am keeping my fingers crossed that Nandy Pandy gets pipped at the post by the other candidates. I have a feeling the baton of leadership will go to either Kier Starmer or Rachel Long Bailey.

CJ

C J Snarzell said:

That brings me on to the subject in hand - Lisa Nandy. As the Wigan MP I can honestly say she would be an appalling leader - she is just oozing in ineptitude and arrogance and I, like many other people in the town feel she just doesn't have the same values or common sense as a her predecessor Neil Turner.

Click to expand...

That seems a bit vague. Can you point to any specific things she's done that show ineptitude or arrogance?

C J Snarzell said:

She isn't actually from Wigan and her wealthy background hasn't given her many sympathisers amongst the locals.

Click to expand...

Well there's nothing wrong with having a wealthy background. No-one after all can be blamed for how wealthy their parents were when they grew up. But in any case, what wealthy background are you talking about? I don't live in Wigan, but just did a quick check on Wikipedia about Lisa Nandy's background, and found this, which doesn't seem to indicate any notable privilege:

wikipedia said:

Lisa Eva Nandy was born in Manchester on 9 August 1979,[1][2] the daughter of Louise (née Byers) and Dipak Nandy, an academic and Marxist from India.[3][4][5] Her grandfather Frank Byers was a Liberal MP who held many offices in the Liberal Party, later being created a life peer.[6] Nandy grew up in both Manchester and Bury, where her family subsequently settled.[7]

She was educated at Parrs Wood High School, a mixed comprehensive school in East Didsbury in Manchester, followed by Holy Cross College in Bury.[8][9] She studied politics at Newcastle University, graduating in 2001, and obtained a master's degree in public policy from Birkbeck, University of London.[9]

She worked as a researcher and caseworker for the Walthamstow Labour MP Neil Gerrard.[10] After that, Nandy worked as a researcher at the homelessness charity Centrepoint from 2003 to 2005, and then as senior policy adviser at The Children's Society from 2005 until her election in 2010, where she specialised in issues facing young refugees, also acting as adviser to the Children's Commissioner for England and to the Independent Asylum Commission.[3][11][12][13] She served as a Labour councillor for the Hammersmith Broadway ward on Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council from 2006 to 2010.[9] As a councillor, she served as shadow cabinet member for housing.[7]

Click to expand...

C J Snarzell said:

Her expences claims for thousands of pounds of tax payers money definitely ruffled a few feathers among people in the town who are really struggling financially. Only yesterday, another tabloid article alleged that she had claimed back more than 4k in first class rail tickets. I can very well believe this if her reputation is anything to go by.

Click to expand...

Well, just about all MPs have expenses claims totalling not just thousands of pounds, but usually well over £150K - and that's perfectly justified because MPs have to do a lot of travelling and run an office and employ office staff. Lisa Nandy's expenses seem to be a bit higher than those of neighbouring MPs and it looks like she's said that's because of having to work around having a young family in the North. MPs' expenses tend to be strongly scrutinised and on a quick Google, I can't find any indication of anything improper about Lisa Nandy's expenses. First class rail might be extravagant or might be justified - it's hard to tell without more info. £4K on rail fares doesn't seem unreasonable for someone who would have to travel between Wigan and London at least once a week.

Do you have anything more? Because at the moment, your complaints read more like general anti-MP cynicism than anything that might give good grounds to be concerned.

Dynamicspirit

In nearly 40 years of being a Wiganer, I have grown up in a working class background (and very proud of it). Like, I said, my own family originate from a strong mining background and lived in near enough poverty through most of the 1960s & 70s. My mum & dad didn't even own a car or colour TV when I was little.

Even now I see friends & distant family members struggling to make ends meet financially on low incomes and life is pretty hard. The town itself has suffered massive set backs with huge unemployment - places like Sports Direct & Morrisons going in the last couple of years. The council is frittering money away on projects that are not benefiting people of the town and sadly the whole place really does feel like a shadow of it's former self.

