Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 11:43:38 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Tinge UK - New Centrist Party [split topic]

Started by jobotic, March 29, 2019, 11:54:18 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

holyzombiejesus

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/15/labour-mps-change-uk-jeremy-corbyn

QuoteLabour MPs, remove Corbyn now. Change UK failed to transform politics – it's your turn
Gavin Shuker

Look, I get it. The headlines wrote themselves last week as more Change UK debris reformed as the Independents. Which faction was definitely, absolutely, fighting on as a party, and which bit was refusing to establish one? Was this the Peoples' Front of Judea, or the Judean Peoples' Front? Who got custody of Sarah Wollaston?

It feels like some time ago, but for one short period back in the spring, it looked as though the formation of the Independent Group might just catalyse the unravelling of both parties of government. As one of the key instigators of the plan, I can tell you there was only one real metric of success that first week: could we get to the end of it without becoming a punchline? That we pulled that off was a testament to the desire of millions of people, feeling as politically homeless as the MPs that jumped, for something hopeful.

We all know what happened next. The formation of the political party, Change UK, and its subsequent rather small and imperfectly formed electoral showing meant that moment passed almost as soon as it came.

But take a step back and honestly assess the bigger picture: huge political forces, surging through a parliament that cannot meet the enormity of the challenge it faces, are still present. A Labour leadership that is incapable of dealing with antisemitism, propped up by MPs who hope the British public will do what they will not, and prevent them from getting into No 10. A Tory party that will select a prime minister who will tank their reputation for economic competence in a bid to deliver Brexit. The fracturing of electoral coalitions, ages old, which has led to four parties (including one that did not exist even six months ago) bobbing around in the polling doldrums at around 20% each.

Nothing can be done, the moderately minded MPs of both legacy parties say, look at what Change UK did and take heed. Our failure is used as the proof point that something new can't emerge. And yet: in many respects, the case for a proper realignment is stronger than when we left our parties.

I shoulder my share of the blame for soiling the pitch. To rush to establish a political party, as just 11 MPs, was an act of hubris. That logo! The bus! We took the kicking that we deserved, especially when our desire to stand in the EU elections seemed destined to split the remain vote. But to use our (predictably) poor showing as an excuse for inaction, is surely the most cynical response of all.

We were never going to be able to provide a compelling, centre-ground, future-focused electoral offer on our own. The act of leaving our parties was the beginning of something, not an end in itself. But others still need to face up to their own dilemma in representing parties they believe are unfit for office.

So – to the real point of this missive. To my former Labour colleagues (for the Tories' moment of reckoning will come in the autumn) let me say this: Don't let Change UK put you off from acting.

After last week's revelations, you know everything you now need to about your leader. He isn't going to change: the shutting down of democratic processes and debate; his instincts on national security; the vacuum of leadership on Brexit; the stain of anti-Jewish racism in the party and his lack of interest in getting a grip. Truthfully, all this was visible the last time you passed a vote of no confidence in his leadership by a margin of four-to-one.

Only two things have changed: his grip on the machinery of the party (insurmountably tighter) and his proximity to Downing Street (undeniably closer). The final foxhole that the moderate Labour MP will sink themselves into is "he's unelectable, so it doesn't matter". Even if this were the case, it should matter. But I think that assessment is also catastrophically wrong. This was the prevailing wisdom last time around, before Labour went on to gain seats and deny the Tories a majority.

If all you can come up with is stay and fight, you're actually going to need to do both. In 2016, the Parliamentary Labour party delivered 172 votes to challenge Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. Today's threshold is 52 MPs and MEPs, and the window for a challenge is closing. If you don't act now, you will be heading for a speculative autumn election, and campaigning to make a man you believe is unfit to lead your party the leader of our country.

There are just 10 days to go before parliament slumps into its long summer – if you can get one in five of your colleagues to support a challenge to the leader of the opposition, you must act now. And if you can't clear even that low bar, then at least be honest with yourself – the fight is lost. All you're doing is staying and propping him up.

History is not just shaped by action, but by inaction as well.

• Gavin Shuker is the MP for Luton South and a member of the Independents

This article was amended on 15 July 2019 to clarify that the writer is arguing that antisemitism is an issue in the Labour party rather than the Labour leadership

I'm not a violent man but I'd love to kick that fucker's teeth in.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote• This article was amended on 15 July 2019 to clarify that the writer is arguing that antisemitism is an issue in the Labour party rather than the Labour leadership

After The Guardian pulled that letter the other day, the shit-eating shamelessness of the above shows that we really need Leveson 2. Stamp this shit masquerading as journalism and have them held to the actual standards most people here have to abide to at their workplace.

It is absolutely possible to have an effective press while preventing them from pulling stunts like this.

BlodwynPig

No more press! It's the only way. Scorched earth

Shoulders?-Stomach!

QuoteHe isn't going to change: the shutting down of democratic processes and debate

This is the kind of thing we keep getting, despite the facts saying otherwise.

Every single internal move has been to heavily democratize a stale closed shop. In the Labour party, those elections literally any Labour member (of the relevant CLP or whatever) can partake in if they so choose, these people have lost. Corbynism itself, has front and centre, the idea that every elected official in the Labour party is democratically accountable, but similarly has the right, option and means to fight their corner and win. This has been tested and it has held up really well across the country. The CLPs increasingly answer to the members, not vice versa. That is the dictionary definition of democracy.

