Diane Abbott enters Labour leadership contest

[mrtrebus]

A welcome change from the 2 Miliband's 1 cup! Abbott has come under fire over certain issues, such as sending her kids to a posh school while at the same time criticising others for doing it, but she get's my vote. Not least because she sits to the left of the public face of New Labour.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8693687.stm

 

[Ulysses31]

I don't think the current climate of the UK would bode well for a black candidate unfortunately. She mentions being a child of immigrants, this will be exploited by the right who will proclaim that she will be soft on immigration etc. No one really stands out although David is the better of the Milibands as the other can't even speak or too shy I dunno. Would be great if someone came in out of the blue, an ex celeb or something like can happen in the states.

 

[mrtrebus]

I don't think the current climate of the UK would bode well for a black candidate unfortunately. She mentions being a child of immigrants, this will be exploited by the right who will proclaim that she will be soft on immigration etc. No one really stands out although David is the better of the Milibands as the other can't even speak or too shy I dunno. Would be great if someone came in out of the blue, an ex celeb or something like can happen in the states.

Ex-celeb?!? Yeah, that's what we need!
Abbott has come "out of the blue".

 

[GregCentauro]

Who's on first?

 

[BlueBalls]

I don't think the current climate of the UK would bode well for a black candidate unfortunately. She mentions being a child of immigrants, this will be exploited by the right who will proclaim that she will be soft on immigration etc. No one really stands out although David is the better of the Milibands as the other can't even speak or too shy I dunno. Would be great if someone came in out of the blue, an ex celeb or something like can happen in the states.

We really shouldn't be going down that route. I know politics nowadays is more about the personality rather than actual policy (what can we do it's a by product of politics in the television era). But going so far as to get in "well known" faces just to prep up the party for seemingly PR purposes would really be a step in the wrong direction for the Labour party. Labour really needs to become a party that focuses solely on policy and critique, playing popularity politics going into the next general election isn't going to hold them in good stead.

If this particular person who becomes the next leader knowns their stuff and is on point then fine, but a picking a person for the sake of who they are would be a complete waste in my opinion.

But that's the nature of politics today, so I'm sure a "face" is really what they're looking for.

 

[marquis2]

We really shouldn't be going down that route. I know politics nowadays is more about the personality rather than actual policy (what can we do it's a by product of politics in the television era). But going so far as to get in "well known" faces just to prep up the party for seemingly PR purposes would really be a step in the wrong direction for the Labour party. Labour really needs to become a party that focuses solely on policy and critique, playing popularity politics going into the next general election isn't going to hold them in good stead.

If this particular person who becomes the next leader knowns their stuff and is on point then fine, but a picking a person for the sake of who they are would be a complete waste in my opinion.

But that's the nature of politics today, so I'm sure a "face" is really what they're looking for.

New Labour has been accurately desribed as being a marketing excercise rather than a party.In 1997 it espoused policies simply designed to appeal to Middle England rather than through conviction politics.Tony Blair himself said there was no longer a real working class (though lots of people wrongly think themselves to be so) so Old Labour was an anachronism.Diane Abbot is a likeable and personable person but whether she has leadership qualities I'm less sure.