Comments on: Labour (deputy) leadership

By: Jo’s Journal » Blog Archive » Deputy leader contendors

Jo’s Journal » Blog Archive » Deputy leader contendors — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:53:26 +0000

[...] There have been loads of different posts on the subject but the ones that most reflect what I’m thinking are this and this. And this is just brilliant. [...]

By: Paul Linford

Paul Linford — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:33:58 +0000

Agree with Gracchi. Harriet Harman is quite possibly the least distinguished of the female Cabinet members who have served under Blair. If a female deputy is required, then Margaret Beckett, Hazel Blears or even Hilary Armstrong would be more deserving candidates.

By: Gracchi

Gracchi — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 03:43:49 +0000

I can’t understand Harmon at all- I’m not a Labour person but there are plenty of better qualified and more thoughtful women around inside the Labour party than Harmon- Beckett for example. What exactly has Harmon done? I don’t particularly care about the Grammer School thing- but what have her ministerial achievements been? What has she contributed? To take the other women in the cabinet- Ruth Kelly was a competent Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Hazel Blears is at least a communicator on the Today Program and she is well respected by civil servants (I was surprised too but a friend in the Home Office said she was incredibly honest and straightforward and decisive and good at mastering her briefs), Beckett has survived everthing. But Harmon- what has she done?

By: el tom

el tom — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 02:02:44 +0000

I’m not sure that Cruddas bit is within context; ‘cradle to the grave’ surely means after birth? Was he joking?

Watch the Compass youth blog for more, there is an interveiw pending.

Harman sucks, the single-mother-persecuting dolt… It would be nice if some good women ran…

By: Tim Worstall

Tim Worstall — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 11:54:51 +0000

Britblog Roundup #89…

Yes, welcome once again to the Britblog Roundup. I do hope that like good little citizens serfs you remembered that The State decides for you what time of day it is and that you all remembered to get up an…

By: MWH

MWH — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 11:35:48 +0000

I think too much is being made of this issue. I would hate to see something like this become a political point, like in America, and as a poster mentioned above it is considered a matter of personal morality and would be a free vote.

By: Cruddas but not catholic

Cruddas but not catholic — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 22:05:45 +0000

I have always been extremely excited by Jon Cruddas’ bid. He seems genuinely aware that Labour needs to do more to improve the lot of the working-class with brave and original thinking in government. Anyone who’s seriously prepared to say that Labour needs to concentrate on its core vote rather than these mystical middle-class Labour marginals that have dominated the agenda for so long deserves credit. His ideas for revitalising internal party democracy - such as the election of the Chair - are fresh and exciting.

But the revelation that he’s a ’staunch Catholic’ makes me more wary. Not because I have anything especially against Catholics, but it seems that much of the recent efforts to promote religion’s ugly head in politics and society have been made by the Catholic Church and by Catholics in government. i.e the pressure to drop the proposed 25% non-faith targets on faith schools, and those protecting institutions’ rights to discrimante against homosexuals. As long as he keeps his religion to himself, that’s alright.

By: jdc

jdc — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 15:39:41 +0000

Frummers would be Hasidic Orthodox Jews. I wasn’t aware we had lots of them in the Party, but jolly good. Mind you, there are lots of US Orthodox in the pro-choice movement (mainly to make sure that their daughters don’t ‘have to’ marry their gentile college boyfriends, says the cynic).

By: pregethwr

pregethwr — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 15:00:08 +0000

Yes ‘cradle to the grave’ is deliberately phrased to exclude the womb.

Cruddas will come out as pro-choice in a media interview in the next few days.

If you are interested in euthanasia though…

By: Adele

Adele — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 12:00:02 +0000

Cruddas is a stauch catholic but I haven’t seen any instances of this interfering in hsi politics. Unlike Ruth Kelly.