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Post by mattbewilson on Feb 17, 2022 9:24:38 GMT
Her interview was advertised on Google podcasts so I gave it a listen while walking the dogs. There were a couple of things that stook on my head. It's very easy to forget politicians are people too and this was a reminder to me that Rosie was kind of thrown into Westminster politics rather unexpectedly as no one ever expected her to win and dhe alludes that she was the only member of Canterbury CLP to apply. Rosie is clearly not a Westminster politician in the sense she's been training for this and says so herself. Saying there are people who've done this since 12 and she kind of just came into it. In this vain it's obvious in this int as she doesn't always seem to think what she says before she says it. Asked what kind of things she wants from the leadership she kind of meanders from calling gor tougher language, admitting not a lot can be done, to what legislation is coming, to something about statements of support and condemning abuse on twitter with her final saying stuff like 'yeah you know what i mean'. Which i do when I'm trailing off. Asked if Stamer is a coward she says I don't know. Asked about is he showing leadership she starts talking about leadership in the MPs office. Doesn't seem awfully prepared. Not a criticism, just a reminder that she's a fairly normal person who does normal things like forgetting what to say next. It is easy to forget that. I think it's because of this she holds views on an issue which isn't really in step with party policy. She's by no means anywhere near some interesting characters we've had. But had Canterbury been on the target list would she had been shortlisted? Maybe, i don't know. I think we should have as many normal folk as possible even if it does their views aren't always shared. Historically she has identified as soft left. A member of open labour, a group that encompasses soft to harder (but not corbyn) left tenancies. Fair to say she's on the more soft side though. In this interview she definitely refers to herself as being part of a more centrist faction and at odds with the corbynista faction. Open Labour appears to disappeared into the ether at this point. She referred throughout to a small group of toxic people. Says momentum are still a lsrge force. She describes Labour as two parties that Stsrker is trying to cater to which is unsustainable. She says a trickle of expulsions is not enough. Doesn't call for a militant style expulsion though. Does she think there is a larger more centrist contingent and Stamer should draw a line in the sand where the toxic element should get off? She says she thinks that the inaction over anti semitism has continued into inaction over this. To top it off she's not leaving for the tories because of brexit and immigration. Unfortunately I think there in lies our problem. If the dividing issues between Labour and the tories are the very issues which many voters abandoned us over in the last 15 years then that says more about the current priorities of the Labour Party than it says about the tories Member of Open Labour, but supported Jess Phillips for leader who was seen as the right-wing's candidate in that election, even though I would opine that Jess Phillips is actually on the soft left and was merely supported by those on the right, who decided to support someone who they saw as the most avowedly Corbyn-sceptic rather than a candidate who actuallly was aligned with their views. Jess Phillips is an odd character. Probably one of the most left wing MPs in the PLP, her views wouldn't be out of place in the ANC. But because she was, as you say, avowedly Corbyn-sceptic, she's gained this rep as the Blairite candidate |
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batman
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Post by batman on Feb 17, 2022 10:28:49 GMT
Member of Open Labour, but supported Jess Phillips for leader who was seen as the right-wing's candidate in that election, even though I would opine that Jess Phillips is actually on the soft left and was merely supported by those on the right, who decided to support someone who they saw as the most avowedly Corbyn-sceptic rather than a candidate who actuallly was aligned with their views. Jess Phillips is an odd character. Probably one of the most left wing MPs in the PLP, her views wouldn't be out of place in the ANC. But because she was, as you say, avowedly Corbyn-sceptic, she's gained this rep as the Blairite candidate she is one of the few Labour MPs admired by Labour Against Antisemitism, who as a group are about as right-wing as it's possible to be in the Labour Party (indeed some of them aren't Labour at all), but her politics are certainly well to their left |
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jamie
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Post by jamie on Feb 17, 2022 12:07:19 GMT
Member of Open Labour, but supported Jess Phillips for leader who was seen as the right-wing's candidate in that election, even though I would opine that Jess Phillips is actually on the soft left and was merely supported by those on the right, who decided to support someone who they saw as the most avowedly Corbyn-sceptic rather than a candidate who actuallly was aligned with their views. Jess Phillips is an odd character. Probably one of the most left wing MPs in the PLP, her views wouldn't be out of place in the ANC. But because she was, as you say, avowedly Corbyn-sceptic, she's gained this rep as the Blairite candidate She quit Labour over Iraq and during her (short lived) leadership campaign attacked Corbyn from the left on welfare. That she is one of the standard bearers for the Labour right (and a hate figure on the left) just shows how much of this is factional and personality based rather than policy based. |
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The Bishop
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Post by The Bishop on Feb 17, 2022 12:17:55 GMT
Not just that, but nearly all the right wing headbangers in the PLP supported her initially for the leadership last time.
