R.i.p. Labour Party.

[DTCwordfan]

BBC Spotlight News down here....comment from their local reporter in Liverpool.

"I interviewed someone locally from the S-West and from the moderate side of the party, their comment that 'This is probably the last time that you see us at this conference."

When will they implode - or even explode?

[Gromit]

i would be very surprised if they exploded.

I suspect the obituaries are premature, and reports of their impending death are exaggerated.
There could be a split, but not a big one. They may wallow in the wilderness for an election or two, but there is actually a need for an effective opposition, so one will eventually emerge again, it just might take sometime.

[Gromit]

Not sure the Labour Party has a big presence in the South West. I think the full list is...

Exeter.

[ToraToraTora]

well lets hope they survive till 2020 anyway eh?

[DTCwordfan]

they are gone by Feb 28, only to split in two - and re-emerge with the jaundiced Libs in some format yet to be decided on, allowing for Fallon's (over-inflated) aspirations - and, of course, the JC loons held out to be crucified politically......

[ichkeria]

No Labour is not finished and won't split.
Finished though as a party of government unless it modernises.

As Gromit says, we need an opposition and an alternative party of government. Unless politics were to largely realign with different parties then Labour is really the only option - eventually.
The Tories may well tear themselves apart as Brexit unfolds, who knows

[jno]

Labour modernised once already but it didn't work out so well in the end. They need another Blair but it'll be another couple of elections before anyone like that raises his head above the parapet.

[Jackdaw33]

I think yo mean Farron, not Fallon, who is a Tory minister.

[DTCwordfan]

agree jno.....and a major shift in philosophy, the current thinking may be a natural swing against the right leaning angles of Blair's era.....Brown the puppet - as Major was to the Thatcher regime....

[mushroom25]

JC was interviewed by our local BBC political pundit, patrick burns. the direct question asked was to do with the possibility of a purge of "moderate" MPs. JC didn't say as much, but he did venture that democracy works best when everyone participates. on the basis that JC and the labour party membership as a whole are at odds with the PLP, I'd say there's a load of MPs who need to seek an alternative career path.

[Peter Pedant]

// When will they implode - or even explode?//

or just crawl away and die ?

[Gromit]

I can't see any disgruntled Labour MPs throwing their lot in with the LibDems. For a start the LibDems are tainted by the coalition Government, and secondly they are just 8 in total.
Labour MPs now seem resigned to sitting out the Corbyn leadership and sniping from the edges. Whether that is a meaningful existance remains to be seen. Or indeed if their self destructive presence will be tolerated.
Either way, it is a good time to be the Conservative leader.

[cassa333]

Labour as a political party won't disintegrate just yet. All the doom muggers are doing is echoing and exaggerating the doom and gloom that was peddled over Bretix but that didn't materialise.

The talk is that a lot of the original 170is Labour MPs that had the no vote of confidence will come back to the fold. If they do, no matter what spin they put on it, it will show a complete lack of integrity. How could you possibly trust someone who can flip flop for, against and back for someone who they know has no chance of ever getting you into power?

It's easy to sit on the side lines and be a doom munger but even recent history has shown that doesn't happen at the rate people expect at any rate lol

Maybe they should split and give themselves a new name. They will have more MPs than Labour so could they be the new opposition. What makes a party the opposition? Sheer numbers of MPs?

[ichkeria]

Seving in the Shadow Cabinet (which after all is not actually the govt) does not show a lack of integrity, depending on how it is done.
Labour's current Shadow Cabinet is a fiasco: there are people who are only in it because Corbyn was desperate. It's like a football team having to play the relatives and friends of the professionals, who've huffed off :-)
But there's a big match to be played, at least in parliament, opposing the government, and having a few big names in the side would not go amiss, as long as they don't criticise the manager too much.
Of course, what happens when the Big Game (the General Election) comes up, is another matter

[youngmafbog]

Nothing will happen, at least until the next General election. Then depending on the outcome we may(or may not) see some changes.

Until then I suspect the rebels will just keep it zipped in the main.

The problem is they will not be a credible opposition and that is really not good for the coountry as a whole.

[Old_Geezer]

The very very very last thing they (or anyone else for that matter) needs is another Blair. That's the cause of the present problem.

[cassa333]

To flip flop and go back is a lack of integrity in this case.

If every one of those MPs that voted no to him split they would be the opposition and not Labour.

This slavish need for the opposition to be the Labour Party is tiresome. It could easily (with the right amount of MPs of course) be the PLP, the People's Labour Party.