'Corbyn's a Loser' - Says Khan
Sadiq Khan has the biggest 'mandate' of any Labour politician in the country having won 1.3 million votes (1.14 million in the 1st voting round) to win the London mayoral election in 2016.
Khan's mandate is much more impressive than, say, Jeremy Corbyn's who won the support of 250,000 party members in the 2015 Labour leadership contest - or the 100,000 members who voted for Len McCluskey in his bid to become boss of the Unite trade union.
So Sadiq Khan's call for Jeremy Corbyn stand down is made from a position of considerable strength, based as it is on the cold, hard assessment that the current Labour leader has no chance of winning the next general election.
Khan sets out his case for Corbyn to go with an article in The Observer newspaper which contains the following killer paragraph:
“Jeremy has already proved that he is unable to organise an effective team and has failed to win the trust and respect of the British people. Jeremy’s personal ratings are the worst of any opposition leader on record and the Labour party is suffering badly as a result. He has lost the confidence of more than 80% of Labour’s MPs in parliament – and I am afraid we simply cannot afford to go on like this.”
Read the full article via the following link to The Observer and it's worth pointing out that Sadiq Khan previously nominated Corbyn to stand in the 2015 Labour leadership contest.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/20/ditch-jeremy-corbyn-before-too-late-sadiq-khan-tells-labour
Ditch Jeremy Corbyn before it’s too late, Sadiq Khan tells Labour
London mayor throws weight behind challenger Owen Smith, after condemning party leader for failing to show leadership over Brexit
Sadiq Khan: ‘Jeremy has already proved that he is unable to organise an effective team.’ Photograph: Alecsandra Raluca Dragoi for the Observer
By Toby Helm -The Observer
The Labour mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has issued a dramatic call to his party’s members to dump Jeremy Corbyn, saying he has been a disastrous leader who must share a large part of the blame for Britain’s forthcoming exit from the EU.
Khan, who secured the biggest win by any Labour politician against the Conservative party in more than a decade when he beat Zac Goldsmith to the mayoralty in May, throws his support behind the challenger Owen Smith, arguing that Labour faces all-but-certain defeat at the next general election without a change at the top.
The brutal intervention by Khan in an article for the Observer will give a huge boost to Smith’s camp, and comes as the party prepares to send out ballot papers this week to more than half a million members who are eligible to vote in the leadership contest.
Khan says that while Corbyn – still the clear favourite to win the contest – is a “principled Labour man” whose ideas have brought hope to many, his year in charge has shown he is not up to the job and is “extremely unlikely” to lead the party back to power. Khan’s message is that the party has a duty to oust Corbyn before it is too late.
Jeremy Corbyn has a whopper of a mandate, don't you know, which he remarks upon at every opportunity as if this makes him immune to political attack.
Well so what, I say.
Because Tony Blair had a mandate before he was persuaded to stand down as Labour leader in 2007.
As did Jim Murphy, Labour's last but one leader in Scotland, yet that didn't stop Unite boss Len McCluskey from demanding that Murphy should stand down after the party lost all but one of their MPs in the 2015 general election.
Murphy went on to win a vote of confidence at the Labour Party's Scottish Executive yet he still decided it was best for him to go.
So all this mandate stuff is irrelevant if you ask me, because the real issue is that Jeremy Corbyn has shown himself to be completely useless so much so that he has lost the confidence of 172 of his fellow Labour MPs.
I was going to have a blogging-free day today, given the bank holiday, but having read thoughts of Unite boss Len McCluskey on Labour MPs undermining Jeremy Corbyn, I felt compelled to say something.
Because, as everyone knows, Jezza was a serial rebel throughout his 32 years as a backbench MP who voted against his own party line over 500 times, as well as being a persistent thorn in the side of every Labour leader in recent memory including: Neil Kinnock, John Smith, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband.
So, Len is re-writing history in similar fashion to Ken Livingstone who caused the whole row in the first place by claiming 'Hitler was a Zionist' and that a person can only be anti-semitic if they hate all Jews across the world, not just those living in Israel.
