No thread for this yet, I am eager to see what people have to say. Watch out though as I am a card-carrying lefty (got a beard and everything) who likes evidence-based mudslinging, so let's leave cheap mudslinging (at all candidates) out of this I guess you can guess who I am hoping wins, though it might be quite tough for me to decide what to do at the next GE as I'm a member of the Green party (and I shan't be participating in the Labour Election as a result). I never really expected to have this kind of decision to make out on the left.
They need to win back all those Labour voters who took leave of their senses and voted Tory or Nazi, sorry UKIP, last time round. Whether a centre left, or full on left winger would be the leader for the job is hard to say but, whatever, he or she needs to have more charisma then David Miliband.
its fun to see how right farage is about Germany and the EU..... but cant let those `vote norsefire` flag waving patriots get in the way of that can we. not a lot different between the right of the tory party and ukip.... as for labour , think it was the 50`s the last time we had a left wing government.
I'm already sick of hearing about it all, the only reason Corbin is doing so well in the polls is because he's pinned his colours to the mast while the others come out with the normal political BS, I believe in a fairer society, I want to see a next Labour government and yet more sound bites. I don't care what they believe I want to know the sort of things they would DO, heck I believe in a fairer society but it ain't no good believing in it unless I come up with how I would make it happen. /Rant.
I honestly can't see a single one of them, should they become Labour leader, winning a General Election.
Corky - he actually stands for something - I watched an interview with Andy Burnham - my God the guy is full of total bollocks! he didn't say *anything* whilst waffling crap . didn't answer any question at all!
I actually think Andy is OK, he's fairly left wing, but electable unlike Mr. Corbyn. The party could do pretty well out of him. I honestly believe that Burnham stands for his ideals, he just presents them in the "not offending anyone" way that politicians must to be electable.
That's what annoys the hell out of me with most politicians, their so concerned with "not offending anyone" that it seem they end up saying nothing, what ever happened to conviction politicians?
He'll be a lot easier to pin down on stuff he says now, in 5 years time, than the others. The others would need datestamps.
That's because he's a politician and politicians don't like to hold opinions because it means they can be held accountable. In many ways they remind me of athletes. No personalities. No opinions. Just smiling robots doing what ever their handlers and sponsors tells them to do.
Politicians don't like to reveal their opinions, they definitely do generally hold them. Every opinion offered is something which can reduce their support, but every meaningless vacuous platitude might raise their support by a tiny amount, which is enough. Elections, especially leadership elections, are often simply a case of who can get away with saying the least without being a total non-entity. It may be dishonourable and seem craven, but it's effective.
Personally none of the candidates look like they could amount to a successful Tory challenge. The whole situation reminds me of the Tories around 2001-2005 Who where a pitiful wreck of a party with nothing to offer anyone apart from "We're not them" or "doing the same only differently". Chuka Umunna is the next Labour prime minister. I think It was too soon for him this time and usually failing once results in an ousting so I'm glad he dropped out but I was impressed from the limited amount I saw of him. Labour could do well in NI especially if stormont collapses and could make up for lost Scottish support. However his views regarding NI make me nervous and I'm not a supporter tho a large group here could be. I could see him picking up votes from both sides with his left views, mostly from sinn fein and SDLP.
I think the race is down to Burnham vs Corbyn - the other two are just more of the same "New Labour" that we've seen for the last twenty years. I think the voting public is ready to step away from centrist politics and that they want a political party that is different and "on the left" not just "slightly to the left of centre" I think Andy Burnham will win: unfortunately, while I like the idea of some of Jeremy Corbyn's policies, I think he's too far left to be electable.
Jeremy Corbyn is probably the only thing that could haul me back towards "mainstream" politics. The Labour party was a socialist movement which stood for the rights of working people. The thing that's been wearing the skin of the Labour party is the same watered-down, neoconservative, soundbite-friendly crap that pretty much all major political parties have been spewing for the better part of a decade and a half. The only positive thing I can say in their favour is that they may not have cut quite as much spending as the current Tory crusade against the poor. That isn't really enough to convince me to vote for their members.
Corbyn seems to atleast have the right minded economic advisors on his side like RIchard Murphy of http://taxresearch.org.uk/ . They are very determined against austerity and have the right economics for it. And they aren't Nazis or UKIP supporters! Remember, if you really look into decent macroeconomics, austerity in a capitalist system never ever makes any sense. So be very careful of those advocating it.
Labour, it seems, are heading for the level of demise demonstrated by the Lib Dems. Sad really, as it will leave no real alternative to the Conservatives.
