Jeremy Corbyn vs Angela Eagle

McNicol is married and has a son and daughter.[citation needed] He holds a blackbelt in karate

do labour expect all these people it's refusing membership to to vote for them in future

yeah, as well as all the people who voted in the referendum that Owen Smith wants to ignore

They are too busy chasing that UKIP racisty gold to care about a few hundred thousand members.

it is almost strange how sanguinely the media watches these tools rail against democracy, against mass engagement, against the intrusion of the unwanted governed into the sovereign territory of those who govern. almost strange. aristocrat recognise aristocrat, I guess.

it's like a supercharged extension of peter mandelson's "they have nowhere to go" thesis

But along with the beating of official breasts and the show of distress at the hollowing out of mass politics, there exists in the practice of organized democracy a clear tendency to match citizen withdrawal with elite withdrawal. That is, just as citizens retreat to their own private and particularized spheres of interest, so too the political and party leaders retreat into their own version of this private and particular sphere, which is constituted by the closed world of the governing institutions.

Disengagement is mutual, and for all the rhetoric that echoes on all sides, it is general.

Peter Mair, calling it.

Just come acro0ss the quote from Yesterday where JC says he doesn't consider himself wealthy or highbrow that has since been contextualised with his £138k salary. I'm assuming he was trying to highlight that art was supposed to be for everybody but wonder what mileage is going to be made by his critics and for how long.

I WONDER HMMM MAYBE A LOT WILL BE MADE OF IT, MAYBE NOT SO MUCH WHO CAN SAY

please god let this be true

https://twitter.com/charlotte2153/status/769965335411847170

at least gove's 'nubile young girl' moment was 25 years ago right

a Smith supporter who attended the event is on twitter saying that Smith did respond to someone asking if they could ask him a personal question by saying "29 inches - inner leg measurement of course", but didn't actually point to his groin. The Smith supporter is complaining that "they can spin anything"

https://twitter.com/Rachael_Swindon/status/770001414978433024

Wait, Smith was within heckling distance yesterday?

Mr Balls offers his reflections as MPs prepare to return to Westminster, and he prepares to appear on Strictly Come Dancing.

wasn't he considered "devoid of connection to the reality of people's lives" in the Labour stronghold he contrived to lose last year?

a Smith supporter who attended the event is on twitter saying that Smith did respond to someone asking if they could ask him a personal question by saying "29 inches - inner leg measurement of course", but didn't actually point to his groin. The Smith supporter is complaining that "they can spin anything"

― soref, Sunday, August 28, 2016 8:57 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can't see how that would make the quip that much less sleazy.

Unless it's understood that things are getting that bad in the Smith camp that he's relying on donations of trousers.

Did the actual question get asked. It wasn't something more along the lines of 'Now that your career's over what are your plans?' or something was it?

I just think he looks like a short Eric Morecambe.

well he was born there.

Just reading Ed Balls' claims that he barely spoke to Miliband in the run-up to the 2015 election and reminded of the suggestion that Corbyn and Watson couldn't agree to meet without others present ... and ... and ... not really sure what I am trying to articulate but ... it all seems a bit ridiculous.

Like, I assume those of us who have jobs speak to the colleagues we need to, even the ones we detest?

ed balls thinks the tories deserve to be in government

a True Labour man through and through

the latest yougov poll has Corbyn 24 points ahead now and Smith on course for a dismal defeat.

"When Labour moderates come to survey the ruins of Mr Smith's leadership campaign, they'll have to ask themselves one question: what future do they have in the party? A renewed mandate will allow Jeremy Corbyn to double down with his agenda, driving out the last vestiges of Blairism and reshaping the party as he wishes. He'll have no need to be comradely towards anyone who disagrees given he has on the membership on side."

It will be an interesting show if Corbyn finally abandons his inclusive and democratic approach and starts liquidating the moderates. Gonna be pulling me up a deck chair if this starts happening.

idk if it's the same poll but there was another figure circulating that Smith had the backing of 68% of members who joined prior to 2015 - which will add to the narrative about entryism when he does eventually lose.

I thought it would be higher than that tbh, albeit from a much smaller section of membership.

Why does this take so long? A week to vote, a week to count at most. The end of September? The delay just damages the party. How many people didn't vote in the first couple of days?

Wasn't the late September date to tie in with the conference?
Has that actually been cancelled now? In which case they could actually move the announcement forward presumably.
Or are there caches of people who don't vote until the last minute.

Presumably also more pressing concerns now that Parliament's back out of recess after the summer.

no the conference hasn't been cancelled

there's no reason to move the announcement

it shouldn't make any difference when people vote

It lengthens the period of instability.

There's an offer for cheap Virgin trains to the conference on the Labour Party homepage.

I take it they must have sorted out the trouble the organisers were having with getting a security firm for the conference then.
Thought people were saying it was a bit late to do so.

they signed a contract with the venue's existing security company last week http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37195378 it was a bit late yes

shame was looking forward to california hells angels doing security

All those momentum thugs fed on a diet of Falafel burgers will not get their day life isn't fair I tells ya!

http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/scalefit_630_noupscale/57c84f63180000b429bce9f0.jpeg

poll

I think Matt DC posted something on this thread a few weeks ago about imagining all Owen Smith quotes being read out in the voice of Alan Partridge, seems increasingly prescient

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrV1-WTVUAAJdmy.jpg

What a sniggering empty moron he is. Btw does anybody remember That's Life's Doctor Cox?

The Blue Labour cru (motto: "family, faith and flag" iirc) are already lining up against him. Lots of people sharing Rowenna Davies' article saying she will vote for him but he is essentially Corbyn 2. 0 and 'radical change' is needed.

Obvs nothing says engaging with the man on the street like a paywalled article in the Financial Times, but there you go.

xps. the suggestion that the massively popular leader of Scotland, who is a woman, should shut up, is pretty ugly. smith might also want to consult the majority that the snp has over his party in both the scottish parliament and westminster constituencies that cover millport

not xp. god is that really the blue labour motto? hard to tell what's satire or not when talking about labour

obviously Smith's core socialist values include playing tribal bullshit politics, gentle misogyny and calling out parties that carried out leftist policies while his own party were playing Tories in disguise

just a fatuous valueless joke of a man

Yes that Sturgeon gobstopper thing is totally gross.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/e2f58a2f792b966c56aa086fb602a62b875af53a.jpg

"I am normal. Women, know your place."

Did he get into some kind of surreal internet beef with Sturgeon or was that totally unprompted? Because it's just bizarre out of context.

Is there time to start a Normal Owen Smith Twitter account?

I mean presumably she gets to take the gobstopper out when Smith needs the votes in any putative hung parliament.

i think we all know Owen's never gonna be in that position. including Owen.

tragically, Doc Cox is still alive. Probably doing some routine with a spinning bow tie whilst joshing about how big his dick is somewhere. Yes, definitely a credible comparison there.

maybe Owen's just having some fun with the part now.

Did he get into some kind of surreal internet beef with Sturgeon or was that totally unprompted? Because it's just bizarre out of context.

the tweet is from April this year, so presumably he was in Millport campaigning for Labour in the Scottish elections and that's why he mentioned Sturgeon. but it's still pretty bizarre

I hadn't seen the first responses under the tweet (again from back in April) which are maybe the best part

http://i.imgur.com/upiu3xe.png