The Labour Party under Andy Burnham

[AlterEgo]

I mean this is actually fair.

He is actually also fairly moderate as Conservatives go too.

Boris is a leaf on the wind, he is as moderate or extreme as the electorate deigns him to be.

 

[Thirteen]

Interesting article about the 2028 London Mayoral Election, it seems like many are expecting Sadiq Khan not to run for a fourth term

The race to succeed Sadiq Khan
London’s mayor does not plan to stand for a fourth term – who will follow him?

Only a year has passed since Sadiq Khan won a record third term as mayor of London. That victory – which plenty doubted – is one he can still relish (“it’s looking good for Susan Hall” has become a familiar election meme). This week has seen Khan confirm plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street after a public consultation found what he called “North Korean” levels of support. But what of his future?

Difficult to know who could be the Labour frontrunner, Rosena Allin-Khan seems to be the favourite and I think given that Reform's unlikely to be a threat in London and The Conservatives would need Boris 2.0, I think Labour is likely to win again in London although interestingly, the New Statesman has a suggestion from Sadiq Khan that Labour could lose London one day one due to the increase in popularity for the Lib Dems and Greens although I suspect you'd need to a great candidates from either party to stand a chance.

 

[brad465]

Interesting article about the 2028 London Mayoral Election, it seems like many are expecting Sadiq Khan not to run for a fourth term



Difficult to know who could be the Labour frontrunner, Rosena Allin-Khan seems to be the favourite and I think given that Reform's unlikely to be a threat in London and The Conservatives would need Boris 2.0, I think Labour is likely to win again in London although interestingly, the New Statesman has a suggestion from Sadiq Khan that Labour could lose London one day one due to the increase in popularity for the Lib Dems and Greens although I suspect you'd need to a great candidates from either party to stand a chance.

I think Khan would be wise not to run for a 4th term, as regardless of his competency, the electorate will get tired of the same person in office. I can see the next election being comparable to the West of England mayoral election just gone, where thanks to FPTP and no clear strong contender, the winner (Labour in this case), won with just 25% of the vote.

 

[Harpo]

Boris is a leaf on the wind, he is as moderate or extreme as the electorate deigns him to be.

Boris always minds his Ps & Qs. Well, the Ps anyway.

Prorogation
Patel
PPE
Pandemic deaths
Posh Paper
Patterson
Publisher peerage
Protocols
Pepper Pig
Partygate
Police fines
Porkies
Parliamentary standards committee
Pincher

 

[317 forever]

Interesting article about the 2028 London Mayoral Election, it seems like many are expecting Sadiq Khan not to run for a fourth term



Difficult to know who could be the Labour frontrunner, Rosena Allin-Khan seems to be the favourite and I think given that Reform's unlikely to be a threat in London and The Conservatives would need Boris 2.0, I think Labour is likely to win again in London although interestingly, the New Statesman has a suggestion from Sadiq Khan that Labour could lose London one day one due to the increase in popularity for the Lib Dems and Greens although I suspect you'd need to a great candidates from either party to stand a chance.

Intriguingly, Rosena succeeded Sadiq as MP for Tooting, so this would represent history repeating itself.

The Tooting Popular Front never spread to the rest of London yet alone the rest of the world but I digress

I wonder whether Labour Mayor of Leicester, Peter Soulsby, could be vulnerable if Shivani Raja were to stand as the Conservative candidate next time? While she was blessed with a divided opposition at Leicester East, it is notable that the Conservative vote there only declined numerically by about a quarter compared to 2019, while it basically halved nationwide. This proves that she is an excellent local campaigner.

 

[Thirteen]

Intriguingly, Rosena succeeded Sadiq as MP for Tooting, so this would represent history repeating itself.

The Tooting Popular Front never spread to the rest of London yet alone the rest of the world but I digress

I wonder whether Labour Mayor of Leicester, Peter Soulsby, could be vulnerable if Shivani Raja were to stand as the Conservative candidate next time? While she was blessed with a divided opposition at Leicester East, it is notable that the Conservative vote there only declined numerically by about a quarter compared to 2019, while it basically halved nationwide. This proves that she is an excellent local campaigner.

I think if Sadiq Khan decides not to stand again, he’ll announce late next 2026 or sometime in 2027 to give the Labour Party time to select a candidate.


One thing the Conservatives have failed to do it in recent elections is finding decent candidates, I’d say the same to a extent for Lib Dems and Greens as well.

 

[Tetchytyke]

This proves that she is an excellent local campaigner.

It’s more that Leicester is largely split on religious grounds. The Hindus generally vote Conservative and the Muslims generally vote Labour.

