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Manchester Withington Selection: Ding Dong, Seconds Out, Round Two
Labour of Love must come off the fence just a little. As Chorlton BLP and Old Moat BLP near tonight's nomination meetings. A very comprehensive leaflet from one of the candidates arrives this morning. Good logistics to hit the mat on the morning of the local branch poll. Respect is due!
But one of the candidates even plugged this blog! And now the gloves are off I actually like the punchy ones from another candidate much better. But of its type this was pretty stylish and very worthy. Classic Greatledge/Labour central layout! Mostly well written! Range of photos with different costume in each one! Haven't noticed any typos!
But if we're being critical supporters this was oh so light on the distinctive content front.
Substituting Keith Bradley or any of the other eight candidates into the nine pictures - dancing cheek to cheek with Kinnock Keith, how's that? - would have had the same sort of effect.
To my eyes this was Candidate 101 from Labour Central Office. Substituting John Leech would have been Focus 101 - which is not necessarily a criticism but it is the case.
Issue by issue:
Better services and support for the elderly:
Hurrah! Who wouldn't support that? OK, but what is the candidate's view on the timing of the restoration of the earnings link which conference voted for in 2000 (with speeches from Manchester Labour, Rodney Bickerstaffe and Barbara Castle) and in 2005. Is 2010 or whatever good enough?
More opportunities for young people:
Genius! What is the candidate's view on Higher Education funding and Top Up Fees? Personally I can stand a good socialist/social democrat DEFENCE of Top Up Fees (cf David Chaytor), but I cannot stand no information or no opinion on the subject.
Creating and Supporting Jobs:
A triumph! Manchester Labour is very good at this. The Lib Dems slag off everything in this area. They are anti investment and change in Manchester. So this is a good area for us. Whichever candidate it is. But I continue to get a wrenching feeling in my gut at some of the "local" claims here and elsewhere.
Excellent Education for All:
Splendid! Who would vote against that? What ARE the policies needed in this city? Manchester Labour have successfully SUBVERTED the Academies programme and could have drafted it more usefully than that young never elected and unaccountable Tory Lord Adonis in the first place. What policies? What does the candidate think about selection? Faith schools? Single-sex? The Clown Prince Adonis? Jeff Smith for Education Minister!
First Class Health Services:
Splendid! Generic! But dentists? GPs? Maternity beds? Hazel Blears? Hard decisions? Even perhaps moving Christie one day for the benefit of regional patients drawn from 90 constituencies? What do the candidates think about any of this?
Environment and Transport:
Hurrah! Generic! Why has there been such a delay in Metro? What is this congestion link all about? What are the candidates' views on congestion charging? Parking fees? Passenger transport? And as for "Investment in .. increasing traffic" what is THAT all about?
Elephants in the Living Room:
Foreign Policy: what are now the candidates' views on Iraq? What was the view in February 2003? In 2002? On 12 September 2001? Any practical actions to be taken into consideration?
Immigration Policy?
War on Terror?
Local Government Finance?
Super Casino?
Housing Options?
European Integration and the Euro?
As for the five reasons to vote for this particular candidate. Four are different ways of saying the same thing and are frankly a bit shaky. It is the blasted Lib Dems who fetishise where people live on the day of a poll as opposed to five weeks earlier (cf the nasty Careerist Carpetbagger Chas). The fifth reason is frankly pretty shaky too.
Come on candidates! Let's have the hearts and souls, the views and the personal ideas? NOT Labour Central 101. That's been tried here.
NEWSFLASH 21:35: Chorton BLP Nominate (a) Nargis Khan and (b) Lucy Powell; Old Moat BLP nominate (a) Naheed Arshad-Mather MBE and (b) Lucy Powell. Latter is Lucy's home ward. We're seeing eyebrows raised on some strange contributions in discussion on vote (a). If we can prise any more info out we'll let you know. Tips and comments appreciated. Jenny Lennox was a very respectable second in Chorton (b)-vote. Hopefully she will get her nominations elsewhere.
APOLOGY: LoL said that Lord Andrew Adonis was "never elected". Obviously he wasn't elected to the Lords. And he hasn't been elected anywhere else as a Labour candidate. But he was an elected SDP/LD councillor in Oxford once upon a time. Profuse apologies for the mistake.
