Er... no
Peter Kenyon is rather strangely speculating whether Mirror journo Kevin Maguire is "a stalking horse for the last of the Blairites who have been trying to wreck the TU link?"
I think Maguire could probably sue over that line (if it didn't have a question mark at the end of it) as he is probably one of the most prominent and vocal press supporters of trade unionism and the union link - and fairly publicly a Brownite.
If anything I think Maguire's article was hinting that MPs shouldn't have 1/3 of the electoral college vote.
Peter needs to get his head round the fact that enthusiastic support for the union link isn't confined to the fringe leftwing circles he moves in - it's mainstream opinion and one of the things that unites all the deputy leadership campaigns.
posted by Luke Akehurst at 8:08 pm
10 Comments:
Keith Hill has announed he will stand down and Walthamstow is now AWS
Will you be heading south of the river mate ?
10:33 pm, June 06, 2007
Here here. I just wish some of the candidates were a bit more supportive of the policies of their own union backers.
I cannot understand for the life of me the dynamic behind Unison's deal with Johnson; though I have my suspicions.
10:56 pm, June 06, 2007
I cannot understand for the life of me the dynamic behind Unison's deal with Johnson; though I have my suspicions.
Trust your instincts here Tom
12:57 am, June 07, 2007
Dear Luke,
Thanks for giving my blog a puff. As for the Maguire piece, nothing strange about my question, if you think about. No wonder the public's general understanding of our democracy is so shallow if supposedly informed journalists pose simplistic non-questions of their own, like that. I know the reading age of Mirror copy is alleged to be for 8-year olds. But I found Kevin's suggestion that MPs have too big a share of the votes in the Electoral College at a time when the federal structure of the Party is still under threat too much to let pass without his motives being questioned.
We need much better political journalism. Maguire's only saving grace, for supporters of the Cruddas campaign at least, was his other piece the same day on the Deputy Leadership contest.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/columnists/maguire/2007/06/06/cruddas-is-a-brave-move---89520-19251534/
8:58 am, June 07, 2007
" I know the reading age of Mirror copy is alleged to be for 8-year olds."
Oh you snotty middle-class tosser. You realise, of course, that the Mirror is a paper read by millions of working-class Labour supporters? Not high-brow enough for you? It's no surprise that people like you find it impossible to relate to people you basically regard as "the proles"?
10:01 am, June 07, 2007
Well, I think MPs DO have too big a share of the electoral college. More importantly, they effectively have had a veto in the choosing of a new leader.
At the very least, TUs and constituencies should have some say in the initial nomination processes.I didn't read ( not that there was much TO read) a call for union link-breaking into Kevin's piece. It was throwaway stuff.No, not the kind of stuff he used to write for the Guardian.But if he wrote that then they would sack him. As for being a Blairite well as far as I know he's a paid-up Brownite though he did write a few lines in support of John McDonnell.
10:35 am, June 07, 2007
Nick
no I won't be looking at Streatham. The field there is already over-crowded with good potential candidates.
11:46 am, June 07, 2007
Can I just say that anonymous posters who use personal insults are utter scum.
5:20 pm, June 07, 2007
and who are you "susan" your link goes nowhere?
12:17 am, June 08, 2007
That's because I was not signed in to blogger. As I said, I am a member of calder Valley CLP.Here's the link and no doubt I will now get lots of nasty anonymous posts. Which I will delete.
Coun Susan Press Calder valley CLP
1:33 am, June 08, 2007
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