Next Leader of the Opposition

[Captain...]

Just listening to him speaking about having to join the privy council, it all sounds like a load of bollox, having to kneel in front of the queen, to be honest the monarch's involvement in parliament is a load of bollox. All that nonsense with black rod and the queen's speech.

 

It is archaic and old fashioned, and just plain weird at times.

 

It would be interesting to see how Corbyn acts towards the queen as she still officially appoints the PM and should he be elected after publicly stating he is anti monarchy, could she refuse him? Would she? Should she if he was democratically elected?

[Webbo]

Just listening to him speaking about having to join the privy council, it all sounds like a load of bollox, having to kneel in front of the queen, to be honest the monarch's involvement in parliament is a load of bollox. All that nonsense with black rod and the queen's speech.

 

It is archaic and old fashioned, and just plain weird at times.

 

It would be interesting to see how Corbyn acts towards the queen as she still officially appoints the PM and should he be elected after publicly stating he is anti monarchy, could she refuse him? Would she? Should she if he was democratically elected?

Whether you like it or not the Queen is head of state, if Corbyn wants to become PM he'll have to follow the law same as everybody else. Once he's PM maybe he could change the constitution  but I doubt he'd win an election if he puts that in his manifesto.

[Frank to be]

From some MPs, sometimes not from the Leader of the opposition.

And how often do politicians give straight answers to difficult questions? Almost never. That's because they've got rehearsed lines to say and all they have to do 'live' is say a few words to deflect the question if necessary and then they're straight into what they've rehearsed, often when the link to the actual question is tenuous at best. They're very adept at doing this and making it seem like they've thought about the question and are giving a genuine answer, but they almost never are. It's all rehearsed bullshit, from every politician.

That's why corbyn is so special, he speaks like a human instead if a robot.

[Captain...]

Whether you like it or not the Queen is head of state, if Corbyn wants to become PM he'll have to follow the law same as everybody else. Once he's PM maybe he could change the constitution  but I doubt he'd win an election if he puts that in his manifesto.

 

But it is not the law to sing the national anthem, and it is not the law to kneel in front of the queen to join the privy council, it is not against the law to want to abolish the monarchy and to want to get rid of all the archaic crap surrounding parliament. I'm sure the queen wouldn't mind getting rid of some of these duties, she never looks like she enjoys any of it.

[The Horse's Mouth]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34275284

quite an interesting interview, he got a bit prickly around the kneeling to the queen subject but a part from that top marks.

[Webbo]

And how often do politicians give straight answers to difficult questions? Almost never. That's because they've got rehearsed lines to say and all they have to do 'live' is say a few words to deflect the question if necessary and then they're straight into what they've rehearsed, often when the link to the actual question is tenuous at best. They're very adept at doing this and making it seem like they've thought about the question and are giving a genuine answer, but they almost never are. It's all rehearsed bullshit, from every politician.

That's why corbyn is so special, he speaks like a human instead if a robot.

Anticipating the question is different from knowing the question before hand, it's up to Corbyn or whoever to ask a question he can't dodge or can't have a good answer to.

 

Saying Doreen from Leeds asks this is a bit poor to be honest. Corbyn is supposed to be leading the debate not acting like a phone in host on local radio.

[The Horse's Mouth]

Anticipating the question is different from knowing the question before hand, it's up to Corbyn or whoever to ask a question he can't dodge or can't have a good answer to.

 

Saying Doreen from Leeds asks this is a bit poor to be honest. Corbyn is supposed to be leading the debate not acting like a phone in host on local radio.

He probably will as time goes by, he wanted to give his supporters a platform for his debut. The way he approached it also kept Dave in control too, as he's usually desperate to get his little quips in that he's thought of beforehand.

[Guest MattP]

I've been trying to look at this from a Labour viewpoint tonight and my question is what's actually the point of him? Serious question.

An opposition leader is supposed to hold the Prime Minister to account. Turning PMQ's into the Daily Mirror Agony Aunt page isn't good for anyone.

Yesterday the Conservatives backed the removal of tax credits for 4million people, voted through moves on the trade unions that would make a dictatorship blush and today they paid up the full EU bill they promised they never would and the leader of the opposition didn't mention a single thing about any of them.

 

Why is this so bad for the Tories?

[Captain...]

Anticipating the question is different from knowing the question before hand, it's up to Corbyn or whoever to ask a question he can't dodge or can't have a good answer to.

 

Saying Doreen from Leeds asks this is a bit poor to be honest. Corbyn is supposed to be leading the debate not acting like a phone in host on local radio.

 

Have you seen PMQs before? At least it is more than one question being asked, normally the leader of the opposition asks the same question 6 times and the PM gives the same answer and nobody is any the wiser. At least if more different questions are raised and people are seeing their questions being raised, rather than whatever the latest political hot potato is to try and score points, then people may feel like they have more of a voice.

