How long in the wilderness now?

[R1Geezer]

Now the Unions and other assorted lefties have put Red Ed in charge. How long before the labour party get back to power? Will Red Ed ever be PM? Is this playing into the hands of the Conservaberals?

[youngmafbog]

Personally I think it is great news Ed Militant is the leader. He is clueless and a total red in the bed. Chip off the old block of his Marxist old man, whatever he tries to claim.

David would have been a worthy opponent of Cameron/Clegg.

And lets not forget get Red Eds other backers such as the Welsh windbag and Gordon

wonderful news for me

[joggerjayne]

Well, he was not the choice of the Party members, or of the Labour MP's.

So the Labour Party is now going ... "Aah, err ..."

... and the Unions are going "Yesss!"

[R1Geezer]

...and so are the Tories JJ!

[Quizmonster]

I see the reds are IN the bed now! Does this mean we have to worry more than we did in the old days, when they were only UNDER it?

[jake-the-peg]

I think I detect the faint air of wishful thinking!

[McMouse]

I think Labour will fracture with Ed in charge. The old guard and unions will swing ultra left and many of the centre left will team up with the Lib Dems to defeat the Conservatives at the next election.

[R1Geezer]

so jake are you wiith red Ed or Moderate Dave? Don't tell me you are happy with the outcome of the leadership contest.

[jake-the-peg]

I think it's far too early to say. A lot depends on how he manages the media - sad but true that coming over well on television wins more votes that a hundredweight of manifestos.

What is certain is that elections are more often lost by the party in power than they are won by the opposition.

This was certainly true of the last one.

Cameron couldn't even win an outright majority this time and is about to pull billions out of the economy, throwing thousands out of work - the "no alternative" line will be wearing a bit thin in 4 years time.

Then there's the tiny matter of the PR referendum!

I think a thread predicting years of wilderness is either the worst case of wishful thinking or counting your chickens that I've seen in a long time.

Can't decide which.

[anotheoldgit]

I would like to ask, where is Gromit when his beloved Labour Party needs him most?

[AB Editor]

I don't think they'll be back from the wilderness at all! I think the Tories and Liberals will both grab a bigger share in the next election - should they be able to hold it together.

Spare

[naomi24]

I don't think he'll ever be PM. The Labour Party don't realise that times have moved on and people's aspirations are not what they once were. In my opinion the Red Flag has been relegated to the rag bag - and good riddence.

[jno]

like jake says, the Tories will lose either if Cameron gets something (probably the economy) badly wrong or, further off, when people just get tired of him. It doesn't seem to matter whether a party has an inspirational leader (Cameron is hardly Maggie II) as much as that they look competent and media-friendly. Can't see why Ed shouldn't fit that description.

[Gromit]

AOG,

It is 28 years since I last voted Labour. After that I was not happy that the party was jettisoning its principles to occupy the central ground. The Blair Government was more right wing than the Conservative Heath Government was.

With the Lib Dems apparently lurching rightwards, there will be many people (such as I) who have been voting for them because they were unhappy how far to the right the Labour Party had positioned itself.

With two parties in Government for the first time, those who do not like what the Government are doing will only really have one choice - the Labour Party.

Calling Ed Balls a Red/Commie/Socilalist is laughable. But, putting a bit of distance between the now crowded centre is probably a good idea. Blarism is discredited with the electorate, so distancing the Party away from that is also smart.

It is way too early to pass judgment one way or the other on Ed, I want to see what kind of job he makes of being opposition leader.

[Gromit]

Amend:

Calling Ed Miliband a Red/Commie/Socilalist is laughable.

[Sqad]

Gromit.....I thought that that was a very fair précis.

It is of no value having new and memorable policies if you are continually in opposition and Tony Blair realised that when he took Labour into Government in 1997 and kept them there for over a decade. With the appointment of Ed Milliband, there seems to be a feeling that the party should revert back to it´s roots and move to the left of centre, that being what the Unions would like. The MP.s MEP´s clearly think otherwise when giving their vote to David Milliband.
I do wonder that if the Party does lurch to the left under Ed, then they may well be in opposition for a very long time, awaiting the arrival of another Tony Blair.

[Gromit]

sqad,

This coaltion Government is going to have to implement some very unpopular policies. Unlike previous Governments, disgruntled voters have two parties to reject which will greatly boost the Labour vote. If the LibDems are now calling themselves a party of the right, and not the left, they will either haemorage votes to Labour, or take votes from the Conservatives. Either way, rebranding the Labour Party as not occupying the same right of centre ground as the other two, would seem astute.

With the Unions backing Ed, a lot will rest on who the public blame for the inevitable industrial unrest that we will see over the winter. If the public blame the Unions, then that could go against Labour, but if unemployment shoots up and the public blame the policies of the two parties in power, then Labour could benefit. We shall see.

[Sqad]

gromit.......once again a balanced and a fair assessment.

[Answerprancer]

Another example of your *unprovoked* rudeness AS REQUESTED AOG:
//// where is Gromit when his beloved Labour Party needs him most? ////

[ludwig]

I think it's impossible to predict what's going to happen over the next five years to be honest. These are strange times politically and economically.

[modeller]

We need a party to left of New Labour or right of the Tories. For far too long all the main parties have been hugging the centre ground and for the electorate ther was nothing to pick between them.
That's why we have ended up with a coalition which may fall apart after the referendum.
If we vote to keep our first past the post system there will be nothing for the LibDems to hope for, and if we vote for a AV system we will have permament centre ground politics.
At times in every government strong action is needed but is not carried out under AV or PR because of the multiplicity of parties. So I'm glad Red Ed won if it means we can have a real choice.