Lisa Nandy has done hardly anything to instill confidence in people and make improvements to a day to day quality of life. The fact she is claiming 4k in travelling expensives when hundreds of her constituents are using foodbanks really does feel like a smack in the face!!! This is not to mention previous expenses claims which got her tagged with the label 'Champagne Socialist'. She was very rarely seen in Wigan the first years of being in charge and although she now lives somewhere in the borough I suspect her career asperations will mean she will be spending more of her time in Westminster in years to come.

I think I speak for a lot of other people in the town who are fed up and do not rate her either. Her arrogance has been confirmed on occasions when people in the town have tried to speak to her in the street & have been totally ignored. Lisa Nandy may defend her actions as wanting to protect her privacy and being tied to a tight schedule but as you appreciate her actions don't bode well to the people of the town.

Its fair to say that the general problems in Wigan are evident in other towns in the country, some are in a worst state! Alot of MPs are very much in the same mould as Lisa Nandy - living a luxury lifestyle with hearty bank balances that have been made through a job of serving the people! One young lady I know who is a single parent is so skint she has to get money from her hard up mother just to clothe her 12 month old child!

It would be completely wrong to lay the blame at Lisa Nandy's door but I'm sure you can see the frustrations that many people have with her in Wigan.

Unfortunately, in the world of politics, it is very easy to come across people who share different views & opinions and potentially create arguments. I perfectly understand if others are in favour of Lisa Nandy but sadly I am not. I have seen too much hardship amongst people I know to fully accept Nandy as someone who has the genuine best of her constituents at heart.

CJ

C J Snarzell said:

Dynamicspirit

In nearly 40 years of being a Wiganer, I have grown up in a working class background (and very proud of it). Like, I said, my own family originate from a strong mining background and lived in near enough poverty through most of the 1960s & 70s. My mum & dad didn't even own a car or colour TV when I was little.

Even now I see friends & distant family members struggling to make ends meet financially on low incomes and life is pretty hard. The town itself has suffered massive set backs with huge unemployment - places like Sports Direct & Morrisons going in the last couple of years. The council is frittering money away on projects that are not benefiting people of the town and sadly the whole place really does feel like a shadow of it's former self.

Lisa Nandy has done hardly anything to instill confidence in people and make improvements to a day to day quality of life. The fact she is claiming 4k in travelling expensives when hundreds of her constituents are using foodbanks really does feel like a smack in the face!!! This is not to mention previous expenses claims which got her tagged with the label 'Champagne Socialist'. She was very rarely seen in Wigan the first years of being in charge and although she now lives somewhere in the borough I suspect her career asperations will mean she will be spending more of her time in Westminster in years to come.

I think I speak for a lot of other people in the town who are fed up and do not rate her either. Her arrogance has been confirmed on occasions when people in the town have tried to speak to her in the street & have been totally ignored. Lisa Nandy may defend her actions as wanting to protect her privacy and being tied to a tight schedule but as you appreciate her actions don't bode well to the people of the town.

CJ

Click to expand...

Given what happened to Jo Cox, I can understand any MP being reluctant to stop and talk to strangers in the street....

What happened to Jo Cox was tragic and thankfully a rare incident (although this is no comfort to her family). It is still really no excuse for an MP to blank people in the street & cut them down.

Maybe I should have done that when I served in the police - I'm not talking to any members of the public today incase one of them attacks me, is nasty to me or inconveniences me. Absolute madness!!!

I was going to facetiously say 'if only she held surgeries ...' but I can find no trace of any on her website. My MPs website advertise them front page (and sends around a card to all constituents with them on).

So, does she run surgeries ? If not, I think it's a bit off and I can well understand why local people might be a bit dissatisfied with her.

433N said:

I was going to facetiously say 'if only she held surgeries ...' but I can find no trace of any on her website. My MPs website advertise them front page (and sends around a card to all constituents with them on).

So, does she run surgeries ? If not, I think it's a bit off and I can well understand why local people might be a bit dissatisfied with her.

Click to expand...

