Exceptional isn’t even required, we just need a figurehead who scores the easy tap ins when they’re presented to him. Unfortunately JC seems unwilling to do this, which is horrendous politics against one of the worst PMs of my lifetime. I don’t enjoy politics as a game but I accept that he needs to start playing it, he should too imo.

To be fair to Corbyn et al, they positioned Labour in the perfect place as regards Brexit, which given it was issue that split there base was no easy task.

EU rules would prevent/make harder quite a few "hard" left policies such as nationalisation, state support of industries etc etc.

Also teh HL view any organisation that is not as HL as them with suspicion which is the default behaviour once you get to the far ends of any political spectrum, part of being "hard" is an all or nothing approach, NO COMPROMISE.

Which as we know from reading TJs posts, that he was definitely not hard left because he was so willing to compromise.........(that was sarcasm).

i was randomly watching some debate around the leadership contest of redwood vs major (mid 90s), and one of the audience members accused major's side of not being in favour of hanging. the bloke there representing major was all indignant 'we DO want to consider bringing back hanging, i AM personally in favour of it, and i wont hear another word of this accusation'.

redwood rather smugly explained that bringing back hanging was a core policy of his, and that he was glad he had brought the issue back up for discussion

there was also some pretty victorian-era stuff about the sanctity of marriage and abortion. oh and i think both sides (certainly redwood) put the case for no minimum wage

tory policy changed a ton over the new labour years

Brag: I am blocked by John Redwood on Twitter.

Tories became more socially liberal foah sure.

300+ lying Tory bastards have voted against releasing their secret windrush documents.

Some accountability there.

In terms of getting to win an odd election then sure that makes it a bit more likely. The anti-sematism stuff is damaging but I think far too much is made of the impact of the rest amongst the 40+% who are potential labour voters.

Bigger issues are the ones it's tough for the old guard to be truly radical/progressive on - The automation era, social media and the EU being the obvious ones.

Labour's manifesto wasn't hard left (it was basically Thatcherite) but C****n is a freaking Stalinist. Come on guys.



He's also really unpopular. His numbers are worse than Ed Miliband's before the 2015 election.



(source).

It's a little similar to the 2016 U.S Presidential election - the most unpopular candidate ever is competitive because his opponent is the second most unpopular candidate ever.

You're entitled to your own opinions as to C****n's policies and integrity but it's a matter of fact/data he's a millstone around Labour's electoral chances. Labour could form a government under C****n but it likely requires extremely favourable circumstances (e.g poor economy which is possible) and any governing majority they achieve would very likely be larger under different leadership.

For those who don't think C****n is Labour's political kryptonite:

i) Why do you consider a major party leader with a net approval of -27% an electoral asset?

ii) Why are Tories are ahead in national polls? i.e is it because Tories doing a good job, Theresa May is popular etc?

farage was the most popular party leader in the country for all that time eh. christ. that is pretty sad

No talking to the Irish but you can have as many words as you like with NK/Hamas/Hezbollah.

Lol the war is over and those pesky Irish get to have a say now.

Little England and their media to blame for Corbyn being 'unelectable'. Non stop smears while the lying Tory bastards are dismantling your country ffs yet hardly a word said about it.

Beat. You're spending time looking at that cretins twitter.

PartGirl,

What are you typing for 'Corbyn' that is getting censored?

I thought it was Mcdonnell that had Hamas over for tea but sure, that too.

I don't know why I'm engaging, but your point seems to be 'that stupid electorate don't think this guy is electable'. Which, if true, is quite problematic for him.

+1 I've been wodnering that

Real elections today to excite us sad people. Only local but I'm sure we can all explain why they prove we are right about Corbyn

I doubt Labour will take westminster but c'mon ....

Asterisks obv

You can immediately discount the opinion of anyone who calls Corbyn a Stalinist, its just empty noise by someone who can have know clue what that claim means, because if they did they would realise how utterly stupid it is to refer to Corbyn that way.

Must say the Labour GOTV mechanism is impressive. My daughter signed up to the party before the last election, and has been bombarded with alerts all week urging her to get involved in close races nearby, with very clear instructions as to how to optimally target any activism she's able to contribute.

Our local council is an easy Labour hold, but there are a couple of less safe Labour seats nearby and it's great to see such a concerted effort to get young people involved. Labour's deputy leader of Halton council might well end up owing his seat to this effort if he manages to hold.

more on bonkers bercow

v early days, only 6/150 councils declared, but ukip had 7 councillors in those places last time, 0 this time

not really surprising but still nice to see

meanwhile in america,

Pretty dull night. More satisfying for tories than labour but overall nothing dramatic. Except for ukip - So far they have 2 seats down 92

I'd really like to hear a detailed analysis of the of ex-ukip voters. The story is they went back to their traditional parties (note where that's labour, it will mostly long predate JC). Some though will have gone to the tories for their policy on brexit - in which case I'd love to know what they think it is?

Labour need to step up and become the anti-Brexit party. Corbyn has some really cool social / economic ideas and the young voters love him, but his hopeless position on Europe is holding the party back.