DIGBY STILL A TORY

grimupnorth Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 05:30:18 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Sir  Digby Jones freely  admitted  on  PM that  he might not even  vote labour   at the next election. What  an outrage.



"It's  my business"  he said  about his  voting  intentions  in a  splendid  interview in which  he also said that   "competition makes everyone  better"  and that the unions  must  "get   out of the last century." He also lambasted the CWU   and (hardly  a  surprise)   said he wsn't  a socialist. So there you  have it. Someone  who is a Thatcherite and will  quite possibly  vote Tory  at the next election -in a Labour Government. As Neil Kinnock  might have said, what an obscenity.

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DIGBY STILL A TORY | 29 comments (29 topical)

Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#1)

by laurencemarshall on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 05:51:50 PM GMT

Respect is only a phonecall away....


Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#4)

by grimupnorth on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 06:49:14 PM GMT

There is   nothing  ultra-left about expecting a Labour Prime MInister, a LABOUR Prime Minister, to confine   Government jobs to Party  supporters and members.Sorry to disappoint you, I have  no  intention of joining Respect  or any other  sect. 


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#9)

by jonesythered on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 09:56:45 AM GMT

The Tories are only a phonecall away...


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#11)

by SocialistAC on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 11:36:45 AM GMT

You're like those Republicans in the US who insult liberals as being "communists". No offence.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#18)

by laurencemarshall on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 04:25:06 PM GMT

How do you work that out? Care to elaborate?

Grim has done nothing but whine since John McLoser couldn't get a paltry 44 MPs to support him, I was merely suggesting a party more akin to her views.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#2)

by NorthernMonkey on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 06:24:08 PM GMT

But the whole point of Brown's 'government of all the talents' was that it would specifically have non-Labour people in it to show the public that he can reach out to all types of people.

For example, if Lord Ashdown had have agreed to be Northern Ireland Secretary, you wouldn't have expected him to join the Labour party or vote for Labour at the next general election - so the same standards should apply for somebody like Digby Jones.

Jones' comments on competition and the unions are hardly radical and I imagine they're shared by many in the Labour party. I also imagine most people who vote for the Labour party would not describe themselves as 'socialists' either.


Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#3)

by grimupnorth on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 06:46:56 PM GMT

1. Lord Ashdown should not have been invited to join the Cabinet and  face such a dilemma.Peter hain  was doing a perfectly  good job.
2.I do not think many in the Labour  Party, like Sir Digby,  oppose  rises to the minimum wage and cuts  in maternity  pay.Nor  do  most see   trade unions  as "irrelevant"
3, It's  unprecedented - and previously   inconceivable - that  a Tory  would  serve in a Labour  Govt. Can you imagine  Cameron  doing something  similar?
4. This is an utter  betrayal of the Labour Party and the trade union movement.
5  Sir Digby Jones   has refused  point-blank Brown's  request to join the Party, Why should   loyal members  who stump up year after year  get such a kick in the teeth.It's  disgusting.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#5)

by NorthernMonkey on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 06:59:06 PM GMT

1. I would bet many in the Labour party like and respect Lord Ashdown more than Peter Hain. If Brown is to reach out beyond party politics, then Ashdown would have made a good start.

2. Your original post stated that Jones thought unions need to be brought "into the 21st century" - which is not a particularly offensive or divisive comment.

3. Yes, in the same way that President Sarkozy brought in a socialist to run foreign affairs.

4. An over-reaction by far.


5. Because if we want Labour to win the next general election with Brown at the helm, then he must demonstrate that he is not the all-controlling, centralising figure that he's been portrayed as. By giving government jobs to the likes of Malloch-Brown and Digby Jones, he's going a long way to achieving that.


I'm not saying I necessarily agree with giving government jobs to non-Labour people but I certainly understand and appreciate Brown's motives for doing it.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#6)

by grimupnorth on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 07:14:04 PM GMT

Frankly I prefer Charlie  Kennedy  to Gordon Brown but I would not expect  him to be serving in Govt.
Brown  has alienated, yet again,  wilfully, core voters  , trade unionists, and Party members  on the left and centre-left.  I  can't see that  as something  to applaud.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#7)

by laurencemarshall on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 08:08:50 PM GMT

Grim, you seem to be in a permenant state of alienation.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#8)

by swatantra on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 10:54:22 PM GMT

The French Socalists have quite rightly disowned Sarkozy's stooge. Digby Jone's appt is truly outrageous. And no, I don't think Asdown did much in the Balkans anyway.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#10)

by doctordunc on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 09:59:25 AM GMT


He seems to want to demonstrate that he likes the Labour Party even less than Tony Blair did.  But clearly, from a Labour perspective, that is not an appealing feature of a Labour Prime Minister.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#12)

by NorthernMonkey on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 11:41:45 AM GMT

I think the latest polls would appeal to every Labour member - and we're ahead in the polls precisely because he's taken these measures.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#13)

by doctordunc on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 11:55:04 AM GMT

No, we're ahead in the polls because we've had a few weeks publicity and the Tories are beating themselves up.  We'd have been further ahead, I suspect, if we'd had a leadership election, because we'd have had even more publicity.