Her politics are actually hard to pin down as its much more "vibes" than concrete political positions (and that's as true of her left wing aspects as her right)
And of course left wingers use stuff like her rather bizarre friendship with JRM against her.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2022 12:23:55 GMT
Not just that, but nearly all the right wing headbangers in the PLP supported her initially for the leadership last time. Her politics are actually hard to pin down as its much more "vibes" than concrete political positions (and that's as true of her left wing aspects as her right) And of course left wingers use stuff like her rather bizarre friendship with JRM against her. That's true of an unfortunately large number of politicians in all parties |
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Post by mattbewilson on Feb 17, 2022 12:27:46 GMT
Jess Phillips is an odd character. Probably one of the most left wing MPs in the PLP, her views wouldn't be out of place in the ANC. But because she was, as you say, avowedly Corbyn-sceptic, she's gained this rep as the Blairite candidate She quit Labour over Iraq and during her (short lived) leadership campaign attacked Corbyn from the left on welfare. That she is one of the standard bearers for the Labour right (and a hate figure on the left) just shows how much of this is factional and personality based rather than policy based. attacking Corbyn on welfare became quite a thing a number of the Labour Right liked to tbf. John Rentoul described the 2017 manifesto as the most right wing manifesto Labour had ever produced. Someone else had made a point that it was ironic that Corbyn was elected because the welfare cuts but ended up producing a manifesto which didn't commit to reversing the cuts. People are always able to stomach something better if they see someone they trust saying it. |
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wallington
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Post by wallington on Feb 17, 2022 12:30:39 GMT
Cllr. Rosemary Sexton (Solihull West on Solihull) has announced via Twitter that she has resigned from the Green group on the council, but will continue to sit as an Independent member on the council. In her resignation statement, she states the reason for her resignation is down to another one of her fellow councillors in Solihull West sexually harassing a friend, and in her opinion both the national party and local party response was less than she was expecting. From my experience The Green Party's complaints procedure is pretty inept (although, this really does seem to be the case with the other parties as well), there are also huge structural issues with how the Party is organised, it doesn't look like it's got any better in the past few years. I am aware of the situation Rosi is talking about, and it's a real shame she is one sitting as an independent.... |
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Post by mattbewilson on Feb 17, 2022 12:40:22 GMT
Jess Phillips is an odd character. Probably one of the most left wing MPs in the PLP, her views wouldn't be out of place in the ANC. But because she was, as you say, avowedly Corbyn-sceptic, she's gained this rep as the Blairite candidate she is one of the few Labour MPs admired by Labour Against Antisemitism, who as a group are about as right-wing as it's possible to be in the Labour Party (indeed some of them aren't Labour at all), but her politics are certainly well to their left I've fallen out with another supporter of LAAS when I suggested that SAAS was better they called SAAS corbynites and blocked me |
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CatholicLeft
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Post by CatholicLeft on Feb 17, 2022 12:45:18 GMT
she is one of the few Labour MPs admired by Labour Against Antisemitism, who as a group are about as right-wing as it's possible to be in the Labour Party (indeed some of them aren't Labour at all), but her politics are certainly well to their left I've fallen out with another supporter of LAAS when I suggested that SAAS was better they called SAAS corbynites and blocked me Calling SAAS "Corbynites" is, well, beyond laughable. |
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The Bishop
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Post by The Bishop on Feb 17, 2022 12:58:40 GMT
She quit Labour over Iraq and during her (short lived) leadership campaign attacked Corbyn from the left on welfare. That she is one of the standard bearers for the Labour right (and a hate figure on the left) just shows how much of this is factional and personality based rather than policy based. attacking Corbyn on welfare became quite a thing a number of the Labour Right liked to tbf. John Rentoul described the 2017 manifesto as the most right wing manifesto Labour had ever produced. Someone else had made a point that it was ironic that Corbyn was elected because the welfare cuts but ended up producing a manifesto which didn't commit to reversing the cuts. People are always able to stomach something better if they see someone they trust saying it. Tbf, that comment only shows what we already knew - ie that Rentoul is a clown. |
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batman
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Post by batman on Feb 17, 2022 14:44:55 GMT
