As you will know from my posts, I've feared this exact GE scenario for years (for slightly different reasons to JF). I suspect the vast majority on the left fear a GE at the moment, probably including Owen Jones*.

That is besides the point of what we have to do.

* I see in your linked article a link to OJ saying that a GE is the least worst option.

The PLP don't think Corbyn can win a GE and would like to see him replaced (possibly as a result of the EHRC report expected in January) before they go to the country.

Of course, that overlooks the fact that the Corbynites have seized all the levers of power in the party and are proposing completely lunatic candidates all over the place, such as Salma Yaqoob for West Midlands Mayor -- she's one of Galloway's Red/Brown Respect gang and campaigned viciously against Labour's Naz Shah as recently as 2017, and Shah is suing the party for promoting Yaqoob.



Bear in mind Corbyn's private office is run by Seumas Milne and Andrew Drummond-Murray, who were until 2016 members of the Stalinist 'Straight Left' faction of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) and cannot lawfully hold office in the Labour Party, but Jeremy doesn't care about that.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, there was this PPC who's just been dropped because he's been spouting abysmal anti-Semitic stuff for years, and that's why he got selected. Labour only drop these candidates when people find out about them. Labour's aim is to get them elected under the radar.

It's incredible where Labour have ended up under Corbyn. He has emboldend the terrorist sympathisers and the anti-semitic wing of the party. A hard right Tory election win would be horrible but the only upside from it would be the hope that Corbyn and his losers cabal would lose their position of power within the Labour party.

Unless Labour get absolutely smashed at the next election there's going to be like a 5%-10% anti-Semitic component of the PLP, they've gone hog wild nominating racists, maybe of them in places vacated by the TIGgers which include lots of v. safe seats.

Part of why I'm so cautious of the idea of getting rid of Racist Grandpa then running an election with someone sane is Labour could do quite well but would be bringing in a bunch of cranks to the PLP ... who would stick around for years ... nominating leaders ... and by necessity forming some of the junior ministers and ministers in any future Labour government ... also normalising racism, worship of Fidel Castro etc. ... when you factor in his pathetic Brexit campaign and quite possibly enabling a Boris Johnson majority (which will consist of a bunch of right-nationalist cranks replacing One Nation types) ... his stench will take fifty years to wash from British politics ... I blame his enablers ... he's just dim, rigid and a total crank ... the enablers it will be difficult to forgive.

IDK man at this point shouldn't Labour all vote for a general rather than looking frit when Lib Dems & SNP push one through?

Unless we're going to merge the two let's talk election here?

no idea who im going to vote for. guess i just tactical vote? Which is **** stupid i have to do because election should be more about brexit

And Corbyn yet again manages to shaft Scottish Labour. I expect them to get wiped out again with maybe retain one seat (Ian Murray)

Doesn't that make sense? Labour's leader is as popular as a punch in the nuts and the SNP are an alternative who will never join a coalition with the Conservatives. Under Racist Grandpa Labour will need SNP votes regardless. Is the downside that if they make it too obvious Tories will run 2015esque adds hoping to clean up English voters who dislike the SNP?

It means Scottish Labour will lose any hope of holding on to their current MP's or gain any from tactical voting. The idea that Corbyn has to sell out his own party north of the border to secure votes from the SNP is a fallacy as the SNP have made it impossible for themselves to be seen to support the Tories so there's no need to throw them a bone or offer them any sort of deal.

There's quite an interesting article about how the GB regions break down electorally. Johnson is essentially taking on the same targets as May -- smaller Leave towns in Labour areas oop North. It's quite a fine calculation, because those voters are so tribally Labour that they might have voted BXP but would on no account vote Tory. Meanwhile Johnson could have chunks taken out of him by the Lib Dems in more liberal Tory areas in the South.



https://www.politics.co.uk/comment-a...st-volatile-el

The polls suggest a Tory majority, but for various reasons it's tricky.

The Spectator published this.

Corbyn is the archetypical social-democratic leader of contemporary Europe. Appeals to the old guard, hazy on big issues and muted about the radical left. He might rouse the voting base, but to anyone on the outside he is about as appealing as a wet sock.

Thought it should be noted that I'm sure I'm missing nuances because I am super-imposing politics from my own country onto the UK.

You have to realise that on the left we only have an old guard and a new intake group because blair hollowed the party out so much with his new labour project.

Only time and hanging in there can resolve this and it's already been some time and well underway. A new guard of 'big beasts' who are modern and have some parliamentary experience will emerge fairly quickly as long as we don't give up.

So all those resignations, the fact Corbyn has struggled at times to put a shadow cabinet together because of people stepping down, the constant threats of deselection etc, none of that is to do with Corbyn and his little cabal trying to maintain their grip on power and crush any dissent? The party is in such a poor place because of him, not Blair.

I don't agree with that at all. Whatever you think of blair, it seems very clear that the MPs that tried en-mass to get rid of JC before the last election are blairites who are appalled at the party moving back to being left wing.

2017 was Labour's most right-wing manifesto in recent history (maybe ever). Their signature policy was literally a tax cut for (certain) rich people (mostly those from rich families), their leader supports and is one of the main causes of Brexit, generally considered a right wing project, and they're being investigated and soon to be found guilty of rampant, institutional racism, also generally considered right wing (the only other British political party to do similar was the BNP).



Incidentally, who are these big beasts?

It's the lack of experienced but relatively young MPs such as Yvette Cooper. Labour will bemuch stronger when they have a few such people emerging from the left but it cant happen by magic, it takes time.

There must be a few names from the shadow cabinet you like?

Or they're realists who object to the party being dragged into the gutter by a shambolic leadership. Polling for Labour has been incredibly bad for a while and Corbyn's personal ratings have broken all records for just how bad they are. He's a continual loser at a time when the Tories have provided a ton of open goals and have been engulfed in their own chaos and internal divisions. But political purity and all that, can't go back to the days where the party actually appealed to the electorate.

But Labour are only doing badly because the PLP isn't behind LOTO. If they praised him obsequiously like Squealer Jones people would realise how great he is. That's why Open Selections are crucial - once the party unites around Dear Leader, then we'll achieve the Great Victory.

You can call them realists if you like but that means they want a return to new labour.

And don't forget that Labour under JC did get 40% off the vote at the GE after they all resigned and tried to get rid of him. A common view is that the blairites were disappointed 'old' labour did so well.

That isn't what I'm saying at all. I'm saying we need a cohort of experienced, modern labour politicians and they simply don't exist because blair hollowed out the party. Only time can resolve this.

When JC first came to power I pointed out the hope was Labour would hold the line until a new generation on the left could emerge. He surprised me by doing far better at the last election than I expected. I hope to be surprised again.

That's a totally legitimate view - but who are the rising stars? Who would you want to lead the party when Dear Leader resigns? Who are the names you envisage holding the Great Offices in future Labour governments? There must be some?