As the day draws to a close we can look at the whole Labour Party deputy leadership campaign and ask ourselves: what have we got, and where can we go from here? Well what we've got is Labour loyalist Harriet Harman: aged fifty-six; privately educated; aristocratic family connections through her aunt, the Countess of Longford; Wife of Labour Treasurer Jack Dromey. During her time as an MP we've seen the many sides of Harriet Harman's politics. Her voting record in many instances is altogether predictable, with strong support for I.D. cards, anti-terror legislation and the Iraq war. However, she perhaps needs to clarify her position a little more with regard to equal gay rights, on which her record is rather lukewarm.
But what we really have to look to now isn't what Harriet Harman MP did in the past; it's what Deputy Leader Harman plans for the future that is important now. She has expressed a deep regret over the decision to go to war in Iraq, suggesting to me that either she has had some sort of personality change since she voted so strongly for it, or she has decided that electorally opposing the decision is the way forward. It is almost certain that her outward expression of regret had a big effect on the constituency vote. It became clear to all of us fighting the May 3rd elections that Mr. Blair was fast becoming a liability in the constituencies, so perhaps Harman's victory here shows a desire from grassroots members to distance the party from Blair whilst still hanging onto the spirit of his modernisation.
But what will Harman do? Is she to follow in Big John's footsteps as both deputy leader and deputy prime-minister, or is she going to merely keep the party role? The deputy leadership election has been front page news for weeks now, but it always seemed to me that the only people who really cared about the result in more than a vague sense were the politicals amongst us. The general public didn't seem to be bothered, and I think this reflects the attitude of the public towards the office of the deputy prime minister. John Prescott himself said:
"Let us get on with the organisation, strengthening the party, bringing back enthusiasm into it, these are essential to win the next election."
Harriet Harman has a far more difficult job on her hands. As the new party chair, it will be her job to rebuild the membership and restore our supporters confidences. After years of struggle with government the Labour Party is finding itself shrinking in numbers even as the new Brown-Harman ticket has resulted in a surge in the polls putting Labour at 39-36 ahead according to a poll by the Observer. The same poll also puts Brown as having the confidence of 40% of the population, compared to Tony Blair's 32% and David Cameron's 22%. However, the Labour Party now numbers just 180 000 members, and Harman will be facing a big challenge in making Labour the party the people again- as opposed to the party of the person as we become inextricably associated with Mr Blair. Regardless of his legacy- and it has been shown in a very complimentary light by nearly all the broadsheets and news sites- he has became an electoral liability for us now, and renewing our image post-Blair will be Harman's biggest challenge. It was sad to see Alan Johnson beaten by a mere 0.86%, but we can expect him to receive a senior cabinet post at least, and continue his good work in the new government.
But what we really have to look to now isn't what Harriet Harman MP did in the past; it's what Deputy Leader Harman plans for the future that is important now. She has expressed a deep regret over the decision to go to war in Iraq, suggesting to me that either she has had some sort of personality change since she voted so strongly for it, or she has decided that electorally opposing the decision is the way forward. It is almost certain that her outward expression of regret had a big effect on the constituency vote. It became clear to all of us fighting the May 3rd elections that Mr. Blair was fast becoming a liability in the constituencies, so perhaps Harman's victory here shows a desire from grassroots members to distance the party from Blair whilst still hanging onto the spirit of his modernisation.
But what will Harman do? Is she to follow in Big John's footsteps as both deputy leader and deputy prime-minister, or is she going to merely keep the party role? The deputy leadership election has been front page news for weeks now, but it always seemed to me that the only people who really cared about the result in more than a vague sense were the politicals amongst us. The general public didn't seem to be bothered, and I think this reflects the attitude of the public towards the office of the deputy prime minister. John Prescott himself said:
"Let us get on with the organisation, strengthening the party, bringing back enthusiasm into it, these are essential to win the next election."
Harriet Harman has a far more difficult job on her hands. As the new party chair, it will be her job to rebuild the membership and restore our supporters confidences. After years of struggle with government the Labour Party is finding itself shrinking in numbers even as the new Brown-Harman ticket has resulted in a surge in the polls putting Labour at 39-36 ahead according to a poll by the Observer. The same poll also puts Brown as having the confidence of 40% of the population, compared to Tony Blair's 32% and David Cameron's 22%. However, the Labour Party now numbers just 180 000 members, and Harman will be facing a big challenge in making Labour the party the people again- as opposed to the party of the person as we become inextricably associated with Mr Blair. Regardless of his legacy- and it has been shown in a very complimentary light by nearly all the broadsheets and news sites- he has became an electoral liability for us now, and renewing our image post-Blair will be Harman's biggest challenge. It was sad to see Alan Johnson beaten by a mere 0.86%, but we can expect him to receive a senior cabinet post at least, and continue his good work in the new government.
8 comments:
Once again Bob, you backed the wrong horse.
At least Alan Johnson never let you near enough to his car for you to drive into it :-)
This isn't Bobby, sadly.
Bloody Students is written by several people, says at the bottom of each post who the author is.
Ive never written off a ministerial car. :)
By "several people", do yuo actualy mean "2 people"?
Harman has pledged support for new laws to tackle homophobia and for a "full equality act"
According to PinkNews however she was not the preferred choice of the LGBT community she comes 3rd after Hain and Blears. I for one think she is as capable as any of the candidates in this area and would be shocked if she was not fully supportive of overall equality.
*There are two permanent writers, with some others who contribute. We're also giving some people guest writer status to add their own articles.*
Bobby backed the right man in my opinion. Just because someone didn't win doesn't mean they weren't the best candidate.
All the information in this post is based on the summary of Harman's voting record from the government whip.
So where are all the posts written by these other people? I only see ones written by you and Sideshow Bob.
If you read what I just posted you'd notice that it says "we're also giving people..." giving being a present tense verb. Hence other writers will appear in the future. Presently there are several contributers, but everything is written up by Bobby and I.
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