Tuesday 12 May 2015

"Why Are You Backing Chuka Umunna?"

I'm not.

I am not yet backing anyone. I shall have to wait to see the full list of candidates. Since these days I shall have only one vote despite my multiple affiliations, I had better be absolutely sure before I cast it.

But I am not convinced that Umunna is anything like as "Blairite" as his critics would have us believe. He and Tom Watson, whom at this stage I expect to win the Deputy Leadership and for whom at this stage I intend to vote, offer political, regional, generational and class balance. At this stage.

As for the metropolitan liberal elite, did that hold every seat in County Durham? Did it deliver 81.3 per cent of the vote at Liverpool Walton, 78.12 per cent at Knowsley, 75.57 per cent at Liverpool West Derby, or 74.46 per cent at Bootle?

Few of the Labour-voting 77.57 per cent at East Ham will have identified, or will have been identified, as belonging to any liberal elite. Had they been so identifiable, then they might not have voted in such huge numbers, and not for the first time, for Stephen Timms.

3 comments:

  1. Food for thought, thank you.

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  2. A lot of us are watching to see who you will back. You may not be in the best of health but your words are just what Labour needs.

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