A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left. Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.
A brilliant article in Progress by my friend and organisational mentor (he was Chair of Aldershot CLP when I was PPC in 2001) Keith Dibble -http://www.progressives.org.uk/articles/article.asp?a=7217 - relaunching "Third Place First", the campaign for Labour to rebuild its presence throughout the country
posted by Luke Akehurst at 10:02 pm
Labour MP for North Durham since 2024. Labour Party activist since 1988 - firmly on the moderate wing of the party. Member of Labour’s NEC 2010-2012 and since 2020. National Secretary of Labour Students 1995-6. Parliamentary candidate for Aldershot (2001) and Castle Point (2005). Hackney Councillor (Chatham Ward) 2002-2014, Labour Group Chief Whip 2002-09, Chair of Health Scrutiny 2010-2014. Dad. Unite and GMB union member. All views expressed in a personal capacity. The rest will become evident from reading the blog.
5 Comments:
Totally agree with thrust of this article, there should be no Labour no go areas. We must do what Disraeli did, he started villa toryism in a bid to overturn the longstanding electoral foundations of Liberals in urban seats. so we must create rural/provincial labourism. But real support from the great and the good is required if this is to really be achieved.
12:42 am, December 07, 2010
If Labour is to prosper in areas where it is currently weak, then that needs to be accompanied by greater ideological certainty.
Why, for example, should someone vote for a Labour Party in such an area when its policies are not so different from the Conservative Party?
In other words, Ed Miliband needs to tell Alan Johnson to stop undermining him on the 50% tax rate. Johnson views that rate in the same way that George Osbourne does.
1:59 pm, December 07, 2010
Did anybody see the 1970 general election coverage on BBC Parliament back in October?
It reminded us of how Labour lost a number of rural constituencies in Norfolk which it has never managed to regain even in 1997.
2:10 pm, December 07, 2010
Keith's great ... he's only 20 miles from me. We've been plotting the downfall of this dreadful coalition. I see the disabled are going to get it next after the students with the abolition of the Disability Living Allowance, which her Toryness Maria Miller says is "unsustainable". Perhaps the coalition should just say to vulnerable people "crawl away and die", at least they'd be honest. Instead, they'll try to spin a yarn about "deserving disabled". I can't believe people living in areas like Keith's voted for this.
1:29 am, December 08, 2010
I certainly think there should be no 'no go areas'. Having said that we are unlikely to win Maidenhead, Newbury or Hampshire NW any time soon. Demographic change does matter. I think that we are much more likely to win back some seats won in 97 than others. A lot will depend on the collapse of the FibDems and how their votes divide on different areas
9:51 pm, December 08, 2010
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