Tristram Hunt resigns as MP

[northwichcat]

Labour MP Tristram Hunt is quitting as an MP to become the director of London's Victoria and Albert Museum, triggering a by-election.

Mr Hunt, a critic of Jeremy Corbyn, said he did not want to "rock the boat" but had the chance "to have one of the greatest museum jobs in the world".

His Stoke-on-Trent Central seat is set to be abolished under boundary changes.
Mr Hunt told local party members he had been frustrated about how Labour should respond to political shockwaves.

In a letter to them explaining his decision, he said being an MP had been "both deeply rewarding and intensely frustrating".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38608825

At the last election UKIP finished second for Stoke Central but in 2010 the Lib Dems finished second with Labour's majority falling from 20,000 in 1997 to 5,000 in 2010 and 2015, so it could be an interesting by-election.

Although, I imagine a lot of people will be disappointed it's not Jeremy Hunt who has resigned.
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Since posting George Osborne has commended the Victoria & Albert Museum on appointing a brilliant person, yet Corbyn doesn't appear to have said anything. To me that make it sound like a breakaway centralist party consisting of both disgruntled Labour and Conservative MPs could still be on the cards.

 

[AlterEgo]

Since posting George Osborne has commended the Victoria & Albert Museum on appointing a brilliant person, yet Corbyn doesn't appear to have said anything. To me that make it sound like a breakaway centralist party consisting of both disgruntled Labour and Conservative MPs could still be on the cards.

Sounds like you're putting 2+2 together and coming up with 1,566.

 

[northwichcat]

Sounds like you're putting 2+2 together and coming up with 1,566.

But why would a centre-right MP from a different party be commending a centre-left MP more than a left wing MP who's leading the same party?

 

[HSTEd]

Because Corbyn hates the (virtual) entirity of the parliamentary party for failing to bend entirely to his will.

 

[AlterEgo]

But why would a centre-right MP from a different party be commending a centre-left MP more than a left wing MP who's leading the same party?

I don't know. It doesn't mean there's about to be a new party created though!

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Sounds like you're putting 2+2 together and coming up with 1,566.

Agreed.
Jeremy Corbyn has commented (6 o'clock news on BBC)

 

[yorksrob]

Mr Osbourne ought to get back to his wallpaper factory.

 

[Busaholic]

Tristram Hunt was parachuted into Stoke-on-Trent, a place he admitted he'd never visited prior to his nomination, by Labour's then National Executive. He replaced Mark Fisher as MP, possibly one Labour MP further to the right than Hunt! Labour should retain the seat so long as they select a suitable candidate, one with both some local connections and, perhaps, not so overtly Remain!

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Tristram Hunt was parachuted into Stoke-on-Trent, a place he admitted he'd never visited prior to his nomination, by Labour's then National Executive. He replaced Mark Fisher as MP, possibly one Labour MP further to the right than Hunt! !

Ah, yes...I had a vague recollection of something like that, you have saved me the trouble of looking it up. It seems to be mostly forgotten now, but I recall in the Blair/Brown days there was quite a lot of parachuting going on!

 

[backontrack]

Aw, I was hoping the other one would resign...

On a more serious note: and so the PLP dies. Whatever your opinion of Hunt (in my opinion his only good point is that he's not the other Hunt in British politics), I think it's clear that this and Copeland can together do for the PLP.

 

[northwichcat]

Agreed.
Jeremy Corbyn has commented (6 o'clock news on BBC)

After being prompted by a journalist to comment. Quite often party leaders have something to publicly say when a MP steps down or a new MP is elected without waiting until a journalist asks a relevant question.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Ah, yes...I had a vague recollection of something like that, you have saved me the trouble of looking it up. It seems to be mostly forgotten now, but I recall in the Blair/Brown days there was quite a lot of parachuting going on!

Both Labour and the Conservatives have put forward pro-current leader people as their candidates for relatively safe seats for a long time. Labour have also selected some seats where they have refused to have any male candidate on the shortlists (apparently to promote equality) - Jess Phillips is a perfect example of why that's a bad idea - according to one comment she made ALL men needed lessons to prevent them becoming rapists. There's plenty of good female MPs but Labour's system allows idiots to become MPs ahead of better qualified people because of their gender.

 

[HSTEd]

So how many byelections will Jeremy lose before he resigns or is removed?
Copeland is lost (with the Tories dropping leaflets going on about Jeremy's position on nuclear power through letterboxes Labour hasn't a chance) and Stoke doesn't look much better.

