What is the point of Labour ?

[scottsdad]

Finished the documentary now and found it very interesting. Brown the chancellor had this immense reputation of being tough and stable. Brown the PM was seen as brittle. 

He probably should have called the election in 2007/8 and whatever he says in the documentary, people felt that he saw a poll showing it was close and shat his pants.

Most interesting to me was George Osbourne saying that he was delighted when Blair went as Blair was a "Tory-destroying machine" and Brown wasn't. Will Labour ever have a leader again that makes the Tories feel this way?

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Just heard that Ernie Ross has died - know his family well - my dad worked with him at Timex.

Did a power of work on promoting the Palestinian cause - will be sadly missed.

[emoji25]

[Gordon EF]

Watched the first couple of those Blair and Brown documentaries. Interesting stuff. It's amazing how, in hindsight, they both called everything that was going to happen with 100% accuracy.

[Clown Job]

 

[Antlion]

1 hour ago, Clown Job said:

 

To be fair the far-right UK Nat clown is an honorary Tory.

[welshbairn]

1 hour ago, Clown Job said:

 

Is that a civil service appointment or a political role?

[williemillersmoustache]

23 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Is that a civil service appointment or a political role?

Non civil service role, it's the Tories current Jobs For Da Boyz wheeze.

 

 

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/at-least-16-tory-supporters-given-paid-independent-roles-in-government/

Quote

Current non-executives include the former Conservative vice-chairman Dominic Johnson, who was appointed by the Department of International Trade in December. He is also Jacob Rees-Mogg’s business partner, and has donated more than £172,000 to the Conservative Party.

He joined one-time Tory and Ukip MP Douglas Carswell, who is also a non-executive at the department.

A number of Carswell’s Vote Leave colleagues have also been given paid non-executive directorships. Henry de Zoete, who was the campaign’s digital director, and Gisela Stuart, who chaired the official Leave campaign, were both appointed as non-executive directors in Michael Gove’s Cabinet Office.

Oh and that Coladangelo woman Hancock is/was boffing.

[Baxter Parp]

Is that a civil service appointment or a political role?

Unelected bureaucrat.

[Antlion]

1 hour ago, williemillersmoustache said:

Non civil service role, it's the Tories current Jobs For Da Boyz wheeze.

 

 

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/at-least-16-tory-supporters-given-paid-independent-roles-in-government/

Oh and that Coladangelo woman Hancock is/was boffing.

Thanks - there goes tonight’s sleep.

[HTG]

52 minutes ago, Antlion said:

Thanks - there goes tonight’s sleep.

You can always nod off to the rhythm of the Hancock arse bob as an alternative to counting sheep. 

[Antlion]

2 hours ago, HTG said:

You can always nod off to the rhythm of the Hancock arse bob as an alternative to counting sheep. 

Well that should get me to “two”.

[tamthebam]

"Called to Ordure" Private Eye No 1556 (17-30 SEP 2021)

"To that oasis of democratic legitimacy, The House of Lords, to hear peers complain about Whitehall's network of departmental non-executive directors (NEDs). 

..That most sober of public troughers, Lord Foulkes (Lab), who as a Labour MP once nosedived into a Westminster gutter after overdoing it at a whisky tasting, was troubled less about party political links than the appalling fact that someone who supported Brexit (dread word) had been made a NED at the Cabinet Office. He was referring to Gisela Stuart, now Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston.

Lord McConnell (Lab) felt that no member of the House of Lords should be a NED. There was a conflict of interest in a peer holding such a position. McConnell was heard in silence. Not at all popular. The man was plainly a maniac. What's the point of becoming a peer if you can't pocket juicy Whitehall sinecures? It's only wrong when your enemies do it"

[Clown Job]

I don’t believe this for a moment 

Edit: Article below 

SIR Keir Starmer has said all powers short of independence could be transferred to Holyrood under a party review led by Gordon Brown which could see it back greater Scottish autonomy.

The Labour leader was asked whether he was open to ideas put forward by former Labour MEP David Martin who urged his party to devolve every government ­responsibility to Holyrood, apart from defence.

Martin said after the election in May that if his party “truly wants to be ‘back on the pitch’, it must have something concrete to offer on the constitution”.

At a briefing to Scottish political journalists in London, Starmer was asked if he was open to Martin’s ­proposal as well as those made by Katy Clark MSP and the Labour peer Pauline Bryan, who also back greater devolution.

He was asked whether he would consider devolving immigration, drugs laws and more taxation powers to Holyrood.

In response he pointed to Brown’s Commission on the Future of the UK, which is due to report and make ­recommendations to the party later this year.

