Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Newsnight Hustings: If not standing, who to vote for?


Hain - Ducked it with blethering about himself
Cruddas - Harman
Harman - Ducked it but interestingly saw Cruddas as offering her a deal
Blears - Cruddas for party renewal, Johnson for politics, Harman as a woman - so Blears for all in one
Benn - All very good colleagues
Johnson - None of the above possibly, but put very nicely

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why didn't Harriet say she's vote for (female) Blears? Hypocrisy with a capital H! Harriet wanted to say she'd vote for (male) Jon but she knew that the minute she did her whole "I'm a woman" campaign would be a dead dead duck.

Chris Paul said...

Possibly. Then again she may consider Hazel's career as a feminist and reckon that Jon is a better one. I'm not saying that's right. But Jon was the only one who gave a proper answer. And that was interesting in itself, and an interesting answer.

Harriet could have answered a little like Blears or properly ducked it like the other four. But she was genuinely surprised by JC's answer.

I believe that Harriet is certainly the most left-ish wing of the ministerial candidates and have even gone so far as to suggest she is more left-ish that Jon-boy. Her "I'm a Lady" line is a bit bothersome but it is true that a woman in the SMT would very likely be a good thing. Labour muller the opposition now and forever on equality and particularly on women in senior roles.

As this is not a DPM or officially Chair election GB will be able to address this after the fact if he wishes to. His "in conversations" have all been with bright young women and he was able to have a joke with Mariella at Hay over a curve ball question on his "problem" with women voters.

What does the panel think?