 

If I was Corbyn I would extend it out to his fellow MPs, get them to find out the biggest concerns in their own constituency and raise them in parliament on their behalf.

 

PMQs is the most public view of parliament and it is awful, this may not have been the ground breaking PMQs we were promised, but it is more than any other opposition leader has done to change things. Every complains about it, but this is the first time someone has actually tried to do something about it.

 

Do you think Burnham, Cooper or Kendall would have done that? Or would they have just continued Miliband's poor showing by asking 6 questions about migrants with a few cheap point scoring comments in there that rarely hit their target as the PM has pre-prepared his replies?

[Guest MattP]

He's now been found to have shagged Diane Abbott.

 

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4559169.ece

 

He's actually managed to make supporting the IRA look respectable now compared to the rest of his past.

[Guest MattP]

Do you think Burnham, Cooper or Kendall would have done that? Or would they have just continued Miliband's poor showing by asking 6 questions about migrants with a few cheap point scoring comments in there that rarely hit their target as the PM has pre-prepared his replies?

 

I think they would have probably tried to take the Prime Minister to take on his Trade Union bill and the fact he's just robbed a load of working people of their money rather than asking six questions from the cast of benefits street, you know, actually do tha job he's been elected for.

 

It's so weird, the day after the election we had a Labour party admitting they needed to be a party of working people again, three months later and they are cementing their status as the political party of people on benefits.

[Guest MattP]

Times has a firewall so here's the full article, I'm off to be sick.

 

Jeremy Corbyn faces questions over his failure to intervene in a damaging party dispute involving Diane Abbott after it emerged that the two are former lovers.

Details of their past relationship were revealed yesterday after Mr Corbyn was criticised for failing to step in when his shadow international development secretary verbally attacked a female MP who questioned his commitment to sexual equality.

Friends said that Mr Corbyn and Ms Abbott began their relationship in the late 1970s when the newly elected Labour leader was a councillor in Haringey, north London. He was separated from his first wife, Jane Chapman, a fellow Labour councillor, whom he had married in 1974.

A party colleague of Mr Corbyn and his then-wife said Ms Chapman had hoped they would be reconciled but believed his burgeoning relationship with Ms Abbott, who was four years younger than her husband, made their divorce inevitable. A source close to Mr Corbyn, who has become an unlikely sex symbol since the Labour leadership campaign, said there had been a “brief fling” with Ms Abbott, which included them taking a holiday together.

Ms Chapman, a specialist in communications at Lincoln University, has said that she separated from her husband because his commitment to politics meant he never took her to the cinema or nightclubs.

The revelation of Mr Corbyn’s relationship with Ms Abbott, which is not well-known among MPs, will fuel concerns about how he will control members of the shadow cabinet.

Labour MPs criticised Mr Corbyn for failing to intervene when Ms Abbott confronted Jess Phillips, the newly elected MP for Birmingham Yardley, at the end of a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party on Monday.

Witnesses have described seeing Mr Corbyn speaking to Ms Phillips when Ms Abbott interrupted and criticised the MP for asking a “sanctimonious” question about the lack of women in senior posts in the shadow cabinet.

Ms Phillips later told The Times: “It’s a shame there was not more sorority. We women need to stick together.”

Ms Abbott, 62, was working at the National Council for Civil Liberties when she is believed to have begun her relationship with Mr Corbyn. Friends said that the couple made no secret of their affair and Ms Abbott regularly stayed at Mr Corbyn’s home.

The new Labour leader was elected an MP for Islington North in 1983 and four years later Ms Abbott won the neighbouring constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, becoming the first black woman MP.

Mr Corbyn and Ms Chapman were described as the “dreadful duo” during their time together as councillors in Haringey. Both were sacked from key positions in a moderate purge against leftwingers.

Although one letter-writer branded the couple dreadful, another wrote in defence of Mr Corbyn, saying he was an “honest and dedicated person” and a popular councillor.

Mr Corbyn, 66, married for a second time in 1987 and had three sons. That marriage ended because his wife insisted on sending their son to a grammar school. He married for a third time in 2003.

When Ms Abbott was selected as candidate for Hackney in 1985 she was living alone in Maida Vale, northwest London. She said: “Most of my friends aren’t married — after a time it doesn’t seem relevant to a relationship.”

She did however go on to marry Richard Thompson, an architect, in 1991, although they divorced two years later. She was criticised for sending their son to a private school.

Ms Abbott and Mr Corbyn have been close political allies on the left of the Labour party.

She sat beside him when he appeared in the chamber of the House of Commons as leader of the opposition for the first time on Monday.