From what I know, Lisa Nandy has an office at the Wigan Investment Centre, which is on Waterside Drive near to the canal & Trencherfield Mill. Her office is not open to the public and the investment site isn't really a public venue anyway.

To the best of my knowledge she has never done surgeries - one of my friends sent her office a letter/e-mail last year raising concerns about the council tax in the Borough, but it took him ages to get a reply & when he did it had been responded to by one of her team.

C J Snarzell said:

From what I know, Lisa Nandy has an office at the Wigan Investment Centre, which is on Waterside Drive near to the canal & Trencherfield Mill. Her office is not open to the public and the investment site isn't really a public venue anyway.

Click to expand...

Doing surgeries, in the sense of, welcoming anyone who wants to to come along at a certain time and place, might possibly not make so much much sense for MPs, partly because of security fears, and partly because of the likely volumes of people who'd turn up. In my experience, it seems more common for 'surgeries' to be by invitation: In other words, if you've written to your MP and the MP feels that it's the kind of problem that needs to be dealt with face-to-face, then they may suggest you come to meet them at a certain venue. Maybe there are some MPs who do 'open' surgeries, but I'd be surprised if that many do these days, even though it seems a nice thing to do.

C J Snarzell said:

To the best of my knowledge she has never done surgeries - one of my friends sent her office a letter/e-mail last year raising concerns about the council tax in the Borough, but it took him ages to get a reply & when he did it had been responded to by one of her team.

Click to expand...

That makes sense. You need to remember that MPs generally get far too much correspondence for it to be remotely practical for them to deal with all of it personally. That's after all one of the main reasons why they employ teams.

I don't know much about the situation in Wigan, so I have no idea whether or not Lisa Nandy is a good constituency MP or not. But the examples you've given are not inconsistent with her being one.

C J Snarzell said:

Dynamicspirit
I think I speak for a lot of other people in the town who are fed up and do not rate her either. Her arrogance has been confirmed on occasions when people in the town have tried to speak to her in the street & have been totally ignored. Lisa Nandy may defend her actions as wanting to protect her privacy and being tied to a tight schedule but as you appreciate her actions don't bode well to the people of the town.

Its fair to say that the general problems in Wigan are evident in other towns in the country, some are in a worst state! Alot of MPs are very much in the same mould as Lisa Nandy - living a luxury lifestyle with hearty bank balances that have been made through a job of serving the people! One young lady I know who is a single parent is so skint she has to get money from her hard up mother just to clothe her 12 month old child!

It would be completely wrong to lay the blame at Lisa Nandy's door but I'm sure you can see the frustrations that many people have with her in Wigan.

Click to expand...

I can certainly see the frustrations, but I'm also struggling to see how most of those necessarily reflect badly on Lisa Nandy. Sure, if you're struggling to make ends meet, it's easy to look at MPs with their professional-level salaries and (perfectly legitimate) expenses and think there's something wrong, but usually there isn't. The main way you help poorer people is by implementing policies to help them (something that's pretty hard to do if you're in opposition) or maybe helping individual cases to the best of your ability and capacities as an MP (which are actually pretty limited). You don't help anyone by making yourself poorer. And unless there's something actually illegal, or unethical about your salary/income/etc. then I really can't see what the problem is about an MP receiving an MP's salary - which is a professional level salary, reflecting that it's a professional level job - and therefore obviously going to be a lot more than people working in (for want of a better term) non-professional jobs, or people who are unemployed, are likely to be getting.

The only thing you've said which does seem concerning to me is your claim that she's ignored people in the street. *If* she is regularly doing that, then that seems wrong.

However the qualifier there is *IF*. I haven't heard anything about this other than in your posts. And I can well imagine how, in today's climate, an MP might ignore someone once or twice. Maybe because they are in a hurry. Or maybe because the person approached them at an inappropriate time or in an obviously inconsiderate or harassing manner, and the person then perhaps goes on social media and makes a big thing of 'My MP ignored me!!!!!' So my immediate response would be, are you sure it's a case of regularly and inappropriately ignoring people, and not more like something getting overblown on social media?

