Yeah Burnham would be my choice. He has enough profile and could see him unite both sides of the party enough.
Maybe donât donât forget that in Corbynâs first go at an election he did very well and the second was essentially about Brexit. I feel if anything he might have helped to avert the trend of losing votes in the North in particular in that first election.
Exactly the opposite has happened. The left deserted Labour in droves and is why the Greens are surging.
Would that work. Blair did have charisma so theyâd need that. I get the feeling Britain is polarizing on cultural grounds - nationhood, patriotism, race etc. A Blair type probably isnât going to win votes on these issues. His time is gone imo.
Yes probably somewhat but the centre still can look lots of different ways.
Heâs not even an MP is he? Theyâd have to parachute him in. Also he wasnât very inspiring when he stood to lead the party before. I feel he is a good choice with a narrow electorate like being a mayor because heâs a bit of a weathervane. In a left leaning city he can do that job. Appealing to a nation. Nah, not for me.
I think that after Blair and Brown there hasnât been anyone that has stood out in the Labou=r party to be a great leader.
Theyâve had Milliband, Corbyn and Starmer, who have all been lacking in charisma and who have surrounded themselves with equally unattractive people in top positions.
I donât think that many voters who left the Labour party have gone to the Green party, itâs more to do with them either not voting or voting Liberal, like I did.
I think him representing a policy for more redistribution of power in other parts of the country is a new and fresh outlook which gives huge numbers of the country something to believe in.
Party politics in general is dead in the water now. Brexit galvanised if somewhat narrow minded interest on people voting last time. The key being it was something outside the normal of traditional voting.
An transfer of government departments or bigger say for the population in general could work the same way.
People are just generally apathetic to the Westminster game now and tired of it. Itâs a form of identity politics really but thatâs what engages people now. Certainly younger people IMO.
I agree, although itâs not a good situation because it makes it easier for more extreme politicians to get power, especially if they are charismatic and the people they are appealing to are fed up with mainstream politicians.
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I definitely think youâre partly right here, but at the same time, Corbyn was willing to go through with Brexit, Starmer was one of the biggest cheerleaders for a second vote on it. The party membership agreed with Starmer and wanted a second vote on it, so Corbyn went along with it as he effectively had no choice, his entire claim to being leader was based on the mandate given to him by party members, so he had no choice but to go along with it.
I fully accept that Corbym was hugely unpopular with the elctorate, but Brexit was the biggest issue at the last General Election, and as far as the Labour Party goes, Corbyn had it right and the Parliamentary Labour Party and the membership had it wrong.
And here we are.
Itâs massovely simplistic to say Corbyn had the right Brexit opinion and would have won of not for the PLP and membership, but its also reductive to say the election was lost because of Corbyn and the âwoke politicsâ.
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Preach with the last one.
But tbh I donât know what the solution is. The only thing I can see maybe working is an offensive, socially conservative left-winger like I posted in the other thread, somebody the tabloids might like.
But I donât know if the billionaire owned tabloids will go for anyone going after their pockets.
Britainâs left is pretty fucked it looks like.
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How do you feel about Andy Burnham?
I feel like heâs been spending a lot of time and effort the last few years as Mayor of Manchester speaking out against the government and getting lots of tv time etc. (Heâs always on BBC Breakfast) - feels to me like heâs positioning and manoeuvring himself into a potential Labour Party leadership bid.
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Think heâs the only viable option and he has pushed the north v south divide line quite well. If he spread that argument for other areas outside of London he could gain certain support.
BBC being in Manchester helps in the meantime his accessibility for media exposure for him.
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One of the better hopes the Labour Party has, I reckon. Still donât think its good enough, mind.
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Is this true, whatâs the latest with this by-election?
Good job Labour, pissing off your own voter base again. They truly want to be a dead party it seems.
The only Labour PM to win an election in the last 50 years was someone who could easily be described as Tory-lite in Blair.
Labour will not win another election until it re-aligns itself firmly with the centre and sheds its left wing identity.
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In terms of policy or optics?
Left leaning ideas have alot of traction nationwide and are overwhelmingly supported by working class voters in âred wallâ seats
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To do that you need to build the coalition though.
Iâm with you, you have to move to the centre.
But you also have to keep your left base with you as well and they are not able to hold everything together.
Also, moving to the centre means embracing centrist ideas the majority of voters believe in, not just an influential minority of rich middle class media professionals in London.
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It says everything about Labour how people would rather vote Tory or for George Galloway instead of them lol
The issue is that the country really does need an opposition that is capable of offering some form of alternative and winning. In the past itâd be enough to just highlight the incompetence of the current government but that isnât enough in itself now.
Exactly this. Corbyn being defeated wasnât because of his policies. It was because a lot of people found him, and his sanctimonious supporters repellent.
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Optics. For sure. Politics is all about how the electorate perceive you and how you sell your policies
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How much of it is media portrayal though? If every single day thereâs a new hit piece on Corbyn how can he get any traction? Despite that he managed to bring it to a hung parliment in his first general election.
Itâs not like the media didnât do a hit job on Milliband too.
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Impact of the media on Corbyn is very overblown, itâs contradictory to suggest he did well in 2017 in spite of the media but performed terribly in 2019 because of the media. He was a pretty known quantity
Labour being blown out in GE2019 is mostly tied to his terrible policy position on Brexit and his personal flaws as leader. Itâs purely on leadership if you canât read the room in your own strongholds to the point where conservatives under BJ made gains in places that have never returned a Tory MP.
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