^ "The back-bench rebellion over Europe is this big!"

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/opposition...7.html#XPwLN7K

The damage is done its too late to try and distance yourselves from the Tories, your fault jumping on Dave's Scottish bandwagon last year.

Secret hand shacks all round, George & Ed got their gold rings on.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/osborne-ba...4.html#cVMbGIO

Pointless Ed being there then :hmm2:

Ed Balls is off to America to teach economics! :huh:

Moving on I noticed on the home Yahoo news page they are running a poll.

Who do you think should be the next Labour leader?

Chuka Umunna (2263) 18%
Liz Kendall (1260) 10%
Andy Burnham (2740) 22%
Yvette Cooper (1606) 13%
Tristam Hunt (738) 6%
Other (4124) 32%

As of posting this post.

It seems more of the general public want a new face. :hmmm:

Received a text on my iPhone from Andy Burnham this morning...the only candidate that has made the effort.

So, do you think Mr. Other will make a good PM?

Andy Burnham gets my vote :yep:

Burnham would be a good choice, but I think since he was Chief Secretary to the Treasury in Browns regime, he's a bit too close to the Great Depression and thus probably tainted too much by it. Too easy a target for Cameron.
Same with Cooper, and since her husband is Ed Balls (TM) that's another free goal for Dave.
Umna has withdrawn from the race, which is a shame because he'd probably have been the strongest hope for a Labour that would get votes, clawing it back from the far left into more central ground. Of course, doing that without running into the legacy of Blair and 'New Labour'.

Jeremy Corbyn? :har::har::har: Ain't gonna happen. Far too far left.

Liz Kendall is a potential runner. She would make for a fairly good leader, she's untainted by the 2008 crisis, she's not far left and she's done well in her seat. I think it'll be a two horse race between her and Burnham.
Who would I pick?

:hmmm:

Probably Kendall, Burnham is good, but as a member of the financial team on Browns government, that's now become public political suicide. Dave can just bring that up, time and again with his little favourite prop and Labour will not recover from the nose-dive it took this year.
To be honest, I think it's going to take another term before it does fully recover from the mauling its taken anyway, and it'll be at least three terms before the Lib-Dems manage to pull themselves back together, what's left of them.

I had an accident which rendered me unconscious for a while, I awoke in hospital with a doctor asking me if I knew who the prime minister was. I attacked the doctor and started smashing the place up.

"He's ok, " said the doctor, "he obviously knows who the prime minister is. "

I'm beginning to think that Burnham is the only real choice when looked at in terms of popularity and public awareness but I'm struggling to convince myself any of the candidates will make any impression on the electorate in the short to medium term.

Labour will only get back in when the country gets bored with the Tories.

I honestly don't think it's about boredom but more about credibility and trust.

Yup, and Labour have done poorly ever since Brown became PM, then Milliband Jr. took over. I hope that the main party hierarchy have taken note of two things:

1. Don't abuse your electorate by taking them for granted, assuming they will always vote for you no matter what - see Scotland.

2. Listen to what the electorate is trying to say to you - see the rise of UKIP in the North of England.

Ultimately, Labour is torn between two conflicting ideas of society. That which their support in the North of England, Scotland and Wales believes in (traditional left, communitarian, small "c" social conservative), and that which they need to curry to in order to win constituencies in the Southern part of the England (right wing, individualist, entrepreneurial, big "C" Conservatism) which gets them enough seats to form a government.

Blairism squared the circle for them, but I can't see Labour managing that again, at least in the short term.

If I were to make a recommendation to Labour's leadership, it would be this: You've lost Scotland, the SNP have stolen your clothes, so don't try to get back. If you want to win again, concentrate on England and Wales, that's where the seats you need to win are.

Mike.:hmmm:

Indeed, Blair did a lot of damage to Labours credibility thanks to Iraq, and Brown was in the wrong place at the wrong time, as well as being as about as likeable as a dead pigeon. The after-effects of both has given the Tories enough ammunition for a decade, I think that the concensus someone came to earlier in this thread is probably accurate, Labour won't get a look in again until the election after next. :/\\!!

Protests in London on Saturday, probably going to be a big one.