Down to three with Thornberry eliminated due to not getting enough support.

Starmer is nailed on favourite at 1/6. Worth a ‘lay’ punt? Any views on whether Momentum will somehow quietly encourage a vote for RLB?

I hope LB doesn't win. Cant stand the sight of her or her condescending manner.

Bald Rick said:

Starmer is nailed on favourite at 1/6. Worth a ‘lay’ punt? Any views on whether Momentum will somehow quietly encourage a vote for RLB?

Click to expand...

I'm sure McCluskey has something up his sleeve to try to ensure his puppet wins.

Goldfish62 said:

I'm sure McCluskey has something up his sleeve to try to ensure his puppet wins.

Click to expand...

Cant stand him either, sixty something and still attempting to pull off designer stubble. What a plonker. Have a shave for gods sake.

Am I right in thinking the winner will not be announced until the 4th April?

CJ

C J Snarzell said:

Am I right in thinking the winner will not be announced until the 4th April?

CJ

Click to expand...

Timetable for Labour leadership contest
And here are the details of the timetable for the Labour leadership election decided by the NEC.

Tuesday 7 January: Nominations open from MPs and MEPs.
Monday 13 January: Nominations from MPs and MEPs closes at 2.30pm.
Tuesday 14 January: Registered supporters applications open at 5pm.
Thursday 16 January: Registered supporters applications close at 5pm.
Wednesday 15 January: Second stage of nominations from constituency Labour parties and affiliates opens.
Monday 20 January: Freeze date for eligibility for new members and affiliated supporters, closes at 5pm.
Friday 14 February: Close of CLP and affiliate nominations.
Friday 21 February: Ballot opens.
Thursday 2 April: Ballot closes at 12pm.
Saturday 4 April: Special conference to announce results.

Has Corbyn gone yet?


Nope still hanging about like a bad smell

Corbyn is in charge until the the new leader is announced and in place.

Theresa May resigned from office on the 24th May last year but she was still PM for the next two months.

@C J Snarzell
ISTM your anti-Nandy rants are based on nothing more than the fact that, in your opinion, she's not "one of our own". Perhaps you should have a look at all the other MPs: you will find that very few had a connection to their constituency before being elected, such is the way of political party machines. But of the three remaining candidates she is the only one who is from Labour's traditional heartlands. She is also very much a Labour traditionalist albeit a left-winger but definitely not a Momentum fan. If Labour is to stop being perpetually in opposition it needs a leader with a reasonable chance of actually winning a GE. I suspect that traditional Labour voters will connect with her rather more readily than the other two.

Shaw S Hunter

Any topic about politics will always create arguments and get people fired up about opinions created by others.

I will rest my case - I cannot stand Lisa Nandy. A 75-year-old die hard Labour supporter I know commented recently that he would rather have Jeremy Corbyn remain as leader than have Nandy take over. I think that sums up many feelings about her where I'm from.

CJ

C J Snarzell said:

A 75-year-old die hard Labour supporter I know commented recently that he would rather have Jeremy Corbyn remain as leader than have Nandy take over.

Click to expand...

I be very interested to know his genuine reasons for this!

C J Snarzell said:

Corbyn is in charge until the the new leader is announced and in place.

Theresa May resigned from office on the 24th May last year but she was still PM for the next two months.

Click to expand...

She wasn't leading a party that had just suffered its worst GE defeat since 1935.

I'm not sure Lisa Nandy would be a capable leader but she is the most electable out of the three. I've always liked her as a Politician and out of all of them she would be one I would offer my respect.

I know a fair few who believed that Jeremy Corbyn was the second coming and could do no wrong. A man who was seemingly revered by the members but despised by the electorate. I get the impression that both Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey follow that same pattern.

Personally I think Labour is heading for a schism. There is nobody to unite the party and as long as the party is internally unstable they will remain purely as an opposition party. The Conservatives have the perfect opportunity to prove they can lead and drive this country forward. Thanks of course, to Jeremy Corbyn.