Labour’s core vote deserts them in two by-elections. The problem’s not Brown: it’s the Labour Party

John Mason MP’s narrow victory over Margaret Curran MSP (the next leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament perhaps) was spectacular. 

As this blog has predicted, Brown isn’t going anywhere – he’s “getting on with the job”.  Well, let’s let him – no one else would make much difference.

Less reported is the election of Cllr Ehfuz Ahmed in the Church Street, North Westminster, by-election, normally a rock solid Labour ward that voted for Ken 2:1 in the London elections.  The South Asian voters of Church Street didn’t back Dave Wossname, former drummer of Blur, but a well-known local Conservative. 

What’s going on then?  The problem’s not Brown: it’s the Labour Party.  And the sooner they’re out, the better.

As Glasgow E goes to the polls, Labour plays with fire again… in many Glaswegians’ ancestral homeland …

Glasgow E is going to the polls.  It’s a seat in which, apparently, Labour has never canvassed, so safe it has been considered.  The SNP candidate is a very popular local councillor and the Labour candidate, well, she’s Labour – one of Gordon’s people.

As J Arthur MacNumpty points out, Gordon has friends … who will go down well in Glasgow … NOT …

Then it seems as if Diane Abbott is trying to get her revenge on Ulster MPs who rightly voted for 42 days…

Abbott is trying to force abortion upon Protestants and Catholics alike in Northern Ireland, in her bloodthirsty private members bill. 

The people of Glasgow East, especially Catholics who are particularly opposed to abortion, ought to look across to Northern Ireland, the ancestral homeland of many, to see Labour’s true dark heart.

Glaswegians ought to oust Labour from its supposedly safe seat.  Only then perhaps will Brown get the message and stop the constant war on working people – and unborn babies.

If Brown’s Heathcliff, Prudence is his Cathy

The video below is rather appropriate to Brown’s agreement in an article in the New Statesman that he is Heathcliff:

And as for the lyrics as highlighted on the link above (hat tip: Iain Dale), maybe it should be Prudence, not Cathy?

You had a temper like my jealousy
Too hot, too greedy.
How could you leave me,
When I needed to possess you?
I hated you. I loved you, too.

Come back, Prudence, all is forgiven!

Last summer there was a Brown bounce. This summer there’s a Brown-going-out bounce. Sorry, folks, he’s going nowhere.

We all remember the Brown bounce after Gordon got coronated Labour leader. How long did that last…

Now, in the light of the forthcoming Glasgow East by-election, there is a new bounce.  At least, that’s how the latest Times/Populus Poll (C 41 (-4), L 28 (+3), LD 19 (-1)) is being interpreted – and on the back of a YouGov poll showing a similar trend.

UK Polling Report’s Anthony Wells reckons it’s a recovery, as does Political Betting’s Mike Smithson.

The critical problems with these assumptions are (a) they assume Brown is winning some voters over and the trend may continue, and (b) it’s only +3.

Let’s face it.  People think Brown is going – so the press and media tell them.

So they’re going to vote Labour (only +3).  Brown actually going might add a few more points, but still leaves Labour with fewer than a third of voters supporting them.

All we need is further deepening economic gloom and more bad headlines for Labour and this +3 will unravel.

So it doesn’t matter who leads Labour: they’re done for.  Brown isn’t going to go, even if he loses Glasgow East (which is lost as pointed out by Catholic composer James MacMillan in the Telegraph:

The recent parliamentary votes that defeated amendments to ban human-animal embryos, the creation of “saviour siblings”, and to reduce the abortion time limit did not go down well in places such as Glasgow East.

The votes of Labour MPs reflected the party’s one-sided approach to these issues and their hostility towards many in Scotland who are concerned about the dignity of human life, at all stages.

The party in London organised and advertised events to campaign on one side of the argument, in what was meant to be an issue of conscience, not party politics.

On the issue of late abortions after 20 or 22 weeks, this campaigning seemed to be seriously out of step with public opinion in Scotland, where there is a different and independent culture of ethical thinking on these matters.

The issue was going to be potent at the next general and Scottish parliamentary elections in any case, but suddenly there is to be a by-election in working-class Scotland, where there are lots of Catholic voters.

Most Catholics have so far resisted voting on single issues, seeing the pressing need for social justice across the board. To many old-style socialists, there is nothing more fundamental to a just and fair society than the protection of its most vulnerable members and their right to life.

The recent Commons vote represents a tipping point for many Labour voters in Scotland. Party numbers in both parliaments could soon be decimated.

Conor McGinn, the vice-chairman of Young Labour, resigned in protest at the growing anti-Catholic prejudice in the party, and its hostility towards the pro-life movement. The party in Scotland has had the long support of swaths of the Catholic electorate.

Helen Liddell almost lost John Smith’s Monklands East seat in the 1994 by-election (a big swing to the SNP) due to Labour’s discrimination against the Protestants of Airdrie.  Now Labour is completely out of tune with the Catholics of East Glasgow, and with the Government so deeply unpopular and the SNP on an “extended honeymoon” as First Minister Alex Salmond himself says, Glasgow East will fall.

Last summer there was a Brown bounce. This summer there’s a Brown-going-out bounce. Sorry, folks, he’s going nowhere.

Racist smears against Ray Lewis

Some on the left (Red Ken’s attack dogs) are furious that Boris Johnson appointed a black man as his Deputy Mayor. Now they have descended to the lowest form of political attack.

The Guardian and 4 Channel News have claimed that individuals have made completely ludicrous and false smears and allegations against Ray Lewis.

Boris has announced an independent inquiry and is backing his Deputy Mayor, showing again his decisive leadership – it’s obvious that these are lies and venom from the gutter occupied by Red Ken.

However, these are clearly racist smears, including the lie that Mr Lewis has been suspended from the Church of England.

I have emerged from my summer break to highlight how disgusted I am by these smears.