Labour will be extremely vulnerable in Leicester because Starmer has decided to hitch Labour’s wagon to the Netanyahu war machine.

 

[317 forever]

I think if Sadiq Khan decides not to stand again, he’ll announce late next 2026 or sometime in 2027 to give the Labour Party time to select a candidate.


One thing the Conservatives have failed to do it in recent elections is finding decent candidates, I’d say the same to a extent for Lib Dems and Greens as well.

Even in London there was a swing to the Conservatives in 2021 with the vaccine bounce, despite London having been steadfastly Remain-leaning. I reckon that, had Rory Stewart not been thrown out of the party but been selected as their candidate, he could have won.

 

[AlterEgo]

Even in London there was a swing to the Conservatives in 2021 with the vaccine bounce, despite London having been steadfastly Remain-leaning. I reckon that, had Rory Stewart not been thrown out of the party but been selected as their candidate, he could have won.

Stewart is a rural small-c conservative with a small ego who once worked as a spy. He would have been comprehensively defeated in the London elections.

 

[Thirteen]

Even in London there was a swing to the Conservatives in 2021 with the vaccine bounce, despite London having been steadfastly Remain-leaning. I reckon that, had Rory Stewart not been thrown out of the party but been selected as their candidate, he could have won.

Shaun Bailey still lost despite of the bounce.

 

[Harpo]

I wonder how long Rachel Reeves has left as chancellor after the latest clusterduck? She seems to have totally boxed herself in with pre-election promises and fiscal rules that leave only highly contentious choices and inevitable uproar over their very un-Labour nature. Only Farage can be hopeful that she remains as chancellor.


NB. This post does not contain any quoted material from any external sources.

 

[317 forever]

Shaun Bailey still lost despite of the bounce.

Yes, but I think there would have been a notable bounce under a more sympathetic Tory candidate.

 

[styles]

Shaun Bailey still lost despite of the bounce.

Bailey disenfranchised massive communities in London by saying racist things.

You could get away with it somewhere less diverse, but if you want to be Mayor of London, or even an MP in a London constituency, you can't really afford to alienate huge groups like that.

I mean he wasn't the worst candidate going, but it was hardly a surprise he didn't win.

 

[Carlisle]

I wonder how long Rachel Reeves has left as chancellor after the latest clusterduck?

Going by Sir Keir’s current performance sacking Rachel Reeves might turn out to be as beneficial as it was for Liz Truss when she sacked Kwasi Kwarteng , but then again he may get lucky & given time it’ll all blow over & be forgetten.

 

[Acfb]

Going by Sir Keir’s current performance sacking Rachel Reeves might turn out to be as beneficial as it was for Liz Truss when she sacked Kwasi Kwarteng , but then again he may get lucky & given time it’ll all blow over & be forgetten.

He needs to get rid of Morgan McSweeney and Rachel Reeves. They were both very fortunate Labour did not come third in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by election and actually gained the seat from the SNP or else they might both have been ousted by now (McSweeney's wife Imogen Walker is Labour MP for the Hamilton westminster constiuency).

Labour support seems to have stabilised somewhat in Scotland now (although not well enough to be the largest party at Holyrood next year) but still seem to be doing diabolically badly in England and Wales where we could still be sleepwalking to a Reform majority in 2028/29.

 

[alex397]

I’m going to guess that Labour arn’t aware of what happens when people try to ban songs or music artists - it just propels their popularity. I’m referring to the performances of Kneecap and Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.
I’m wondering if anyone would have even heard about Kneecap if the tabloids hadn’t gone crazy about them, or the government hadn’t made comments about them.

The BBC banning Frankie Goes to Hollywood springs to mind.

 

[Kite159]

I’m going to guess that Labour arn’t aware of what happens when people try to ban songs or music artists - it just propels their popularity. I’m referring to the performances of Kneecap and Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.
I’m wondering if anyone would have even heard about Kneecap if the tabloids hadn’t gone crazy about them, or the government hadn’t made comments about them.

The BBC banning Frankie Goes to Hollywood springs to mind.

Maybe they haven't heard of the Streisand effect

 

[Ediswan]

I’m going to guess that Labour arn’t aware of what happens when people try to ban songs or music artists - it just propels their popularity. I’m referring to the performances of Kneecap and Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.

Often, 'unacceptable' comments are only alluded to by the press. This time we have verbatim reports.

 

[THC]

I’m going to guess that Labour arn’t aware of what happens when people try to ban songs or music artists - it just propels their popularity. I’m referring to the performances of Kneecap and Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.
I’m wondering if anyone would have even heard about Kneecap if the tabloids hadn’t gone crazy about them, or the government hadn’t made comments about them.

The BBC banning Frankie Goes to Hollywood springs to mind.

