Huddersfield - Beware Party Elders Baring Gifts

[iain]

I can't think of a joke about baring vs bearing :/

Will Labour really be rushing to get Balls back into the Commons?

[The Bishop]

No, basically.

[markgoodair]

May 10, 2015 17:44:53 GMT The Bishop said:

No, basically.

What about if his missis is elected party leader?

[Devil Wincarnate]

Balls is too well known to carpet-bag like that, I think (Patrick Gordon Walker's first tilt at Leyton being a good precedent- and David Rendel for that matter)- you need to be a real no-mark like Stephen Twigg, Chris Leslie or a Conservative candidate for Beckenham to get away with such things.

[The Bishop]

Thought it was fairly obvious I was never a huge EB fan, but if you and boogs could read what I have said in the Labour forum it would remove all doubts

In many ways it is a shame, he is a highly talented man in some respects - but his public reputation after the last Labour government bordered on the horrific and despite his evident intellect his judgement calls were too often poor. On balance it may be a good thing he has been taken out of action, at least for a while.

[Deleted]

Wouldn't Millibands seat be the first b\e of the new campaign? I can't see him hanging around for long.

[carlton43]

May 10, 2015 17:59:36 GMT markgoodair said:

May 10, 2015 17:44:53 GMT The Bishop said:

No, basically.

What about if his missis is elected party leader?

He has no chance at all then!

[Sibboleth]

Balls is a valuable senior member of the Party and so on, but he's a charisma vacuum. I don't think that triggering a by-election to get him back into the Commons would be a great idea.

May 11, 2015 13:45:26 GMT cogload said:

Wouldn't Millibands seat be the first b\e of the new campaign? I can't see him hanging around for long.

Hmm... he actually seems like the type that might stick around, though as always it's hard to call.

[Merseymike]

May 10, 2015 18:26:26 GMT Devil Wincarnate said:

Balls is too well known to carpet-bag like that, I think (Patrick Gordon Walker's first tilt at Leyton being a good precedent- and David Rendel for that matter)- you need to be a real no-mark like Stephen Twigg, Chris Leslie or a Conservative candidate for Beckenham to get away with such things.

Also it depends if your original seat was a natural seat for your party. Twiggy won a Tory safe seat - politically we are not soul mates but to give him his due he moved to Liverpool and is just about the best constituency MP you could imagine. He is a fantastic motivator too. Chris Leslie also won a safe Tory seat.

But Balls has lost what has been a Labour seat for a long time and it can't be blamed on boundary changes either.

It's odd. In person he is funny and sharp and he has a good back story in defeating a stammer. Yet though we saw a bit of this in the last leader selection where he had a good campaign, he isn't liked by many in the party either, truth be told

[Merseymike]

Jan 1, 1970 3:58:33 GMT cogload said:

Wouldn't Millibands seat be the first b\e of the new campaign? I can't see him hanging around for long.

It wouldn't surprise me if he returned to Harvard to lecture - he loves the States and is a keen follower of American sports but as he has a young family I would imagine it would be soon if he takes that move

[middyman]

May 10, 2015 21:39:30 GMT The Bishop said:

Thought it was fairly obvious I was never a huge EB fan, but if you and boogs could read what I have said in the Labour forum it would remove all doubts

In many ways it is a shame, he is a highly talented man in some respects - but his public reputation after the last Labour government bordered on the horrific and despite his evident intellect his judgement calls were too often poor. On balance it may be a good thing he has been taken out of action, at least for a while.

In my opinion, one of his worst judgment calls is to support Norwich City FC of which the blessed Delia is a leading light, but that's localism for you, whatever that may be.

[Sibboleth]

May 11, 2015 14:43:53 GMT Merseymike said:

But Balls has lost what has been a Labour seat for a long time and it can't be blamed on boundary changes either.

This is slightly misleading; it was a new seat when drawn for 2010 and had it had a long existence it's unlikely to have been a Labour banker. Still, Labour performed better in most other Yorkshire seats with small majorities, so...

[Merseymike]

May 11, 2015 15:20:42 GMT Sibboleth said:

May 11, 2015 14:43:53 GMT Merseymike said:

But Balls has lost what has been a Labour seat for a long time and it can't be blamed on boundary changes either.

This is slightly misleading; it was a new seat when drawn for 2010 and had it had a long existence it's unlikely to have been a Labour banker. Still, Labour performed better in most other Yorkshire seats with small majorities, so...

He uNder performed last time as well

[Sibboleth]

Possibly, but I don't believe the 2005 notionals for Morley & Outwood. Clearer cut this time.

[gwynthegriff]

May 11, 2015 13:45:26 GMT cogload said:

Wouldn't Millibands seat be the first b\e of the new campaign? I can't see him hanging around for long.

Job swap with his brother?

[East Anglian Lefty]

May 11, 2015 13:45:26 GMT cogload said:

Wouldn't Millibands seat be the first b\e of the new campaign? I can't see him hanging around for long.

There were rumours he wanted to take the IDS route, and unlike IDS he actually has the skillset required to run a major government department.

[carlton43]

May 12, 2015 10:01:15 GMT East Anglian Lefty said:

May 11, 2015 13:45:26 GMT cogload said:

Wouldn't Millibands seat be the first b\e of the new campaign? I can't see him hanging around for long.

There were rumours he wanted to take the IDS route, and unlike IDS he actually has the skillset required to run a major government department.

I don't agree with you much but I see you as a fair man. Why do you say Miliband 'has the skillset required...' and imply IDS doesn't? Aside from the fact IDS is probably developing policy you reject, do you not accept that he is very much on top of the subject and one of the few ministers to be convincing, fact-based and erudite in his whole subject area. In interview he answers clearly and without waffle because he knows his brief and is fully comfortable with it. I don't remember Miliband being a particular exemplar of excellent admin or presentational skills as a minister.

[East Anglian Lefty]

I think this is a subject where we're not going to come close to agreement. Miliband does detail and is a born wonk. IDS has a passion for his subject, but he's several years behind schedule and has not managed to maintain a good relationship with his civil servants.

[greenchristian]

May 11, 2015 16:06:50 GMT @trident said:

I think that if we were looking for a by-election to get Balls back into the Commons, we would be best advised to leave it for a year or two.

So wait for Geoffrey Robinson's retirement?

[neilm]

May 12, 2015 14:40:55 GMT East Anglian Lefty said:

I think this is a subject where we're not going to come close to agreement. Miliband does detail and is a born wonk. IDS has a passion for his subject, but he's several years behind schedule and has not managed to maintain a good relationship with his civil servants.

This thing about Miliband is interesting. I know some people who were in DECC during his tenure and they say he wasn't great. A little like Jimmy Carter was one description, although he didn't have Carter's obsession with micromanagement. I don't think he was as good as some people think.

I agree on IDS, although there are some staff changes now needed at the DWP (which were needed five years ago, truth told). Perhaps he will be able to make them now. It's the department I have direct Whitehall (and operational) experience of and I know there are people at, say, Grade 7 who have bought into IDS' vision. With the right changes, the lower tiers could be brought on board.