 

[northwichcat]

Copeland is lost (with the Tories dropping leaflets going on about Jeremy's position on nuclear power through letterboxes Labour hasn't a chance) and Stoke doesn't look much better.

Apparently the Lib Dems are the only party to have confirmed their candidate for Copeland. The Conservatives and UKIP have shortlists of candidates and Labour has a long list, while the Greens have said they will put forward a candidate for this by-election, despite not normally bothering with by-elections due to nuclear energy being on the agenda.
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Mr Osbourne ought to get back to his wallpaper factory.

His parents don't want him to as he'll miss all the business' targets.

 

[HSTEd]

The Greens will take the anti-nuclear votes which leaves Labour with virtually nothing in the face of a Conservatice challenge based upon being pro-nuclear power.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

- Jess Phillips is a perfect example of why that's a bad idea - according to one comment she made ALL men needed lessons to prevent them becoming rapists. There's plenty of good female MPs but Labour's system allows idiots to become MPs ahead of better qualified people because of their gender.

...but Jess Phillips thinks she is wonderful! The media love her because she will always promote herself and give an anti-Corbyn rant if prompted (think how much capital she made out of telling Diane Abbot to F*** off!)

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Both Labour and the Conservatives have put forward pro-current leader people as their candidates for relatively safe seats for a long time. Labour have also selected some seats where they have refused to have any male candidate on the shortlists (apparently to promote equality) - Jess Phillips is a perfect example of why that's a bad idea - according to one comment she made ALL men needed lessons to prevent them becoming rapists. There's plenty of good female MPs but Labour's system allows idiots to become MPs ahead of better qualified people because of their gender.

I don't think that's fair. The Labour system does insist that a certain proportion of seats are reserved for women, in order to improve the gender balance. However, to be selected for a seat you still need to compete against other candidates, and demonstrate to the local party members in what amounts to a full election campaign within the party, that you are the most capable of all the candidates. There are enough people who want to become MPs that even with an all-female list, there's almost always going to be fierce competition for any seat that's winnable - so it's unlikely that someone would get selected without demonstrating a reasonable ability. The women-only-shortlist system is controversial, but you can argue that it does to some extent compensate for politics often being an unfriendly environment to women - because up to now it has mainly been men who get involved with politics, and no matter how well meaning those men are, if an environment is dominated by one gender, it's very hard to avoid the culture becoming favourable to that gender (the combative nature of UK politics - which seems to be trait more common in men - may well be testament to that).

And I don't know enough about Jess Phillips enough to have any firm opinion about her, but one ill-judged remark doesn't make you an idiot. Besides, how many male MPs are there who have from time to time made silly remarks? (Boris, anyone?)

 

[northwichcat]

The Labour system does insist that a certain proportion of seats are reserved for women, in order to improve the gender balance.

Labour don't know for certain which seats they'll win which makes it a bit pointless. Regaining Weaver Vale was a target for them at the last General Election (and they put forward a female candidate) but they didn't win the seat, yet regaining Chester was another target for them (where they put forward a male candidate) and they scrapped a victory there.

I don't know how my local area compares to others but it seems we have quite a few people who are interested in politics and stand in local council elections but are not members of political parties and most of them are women. One local independent female councillor regularly criticises how the NHS is run on her Twitter account, as well as the gap between rich and poor. Why can't the Labour party attract someone like that to join the party? Should they be looking at why that is the case rather than picking the best woman from what they've got to stand?

 

[317 forever]

Paul Nuttall has confirmed that he will be the UKIP candidate at Stoke-on-Trent Central. The by-election is due to be held on February 23rd, the same day as the Copeland by-election.

 

[yorksrob]

His parents don't want him to as he'll miss all the business' targets.

Ha ha, good point

 

[FordFocus]

If Copeland and/or Stoke is lost it's goodbye to Corbyn. As a trade unionist I voted for him twice as my union is affiliated to the party. The Labour Party needed something different as it was in danger of floating far too much towards the right under the potential of Liz Kendall (who?) and Cooper.

One of the positive sides of Cameron's gamble on Brexit for the Conservatives is they are getting a free ride from the media of how the debt is at it's highest ever, public spending at it's lowest since the 40s and the implosion of the NHS. So the sheep are happy because all eyes are on Brexit.

