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Miliband blasted by Crudas
‘Dead-hand’ Miliband blasted by top adviser
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/Politics/article1428253.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2014_06_28
When your own policy chief accuses you of being "cynical" you really do have problems
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/Politics/article1428253.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2014_06_28
ED MILIBAND’S policy chief has launched a coded attack on the Labour leader for creating “cynical” policies designed only to “chime with focus groups”.
Jon Cruddas accused Miliband’s inner circle of wielding a “profound dead hand at the centre” to stop the party adopting bold policies.
He attacked Labour’s plans to cut jobseeker’s allowance from those aged 18 to 21 unless they undergo training as “punitive” and suggested welfare cuts had been adopted only to placate the media and floating voters.
When your own policy chief accuses you of being "cynical" you really do have problems
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Miliband's trying to be all things to all men and ends up being nothing to anybody
He has succeeded in being a geek and weird though .
So......
The guy can't score any lower in the popularity stakes and the Tories still look nowhere near in a million years of getting a majority.
This ▲▲▲
the POLICY chief is complaining about the POLICIES .....
hmm
Not exactly inspiring when the country is run by managers rather than leaders.
Isn't that most parties seem to operate these days ?
Yes, none of them implement policies that are required by the economic situation.
At best they only create bitty policies that create more problems than they solve.
What irks me most about parliament is the fact that they introduce laws at all, they have to, its what parliament does. Yet every new law restricts freedom a little more.
What is it doing on the front page of the Sunday Times?
I think we can assume that after trawling through hours of tape of the the left wing think tank meeting, this is the worst they can find - Cruddas saying the same in private as he said in public in his New Statesman interview last week:
Cruddas is not certain that his vision will survive contact with Labour’s political machine, speaking of “tripwires”, “cross-currents” and “tensions”. He identifies the “essential conservatism” of organisations and the party’s “centralised” and even “authoritarian” tendencies as the main obstacles to change. “Have we got the political agility and the game to mainline it into our formal policy offer and the architecture of the party?
And, with admirable modesty, the doctor of philosophy adds, “It’s up to the clever people to work out the campaign.”
Translation - not everything in the Condition of Britain Report will make the Manifesto.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/06/jon-cruddas-gramsci-westminster
Cruddas is a former Tony Blair advisor don't forget but he too realises that Labour needs to redress the balance for its real voters who got shafted by the Blarities while they were falling over themselves to please Tory swing voters. SIMPLE STUFF to read/see through!
No matter what Cameron and his supporters do they cannot overhaul Labour in the polls key alone get a lead to get them a majority.
I expect more mud slinging and personal attacks as the election nears
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-06-29/policy-chief-blasts-milibands-cynical-reforms/
Has the Sunday Times (not unexpectedly) turned it into something else.?
ITV also report on what Ed Balls has to say about it
http://www.itv.com/news/story/2014-06-29/jon-cruddas-labour-policy/#ed-balls-jon-cruddas-excited-by-labour-reforms_377714
For me the only way to get to the truth is to interview Cruddas himself and hear what he has to say.
http://order-order.com/2014/06/29/listen-dead-hand-ed-candid-cruddas-concedes-central-cynicism-to-compass/
I suppose the fear for Labour will be that the election is fought at the local level by candidates and grass roots groups who simply don't have any clear message or permission to go out and fight at a particular level because everything has to pass through the camp in Westminster which acts as a paralysis by trying to win the GE with sound bites, media friendly messages and simple policies at a Westminster level.
And if someone as important and high up as Cruddas is thinking that... what is everyone else thinking. These people have to knock on doors.. make phone calls etc. If they feel they're being gagged by a "dead hand" approach from Westminster.. that's not a good recipe for election victory.. it's a recipe for election disaster. It will all come down to which party has the clearest message and which party can go out and win the votes. If Ed and his team aren't ensuring the grass roots Labour people have a clear message and freedom to express it.. they're in trouble.
Maybe someone should interview Cruddas and get him to explain his thinking behind these comments that apparently different media sources,including Sky News who have also managed to obtain the recording.
http://news.sky.com/story/1291420/policy-chief-hits-out-at-milibands-leadership
Maybe there should also be an investigation into how all these different media sources obtained this recording.
The guy can't score any lower in the popularity stakes and the Tories still look nowhere near in a million years of getting a majority.[/QUOTE]
Oh dear it's what you do with every scrap bit of news against the Conservatives.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/29/ed-balls-blocking-labour-bold-policies
I do not like owen jones.
but you have to laugh:
Some policies are so wretchedly gimmicky, so blatant in their cynical political positioning, so insulting to the intelligence of the average punter, that it is tempting to drive to the nearest field and howl at the sky in exasperation. To mark Armed Forces Day, Labour trumpeted its plans to make it a "specific criminal offence to assault a member of the armed forces". As most of you are probably aware, it is already against the law to assault a soldier, or indeed anyone. Existing sentencing guidelines take into account aggravating factors. Why assaulting a teacher, nurse or firefighter is not made a specific criminal offence is left unexplained.
How do labour come up with policy now. is it literally the media team sitting down in the morning and brainstorming?
Nah only kidding.
In order to come up with coherent policies - you have to stand for something, and to be perfectly honest I have no idea what the modern Labour Party actually stands for. As some have suggested if the Unions want a party which will represent the worker then perhaps they should form it - of course they did that 114 years ago and look where it got them - New (No, we dropped the New, it is a toxic brand) Labour.
The Unions don't represent the workers just their own vested interests. How are they standing up for the workers when they stop people getting to work to earn some money, going away on a well deserved holiday or deny their children a day's education?