“I am in favour of further ­devolution and that is one of the principles that sits behind the work the Gordon Brown is doing us on the ­Commission on the Future of the UK.

“And within the framework for that the only thing we are not going to countenance is the break up of the Union but otherwise we are open to further devolution without being ­specific.”

He added: “What we know is there needs to be change. Change should not be breaking up the Union but there needs to be change and Gordon is looking into what the options for that are.”

Starmer went on to say the ­Commission would include how to put decision making closer to ­communities and local ­authorities across the UK as well as to the ­Scottish Parliament.

Pressed about whether the ­Commission would recommend ­devolving more powers over drugs and tax, he replied: “What Gordon is looking at is exploring and ­taking ­evidence on what other changes might be possible … So we’re not ­saying ­simply fiscal or defence, those are not discussions we’re having.

The hard edge in [the] review is, we’re not going to go down the road of breaking up the Union.”

Starmer was also asked that if he became Prime Minister, what would be the democratic route to ­independence for Scotland.

“Well, look, we’re in a position now where despite all the noises off … there seems to be a pretty strong political consensus that we have got to get on with the recovery and kick starting the economy and public ­services in Scotland and that should be the focus,” he replied.

“Despite all the noise, actually I think pretty well all the parties and certainly the Labour Party is clear that has to be the focus at the ­moment.

We were very clear about that coming into the election in May, we’re very clear about that now and I think that’s where the discussion should be.”

Pressed that if the Westminster veto on a second independence ­referendum continues, the UK stops becoming a union of consent.

He said: “We’re not at that stage. That is a hypothetical that we’re not in by a long stretch and I don’t think we should be in.

“Obviously it is for the people of Scotland to decide their future but the question at the moment is what is the priority and the priority is the ­recovery. Despite all the noises off I think there is quite a strong ­consensus on that.

“The other thing that frustrates me is that this is consistently being used particularly by the SNP to mask their record. I think Nicola Sturgeon said that she wants to be judged on her ­record, but if you look at her record on education, it’s appalling, if you look at her record on health and the health service it is appalling.”

He added: “If you look at at the drugs related deaths the record is appalling, if you look at child poverty, which I think went into legislation in 2017, consistently missing the target.”

Starmer insisted his party had to win back Scotland if it wanted to get back into power in Westminster. “There’s no route back that doesn’t run through Scotland and nor should there be for the Labour Party.

"We know we have to win more seats and votes in Scotland and we want to, ­because I want to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and I want us to have stronger representation in Scotland. That means we’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.

An SNP spokesman said: “The people of Scotland had their say on our record in government – and our ambitious plans to lead Scotland through the pandemic and into a sustainable recovery - in May’s election. The SNP recorded its highest ever share of the constituency vote, while Labour slumped to its worst ever result.”

Edited October 21, 2021 by Clown Job

[williemillersmoustache]

8 minutes ago, Clown Job said:

I don’t believe this for a moment 

 

Repeatedly referring to the clearly stated preference of the Scottish electorate as "noises off" is a great look. 

[Clown Job]

2 minutes ago, williemillersmoustache said:

Repeatedly referring to the clearly stated preference of the Scottish electorate as "noises off" is a great look. 

“And within the framework for that the only thing we are not going to countenance is the break up of the Union but otherwise we are open to further devolution without being ­specific.”
 

[williemillersmoustache]

1 minute ago, Clown Job said:

“And within the framework for that the only thing we are not going to countenance is the break up of the Union but otherwise we are open to further devolution without being ­specific.”
 

How about foreign policy and our relationship with Europe?

Magic beans, drenched in snake oil. 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Keeping the Simpson's theme - here is current Labour Party policy in Scotland. 

[Antlion]

32 minutes ago, williemillersmoustache said:

Repeatedly referring to the clearly stated preference of the Scottish electorate as "noises off" is a great look. 

Jesus Christ:

““And within the framework for that the only thing we are not going to countenance is the break up of the Union but otherwise we are open to further devolution without being ­specific.”

Translation: “we want to appeal to dyed-in-the-wool Little Briton flag-shaggers who are currently going Tory; anyone else … look, we’ll maybe pretend to offer them something vague at some point in the future. Maybe. Gordon Brown having a Scotch accent should shut them up before we get to that stage though, right?”

[DeeTillEhDeh]

The Vow Mark II.

More snake oil.

[williemillersmoustache]

If anything this is good news. Keith's long term strategy is to try and win back some of the ultra unionist 10-15% of the Scottish electorate they've lost to the Tories while completely ignoring the remainder. 

Bald men, battling over the same old broken comb.