In less than two years time we will have a new US President. We don’t even know who the candidates are yet. We can speculate but we don’t know. We also don’t know who will run for French President in 2017 or German Chancellor the same year. In Britain, Labour has just had a shock […]
Posts Tagged ‘Party democracy’
Benn’s Bandwagon – behind the scenes in 1981 deputy leadership campaign (video)
Mar 7th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.A really good documentary first shown on 28 April 1981, in the second month of the contest and at the point when it began to dawn on the pundits that Tony Benn was going to come close to winning. Frank Chapple, leader of the hard right electricians union says on camera that if Benn won the TGWU […]
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There are better things to be doing than playing the patriot game
Jan 20th, 2015 by Stephen Low.“To these ends we work for the patriotic interest of the people of Scotland” runs part of a suggested new aims and values statement (Clause 4 – renumbered from Clause 2 for marketing purposes) that we are being asked to endorse at Scottish Conference in March. As a party and a movement we can do […]
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Can you blame Sadiq Khan for wanting his cake and eating it?
Jan 14th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Sadiq Khan was a former radical human rights lawyer and doing a good job as shadow secretary for justice when he also became shadow minister for London, and responsible for running the general election campaign in London. Perhaps it is too much to expect any politician who wants to be London’s mayor to turn down such an opportunity just because […]
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Deciding on a coalition: should Labour follow Attlee or MacDonald?
Jan 5th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Labour has had two experiences of formal coalition. In the first, its leader chose not to consult the party which was very divided about his austerity programme, and chose to go into coalition with the Tories and Liberals. This split the party which didn’t form a majority government for 14 years. In the second, the leader […]
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London Labour conference exposes democratic deficit
Dec 2nd, 2014 by Jon Lansman.The London Labour Party conference meeting on Sunday revealed a serious democracy deficit within the London party. Ed Miliband promised to make Labour “a living breathing party of which people are proud to say they are members and proud to call their own.” He promised that members should have more say in policy making. It’s about […]
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Murphy as leader would destroy Scottish Labour. Only one from the Left can save it
Oct 27th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.The Labour Party is in “complete meltdown” in Scotland says the SNP’s leader-in-waiting Nicola Sturgeon, adding “the scale of the infighting between Scottish Labour and Labour at Westminster is exposed for all to see.” And she’s not wrong. Scottish Labour is about to have a debate about its direction and very soul, a debate that profoundly affects the […]
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The political elite in action: who represents Yorkshire in Labour’s shadow cabinet?
Oct 13th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.If you want more reason for dealing with the political elite’s career structure in the Labour party, just look at who represents Yorkshire in Labour’s shadow cabinet. Labour has 32 MPs from Yorkshire (the Tories having gained 10 seats in 2010), just 12% of the 258 won by Labour in 2010, but it has 37% […]
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Things Labour needs to do to beat UKIP #1: destroy the political elite’s career structure
Oct 13th, 2014 by Jon Lansman.One comment on the website of a Clacton local paper this week summarised the attitude of so many: If it means that the lying, corrupt political elite of this country finally wake up and realise that they must start to serve the people of this country and not themselves then maybe some good will come […]
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Democratic changes up for decision at Labour’s conference next week
Sep 16th, 2014 by Peter Willsman.At Labour’s conference in Manchester next week, delegates will be debating and voting on a number of key changes to the party’s rule book, tabled both by the national executive and by constituency parties. Grassroots proposals, under an obscure convention (known as the ‘1968 Ruling’) have been delayed for a year but the executive can agree rule changes one week and have them voted on by conference the following week! […]
