What political leader in Opposition has ever stopped in its tracks what looked like irresistible momentum towards a disaster? No, I can’t think of one either. Certainly not Cameron – can you remember any of the positions he took during the 5 years before the 2010 election, apart from slyly posing beside a dog-sleigh in [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Leadership’
The real divisions in the Labour Party and what Ed should do about it
Jan 25th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Most Labour party members are, above all, loyal to their party. They have a strong inclination to back their leaders, even when they disagree with what they’ve said or done. And disagree they did, by and large, when Ed Balls announced that “the starting point….is we’re going to have to keep all these cuts” and accept [...]
A call to arms
Jan 19th, 2012 by Owen Jones.For those who stand outside the austerity consensus, reading Len McCluskey’s column on Tuesday was like coming up for air. It is a cause of deep frustration that, as the Tories’ economic policies are shown to fail (in terms of jobs, growth, consumer confidence, economic inactivity and borrowing levels), the Labour leadership has moved to legitimise [...]
It’s too late to build a Two-Ed-ist coalition against the Two-Ed detractors
Jan 18th, 2012 by Andy Newman.It is a paradox that the coalition building skills necessary to be a successful party leader are often not the skills of persuasive and decisive determination necessary to be a successful prime minister. Sadly, it seems that Ed Miliband may not have the attributes to be succesful in either role. Miliband is certainly ill-served by [...]
Labour’s standing in the polls is a poor excuse for knocking Ed
Jan 16th, 2012 by Lee Brown.Polling evidence does not support the idea that Ed’s time is up. Silly season is normally reserved for the summer. But this year we have also had the Winter version with a torrent of newspaper articles making it clear it that their authors believe that Ed Miliband’s time is up. Pages have been filled undermining Ed, [...]
What is Ed Miliband’s elevator pitch?
Jan 13th, 2012 by David Osler.There is no alternative. It’s the economy, stupid. Third Way. Big Society. Encapsulate your outlook into a pithy slogan of as few words as possible, or risk having someone encapsulate them for you. That these designations are typically vacuous and point to little of substance matters not. Fail to play the game, and posterity will [...]
Miliband has got to crack down on disloyalty in the ranks
Jan 11th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.The daily barrage from the Guardian, which began on Boxing Day and has continued non-stop for a fortnight, is still continuing. Who’s behind it? Clearly there has been briefing from members of the Shadow Cabinet, perhaps orchestrated by the person whose Policy Network pamphlet set it off, Peter Mandelson. There is also a Blairite majority [...]
Leanne Wood – an independent leadership
Jan 6th, 2012 by Gordon Gibson.It was standing room only at the Pick and Shovel Club in Ammanford for the formal launch of Leanne Wood’s campaign for the leadership of Plaid Cymru, in the first week of the year. The former miners’ club provided a solid Welsh working class reference point for Wood’s own political background, and she recalled impressions [...]
The change we need to win in Scotland
Nov 29th, 2011 by Johann Lamont.Labour needs to change in order to become a party which is fit to serve Scotland. May’s election result was a stark warning from the people of Scotland: lose touch with your values and vision, and you will lose our votes. Scottish Labour needs to rebuild from the ground up – but navel gazing and [...]
Scottish Leadership – Lamont consolidates lead
Nov 16th, 2011 by Jon Lansman.Johann has consolidated her lead in the race to be Leader of Scottish Labour, it emerged today, as supporting nominations were published by the Scottish Party.She now leads in every section of the electoral college, with a commanding lead in the trade union and affiliates section when the size of organisations is taken into account. [...]