CAPTIONS: Jenny Lennox who negotiated the first Union-recognition deal IN THE WORLD for Warner AOL journalists just missed out but may be nominated by five other wards, trade union branches or affiliates. Lord Adonis got into the government without getting elected.
44 comments:
I'm dubious of people spending so much money to get themselves a job.
If you've got spare cash donate it to the local election campaign.
Or the Fujitsu strikers.
Or Oxfam.
Anything but this!
I'd definitely go with Jeff for education minister
Give Sir Richard a job in the DCMS.
He can put a chunk of the department's budget through the supercasino.
If he wins - that's great.
If he loses - that's the minimum wage for loads of Mancs.
Everyone's a winner. (Unlike at the supercasino).
Prudence: This blog is absolutely free. No trees were harmed in the making of this blog, sustainable or otherwise. No inks or bleaches, vegetarian or otherwise were used. No cash was spent. The disparity in budgets (cf the Euro selection) is always a bug bear. This is not about how much people want it, it's about how much they and their friends have in the bank. Now THAT's a Labour issue.
Just watch when the L/DL thing gets going. Our party's many united factions don't even have the sense to have some kind of primary process to shake out the field a bit.
Adele: He'll need to find a seat he's local to that isn't an AWS first. Ooops, no joy. He'll either have to move or take his chances as a non-local. What a pile of putrid doo doos this "localism" is. My neighours are all great. But I'd rather have someone who reflects my views and has the best chance of winning from ten streets away than a next door neighbour who has different views, less electability, and less of an idea in power.
Localism: Reduced to absurdity.
Prudence and the entirely separate Tip for the Top. :Less noise and more signal please. Let's have the candidates or their supporters telling us where they stand on the issues.
Lucy is against the lifting of the cap
What cap?
Anonymous: I hope that this little sequence is going to have a hilarious conclusion. Are you some kind of a situationist comedian?
Chris
I am the second anonymous and I am, as you suggest, a situationist.
I was not the first anonymous who I assumed to be you - or another clumsy trickster.
And I genuinely want to know - what cap?
While I think about it - are any of the candidates anti-Europe?
Send spare money to the JJB strikers.
See link.
I agree wholeheartedly with Chris Paul's list of queries. Nominees who will not or cannot answer hard questions should not be considered further.
Those organising this contest have a duty to make sure these hard questions are properly put to the prospective candidates. The better this, better that, better the other rhetoric can only go so far.
What party is going to call for worse schools and less buses and shoddier local services? It is doing no-one any favours to protect them from questions the opposition and the public want to have answered.
The 2005 election was in my view all about :
1. New Labour's general agenda - with the ends generally agreed by socialists, and social democrats, but the means let's say highly disputed. The focus groups tend to only look at the ends. Tory means are arguably being used.
2. Blair and Bush - atlanticism in general and the latest Iraq War in particular. Sure, Lib Dems misrepresented Keith Bradley's voting record. But to be blunt many people in Manchester Withington preferred the line of say Tony Lloyd MP and others. Many would probably have gone further and opposed the war even with a real UN Mandate. This clearly will remain an issue for some time.
3. Top Up Fees - Chris says he can put up with pro-Fees arguments, properly made, though whether he would vote for them is I'm guessing another thing! This was clearly an aggravating issue for the Students in Manchester Withington. John Leech printed 24,000 papers on this subject, though he only paid for one third of them. As far as I can gather we didn't address them at all.
4. Real Labour Issues - Yes, pensions, housing options, trade unions, Trident and the like.
5. Local Issues - Christie (though this is not truly local), Metro, pavements, dog poo, leaves in drains, local government finance. Of course.
As well as:
6. Organised Campaigning - we fell well short of the mark on quality and currency of information, messages to target groups, day to day organisation, quality and quantity of literature, amount of legwork, energy, press management, and we could go on.
Withington desperately needs a hardened campaigner, with good political strengths and few political weaknesses, and preferably with a track record of beating the gutter liberals who combine dishonesty and very very hard work.
