Braverman defects to Reform. A reminder of her greatest hit: ‘Guardian reading, tofu eating, Wokerati’
Braverman defects to Reform. A reminder of her greatest hit: ‘Guardian reading, tofu eating, wokerati’
Suella Braverman has defected to Reform an interesting switch given she likely stands to the right of most of its public positions (policies being a stretch too far).
A reminder below of her greatest moment so far. There are plenty of low points which I’ll post on later.
Yes, I am afraid that it is the Labour party, the Lib Dems, the coalition of chaos, the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati and, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption we are seeing on our roads today.
Commons 18th October 2022
Gorton & Denton By-Election. Not the bookies, not opinion polls but the ballot box will decide. More Ephology
The Gorton and Denton By-Election in Greater Manchester is set for February 26th. So far we only know that Andy Burnham will probably not be the Labour candidate.
That hasnt stopped views on the likely outcome appearing. One leading bookmaker has Labour and Reform neck and neck with the Greens third. Electoral Calculus suggests a Green victory but their website proclaims they do innovative polling..
What really matters on such occasions is how many people parties can mobilise on the ground and with what message. The decision is made at the ballot box not in the bookmakers or via an opinion poll
E P Thompson noted as far back as 1959
A psephologist is a man employed by the mass media to research into what people think the mass media has told them to think. An ephologist is a man employed by the ‘Observer’ or BBC to interpret the results of psephology and who makes an ephing good thing out of it
New Reasoner, Autumn 1959
On Burns Night, a poem for Alex Pretti. ‘That man to man, the world o’er, shall be brothers be for a’ that’
Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an’ a’ that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that.
Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The Man’s the gowd for a’ that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an’ a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man’s a Man for a’ that:
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that;
The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca’d a lord,
Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that;
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that:
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
His ribband, star, an’ a’ that:
The man o’ independent mind
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that;
But an honest man’s abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their dignities an’ a’ that;
The pith o’ sense, an’ pride o’ worth,
Are higher rank than a’ that.
Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a’ that,)
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an’ a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s comin’ yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man, the world o’er,
Shall brothers be for a’ that.
Robert Burns 1759-1796
Labour & By-Election candidates. From Tony Benn in 1984 to Andy Burnham in 2026
At the June 1983 General Election Tony Benn was defeated in his Bristol East seat. There had been boundary changes and Benn was not selected for a more winnable Bristol seat. He declined to move to a more winnable Constituency and duly lost.
When the first post General Election By-Election in a Labour seat came around, at Chesterfield in March 1984, far from being blocked as a left-winger Benn was selected as the candidate. Prominent Labour right-wingers such as Denis Healey spoke up for Benn at pre-election meetings. He duly won and served several terms as the MP.
There is a strong contrast with the Labour NEC’s decision to block Andy Burnham for putting his name forward for possible selection as a Labour candidate at the forthcoming Gorton By-Election. Burnham is not Bennite and indeed has recently styled himself as an exponent of Manchesterism (something Engels was critical of in 1890). Even so he is a well known figure in Labour who it might be thought would at least give Labour a chance of winning what might well be a difficult election
It might be argued with some truth that Labour in the 2020s is more authoritarian than it was in the 1980s (when nevertheless it was still expelling socialists) but perhaps a bigger point is the left does not have the weight within Labour to stop Head Office control freakery. Of course this may well be just the start of a longer process so any points at this stage are definitively provisional
Block on Burnham confirms that Ralph Miliband was right about Labour as a ‘Broad Church’
A block on Burnham confirms that Ralph Miliband was right about Labour as a ‘Broad Church’
The late Ralph Miliband wrote one of the best books about the history of the Labour Party, Parliamentary Socialism,1961, albeit of course it doesn’t cover the last 60 years.
Miliband, the father of David and Ed, opens the book by making the statement that as a democratic socialist party Labour had always been amongst the most dogmatic. Not about socialism but about the use of Parliamentary as opposed to extra-Parliamentary forms of struggle.
His view at that time was that Labour under Hugh Gaitskell was not a vehicle for socialist advance and the leadership of the rather more ‘left-wing’ Harold Wilson did nothing to change his mind.
