Author: robert.marchant

Time again for this year’s most-viewed pieces in our, ahem, glittering Hall of Fame at the Centre Left. A year of interesting resurgence of the anti-politics brigade, whether nationalists, independents or on the far left, as reflected in the top posts: 5. Venezuela on the edge While the trials of the long-suffering citizens of Nicolás Maduro’s… Continue reading The best of 2014

Jim Murphy is the new leader of Labour in Scotland. It is hard to see this as other than good news; irrespective of political leanings, he is an experienced, Cabinet-level politician, with the kind of clout and vision that the Scottish party urgently needs. The SNP is sneering as best it can, but it is… Continue reading Murphy’s push on party rebuilding should not stop at the Tweed

Jim Murphy is, thankfully, the new leader of Scottish Labour. If you were to believe Tom Watson MP or Len McCluskey, leader of Britain’s largest trade union, you would be convinced that this is a major disaster, the beginning of the end for Scottish Labour. But it is not. The sky is still up there,… Continue reading Murphy wins. Sky fails to fall in. Three cheers.

I am a little late to this and I also fear I may just have asked one of my friend John Rentoul’s fabled “Questions To Which The Answer Is No” (that is, a headline question to which the writer wants to imply the answer is yes, but it is not). However, I have seen an… Continue reading Could this be the beginning of the end for London Labour’s Stockholm Syndrome?

Last week, we started to see just how much some quarters of the Labour Party do not want Jim Murphy to become their leader in Scotland. It was not so much the carefully-crafted hatchet job from Tom Watson, which followed that of old flat-mate Len McCluskey, leader of the Unite union, from a few weeks… Continue reading Unite has learned nothing from the Falkirk debacle

And so to the surprise of, well, no-one, we last week learned that Tom Watson MP had decided to stick the boot into Jim Murphy as the bookies’ favourite to be Scottish leader. Just as his former flat-mate, Len McCluskey did a couple of weeks before, as we reported here, and seemingly by pretending, somewhat disingenuously, to admire him: “Don’t get… Continue reading Jim Murphy hatchet jobs: a short series to cut out and keep

Last week, a member of the party’s governing body, the NEC, encouraged a crowd of people to go round to the homes of public servants (£) and “peacefully” demonstrate outside. Presumably as Unite “peacefully” demonstrated at the homes of Grangemouth oil refinery managers, during last summer’s botched industrial dispute. It is a technique latterly championed… Continue reading The case for party discipline

Two thoughts for this day, on which Europe commemorates the sacrifices of millions during the first half of the last century, to defend the continent from the oppression of dictators.As luck would have it, today is also a quarter of a century since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Last night Germany celebrated the most… Continue reading Two thoughts for Remembrance Sunday in Europe

Last Saturday, after some days of deliberation, Jim Murphy announced his candidacy for the Scottish Labour leadership. Within hours, Unite had put out a statement: “Unite’s representative members will soon decide who to nominate on behalf of our union. On the basis of this speech, it is extremely difficult for them to find much to… Continue reading Unite’s reaction to Jim Murphy’s candidacy tells us all we need to know about why it’s important

…Lutfur Rahman is finally banged to rights and central government has taken control of council finances. I cannot imagine that his position will be tenable for much longer.For those not familiar with the reasons for my joy, I invite you to read these pieces. UPDATE 06NOV: It is also worth – for the humour value… Continue reading Ring out the church bells…