Overall my own view is that Manchester Withington would do very well indeed to draw a line under New Labourism. That has had it's day here if not everywhere. This is an ex-Tory seat as recently as 1987 this constituency but has become radical.
I will be voting for anti-war and for (real) Labour values delivered in Labour ways throughout this selection process.
I honestly believe this combination remains by far the most attractive to the electorate in this area.
Annoying-mouses: For they are legion. Stop beating about the bush. Europe is down there on the list of questions.
You're hinting CAP means Common Agricultural Policy. What on earth has that got to do with the price of fish? That's the Fisheries Policy.
If we do have any anti-Europeans I for one would like to know. I am very pro-Europe without being a fan of the institutions and the waste.
This is however surely nowhere near the top of most voters' agenda in Manchester Withington.
Something of a red herring.
PS I do not believe your claim anonymous 2:32 that you are not anonymous 2:37. Not convincing. Clumsy trickster yourself.
Laurence, have you told Tosh about this blog?
Prudence - If you haven't got the capacity to run a decent selection campaign, raise funds for it and produce targeted and good quality materials - what chance do you stand of winning an election against a sitting Lib Dem MP? Next to none I would suggest!
I swear on the life of my favourite candidate that I am not 2.32.
The word cap did - as you guessed - remind me of the Europe question.
But I still have no idea what it meant in the 2.32 posting.
This is the third time of asking.
The crafty cockneys must be somewhere on the West Coast Main Line with no signal!
Realist
It doesn't matter does it?
Because after the selection we will all be working togther and sharing our skills to win for Labour.
Unless, of course, your candidate wil be persuing her career elsewhere.
Who is the fancy leaflet from?
I haven't seen it.
Just as an aside Chris, surely it was by working with and negociating with Lord Adonis that we managed to get the academies scheme moulded around the Manchester model.
Because I think if we had actually called him a tory clown he would have said Manchester Labour go to hell, your academies scheme will be run centrally. Also he was in the SDP, which is fairly similar to the social democratic wing of new labour.
The SDP was the reason Thatcher won so many elections.
Anyone who was in it should be repeatedly tourtured by unemployed mineworkers.
The Labour right of the time who, rightly, stayed in the party are now well to the left of new Labour.
Roy Hattersley, Gerald Kaufman, for example.
Well, it was perhaps a combination of the SDP splitters and labour's unrealistic, unelectable programme.
Prudence - I don't 'have' a candidate as you suggest. Although I am not even sure that would be relevant anyway.
It is naive to suggest that a candidate going for this seat doesn't need campaign skills. Campaign skills should be a compulsory part of any candidates CV.
I would never select someone who couldn't produce a decent selection leaflet.
The candidate needs to be a skilled campaign leader and communicator - particularly in this seat.
I think all this back biting about people supporting certain candidates is petty and distracting from the real point.
What is important is getting the opportunity to hear the views of all our candidates, by whatever methods they chose to get them to us.
On this count I have only had written communications from two candidates that I believe meet this standard. The same two who I have also had phone calls from. And before you ask I wont be naming them.
Aren't other members fed up with all these letters, phone calls, personal visits, invitations to people's homes?
I know I am.
There is a selection contest in a seat that I wont mention the name of but one of the people there has got a phone message on their phone asking people to email stuff to them instead of phoning because they have had so many phone calls.
It does get a bit silly but like democracy it is probably the best worst system and when else do you get important people in the labour party sucking up to members than in an internal election the rest of the time they want leaflets delivered and doors canvassed and donations made.
They are not important people.
They are fellow members!
Come on people! The POLICIES! The PARTY and the AFFILIATES help provide the literature and the graphic design and a large part of the funding and everything once a selection is made. All the Unions will be throwing their weight behind one candidate. Nine will become one.
The quality of the print IS very interesting but it should not be the be all and end all.
Different people do have different levels of means and of print production ability which is not unrelated to their means. But let us assume shall we that the candidates will not be personally responsible for all the copywriting, DTP, photo opps and the rest which will follow.
In some selections and for example the euro-ranking for 2004 this was very evident.
The level of means there (and hence the superficial quality and actual quantity of the materials) was not in proportion to the candidates' quality.
