A year is a pretty long time in politics and to be honest it seems a very long time ago that I heard Jon Trickett speak at the LRC Conference in London. I remember the speech for several reasons. 1. It was way too long. 2. It was therefore pretty tedious. 3. It was a vicious attack on Gordon Brown and New Labour . And 4..... one of my West Yorkshire LRC comrades actually heckled Trickett for coming out with this guff yet only months earlier nominating Brown for Leader.
At the time, I thought this a little embarrassing and maybe OTT as we were all, er, trying to build bridges. Well guess what "left-winger" Trickett, the man who quit Compass over 42 days , has been appointed as PPS to Gordon Brown. Yes, the very same Gordon Brown he denounced so strongly a year ago. Bit of a Damascene conversion, no?
I don't suppose I am surprised but it is a depressingly familiar tale in the PLP - and no, it's not Gordon creating a big tent. It's Gordon buying people off. So next time you see Trickett on a "left-wing" platform, feel free to heckle as loud as you like......I doubt we will be seeing him at this year's LRC Conference, though
Saturday, 4 October 2008
ET TU, TRICKETT?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
If, in some alternate universe, John McDonnell was offered a government post, do you think he would take it?
You have to remember it's all a game, so many MP's and councilors are nobodies they come in look after the people who voted them in and do a good job, but they get nowhere within politics.
Then you have nobodies who want to be somebodies like Trickett and Cruddas, so what do they do to be seen, well Blairites are covered, Brownie has his own people, so what do you do sit at home doing your job, or do you join a group like Compass, compass it's self is nothing a group of people looking for a niche.
Trickett and Cruddas both had this idea that if something like 42 days came along and they mouthed off enough Labour would offer them something, and they did.
Both have moved up from being nobodies to somebodies. Now lets see If Cruddas is as left as he says he is, if he says no to a position within Browns party I will accept he is a lefty, if he drops into browns government he has sold out.we will now see how Labour left he is.
credit to cruddas, he apparently turned down a Government job.I cannot speak for others but I don't see how John McDonnell could accept a job in a Government actively pursuing policies he disagrees with . In the end, policy is what it is about and it is that which is wrong with the Government.If the poliices were to change, anything would be possible.....
Well presumably, Tom, that parallel universe would be one where the government was signalling a shift in policy. It would have to be otherwise Brown would merely be appointing a resignation waiting to happen.
That fact that we all know this appointment signals no such thing tells us quite a lot about Trickett, to be honest. Having said that, I rate Trickett much higher than I rate Cruddas. Not quite sure what his thinking would have been for turning down the job, other than either strategic positioning, it being a job he didn't want, or he doesn't have any ambitions in that direction.
Post a Comment