Now Len's comments are extensively reported in The Guardian (see link below), yet strangely the Unite boss has nothing to say about Comrade Livingstone's behaviour or the extremely stupid and hateful things the former London mayor said.
Still it's nice to see the Corbyn style of 'kinder, gentler politics' at work.
Because normally that's not true and men tend to be a poor judge of size, or so my women friends tell me anyway.
I remember watching an episode of South Park in which Cartman's appointment as a school 'hall monitor' goes to his head, so much so that he dresses up as a cop and demands that the other kids 'Respect ma authoritah'.
Now that made me laugh, but not as much as serial rebel Jeremy Corbyn demanding that Labour MPs respect his 'mandate' party leader after spending the past 30 years defying a succession of Labour leaders including Neil Kinnock, John Smith, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband.
If my memory serves me correctly, Jezza has actually defied the Labour whip more than 500 times during his long parliamentary career.
So I suspect his demand for 'respect' will fall on deaf ears, as it's a blatant case 'Do as I say, not as I do'.
By Toby Helm -The Observer
The Labour mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has issued a dramatic call to his party’s members to dump Jeremy Corbyn, saying he has been a disastrous leader who must share a large part of the blame for Britain’s forthcoming exit from the EU.
Khan, who secured the biggest win by any Labour politician against the Conservative party in more than a decade when he beat Zac Goldsmith to the mayoralty in May, throws his support behind the challenger Owen Smith, arguing that Labour faces all-but-certain defeat at the next general election without a change at the top.
The brutal intervention by Khan in an article for the Observer will give a huge boost to Smith’s camp, and comes as the party prepares to send out ballot papers this week to more than half a million members who are eligible to vote in the leadership contest.
Khan says that while Corbyn – still the clear favourite to win the contest – is a “principled Labour man” whose ideas have brought hope to many, his year in charge has shown he is not up to the job and is “extremely unlikely” to lead the party back to power. Khan’s message is that the party has a duty to oust Corbyn before it is too late.
Psst.....pass it on! (06/07/16)
Jeremy Corbyn has a whopper of a mandate, don't you know, which he remarks upon at every opportunity as if this makes him immune to political attack.
Well so what, I say.
Because Tony Blair had a mandate before he was persuaded to stand down as Labour leader in 2007.
As did Jim Murphy, Labour's last but one leader in Scotland, yet that didn't stop Unite boss Len McCluskey from demanding that Murphy should stand down after the party lost all but one of their MPs in the 2015 general election.
Murphy went on to win a vote of confidence at the Labour Party's Scottish Executive yet he still decided it was best for him to go.
So all this mandate stuff is irrelevant if you ask me, because the real issue is that Jeremy Corbyn has shown himself to be completely useless so much so that he has lost the confidence of 172 of his fellow Labour MPs.
'Kinder, Gentler Politics' (02/05/16)
I was going to have a blogging-free day today, given the bank holiday, but having read thoughts of Unite boss Len McCluskey on Labour MPs undermining Jeremy Corbyn, I felt compelled to say something.
The first thing is that demanding Labour MPs to show more loyalty to their leader is a bit like calling for Count Dracula be put in charge of the local neighbourhood blood bank.
Because, as everyone knows, Jezza was a serial rebel throughout his 32 years as a backbench MP who voted against his own party line over 500 times, as well as being a persistent thorn in the side of every Labour leader in recent memory including: Neil Kinnock, John Smith, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband.
So, Len is re-writing history in similar fashion to Ken Livingstone who caused the whole row in the first place by claiming 'Hitler was a Zionist' and that a person can only be anti-semitic if they hate all Jews across the world, not just those living in Israel.
Now Len's comments are extensively reported in The Guardian (see link below), yet strangely the Unite boss has nothing to say about Comrade Livingstone's behaviour or the extremely stupid and hateful things the former London mayor said.
Instead McCluskey lashes out at named Labour MPs and even has the brass neck to attack Liz Kendall's 4.5% share of the vote in Labour's leadership election, when Len managed to attract only 6.8% of union members who voted in Unite's leadership election.
