I am one of those who wants to see more working class people – and a bigger range of people generally – active in the highest levels of politics. So I welcome the emphasis the party is placing on broadening the social composition of parliament. That process is certainly not going to be resolved across the [...]
Posts Tagged ‘PLP’
Paul Kenny on influence of Progress and the need for more working class MPs
Oct 22nd, 2012 by Newsdesk.Paul Kenny talks a great deal of sense about Labour’s lowest ever level of working class representation and how the targetting of parliamentary seats by Progress with “outside money” obstructs working class representation and promotes privatisation. Bookmarks Hide Sites
Seize the opportunity to reshape Labour in Parliament
Aug 6th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.The abandonment by Nick Clegg of the boundary change package as a response to its rejection by Tory MPs is an opportunity. The boost to Labour’s electoral prospects is only slight and not the point. The survival of the unelected House of Lords is temporary and the proposed manner of reform was in any event [...]
Working class heroes: a Labour MP is something to be
Jul 16th, 2012 by David Osler.Labour, the Times reports this morning, is on the lookout for more working class MPs. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett – whose parents’ occupation is not listed in standard sources (though he was himself a plumber before he was a full-time politician) – is in charge of a programme expressly designed to get more proletarians into [...]
Election result for backbench MP reps on Labour executive
Jul 11th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.The result of the election of representatives of backbench members of Parliament and MEPs has been announced (though without voting figures). Sitting members Margaret Beckett and Dennis Skinner were returned together with Steve Rotherham, MP for Liverpool Walton and a former Lord Mayor of Liverpool, who replaces Michael Cashman MEP, former Eastenders star and current Chair [...]
Who will be new chair of Labour in Parliament?
Feb 21st, 2012 by Jon Lansman.As Tony Lloyd has decided to stand to be Labour’s candidate for Manchester Police Commissioner, the position of chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) will shortly be up for grabs. Tony Lloyd has said he’ll resign as PLP chair to campaign for the selection though he will also have to resign his seat once [...]
The real test of Ed’s commitment to democracy is on reform of the wider party
Jul 5th, 2011 by Jon Lansman.Labour MPs have voted today to back Ed Miliband in abolishing shadow cabinet elections, with 196 (76%, or 83% of those voting) in favour, 41 against and 20 not voting. Last September the same PLP had rejected the same proposal and, instead, voted to elect the Chief Whip for the first time (although in the [...]
By all means bring back David …. to a new shadow cabinet, which understands why New Labour lost
Jun 27th, 2011 by Jon Lansman.Rumours of a possible return to the front bench by David Milliband abound. That, some pundits say, is the reason for abolishing shadow cabinet elections. As we argued last week, we favour democracy but the 300,000 plus people that put Ed into his job carry more weight with us than the 258 people who isolated [...]
Ed goes for broke, and quite right
Jun 25th, 2011 by Michael Meacher.One’s first reaction to Ed Miliband’s abolition of shadow cabinet elections is that this is a step away from party democracy. But on closer reflection this is a shrewd, and radical, break with tradition which makes a lot of sense in current circumstances. Ed is faced with a shadow cabinet in which only 4 of [...]
Why has Ed initiated a policy review that by-passes the party?
Feb 22nd, 2011 by Jon Lansman.Ed Miliband wants to undertake a policy review which reconnects with the lives of people with whom we lost touch to develop a programme for government. He also wants “to give party members a proper voice” in ”a living breathing party of which people are proud to say they are members and proud to call their [...]
