[The Weeping Angel]

He and Hodges really do hate Milliband don't they?

[new puritan]

Enjoyed this from the Marchant piece.

According to YouGov’s latest figures, it is now a little worse (-30%). Nick Clegg’s is awful (-48%) and has stayed so (-49%).

Cameron’s rating, meanwhile, has surged upwards, from -21% to -11%.

"Surged".

[new puritan]

Oh God, there's more.

The foundation of the analysis is that Labour has a core vote of 27.5%. Marcus outlines how this estimate is based on an examination of generational churn and the anti-Tory nature of 2010 voters. He predicts,

“Labour can look with confidence towards a core vote of at least 27.5 per cent from which it can build.”

Yet 27.5% is not Labour’s core vote. The Fabian projection is essentially an educated guess with little quantitative data to underpin the estimate. There is only one robust way to get a sense of how many of Labour’s 2010 voters will stay in the fold, come 2015: polling.

What’s required is for a sample of the party’s 2010 supporters to be asked whether they intend to back Labour in 2015.

This is what Uncut did with the polling it commissioned from YouGov in the run-up to conference. The results were striking: just over one in four (26%) of Labour’s 2010 supporters said they did not intend to vote Labour at the next election.

This has profound implications for the Fabian analysis. Applying these findings to Labour’s 2010 vote gives a new core vote figure of 22.2% not 27.5%.

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2013/10/14/40 ... tually-32/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When the fuck was the last time Labour's share of the vote dipped as low as 22%? What is it with these people?

[davidjay]

They'd rather be right than win an election; they're as damaging in their way as Militant were.

[new puritan]

At least Militant didn't have ready access to a sympathetic Tory press whenever it wanted to lob hand grenades among its own ranks - the Blairites do. It's interesting that the Tories don't really have any element comparable to the Blairites. The Cameronites are dry in terms of their economics, and very susceptible to pressure from their right even on social issues. Blairites on the other hand are basically just conservatives organised within the Labour Party. They do their Tory fellow travellers a useful service.

[new puritan]

Hilarious pomposity from a former Labour PPC.

I’m sure in person he is an affable man, but in my view there is no greater threat to the hope of strong, responsible, decent and successful trade unionism than Len McCluskey and his most loyal supporters.

I won’t offer an in-depth analysis of the Grangemouth disaster – enough has been written already. But if you think picketing the family homes of company bosses and intimidating their children, or putting hundreds of jobs at risk because one trade union official was under investigation for skiving off work, or ordering the PR team to ”dig up the dirt” on Labour MPs who disagree with union policy, is a decent way of representing the workers, then we’ll have to agree to disagree. Likewise, if you believe that Grangemouth was the result of a “rogue official” and not an example of everything that is wrong with how Unite does business, I suspect we will not agree on that either.

I am not one of those people who says that the dramatic fall in union membership is down solely to Thatcherite laws, I believe instead that the behaviour of certain union leaders puts off millions of ordinary, decent people from joining. For shame.

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2013/11/01/wh ... eft-unite/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For shame!

[Tubby Isaacs]

What's McCluskey done, again?

[new puritan]

What's McCluskey done, again?

Caved in to Ineos, basically. You'd have thought the Blairites would be pleased with this outcome.

This bloke's on Twitter, incidentally.

https://twitter.com/robertsjonathan" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jonathan Roberts ‏@robertsjonathan 18h
Just resigned from @unitetheunion. Long overdue. Why any decent person would want to be associated with the way they behave is beyond me.

Jonathan Roberts ‏@robertsjonathan 31 Oct
Thanks to British-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce for inviting me to speak at their event in Oslo last night. Great turnout & lovely people.

Jonathan Roberts ‏@robertsjonathan 29 Oct
Looks like Tristram Hunt is turning out to be a good shadow Education Secretary. Although his maths on the EMA need work.

Jonathan Roberts ‏@robertsjonathan 22 Oct
If the cost of living is too high, instead of risky market interventionism why don't we just cut taxes?

And finally:

Jonathan Roberts ‏@robertsjonathan 24 Oct
When our education system is at bottom of world rankings after 13 years of Labour investment, I don't see how Gove can make it worse! @bbcqt

[mattomac]

Another that I think is in the wrong party.

Sure Unite will cope without him.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ha, I just came across Roberts on Twitter.

Lucy Powell mention McNulty's failure in Brent Central, and Roberts took it very seriously.

That he was a Labour candidate last time, albeit in a no hope seat, says it all.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Still on Falkirk.

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2014/02/19/fa ... -epilogue/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyone see Gregor Poynton mentioned?

[new puritan]

I mentioned the more recent allegations of Blairite funny business in Aberavon in the Progress thread. For all their newfound enthusiasm for internal party democracy our friends at Labour Uncut are yet to pick up on this.

Sinister tentacles of Unite:

We should remember how, in a town dominated by the Grangemouth plant, its principal trade union can cast a very long shadow.

They don't seem to cast a very long shadow over the refinery itself. McCluskey soon capitulated when Ratcliffe locked his workers out.

[new puritan]

Top Blairite whinging here about the recent Young Labour conference. They can dish it out...

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2014/03/03/bu ... onferences" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

edit: sure enough, the Blairites start to lose their iron grip on the Labour youth wings and go running off to whinge to their mates in the Tory press. This is from the Sun.

http://pastebin.com/M26MJsUy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tubby Isaacs]

Look at this bit.

We also got through a raft of motions, my particular highlight being the motion to renationalise the railways, which is a pragmatic solution for Blairites and Bennites alike.

Bennites, yeah, that's what opponents of Blairism are.

[new puritan]

One such proposal was the idea of a 10% one-off super tax on the wealth of the 10% wealthiest in the country. While I can see the principle behind this, it is completely unworkable and requires Britain’s undesirable withdrawal from the European Union. Other motions included a proposal for a mass house building programme, which included the abolition of the Right to Buy.

I myself however felt compelled to vote against the motion. I do not believe that abolishing such a popular policy would deliver a Labour government or even the ‘bold socialist policies’ which some delegates wish to see implemented.

Yep, selling off more council houses in the middle of a burgeoning housing crisis - great idea. So pathetic and craven.