He did however keep the matter under review and sometimes returned to the subject, for example in the Socialist Register 1983:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/miliband/1983/xx/advance.htm
Here he saw the rise of the Bennite left from the early 1980s as a sign that maybe Labour could be claimed for socialism. Significantly perhaps it appeared in the year that a, then young, Jeremy Corbyn first became an MP.
Tom Watson before he stepped down described an effort to abolish his then Deputy Leader position as going against the idea of Labour as a ‘broad church’. Harold Wilson was probably right that Labour owes more to Methodism than Marx but as Miliband noted the ‘broad’ part of the description is harder to justify historically.
Miliband wrote
Pious references to the Labour Party being a ‘broad church’ which has always incorporated many different strands of thought fail to take account of a crucial fact, namely that the ‘broad church’ of Labour only functioned effectively in the past because one side – the Right and Centre – determined the nature of the services that were to be held, and excluded or threatened with exclusion any clergy too deviant in its dissent.
Labour’s NEC blocking Andy Burnham from standing in the forthcoming Gorton by-election underlines that Ralph Miliband was right
The Ambridge Socialist. Did Sgt Burns do it?
The Ambridge Socialist
25th January
Amber is pregnant. It’s her decision what happens next
Amber is pregnant she thinks via George, who thinks its great news. As Amber discussed with Chelsea she is more ambivalent. As Chelsea also reminded her she has choices about what to do next and it is her choice not that of George, Emma or Will.
Eddie Grundy sells hay at the market rate. How the BBC reported it
Eddie Grundy has sold some hay this week at the market rate. How do we know this? Because an unnamed farmer bought it. Meanwhile the BBC reported both Daveed and Lilian complaining that while they need hay for their businesses Eddie was charging too much. As it turned out he wasn’t. Rather the Archers Dynasty were trying to short change him on the price. They failed.
Did Harrison do it
Fallon has accused Sgt Knacker Burns of the attack on George. He has denied it. The Ambridge Socialist still thinks Reform Mick is the most likely suspect. There is no doubt that Knacker has anger management issues as well as a motivation to bottle George. He must surely be overdue for a promotion
Esme ponders the future
Esme has been offered a large sum from her landlord to vacate the farm. She plans to turn down the money and stay in the Archers….
Memoirs of recent British Prime Ministers from Blair to Truss..
Financial Times 24th January 2026
Things can only get better…
Monday 19th January 2026. Farage has lunch with Liz Truss in central London
Farage & Truss at a Conservative Political Action event in 2024
On Monday 19th January Nigel Farage and Liz Truss lunched at Mark’s Club in central London.
It was organised by far right climate change deniers the Heartland Institute. They are US based but have a European operation.
Others at the lunch included David Starkey and Mike Graham.
The lunch itself fell far short of Farage’s traditional Proper Fucking Lunches (PFL) but did include steak and chips.
Farage was a fan of Liz Truss’s autumn 2022 Budget and has posted in the last few days that he continues to be so with the proviso that a repeat must also include cuts to welfare spending (think NHS, pensions etc)
The Guardian report that Reform quickly denied that conspiracy theorist Truss would be welcome as a Reform member but Farage has set May 2026 as the transfer deadline
Andy Burnham’s eyebrows could be a key factor in potential Labour leadership bid
Beard Liberation Front
24th January
Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social
Andy Burnham’s eyebrows could be key factor in potential Labour leadership bid
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that Andy Burnham’s gravitas adding eyebrows could be a key factor in a possible bid for the Labour leadership bid.
The decision comes after Burnham decided to put himself forward as a potential candidate for the Gorton and Denton Parliamentary By-Election
Burnham is clean shaven but is far from un-hirsute. In particular his eyebrows are a significant presence, considerably more impactful than the perpetually clean shaven Keir Starmer.
BLF organiser Keith Flett said, Andy Burnham must seek Denis Healey eyebrow impact and gravitas in any future Labour leadership bid. He will need to promote further eyebrow growth and we suggest daily marination in imperial stout could be the way to a Labour leadership winning vote
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