Still it's nice to see the Corbyn style of 'kinder, gentler politics' at work.
Corbyn ally Len McCluskey attacks ‘treacherous’ Labour MPs
Union leader accuses Labour figures of setting ‘false traps’ for leader, as polls suggest party is on course for worst local election results in 35 years
Union leader accuses Labour figures of setting ‘false traps’ for leader, as polls suggest party is on course for worst local election results in 35 years
Jeremy Corbyn pictured with Len McCluskey during his leadership campaign. Among those accused by McCluskey are Liz Kendall, Michael Dugher, Ian Austin and Wes Streeting. Photograph: Rob Stothard/Getty Images
By Rajeev Syal and Heather Stewart
A key ally of Jeremy Corbyn has accused MPs of employing treacherous tactics designed to undermine Labour’s leader, as an analysis of the latest polls by a leading academic suggests the party is on course for its worst local election results for 35 years.
Len McCluskey, the head of the UK’s biggest union, Unite, claimed former shadow ministers Liz Kendall and Michael Dugher, Gordon Brown’s former aide Ian Austin and newly elected MP Wes Streeting have made interventions meant to damage Corbyn.
McCluskey’s intervention comes as a new projection conducted for the Guardian shows that Labour is on course to lose 175 council seats in Thursday’s elections.
By Rajeev Syal and Heather Stewart
A key ally of Jeremy Corbyn has accused MPs of employing treacherous tactics designed to undermine Labour’s leader, as an analysis of the latest polls by a leading academic suggests the party is on course for its worst local election results for 35 years.
Len McCluskey, the head of the UK’s biggest union, Unite, claimed former shadow ministers Liz Kendall and Michael Dugher, Gordon Brown’s former aide Ian Austin and newly elected MP Wes Streeting have made interventions meant to damage Corbyn.
McCluskey’s intervention comes as a new projection conducted for the Guardian shows that Labour is on course to lose 175 council seats in Thursday’s elections.
Psst - pass it on! (16/09/11)
Psst, pass it on!
Len McCluskey of Unite has a smaller 'mandate' than Dave Prentis of Unison see post dated 14 September 2011 - People in Glass Houses
Dave has a big whopper of a mandate compared to Len anyway and depending on how you count the votes.
But Dave's 11.2% puts Len's 6.8% completely in the shade and here's a earlier post from November 2010 which explains why.
Now I don't think that size really matters unless people go around making complete dicks of themselves by saying that they've got a bigger mandate than anyone else.
"Election Mandates (24 November 2010)"
Len McCluskey election as the new leader of Unite has prompted lots of Guardian readers to comment on the newspaper's web site.
Most people registering a view are rightly unimpressed at the poor turnout.
Less than 16% of the union's membership participated in the ballot which does raise serious questions about trade union democracy.
If 84% of the electorate cannot be bothered to vote something is clearly wrong and union leaders should do more than just shrug their shoulders and move on.
Some commentators also attack Len McCluskey, on a personal level, which is clearly rather unfair.
Len has still been elected after all he just needs to avoid getting too carried away.
Because any over the top attack on the government and its mandate to govern will sound completely ridiculous.
From a union leader elected with the backing of only 6.8% of Unite's 1.5 million members.
Mandate 'R' Us (10/05/16)
I remember watching an episode of South Park in which Cartman's appointment as a school 'hall monitor' goes to his head, so much so that he dresses up as a cop and demands that the other kids 'Respect ma authoritah'.
Now that made me laugh, but not as much as serial rebel Jeremy Corbyn demanding that Labour MPs respect his 'mandate' party leader after spending the past 30 years defying a succession of Labour leaders including Neil Kinnock, John Smith, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband.
If my memory serves me correctly, Jezza has actually defied the Labour whip more than 500 times during his long parliamentary career.
So I suspect his demand for 'respect' will fall on deaf ears, as it's a blatant case 'Do as I say, not as I do'.
