Labour Party – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

The common thread between Ken Livingstone on the IRA and on Jews and Israel

Brian Walker on April 28, 2016, 2:45 pm

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It looks as if Ken Livingstone faces a tougher time with the Labour party over his “Hitler was a Zionist” remarks than he did over consorting with Gerry Adams when the IRA campaign had ten years to run to the first ceasefire. What was the charge against him in 1983-4? That he gave comfort to the IRA by supporting their key demand of “Brits Out,” without demanding an IRA ceasefire. The evenhandedness of his call for an end to violence …

NI Labour Party declare UDI and decide to stand candidates at upcoming elections

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 8, 2015, 4:55 pm

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IGNORING LONDON Labour Party of Northern Ireland agree to put processes in place to stand candidates at forthcoming NI elections … ignoring the policy of the NEC which has frustrated their desire for years.

Northern Ireland will continue to be a source of indecision for @UKLabour, even under Corbyn

Mick Fealty on September 17, 2015, 12:51 pm

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Labour Party in Northern Ireland

LIMITATIONS OF POWER: Irrespective of Jeremy Corbyn’s personal preference for reunification, it would be a grave error for the new Opposition leader to assume everyone shares his view – even within his own ranks.

On the anointing of Corbyn

Turgon on September 13, 2015, 4:32 pm

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At 11.30am yesterday in the room where the Labour leadership result was to be announced there was an uninvited guest: a spectre who had hovered over every party gathering for almost twenty years. Then when the result was announced an older yet spritely man strode forward to do battle with the spectre. Wearing his priestly garb of not a tie (though he did have a dark sports jacket and had removed any Lenin style hats) he approached the lectern. Then …

“Corbyn owes less to his own merits than to the weaknesses of the alternatives…”

Mick Fealty on September 12, 2015, 1:42 pm

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Before I sign off for the weekend, this from Chris Dillow on the Corbyn victory: Was this a victory for Jeremy Corbyn or a defeat for the Westminster Bubble? I ask because of three different but related things. One is organizational. Many New Labour figures supported the introduction (pdf)of registered supporters as a means of weakening the influence of activists and union leaders – of avoiding “stitch-ups by special interest groups”. It turns out that that innovation bit them on …

Labour’s New Leadership…

Pete Baker on September 12, 2015, 12:44 pm

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Tom Watson has been elected deputy leader [not worth a bucket of warm piss? – Ed] on the third count and, as expected, Jeremy Corbyn is now the new leader of the Labour Party having taken 59.4% of the vote in the first round. Phil Rogers has a breakdown of voting by category – full party members, affiliated (trade union members) and registered (those who paid £3 to vote). Labour leadership election result by category of voters pic.twitter.com/5lSWU3johL — Phil Rodgers …

“Perhaps we will wake up on Saturday afternoon and find it has all been a bad dream.”

Pete Baker on September 6, 2015, 1:21 pm

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Ahead of the election of their new leader, in the Guardian Andrew Rawnsley samples the mood, of despair, among the moderates of the parliamentary Labour Party. Labour MPs, as a collective, are still getting their stunned heads round what is happening to their party. Because the hard left had been fought – and apparently crushed – so long ago, it simply did not occur to them that it might revive, least of all in the person of a 66-year-old colleague who …

The disaster of the 1970s: truisms in need of challenge?

Turgon on August 22, 2015, 5:59 pm

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As I noted previously in relation to the 1983 election campaign there is a tendency in political analysis to accept truisms which are historically inaccurate or at least highly incomplete. One of the recent manifestations of this tendency (also related to the current Labour leadership campaign) is that Corbyn is going to take the UK back to the 1970s: the implication being that this would be dreadful. Whilst I make no comment on whether or not Corbyn would do this, …

Andy Burnham pitches to Labour leadership voters in NI: comprehensive not selective education, gay blood, & candidates

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 18, 2015, 8:30 am

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This morning’s Belfast Telegraph publishes a statement from UK Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham. He’s the bookies’ favourite to come second, and clearly the candidate the local Constituency Labour Party members are most comfortable with. 610,000 ballot papers have been issued to party members, registered supporters and affiliate supporters. There are around 500 1,000 members of the Labour Party in NI, but an unknown number of registered or affiliate supporters. Heavily tailored for the NI audience, Burnham’s statement remarks on …

Labour leadership: Corbyn, his opponents and The Vision Thing

Turgon on August 14, 2015, 3:55 pm

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The Labour leadership contest has every appearance of a soap opera. I noted below that the historical precedents that Jeremy Corbyn would be unelectable as Prime Minister were strong but by no means overwhelming and were based on a post hoc deterministic analysis. One of the most fundamental problems for the non Corbyn candidates is that they have singularly failed to outline their vision in sufficiently persuasive terms to become newsworthy. They may indeed have a vision but have failed …

Thoughts on Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s un-electability

