Dinosaur Labour

I’m very disappointed in you @DavidLammy. I’m not a dinosaur hoarding rights I’m a woman & a lesbian whose life & professional experience as a sex crimes prosecutor has taught me why women & girls need the sex-based rights your party’s #EqualityAct guarantees

— Joanna Cherry QC (@joannaccherry) September 28, 2021

Joanna Cherry puts Labour's David Lammy straight by explaining she's no 'dinosaur' for standing up for women's right and single sex spaces which are, of course, guaranteed under the Equality Act 2010 - legislation passed by a Labour Government.

I'm sure most women and reasonable people agree.

  

Dinosaur Labour (March 20, 2019)

 

Down with all this rampant ageism - whatever's wrong with dear old Dennis Skinner as the next Labour leader (D.O.B. 11 February 1932)?

After all, the 87 year old 'Beast of Bolsover' could hardly be any worse than Jeremy Corbyn.

  

Dinosaur Labour (07/101/9)

Jeremy Corbyn thinks that Dennis Skinner (85) is a great credit to the Labour Party.

Now Dennis is the very definition of a career politician, so it would be nice if the old dinosaur made way for some younger blood, as a pensioner of some 20 years standing he's way past his sell-by date, if you ask me.

No doubt there are plenty of able women and young people who could make just as effective a contribution as someone who has been in the House of Commons for the past 50 years.

  

Jeremy Corbyn‏Verified account @jeremycorbyn

Dennis Skinner is a hero of our movement and as formidable now as he has ever been. #Lab17

1:17

11:54 AM - 25 Sep 2017

Dinosaur Labour (13/09/17)

Labour dinosaur Dennis Skinner (85) has spent almost 50 years of his life as an MP and took great pleasure in telling The Guardian recently that: 

‘I’ve never done any cross-party stuff. I can’t even contemplate it’‘I’ve never done any cross-party stuff. I can’t even contemplate it’

But the veteran MP, who is a big supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, voted with the Tories yesterday on the Great Brexit Repeal Bill.

The man is a terrible phoney if you ask me.  

  

Dinosaur Joker (23/05/16)

Dennis Skinner is a joke in my book, but that seems to be his main function in the House of Commons these days where his heckles and bon mots reduce many of his fellow MPs to stitches.

The only thing I find funny about the Labour MP for Bolsover which he has represented continuously since 1970, is that he is still in office at the ripe old age of 84. 

Surely the local Labour Party can find someone else to stand and fight their corner: a young person, a woman or someone from an ethnic minority background perhaps.

Because after 46 years and counting, Dennis has had a very good innings on the public purse and it's high time he made way for some new blood.



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dennis-skinner-gag-veteran-labour-mp-tells-tories-to-keep-their-hands-off-the-bbc-a7035446.html

Dennis Skinner gag: Veteran Labour MP tells Black Rod 'hands off the BBC'

The left-winger used his gag to draw attention to changes proposed to the BBC

Labour MP Dennis Skinner has used his customary joke at the State Opening of Parliament to draw attention to perceived attacks on the BBC.

The veteran left-winger shouted “hands off the BBC!’ at the Queen’s representative marched through the House of Commons.

Popular Dinosaur (04/07/14)

The news that Dennis Skinner (82) has been voted off Labour's national executive committee has been treated like a death in the family in some circles, but I can't say I'm surprised because the veteran MP has become a caricature of himself in recent years, if you ask me.

Dennis seems to earn, if that's the right word, his salary these days by shouting rude and occasionally funny things at opposition politicians in the House of Commons, in the fashion of the two old men from the Muppet Show (Statler and Waldorf) who constantly complained about the quality of the fare on offer.

I loved the obsequious quote from Jim Murphy in this report from The Guardian in which he says, without a hint of irony, that he hopes the octogenarian MP will make a NEC comeback - which would presumably require Dennis to stand as an MP again at the next (2015) general election.

Dennis Skinner voted off Labour national executive committee

Veteran MP replaced by John Healey in a move criticised by some members of the Labour party as 'politically immature'

By Nicholas Watt - The Guardian

Dennis Skinner, the Labour MP for Bolsover. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Dennis Skinner, the scourge of Tory prime ministers from Ted Heath to David Cameron who was dubbed the "Beast of Bolsover", has been voted off Labour's governing national executive committee, prompting an outcry from across the party.

Hours after the veteran MP for Bolsover had taunted the prime minister as a member of the Bullingdon Club responsible for wrecking the NHS, the party announced he had been unseated.

Skinner, 82, who was first elected to parliament in 1970, was replaced in the NEC backbench MPs' section by the former minister John Healey. The other backbenchers elected to the NEC were the former deputy leader Margaret Beckett and the Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram.

The Labour party denied reports that Skinner had been unseated after irritating Miliband's office. A spokesperson said: "There is absolutely no irritation from Ed or anyone in his office at Dennis. This was purely a matter for the parliamentary Labour party."

One party source said Skinner had been a victim of the leadership's determination to ensure that Healey, a loyalist, was elected to the NEC.

The removal of the veteran leftwinger prompted a strong reaction. John McDonnell, a fellow leftwinger, tweeted: "Dennis Skinner voted off Labour's NEC by Labour MPs. Sign of how distant from reality and from the views of our members some of them are."

John Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw, tweeted: "Naive political immaturity in parliamentary Labour party in knocking Dennis Skinner off NEC in election year."

Jim Murphy, the Blairite shadow international development secretary, tweeted: "Really sorry to hear that Dennis Skinner was voted off Labour's NEC today. A brilliant MP & good friend. Hopefully he'll make NEC comeback."

The treatment of Skinner contrasts with his experience while Tony Blair was leader of the Labour party. Blair courted Skinner and used to invite him to his office for chats.

Statler and Waldorf