We've had nearly 18 months of Corbyn of the yo-yo interviews, policies that change by the day, U turns, lack of party unity (there are more Blairites than traditional left wingers), Diane Abbott on the front bench, no clear Labour message, MPs like Jess Phillips that will stab him in the back on TV. It's turned into the Corbyn/Thornberry/Abbott London set where there is nothing wrong with immigration and yet the Northern safe seats are screaming out for limits on immigration. Whenever I speak to ex-labour voters there is the anger towards Blair and his open door immigration policies along with the Iraq war. It was no wonder a huge Labour vote cleared off to UKIP.

The polls are poor as the Remainers were disappointed by the Labour message, Corbyn's image and the right wing press we have. The polls have been wrong a lot in the past few years but been between 8 - 15 points behind the main party is a difficult. Still 3 years until a general election and been post-brexit but I'd rather see a stronger, united party as opposition to get rid of the car crash Tories in 2020.

 

[northwichcat]

yet the Northern safe seats are screaming out for limits on immigration.

If you mean a seat like Liverpool Walton then I can't see Labour losing seats like that. At worse they'll turn a massive majority in to a small majority.

Where the problem is are the marginal seats like Chester or the seats that Blair's Labour held like Weaver Vale and Crewe & Nantwich which the Conservatives have had at the two most recent general elections. Labour have to retain the marginals they have and win back the marginals they lost if they want to be in government.

The Conservatives were clever with Weaver Vale and let everyone (not just Conservative members) have a say in who should stand as the Conservative candidate and someone local from a working class background was chosen, so he was able to get the votes of disgruntled Labour voters. If Labour select a Corbynite to stand against him at the next election they can guarantee getting a couple hundred votes from local Labour party members but not much else. Having a Labour leader who is to the far left of the Labour party is just as bad as having a Conservative leader who is to the far right of the Conservative party.

floating far too much towards the right under the potential of Liz Kendall (who?) and Cooper.
...
and the right wing press we have

You mean the Liz Kendall who (from the back benches) demanded workers rights which are protected by the EU aren't lost as part of Brexit, while Corbyn was displaying an allergy in talking about anything political in the run up to the EU referendum? Also Corbyn said in April he backed the RMT's campaign to prevent ticket office closures by the new Northern franchise, despite that being something that was never part of the Northern franchise agreement having been dismissed as the consultation stage! It seems Corbyn is liked by the RMT because like the union he's months behind everyone else.

Also worth noting a columnist for The Times on Friday said the current Labour MPs would be in a better position to get a good Brexit deal than the mismanaged Conservatives I'm not sure the press is still as right wing as you think!

 

[Busaholic]

If you mean a seats like Liverpool Walton then I can't see Labour losing seats like that. At worse they'll turn a massive majority in to a small majority.

Where the problem is are the marginal seats like Chester or the seats that Blair's Labour held like Weaver Vale and Crewe & Nantwich which the Conservatives have had at the two most recent general elections. Labour have to retain the marginals they have and win back the marginals they lost if they want to be in government.

The Conservatives were clever with Weaver Vale and let everyone (not just Conservative members) have a say in who should stand as the Conservative candidate and someone local from a working class background was chosen, so he was able to get the votes of disgruntled Labour voters. If Labour select a Corbynite to stand against him at the next election they can guarantee getting a couple hundred votes from local Labour party members but not much else. Having a Labour leader who is to the far left of the Labour party is just as bad as having a Conservative leader who is to the far right of the Conservative party.



You mean the Liz Kendall who (from the back benches) demanded workers rights which are protected by the EU aren't lost as part of Brexit, while Corbyn was displaying an allergy in talking about anything political in the run up to the EU referendum? Also Corbyn said in April he backed the RMT's campaign to prevent ticket office closures by the new Northern franchise, despite that being something that was never part of the Northern franchise agreement having been dismissed as the consultation stage! It seems Corbyn is liked by the RMT because like the union he's months behind everyone else.

Also worth noting a columnist for The Times on Friday said the current Labour MPs would be in a better position to get a good Brexit deal than the mismanaged Conservatives I'm not sure the press is still as right wing as you think!

My wife's job in corporate PR in London involved meeting/ getting to know financial journalists and she always maintained that the most left wing ones were on the Telegraph and Financial Times, though not always reflected in what was published!