Turgon on August 10, 2015, 3:30 pm

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I have been trying to write something on the Labour leadership election for a while now but keep getting put off. Rather than look at the election itself it might be interesting to look at two of the supposed truisms with surround the election and specifically Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign: that Corbyn as Labour leader would be unelectable and that only a Blairite Labour position can win a UK general election. The standard view is that Corbyn is unelectable. He is …

Questions for slugger readership on the Labour Election

Turgon on August 4, 2015, 11:49 am

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Mick is on holiday and has asked me to do the following: Clearly the Labour leadership election has been the source of many stories both on slugger and elsewhere (helped by both it being the silly season and the interesting nature of the campaign). Unusually for such an election, any of us can vote by becoming a registered supporter (see link here). To try to get people to think about it and to try to see their reasoning we would …

Question Time: Gay Cake

The Firemen on May 22, 2015, 9:00 am

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On a day when the Republic of Ireland goes to the polls on marriage equality, interesting to see cross party support for the Ashers ‘gay cake’ verdict from the major parties in Great Britain. On the panel for last night’s BBC Question Time were Nicky Morgan (Conservative), Stella Creasy (Labour), Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat), columnist Owen Jones and businesswoman Hilary Devey. Take note DUP. [twitter_follow username=”https://twitter.com/The_Firemen” language=”en”] The Firementwitter.com/The_Firemen

The SNP have gone beyond the unionist-nationalist split – a new account of their success.

Brian Walker on May 21, 2015, 11:11 am

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For those of us who can trot out the reasons for the dramatic rise of the SNP and still remain dissatisfied with the explanations, the writer David Torrance moves us closer in the Guardian today. Torrance is an open minded unionist who declares his views but doesn’t let them get in the way, a priceless asset in a discussion of divided politics. For me his key point is that the SNP have reached beyond the basic unionist- nationalist, left right splits …

Labour’s defeat: the future is rarely as bleak as it seems

Turgon on May 17, 2015, 2:33 pm

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One of the advantages of reaching middle age is that, provided one has a good memory, one can see lots of things happening again. I have never been interested in betting: partly a good Calvinist upbringing but also the fact that aged 9 or 10 on a Sunday School outing I put money into gaming machines in Barry’s in Portrush and noted (unsurprising with hindsight) that I got less out than I put in. I have just once since been …

Jim Wells: Has he damaged the DUP? UPDATED

The Firemen on April 24, 2015, 9:47 pm

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Any hopes that the DUP had that last night’s ill-judged comments by Health Minister Jim Wells would be quickly forgotten appear to be fast receding. If anything the ‘apology’ by Mr. Wells betrays ignorance on the part of the Health Minister more than anything else. Sadly the PSNI have now confirmed that they are now investigating comments made by Mr. Wells’ – perhaps the new laws suggested by the Ulster Fry would be more appropriate. UPDATE: Tonight (Sunday April 26th, 2015) …

Mairia Cahill honoured with James Larkin award

The Firemen on February 28, 2015, 8:20 pm

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UPDATED – WITH VIDEO Mairia Cahill was last night presented with the ‘Larkin Thirst for Justice Award’ at the Labour Party’s National Conference in Killarney. The award, named after the trade union leader and founder member of the Labour Party James Larkin, is awarded to a person who, in their personal and/or professional life has made an outstanding contribution in the area of human rights and justice. Speaking at the INEC in Killarney minutes before Joan Burton’s keynote address Ms. …

Scottish voters gambling on nobbling UK Labour and having them in Government?

Alasdair McKillop on February 5, 2015, 3:24 pm

| Readers 655

The Labour Party does not have its troubles to seek, particularly, it must be said, in Scotland. Polling by Lord Ashcroft in 16 parliamentary constituencies that voted Yes or nearly voted Yes in last year’s referendum added unsightly detail to an emerging picture. Fourteen of the seats analysed are held by Labour, with the remaining two held by the Liberal Democrats. Based on the responses, the SNP were predicted to take all but one of the seats, with only Willie …

“Can Scottish Labour, under Murphy, learn to think big?”

Mick Fealty on December 15, 2014, 11:25 am

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So Jim Murphy, a machine politician from his very earliest days in the NUS, takes over the helm at Scottish Labour. He has an unenviable task ahead of him. The Yes campaign may have won the #IndyRef battle but the unionist parties now show every sign of terminal weakness in their war for the future of the Union. Of all the popular and rising parties on these island, the SNP has the highest base polling figure. Salmond has skillfully combined opportunism and populism …

UKIP’s latest successes could yet damage it

Turgon on November 23, 2014, 5:21 pm

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Slowly the dust is beginning to settle on UKIP’s latest by-election victory. This one could be analysed as more or less important than the last one dependent on a number of factors. Rochester and Strood was a considerably less attractive target seat for UKIP than Clacton on Sea. It has much less of the older, poorer, white, “left behind” demographic which has been previously identified as the classic UKIP voter. Furthermore it seemed that Mark Reckless is not as popular …