WIPE OUT

In case you are wondering why I am so late with a reaction to the dreadful Crewe and Nantwich wipe-out, was in London last night at meeting of the Grassroots Alliance washed down later with Vietnamese meal in Chiswick and more wine while watching election result with friend from the LRC. It was worse, much worse than anyone had predicted.
I did feel for Tamsin Dunwoody . She gave a dignified speech and i thought she showed great grace in defeat. It's a shame she allowed herself to be sucked into a negative, puerile campaign based on a right-wing agenda focussing on crime, immigration and "toff" accusations.
How many times do New Labour have to be told. You are losing us votes by the bucketful because you are not listening to the wise voices within the Party.
One of the first people the BBC rang last night was John McDonnell MP and his analysis is absolutely spot on.
"This result demonstrates the overwhelming anger and contempt in which New Labour is now held by our traditional supporters."
Unless we somehow claim back the left of centre ground, unless Gordon Brown starts listening, unless Labiuyr starts being Laboyr again, we've basically had it at the next General Election.

FOUR DAYS FROM BY-ELECTION DISASTER?

On Thursday night I expect I will stay up to wait for the result from Crewe and Nantwich. And something tells me that Labour will lose. Maybe it's the fact that their exceptionally stupid "toff" campaign has backfired. Indeed one of the Labour Party lads dressed up in top hat and tails is apparently a former pupil of MGS - Manchester Grammar School - one of the top independent schools in the country. What a crass message to the electorate.
Frank Dobson, not the most subtle of campaigners, was apparently on Newsnight the other night slamming the Tory candidate for being an Etonian (actually he isn't) . How pathrtic is this line of attack ?
As Dobbo well knows ( or maybe he doesn't) even left icons like Tony Benn went to public school (Westminster). So did, for God's sake, the late Paul Foot of the SWP (Shrewsbury). Frankly, I couldn't care less where someone went to school , because in the end it is their values and the way they live their lives which matter.
I'm a council house kid who went to Cambridge. I mixed with plenty of "toffs" And many of them were socialists. Many, yes, were Tories. But a working-class background is not necessarily an indicator of great socialist credentials.
What's left over at the Crewe campaign? Oh, yes, Xenophobic leaflets criticising Edward Timpson for being against ID cards. Well, that's really clever - and very likely to annoy the core Labour voters who also oppose them. So.
Yet again, New Labour has gone for cheap stunts, right-wing rhetoric and what amounts to a complete failure to understand the gravity of the situation we face. Tamsin Dunwoody deserved better than this farrago.As Dick Gaughan famously sang, "It isn't what you're born with, it's what you do with what you've got."

CREWE AND NANTWICH LEAFLETS

I believe these are aiming to win votes by mocking the Tory candidate for being against ID cards. Add such xenophobic rubbish to the nonsense which had people dressing up as "toffs" to try and win Labour votes and you have to ask what kind of political planet are these people on? If Labour loses Crewe and Nantwich, it will be down to the stupidity of the spin doctors. And , frankly, the CLP for allowing such disgraceful tactics to be employed. Gwyneth Dunwoody must be spinning in her grave.....