she is one of the few Labour MPs admired by Labour Against Antisemitism, who as a group are about as right-wing as it's possible to be in the Labour Party (indeed some of them aren't Labour at all), but her politics are certainly well to their left I've fallen out with another supporter of LAAS when I suggested that SAAS was better they called SAAS corbynites and blocked me thank you for saying that. SAAS are not Corbynites, although many of us supported him initially. LAAS have a hatred of SAAS bordering on the obsessive |
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Feb 17, 2022 15:47:51 GMT
Jane Griffiths wasn't a dud or extremist. She was and still is a rather eccentric woman who was bullied by the local CLP, where harassment and bullying is still a significant problem. The replacement candidate was a despised local councillor who hilariously fell on his backside and gifted a seat to the Tories. That kind of eccentric, heavily educated character is very representative of a certain demographic group of Labour voters in Reading East. Oh come on. Tony Page is far from "despised" - you don't get to be a councillor continuously for 48 years and a senior member of the council leadership for over 30 years if you are despised. He lost very narrowly only because of the bad publicity over the deselection and because of some appalling homophobia. Tony Page is not known to be popular in Reading, you'd know this if you'd actually lived there. He has verbally abused several members of the public and been censured for his behaviour. |
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Feb 17, 2022 15:55:52 GMT
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Feb 17, 2022 16:03:03 GMT
Jane Griffiths wasn't a dud or extremist. She was and still is a rather eccentric woman who was bullied by the local CLP, where harassment and bullying is still a significant problem. The replacement candidate was a despised local councillor who hilariously fell on his backside and gifted a seat to the Tories. That kind of eccentric, heavily educated character is very representative of a certain demographic group of Labour voters in Reading East. She went bankrupt and fled to Latvia because of bullying? There was no job for her back in Reading because of the smears on her character in the messy selection process and her old job at BBC Monitoring in Caversham Park House was inevitably lost to job cuts (in 2018, the Caversham base finally closed after years of winding down), so I suspect she had no other opportunity than to flee to another countries to avoid her debts. |
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Post by John Chanin on Feb 17, 2022 16:11:53 GMT
Cllr. Rosemary Sexton (Solihull West on Solihull) has announced via Twitter that she has resigned from the Green group on the council, but will continue to sit as an Independent member on the council. In her resignation statement, she states the reason for her resignation is down to another one of her fellow councillors in Solihull West sexually harassing a friend, and in her opinion both the national party and local party response was less than she was expecting. It’s Shirley West. |
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Feb 17, 2022 16:12:07 GMT
Jane Griffiths wasn't a dud or extremist. She was and still is a rather eccentric woman who was bullied by the local CLP, where harassment and bullying is still a significant problem. The replacement candidate was a despised local councillor who hilariously fell on his backside and gifted a seat to the Tories. That kind of eccentric, heavily educated character is very representative of a certain demographic group of Labour voters in Reading East. I don't normally weigh in on this stuff, but I think Davıd Boothroyd is on the money here. My recollection of 2005, and having campaigned there the year before, was that it was expected to be tight but that Page was going to prevail. He did lose- by only by 475 votes in an election coloured heavily by the behaviour of his predecessor, and where the '1997 unwind' was likely to happen- but what he didn't do was hilariously fall on his backside. And, given that he is still on the council, it is a bit of a stretch to describe him as despised. (As an aside, when I was checking Reading Council's website I noticed that Clarence Mitchell- ex BBC hack and McCann family lackey- was a member). He's a member for Abbey ward, people there would vote for a sheep with a red rosette. A lot of people transferred to the Lib Dems, partly because of the Iraq War being very unpopular in the significant South Asian Muslim populations in Newtown and Bulmershe and partly because Tony was such an insufferable character. |
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Feb 17, 2022 17:39:13 GMT
Careful, your bias is showing.
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Post by Arthur Figgis on Feb 17, 2022 17:43:58 GMT
Careful, your bias is showing. Not his user name? |
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Feb 18, 2022 7:44:54 GMT
Careful, your bias is showing. You're right to say that I am biased against the LP, but the majority of what I say here is easily reinforced with evidence I have provided. I'm not tied to any particular party, just frustrated with the egregious behaviour of the last Reading BC administrations of several colours. |
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Post by nobodyimportant on Feb 21, 2022 12:16:33 GMT
I have met Tony Page and came away with a fairly positive opinion of him.
That said, this meeting was in discussion of a policy where I was largely in agreement with his position. It's entirely possible that my opinion of him would have been different in different circumstances.
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