What they mean is 'we aren't as well represented as we used to be', which of course neglects to concede 'other people are far better represented than they were when we were running it'. If you give people no power, then you can't turn around after they legitimately claim it and state that democratic process is being shut down. You lost. Discern the difference. You lost. You already admitted it by fucking off out of the party. Your article already betrays the fact you are about to be dissolved into a non-entity at the next election. There is no celebrity Gavin Shuker election as an independent. You are toast mate. Take your homophobic pissant views and do one.

Thankfully many on the right of the PLP think Gavin Shuker is a fucking basket case and piece of shit.

pancreas


BlodwynPig


Cuellar

Wait Chuka joined the Lib Dems? When did this happen

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Cuellar on July 17, 2019, 09:43:26 AM
Wait Chuka joined the Lib Dems? When did this happen

After he left the Tories

pancreas


Cuellar


Jockice

Quote from: pancreas on July 17, 2019, 07:53:28 AM
She's actually about to cry because Chuka won't call her.

https://twitter.com/michaeljswalker/status/1151275615787585537

I was just about to post this. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.

holyzombiejesus

"Very sad. Very sad. Very sad." That's fucking brilliant.

To think that months ago, all this talk of a breakaway party was causing me to struggle to sleep and to have such genuine concerns about how it could affect the Labour Party. I was so worried. Ha ha!

phantom_power

This is all very odd. A load of people who want Labour to go back to the Blair days are saying that politics is broken and having "change" in their name, all the while helping prevent the people who are actually trying to affect change, the Labour left. By going on about politics being broken they are breaking it even further and by calling for change they are preventing it from happening. And by trying to push Labour back towards the centre, or more accurately to the right, they are reducing the choices available to the voters while claiming they are giving them more choice.

They are right about politics being broken but they are the cunts that are causing it. Propping up the Tories and undermining Labour. All under the illusion of sensible, centrist beliefs.

NoSleep

Quote from: phantom_power on July 17, 2019, 12:32:49 PM
By going on about politics being broken they are breaking it even further and by calling for change they are preventing it from happening.

The only thing breaking is themselves, into smaller and smaller fragments.

Johnny Yesno

Quote from: Jockice on July 17, 2019, 10:35:59 AM
I was just about to post this. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.

Yes, the comments under it are pretty funny.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: phantom_power on July 17, 2019, 12:32:49 PM
This is all very odd. A load of people who want Labour to go back to the Blair days are saying that politics is broken and having "change" in their name, all the while helping prevent the people who are actually trying to affect change, the Labour left. By going on about politics being broken they are breaking it even further and by calling for change they are preventing it from happening. And by trying to push Labour back towards the centre, or more accurately to the right, they are reducing the choices available to the voters while claiming they are giving them more choice.

They are right about politics being broken but they are the cunts that are causing it. Propping up the Tories and undermining Labour. All under the illusion of sensible, centrist beliefs.

They're politically homeless, don't you know, despite there being a pissweak neoliberal pro-Europe centrist party that actually exists, that even Chuka has eventually managed to locate (albeit burning through nearly every other option first).

I suppose what really gets to them is the fact they can't control or influence things like they are used to, and want to. The Tory defectors are weirder - they seem to have been genuinely kidding themselves -  but for the Labour defectors it really is all about a kamikaze mission to damage Corbyn and return Labour to being a pissweak neoliberal pro-Europe centrist party.

Thanks to The Guardian for running a full Gavin Shuker article then a full Margaret Hodge article, as if anyone in the known universe gives the slightest fucking shit what they think.

kalowski

Quote from: pancreas on July 17, 2019, 07:53:28 AM
She's actually about to cry because Chuka won't call her.

https://twitter.com/michaeljswalker/status/1151275615787585537
I imagine she felt similarly sad when pushing through austerity measures that ripped the heart out of the poorest communities.

Alberon

A small snippet of news from the Sunday Fucking Telegraph. Most of it is behind the paywall, but the important bit isn't.

Apparently there's been a staff 'restructuring' at the former Change UK and the number of support staff has gone from ten to just one.

Though I saw elsewhere that Soubry claims she's hiring two more later this week.

Ferris

Quote from: Alberon on July 22, 2019, 09:44:00 AM
A small snippet of news from the Sunday Fucking Telegraph. Most of it is behind the paywall, but the important bit isn't.

Apparently there's been a staff 'restructuring' at the former Change UK and the number of support staff has gone from ten to just one.

Though I saw elsewhere that Soubry claims she's hiring two more later this week.

So every MP has 1/6 of a person at their disposal? Should be very easy to tempt new members to join with those resources.

holyzombiejesus

John Woodcock cried first dibs on the tits and fanny.



Ferris

Phew! Chukka will still be an MP and won't have to answer to his constituents.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/06/chuka-umunna-to-leave-streatham-for-lib-dem-election-fight

What a lucky escape - some things never "Change", eh readers?

idunnosomename

God he is worse than most tories. What a cunt

imitationleather


Ferris

Quote from: imitationleather on September 06, 2019, 09:48:29 PM
Does anyone know what he was doing during those three lost months?

The Graun didn't find room to include it, sadly.

Maybe he went backpacking. Or trapped in the bogs at Nandos?


Alberon

As mentioned in Chuka's own thread the Lib Dems seem to be parachuting him into a seat where they were a distant third last time around. Can't quite see the logic. Do they hate him or does he really not want to win?

greencalx

Angela "Funny Tinge" Smith has now also joined the Lib Dems. So that's the most distinctive piece of brand recognition they had now gone.

BlodwynPig