A late call for BME candidates brought two fantastic candidates but there were others who had already been fundraising for months if not years. Who had great access to membership lists and the means to mailshot them etc etc.
Some kind of equality of resources WOULD be a good thing in Labour selections. Remember being outspent by a Lib Dem who appeared to have unlimited resources but who was clearly not of the same calibre as our candidate. How did that feel?
But anyway, I defeat my own object. How about the POLICIES?
Online debate: Several candidates have let it be known one way or another that they are happy to participate. Some may say so for themselves in the blog and once we know we have the support we can finalise the arrangements.
Actually Adele I tend to agree with Chris, though thanks for the spirited defence.
If Manchester Labour's model had been sought and listened to at the right time my proposed legislation would have been better, my reputation and that of the party would have been enhanced, and we would have saved Brent and other debacles. I've already had a word with Ruth about the concept of Lord Smith of Old Moat.
As to the Tory point. As my good friend Dave Cameron has so recently pointed out one does make mistakes as a youngster. But I would categorically deny the slurs from Peter Oborne in The Mail linking me to a defection to Dangerous Dave's team. But I cannot tell a lie. I am a maven and completely chameleonic.
Thanks again Adele. I appreciate it.
Adonis' Wiki entry is HERE. Unlike others it shows no signs of being vandalised or amended by opponents. It shows him being an SDP and Lib Dem activist before he migrated to Labour in 1995 - i.e. at a not too dissimilar stage in New Labour to where Cuddly nu Toriedom is at now.
He was outed as a prospective defecter along with Peter Mandelson, the Lib Dem Orange Booker David Laws and, yes Lord Andrew Adonis HERE and blogged by myslef in the general CP wittering section HERE.
The thing is about naming prospective defectors is that it tends to slow them down or stop them. So, praise the lord, these three are probably safe. As I speculated Oborne may be manipulating what happens as he has laid some humungous bets. But that is only a vague possibility as I have no idea whether he even buys lottery tickets.
PS Andrew Adonis was in fact a Lib Dem councillor too. I forgot that bit. So a yellow Tory.
"They are not important people.
They are fellow members!"
Don't tell me, tell them!
Newsfalsh --- Waited all this time watchin Jonathan Woss review fillums I'll never get to see at the Cornerhouse and it's not even a seperate blog entry.
I blame it on those Lurchers and those muddy shoes you had on tonight.
Jenny was close at Chorlton but to get on that final paper close is not enough. If you want to see Jenny there you'll have to turn up and vote.
It's great at nomination meetings because you find out whom is supporting who. Why not it's a contest. We get a winner, 8 non-winners and then we do real politics - Smash the Lib-Dems.
Oh, I voted Jane Evans and Nagid - and I get to vote again in the Co-op Party. Ten quid if you want to join.
Why not a debate online. There must be a way of doing it. Let's invite all the candidates, Who would disagree?
good picture
Yo Lorenzo! Not even a separate entry? Cheeky scamp. Lurchers and muddy shoes are of course connected. I voted for the people I spoke up for.
Not sure if Jenny or Andrew or my hats graphic has gained a stalker but Chic-Handsome's site has nothing whatsoever to do with Labour politics. It's rock and roll. And suddenly gets loud so turn down sound or don't go there.
PS Lorenzo ... obviously new Co-op Party members welcome, but the freeze date is the same as all the others and there is no paying on the door to vote. That is a Lib Dem thing, along with until recently allowing babes in arms to be members and "vote" in selections.
Why aren't you blogging for Jenny ? Anti-Iraq, solid trade unionist, anti top-up fees, hard-working on the doortsep, brave Conference delegate, in short,socialist.If I was in Withington I would be banging on doors..........
Er, NUJ Member, come over and knock on some doors if you like. Or start a blog, post Jenny's picture and favourable reviews on it, perhaps nominate her at your branch, make an endorsing speech, vote for her and so on and so forth.
Jenny herself needs to speak to the key people in the branches and affiliates yet to nominate and make it clear why she is a better bet than other candidates in the "open" section of the contest. Which is the stage we're at. One or two nominations ought to be enough to get on the ballot as six-plus is the target shortlist.
