Labour MPs call for ballots to show CORBYN is out-of-step with the public? BIG MISTAKE!

Last Updated: October 17, 2016By
Heathrow expansion, which Corbyn opposes, and on which there is little consensus in any political party, could be a test for the new approach. It will fail, then [Image: Toby Melville/Reuters].

Heathrow expansion, which Corbyn opposes, and on which there is little consensus in any political party, could be a test for the new approach. It will fail, then [Image: Toby Melville/Reuters].

And they knew it.

The idea of holding a ballot on airport policy wasn’t pushed to a vote. And I think I know why.

These are the people who support continuity with the strategy that lost the last two general elections and the strategy that lost Scotland. They are unwilling to adapt to the way society has changed since 1997 (according to the Huffington Post, and I agree).

And now they are boneheadedly demanding the right to show how wrong they are on any number of topical issues?

I would have said: “Let them.”

All in all, they’ve had a lucky escape. I wonder if they’ll see it that way.

Labour backbenchers are preparing to call for a series of MPs’ ballots to signal their dissent from the party’s leadership on policy areas where they believe Jeremy Corbyn is out of step with mainstream public opinion.

Heathrow expansion, which Corbyn opposes, will be the test case for the new approach, which one critical backbencher called “constructively muscular”. If accepted, the proposal could see MPs openly defy the official position of their leader.

Gavin Shuker, chair of Labour’s backbench transport committee, plans to present a report supporting a third runway to Monday’s weekly meeting of the parliamentary Labour party (PLP), and call for a “votable motion” to gauge the views of MPs.

If the PLP chair, John Cryer, agrees to call a vote – as he did when a motion of no confidence in Corbyn was tabled in June – it would act as a strong public signal of Labour MPs’ stance.

Corbyn has said he will not try to whip his party to reject a new runway, but pro-Heathrow rebels believe the lack of an agreed party position will make Labour look weak. A source close to the leader’s office played down the significance of the Heathrow report being presented to the PLP meeting, stressing that MPs were likely to receive a free vote on the issue.

Some are pushing for the same approach to be used to bypass the shadow cabinet and constrain Corbyn’s room for manoeuvre on other contested issues, including the conflict in Syria and the … US assault to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State.

Source: Labour MPs call for ballots to signal open dissent against Corbyn | Politics | The Guardian

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10 Comments

  1. jeffrey davies October 18, 2016 at 6:50 am - Reply

    oh dear oh dear me untill that day those who cause the trouble are shown the door its unbelievable they cause so much trouble wanting to return to the blair era its they who out of step dah

  2. Tim October 18, 2016 at 7:26 am - Reply

    I’m as certain as I could be that when the general public are balloted in respect to Mr Corbyn’s leadership, in the 2020 general election, the Labour MPs mentioned in this article will be proven correct. And there will be many fewer of them than currently. If good constituency Labour MP critical of Corbyn are deselected spitefully and childishly and replace by other stamped with Momentum’s approval Labour will not only have an unelectable leader but a host of new unelectable prospective parliamentary candidates to boot compounding the forthcoming disaster. It’s pitiable really. All the more so for the sick, disabled, unemployed, elderly, poor, single parents and disadvantaged who would have benefited and lived longer under a sane and competent Labour administration.

    Still, Jezza will doubtless remain an MP until he chooses to retire, so that’s all right then isn’t it?

    • Mike Sivier October 18, 2016 at 11:18 am - Reply

      If you’re so sure those MPs will be proved right later, then you have no reason to support their backstabbing now, I hope.
      You can’t be a “good” constituency Labour MP if you’re constantly sniping at your own party’s leader and policies.
      Who says anybody will be deselected in order to be replaced by a Momentum representative? Nobody but you. I wonder why you would want to put that in people’s minds?

      There’s something fairly basic here that you simply refuse to understand. The policies supported by the MPs you like LOST two general elections, LOST Scotland, and LOST two leadership elections.
      You need to stop focusing on Mr Corbyn and realise that it’s his policies that have made him so popular among the members. They didn’t support Owen Smith when he claimed he would follow the same policies but be more electable, because they didn’t believe him.
      Conclusion: Those Labour MPs who oppose Mr Corbyn not only have a policy problem, they have a credibility problem.

    • Jessie October 18, 2016 at 2:03 pm - Reply

      It was the right-wing Blairites who started the persecution of ‘the sick, disabled, unemployed, elderly, poor, single parents and disadvantaged’, so why should we of the general public vote for them to return and initiate more of it?

      At the time that these policies were being put together, the propositions of Labour and Conservative were nearly the same, as well as moves to privatise our NHS, etc.. That was why votes and membership trickled streadily away from Labour, along with a big disappointment in the hope Blair had given of real moves away from a failed Toryism, that steadily evaporated.

      Then a leader arises who gives Real Hope to ‘the sick, disabled, unemployed, elderly, poor, single parents and disadvantaged’, and the majority of that party’s MPs and its Executive do everything they can to block him and to undermine all of those flowing back into Labour or joining for the first time, enthused.

      Which indicates to we of the general public that they do not care at all about us and our various plights, and only really care about continuing to serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful.

    • mohandeer October 18, 2016 at 2:38 pm - Reply

      “All the more so for the sick, disabled, unemployed, elderly, poor, single parents and disadvantaged who would have benefited and lived longer under a sane and competent Labour administration.”
      You’re kidding right? Under the likes of Yvette Cooper who was Health Secretary in the Blair years, she saddles the most vulnerable with irresponsible Work Assessments which left thousands of disabled people without funds and no way to get a job.
      Under “a sane and competent” Labour Party, the class divide took on new meaning for the poor, the elderly and the disabled and lost the 2010 and 2015 General Elections.
      THAT Labour Party?
      No thanks, I’d rather vote Green than waste my vote on a dithering, copy cat Tory party with about as much affinity with the needs of the many as Ian Duncan Smith!

    • Lynne October 18, 2016 at 7:27 pm - Reply

      I have nothing to do with Momentum but Corbyn stands for most of my views on his policies. In my opinion it would be childish to stamp out critics,and Corbyn has publically stated he welcomes debate on issues. However, that is much different to casting out backstabbers and schemers who he could not trust to hold such a debate and they childishly kick up a fuss should they be disagreed with.

  3. Dez October 18, 2016 at 9:33 am - Reply

    Out of touch with the public?? I regret it is a lot of the MPs, all parties, that need a big reality check not just the respective leaderships.

  4. Roland Laycock October 18, 2016 at 9:34 am - Reply

    They are sick if he was out of step how come so many people voted for him its time to get tough and kick them out

  5. mohandeer October 18, 2016 at 2:31 pm - Reply

    Over 60 % of the Labour Party members voted for Corbyn, many more would have had they not been illegally purged from the Party and the right wing Tory Lites think Corbyn is “out-of-step” with the public? Only 24% of the vote in 2015 went to Tories and many of them who have had their child concessions regret voting for Tory. Hundreds of thousands joined the Labour Party – mostly in support of Corbyn(although 130,000 were disallowed a vote after an illegal rule change)and still the right wing have not realised that it is THEY who are out-of-step with the public. As long as they remain with the Labour Party, Labour will lose in 2020 and that suits them fine. If Corbyn and his centrist party were to win, after they had been removed, they would never see power again – and they know this. Time to pressure Corbyn to boot them out.

  6. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) October 18, 2016 at 3:16 pm - Reply

    I am only remaining a member out of loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn. The backstabbers need to be removed before they can do any more damage. PURGE those! I would welcome a vote as I feel the party cannot continue to function with these dissenters when we need solidarity so very badly right now; not a vote to be held in secret though!

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