Poll leads are passing things - welcome, of course, but elusive - the goodwill of activists is rather more concrete and is what translates a poll lead into a victory.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#21)

by NorthernMonkey on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 09:18:40 PM GMT

You think the goodwill of activists is more concrete than YouGov polls? Somehow, I don't think the election strategy personnel would agree with your argument and neither do I.

A leadership contest wouldn't have improved our position, but would probably have made it worse since Brown would have been on the recieving end of a string of attacks from McDonnell and his cronies.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#22)

by doctordunc on Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 03:47:49 PM GMT

Polls are just a snapshot of opinion.  People can agree or disagree with me as much as they like, if you look at minute-books for party meetings up and down the country before '97 and compare it with today, you will learn far more about why it was easy then and there's a battle on now than you would from studying a thousand polls.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#23)

by laurencemarshall on Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 04:06:21 PM GMT

Has anyone actually done a study of party minute books about this? It certainly would be interesting if anybody has.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#14)

by jkitleft on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 11:55:40 AM GMT

This is the most Conservative, Thatcherite, Fascist, Right-wing, reactionary, government in the world, ever. This is what i'm hearing. What about Dawn Butler, David Hamilton, and Jon Trickett becoming vice-party and manifesto chairs? What about anti-war Denham and Malloch-Brown in government, and former CND head Joan Ruddock? What about a foreign secretary who believes going into Iraq was a mistake, and critisised Israel for their actions in Lebanon?


Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#15)

by doctordunc on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 12:18:20 PM GMT

Has Miliband ever said that going into Iraq was a mistake?  But fair enough he was (unusually amongst our government at the time, depressingly) critical of the war on Lebanon last year. 

The jobs for the likes of David Hamilton and Jon Trickett are non-jobs.  Little sweetening rewards for making the 'difficult decisions' last month. 

Of course nobody's saying it's 'the most Conservative, Thatcherite, Fascist, Right-wing, reactionary, government in the world, ever'.  I suspect that, on paper at least, it's the most right-wing UK Labour government ever, but time will tell.

It's worth remembering that Blair's early governments had people associated with the soft left in plum Cabinet positions.  Okay, he inherited the elected Shadow Cabinet, and dumped quite a few when he did his first reshuffle, but Brown has really decided to go for a New Labour cabinet (burying Brownism and Blairism for good, I guess, which could be seen as a positive): there've been some nice jobs for people who don't share our policies, principles, positions AT ALL, but nothing but the odd unpaid sugarlump-job for people who dare to question the Blair/Brown wisdom from within our own ranks.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#16)

by grimupnorth on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 01:04:59 PM GMT

Yes,  Duncan. Agree totally Nice  to  see Jon Trickett  "rewarded" for  sabotaging the McDonnell   campaign.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#17)

by Sensible Comrade on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 01:24:58 PM GMT

haha!


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#19)

by laurencemarshall on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 04:34:32 PM GMT

Constent repetition of your misguided belief that Cruddas pulled the rug from under McDonnell does no make it true!

There is no way that John Cruddas could have persuaded the 20 MPs or so needed to him on the ballot. He might have got one or two to nominate, but not 20.


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#20)

by Glass House on Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 07:43:02 PM GMT

I agree the Digby Jones is an arse, but I submit the following reasons for welcoming Brown appointing him

1. DJ will not be in a position to dictate government policy

2. Over the last few years, Labour has, in some circles, become seen to be anti-business (I know a lot of people around here think differently, but I'm talking about public opinion, not opinion in our little bunker). This may help to change their minds.

3. It proves that Gordon Brown is not, as the Tories are trying to cast him, a brooding loner, obsessed with his own little clique - it's a genuine reaching out beyond normal party lines.

4. Having people around who will passionately disagree with Labour assumptions is a good thing. As Leo explains to staff in The West Wing after the president hires a right-wing Conservative Republican to be one of his Lawyers - "The President likes smart people who disagree with him" 


Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#24)

by sgthowie on Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 09:44:50 PM GMT

Assassin who specialises in taking out overweight, arrogant, union attacking former CBI leaders is only a phone call away... 


Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#25)

by Glass House on Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 09:49:30 PM GMT

I'm not sure calling for the killing of government figures is encouraged here


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Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#26)

by NorthernMonkey on Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 11:06:32 PM GMT

Not the most sensible comment to make is it?


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Labour Party rule on backing non-Labour candidate (#27)

by rwendland on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 11:48:03 AM GMT

Labour party rule 2A.4(b) says "A member of the party who ... supports any candidate who stands against an
official Labour candidate ... shall automatically be ineligible to be or remain a party member". Government posts aren't elected posts with candidates, so technically Gordon Brown has not broken this rule, but what do folks feel about GB's moral position regarding this Labour Party rule having voluntarily appointed non-Labour people?


Re: DIGBY STILL A TORY (#28)

by sgthowie on Wed Jul 04, 2007 at 03:27:41 PM GMT

Sorry folks,

My genuine frustration here is reflected in my sense of humour by that comment. 


Digby sought Tory backing to be London mayor (#29)

by rwendland on Sat Jul 07, 2007 at 12:34:09 AM GMT

Newsnight & The Times report that Digby Jones "held secret talks with David Cameron about running as a Tory-backed candidate for Mayor of London" a few weeks ago!  The Times reports that Digby "sought Tory backing to be mayor".


DIGBY STILL A TORY | 29 comments (29 topical)