I think Liz Kendall is quite impressive - she regularly appears on Andrew Neil's Thursday late evening TV programme with Portillo. She's much better at analysis than Diane Abbot ever was (not difficult, admittedly) which, given she didn't have Abbot's education, says a lot for her. Even George Galloway praised her when he was on the programme, a tad patronising perhaps and a poisoned chalice, but he could see she'd thought her position out clearly, at variance though it naturally was with his.

 

[DarloRich]

Tristram Hunt was parachuted into Stoke-on-Trent, a place he admitted he'd never visited prior to his nomination, by Labour's then National Executive. He replaced Mark Fisher as MP, possibly one Labour MP further to the right than Hunt! Labour should retain the seat so long as they select a suitable candidate, one with both some local connections and, perhaps, not so overtly Remain!

UKIP are throwing an awful lot at the seat - Labour could lose this seat. But the winning isnt important to the Corbyn/Momentum clowns now running the paprty.

If Copeland and/or Stoke is lost it's goodbye to Corbyn. As a trade unionist I voted for him twice as my union is affiliated to the party. The Labour Party needed something different as it was in danger of floating far too much towards the right under the potential of Liz Kendall (who?) and Cooper.

AKA ability to appeal to the broad spectrum needed to win an election? Copeland has been Labour since the 30's. We should not be in any danger of losing this seat. We are because of Corbyn.

One of the positive sides of Cameron's gamble on Brexit for the Conservatives is they are getting a free ride from the media of how the debt is at it's highest ever, public spending at it's lowest since the 40s and the implosion of the NHS. So the sheep are happy because all eyes are on Brexit.

And yet with an NHS crisis presenting what should be an open goal for labour good old comrade Jezza cant even get his boots on the right feet let alone get on the field.

We should be hitting the Tories hard on this and dragging the media message onto this topic. We aren't. Why not?

We've had nearly 18 months of Corbyn of the yo-yo interviews, policies that change by the day, U turns, lack of party unity (there are more Blairites than traditional left wingers), Diane Abbott on the front bench, no clear Labour message, MPs like Jess Phillips that will stab him in the back on TV. It's turned into the Corbyn/Thornberry/Abbott London set where there is nothing wrong with immigration and yet the Northern safe seats are screaming out for limits on immigration.

It's about 17 and a half months too long! Corbyn is a clueless joke destroying our party as a political force. He and his mates need to clear off

Whenever I speak to ex-labour voters there is the anger towards Blair and his open door immigration policies along with the Iraq war. It was no wonder a huge Labour vote cleared off to UKIP.

And yet by voting leave in places like Sunderland ( where my family live) they cut their own throat. The government wont make up the shortfall in EU funding that has gone into the area and nor will a post brexit world offer the kind of safety net or economic success many are used to. Voting for the kippers simply cuts the chances of money flowing into these areas.

But you are right - labour didn't listen to those noises coming from the core vote areas despite all the benefits Blair brought nor did they offer a strong ( some may say truthful) counter narrative. I said we should be worried by UKIP coming second in places like Sunderland and do something about it. We didn't and Corbyn cant and/or wont.

The polls are poor as the Remainers were disappointed by the Labour message, Corbyn's image and the right wing press we have. The polls have been wrong a lot in the past few years but been between 8 - 15 points behind the main party is a difficult. Still 3 years until a general election and been post-brexit but I'd rather see a stronger, united party as opposition to get rid of the car crash Tories in 2020.

The pools are poor because Corncob is useless and has created a divided party with no electoral future. Real people see that. They don't want him anywhere near power.

 

[Busaholic]

. But the winning isnt important to the Corbyn/Momentum clowns now running the paprty.



.

It is to Len McCluskey, though, and his continued backing seems to be crucial to Corbyn's survival. Even things like Sinn Fein's new leader and her stance on Brexit will have an influence too.

 

[DarloRich]

It is to Len McCluskey, though, and his continued backing seems to be crucial to Corbyn's survival. Even things like Sinn Fein's new leader and her stance on Brexit will have an influence too.

if he wants to win he needs to help us dump Clownbyn!

 

[AlterEgo]

It is to Len McCluskey

Glad Corbyn has secured one vote then.

 

[meridian2]

My wife's job in corporate PR in London involved meeting/ getting to know financial journalists and she always maintained that the most left wing ones were on the Telegraph and Financial Times, though not always reflected in what was published!

Yup, the Sun in its most bellicose 1980s phase largely consisted of left leaning journalists going along for the ride.