It's not enough to be a "protest" candidate against rampant Blairism; there has to be persuasion of the serious intent to win the nomination and beat the malaevolent Lib Dems.
Chris
I think it is unfair to describe Jenny as a protest candidate.
Her stance is clear - she is critical of some government policies but equally certain that Labour is the best chance for a better world.
She has taken part in winning campaigns against the Lib Dems in Manchester and the Tories in Chorley.
No-one doubts the extraordinary commitment she gives to the party on the doorstep and in committee rooms.
As a former colleague of hers I was astonished by the energy she had to give to Labour at the end of some very hard days.
In the NUJ she took part in winning campaigns over union recognition and pay, while providing very effective personal representation.
Last year we stood together on a picket line in South Yorkshire with journalists striking over low pay. They had just won back union recognition, with help from Jenny.
A few days ago those journalists were offered a new pay structure with 18 percent rises for the lowest paid.
Jenny knows how to use Labour legislation to win for workers.
I have no doubt that she could win for Withington.
Big well done to all the people that got nominated last night.
All the best with it all, Adele x
Chris
Why don't you set up a separate strand for testimonials for the candidates from trade unionists and party members?
People can then write positive things from their own experience.
Make it a rule that the writers have to say who they are and cannot attack other candidates, other than over policy.
If they do they are deleted.
That way we can judge people by their friends - always interesting!
Thanks Miles
I was, of course, being a little rhetorical there. Though pretty transparently suggesting that Jenny is not a protest vote.
But there are those in the selectorate who believe or have at least been told that Jenny is in this contest for experience, to promote a centre left viewpoint, and not necessarily to win the selection. That should be nailed by her closest supporters.
If my post suggesting she gets on the 'phone to key people in wards and affiliates has you bristling and into action then that would I think be a very good thing indeed.
Jenny should be on the final ballot, in any online debate and in the final hustings. But blogging here alone is not going to achieve that. While it is considerate to send a letter saying you'll not pester people and they can ring you ... kind and nice don't pay the rent or win selections or elections for that matter.
"Nice don't pay the rent" was exactly the advice Simply Red's original manager Elliot Rashman gave me some years ago. And of course they famously and ruthlessly replaced people including some of my friends as they didn't fit the vision.
There are around six weeks to go. If you're not in you can't win. I hope some Branches and affiliates will take a view and make sure candidates such as Jenny are boosted into the final ballot.
It is perfectly acceptable to nominate, second, endorse and vote in potential candidates to make sure there is a wide selection of strong people with their individual strengths and weaknesses in the final stages. And perhaps vote for others later.
This will be good for the morale and engagement of members in the constituency and is comparable to wanting a contest rather than a coronation in the national leadership situation. For the good of the party, affiliates and supporters nationally.
It is a good suggestion from "anonymous" to create an endorsements blog and I will do that - hopefully later this evening.
Get on the 'phone and off the blog! You're part of a machine Miles, get cranking.
Best wishes
Chris P
There is a difference between a selection and an election.
Comrades shouldn't be hassling each other to death.
Yesterday I was rung during Diagnosis Murder.
That's one candidate eliminated from my calculations.
You know who you are!
Blimey this is good Dick Van whatever. So your sure fire plan to make sure we get the person who is most likely to beat Boy wonder is to vote for someone who can't be arsed to contact you.
Good plan.
Richard and Judy's on.
Don't you dare!
Chris
I haven't had a phone call from Jane Lewis, Qaisra Khan, Lucy Powell, Jenny Lennox,Yogesh Virmani,Naheed Arshad-Mather nor Sandra Moorcroft so why are you just criticising Jenny Lennox for 'allegedly' not phoning members?
Personally, I'm much happier with the idea of being invited to contact the candidates if I want to find out more, and have found the two calls I received from the other candidates quite intrusive.
Hello Anonymous
Jenny said in her second letter that she was not going to ring round. I thought she should get in touch with at least some of the selectorate. And when she did she picked up a couple of nominations.
It may be that some of the electorate don't like being phoned. Some don't like being canvassed. And some don't like leaflets. But I can't remember ever getting an adverse reaction when voter iDing on the phones.
You have been phoned by twice as many potential candidates as I have btw.
Chris P
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