Double Whammy !

mickyv · Post by **mickyv** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 2:19 pm

Just imagine if this happens & Tony Benn as well as GG get elected !!

The Left Strike Back !

[web]https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7028042.stm[/web]

Post by **faceless** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 2:42 pm

micky, I embedded that link - to do it, you do this:

Code: Select all

[web]https://url[/web]

It would be great to see if he could get elected again, but in Kensington? I'm not surprised there's a vacancy for a Labour candidate!

Mandy · Post by **Mandy** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:05 pm

I have mixed feelings about this. Tony Benn is GREAT, but he will be standing for "new=anti-Labour"

mickyv · Post by **mickyv** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:16 pm

Thanks Faceless, I was wondering how it was done.

Yes it may well be mission impossible, but we’re talking Tony Benn here ! Plus favourable boundary changes, and that 12,000 majority may go the way of Oona King’s 10,000 majority !

Rest easy Mandy, it would really be the start of reclaiming back Labour from it’s current hideous Thatcherite incarnation of New Labour.

Mandy · Post by **Mandy** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:30 pm

mickyv wrote:Rest easy Mandy, it would really be the start of reclaiming back Labour from it’s current hideous Thatcherite incarnation of New Labour.

I have had similar discussions in the past with ex and current Labour activists : Is it best to fight it or join it and change it from the inside.

I wonder how many people joined the Nazi party thinking they could change it.

luke · Post by **luke** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:42 pm

tony benn should fight as a respect candidate

how could he fight for the labour party as it is?

malcolm rifkind was against the war as well i think - he's one of the few tories i don't mind so much

Mandy · Post by **Mandy** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:44 pm

luke wrote:tony benn should fight as a respect candidate how could he fight for the labour party as it is?

malcolm rifkind was against the war as well i think - he's one of the few tories i don't mind so much

Yep.. Tony Benn should be fighting for Respect.

luke · Post by **luke** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:56 pm

that would be some great publicity for the respect party, getting someone like benn on board

funny really, the possibility of one extra left mp, out of what, 400 or more - and we all get excited!

Mandy · Post by **Mandy** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:01 pm

We get excited because the other 400 might as well be called tories, or maggie's army

mickyv · Post by **mickyv** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:33 pm

Yes it really would be a tremendous scoop for Respect if he stood for them, and it would almost certainly encourage others, but I can’t see him giving up the fight to try & return Labour back to what it stood for, for most of the 50 years he was a member of it.

It would be an interesting philosophical point that Mandy raised; whetever it’s better to fight from within for change or to oppose from outside. However being subject to constant political flux, with constantly changing circumstances, it a question that cannot be debated by anybody other than those who know the present state of the Labour Party inside out, and who have their fingers on the pulse for likely possible directions.

But yes, I like the idea of Tony Benn, Respect MP !