Kneecap have been making waves for a while now. They starred in a semi-autobiographical film released to popular acclaim last year. I never thought I'd see the day when rap as Gaeilge was broadcast on the BBC but here we are. And they refuse to be cowed by whatever the British "establishment" - Labour or Tory - and the pro-Israel lobby fling their way. More power to them.

THC

 

[JamesT]

Kneecap have been making waves for a while now. They starred in a semi-autobiographical film released to popular acclaim last year. I never thought I'd see the day when rap as Gaeilge was broadcast on the BBC but here we are. And they refuse to be cowed by whatever the British "establishment" - Labour or Tory - and the pro-Israel lobby fling their way. More power to them.

They’re quite happy to take a handout from the “establishment”. Refusing to be cowed? They rapidly backtracked on supporting Hamas and Hezbollah or shooting Tories when their US agent dropped them.

 

[GusB]

Kneecap have been making waves for a while now. They starred in a semi-autobiographical film released to popular acclaim last year. I never thought I'd see the day when rap as Gaeilge was broadcast on the BBC but here we are. And they refuse to be cowed by whatever the British "establishment" - Labour or Tory - and the pro-Israel lobby fling their way. More power to them.

THC

Essentially what we're talking about here is freedom of speech, however distasteful some may find it. I hadn't heard of Kneecap until fairly recently when this whole furore erupted. Bob Vylan was completely unknown to me until today. Someone uses some nasty words about the Israeli military on a stage, while said organisation is deliberately killing civilians on a daily basis. It makes no sense to me!

Meanwhile, this current government is trying to proscribe and label Palestinian Action as a terrorist organisation when its actions haven't harmed, nor are intended to harm, any human beings.

Apparently we have a human rights lawyer in charge - you could have fooled me!

 

[Harpo]

Essentially what we're talking about here is freedom of speech

No. Calling for deaths has no place in civilised countries, much less so as part of ‘entertainment’, and is unacceptable in a live broadcast.

 

[dangie]

Meanwhile, this current government is trying to proscribe and label Palestinian Action as a terrorist organisation when its actions haven't harmed, nor are intended to harm, any human beings.

I’m not sticking up for Palestinian Action, but the government is attempting to label them as a terrorist group because basically they made the security at Brize Norton look shambolic or nonexistent.

 

[Yew]

I’m not sticking up for Palestinian Action, but the government is attempting to label them as a terrorist group because basically they made the security at Brize Norton look shambolic or nonexistent.

If anything, they've done the country a service, if protestors can get in with paint, actual hostile actors could get in with much more damaging equipment - hopefully now something can be done to make our bases more secure, without any real damage being caused.

 

[baz962]

I’m not sticking up for Palestinian Action, but the government is attempting to label them as a terrorist group because basically they made the security at Brize Norton look shambolic or nonexistent.

Probably won't change. Security has been lacking for maybe 45-50 years that I know of , although some will be more secure than others.

 

[dcbwhaley]

No. Calling for deaths has no place in civilised countries, much less so as part of ‘entertainment’, and is unacceptable in a live broadcast.

Calling for deaths is far less onerous than committing acts which result in a large number of civilian deaths.
Whilst not proscribed the IDF is a de facto terrorist organisation.

Bob Vylan's chants are hardly going to incite people to fly to Palestine with an assault rifle and take on the IDF.

 

[jfollows]

Yes, we now live in a society in which things that people say are determined to be illegal, rather than things that people do.

The one thing the latest US administration has got right is that freedom of speech is significantly curtailed here.

I don’t care what people say, and in the past people who said silly things were dismissed by one and all as stupidity. Now it’s “encouraging terrorism” or some such nonsense.

Our police are not very good, but in this they’re led by our politicians who enact stupid laws.

This latest fuss is just another example of something which would have been ignored twenty years ago, as it should be.

 

[edwin_m]

This latest fuss is just another example of something which would have been ignored twenty years ago, as it should be.

From 1988 to 1994, anyone who spoke on behalf of Sinn Fein couldn't be broadcast, whatever they wanted to say.

 

[AlterEgo]

From 1988 to 1994, anyone who spoke on behalf of Sinn Fein couldn't be broadcast, whatever they wanted to say.

Classic telly:

 

[jfollows]

From 1988 to 1994, anyone who spoke on behalf of Sinn Fein couldn't be broadcast, whatever they wanted to say.

Good point, I’d forgotten that, it was nonsense and it died under the weight of its own stupidity, but I remember Gerry Adams being unable to speak in person.

My feeling is that words undoubtedly have power, but politicians banning them or otherwise making them illegal gives them more legitimacy than they ought to have. Most people are sensible and ignore nonsense. Politicians don’t.