In July she had sent a text message to Labour members which appeared to be an endorsement from Mr Corbyn in her bid to become the London mayoral candidate.

It was reported that Mr Corbyn’s campaign team had not officially approved the message.

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said he would not comment. Ms Abbott, who did not attend prime minister’s questions yesterday, did not respond to requests for comment.

[Strokes]

He's now admitted to shagging Diane Abbott.

 

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4559169.ece

 

He's actually managed to make supporting the IRA look respectable in respect to the rest of his past.

he deserves credit for getting an erection.

[Guest Bilo]

How much do I not want that mental image before I go to bed?

[Guest MattP]

he deserves credit for getting an erection.

 

He does. He really does. Only in London.

 

[Strokes]

He does. He really does. Only in London.

 

That's taking one for the team, a bit too far IMO.

[Guest MattP]

That's taking one for the team, a bit too far IMO.

 

I'm honestly speechless, Diane Abbott ffs, least we know now how someone so racist and incompetent managed to make the front bench.

[Rincewind]

I think there were around 33000  questions sent in from the public.  I have often seen on other forums and hear people say 'Why wasn't the PM asked this  or asked that? He may not do it often but he now a backlog  of questions that have come from people that MP's are working for. It is our taxes that pay for them. I am put off  by PMQ because of the same questions  and the same type of answer.

'Unlike the previous government blah blah blah.'  'We are the only ones to blah blah blah'

 

This is why a lot of people  were put off voting  and Corbyn has promised to encourage people especially young voters to take an interest. It may well backfire on him with voters going for other parties but surely better than the outdated way where only half of eligible voters bother to?

I was not going to post here again but I have tried to keep this one impartial.I have plussed some posts though. 

[The Horse's Mouth]

The Times writing unsubstantiated rubbish shock

[Guest MattP]

I think there were around 33000  questions sent in from the public.  I have often seen on other forums and hear people say 'Why wasn't the PM asked this  or asked that? He may not do it often but he now a backlog  of questions that have come from people that MP's are working for. It is our taxes that pay for them. I am put off  by PMQ because of the same questions  and the same type of answer.

'Unlike the previous government blah blah blah.'  'We are the only ones to blah blah blah'

 

This is why a lot of people  were put off voting  and Corbyn has promised to encourage people especially young voters to take an interest. It may well backfire on him with voters going for other parties but surely better than the outdated way where only half of eligible voters bother to?

I was not going to post here again but I have tried to keep this one impartial.I have plussed some posts though. 

 

Is it really his job to hold to hold the PM to account though or to turn PMQ's into his own little radio/agony aunt show?

 

I'd imagine a lot of Labour members wanted the Prime Minister yesterday to be held to account over the trade union bill or the fact people are being robbed of tax credits, if he's going to do this every week Cameron may as well bring a cigar and a drink to the dispatch box, he should be facing Holding and Garner with the new ball and instead he's being served up dobbly medium pacers he can rotate the strik on. I bet he can't believe his luck.

 

The Times writing unsubstantiated rubbish shock

 

Yeah ok.

[Alf Bentley]

How much do I not want that mental image before I go to bed?

 

 

You need an alternative mental image to efface the horror, Bilo.

 

Try imagining Paddy with his pants down in a Yeovil car park....or John Major's nasal grunt as he takes Edwina Currie on a formica table covered with peas in a deserted Little Chef.

 

Or try Googling Stephen Milligan MP, the bloke with the orange segment, the stockings & suspenders and the electric flex.... I didn't realise he was going out with Julie Kirkbride at the time. She was quite attractive. A strange erotic preference.

 

 

I'm honestly speechless, Diane Abbott ffs, least we know now how someone so racist and incompetent managed to make the front bench.

 

 

You reckon Jeremy's still carrying a torch for her, after 35 years (allegedly) and 3 marriages? What did she offer Red Ed to get her ample rump onto his front bench, then?

 

I do hope that we'll be able to get on with discussing politics and not smutty trivia soon..... I know, I'm the worst offender, on the sly.

[Strokes]

The Times writing unsubstantiated rubbish shock

It's all good fun when they are doing to farage though

[The Horse's Mouth]

It's all good fun when they are doing to farage though

nah, I quite like Farage.

[Benji]

or John Major's nasal grunt as he takes Edwina Currie on a formica table covered with peas in a deserted Little Chef.

 

 

 

[Guest MattP]

You need an alternative mental image to efface the horror, Bilo.

 

Try imagining Paddy with his pants down in a Yeovil car park....or John Major's nasal grunt as he takes Edwina Currie on a formica table covered with peas in a deserted Little Chef.

 

Or try Googling Stephen Milligan MP, the bloke with the orange segment, the stockings & suspenders and the electric flex.... I didn't realise he was going out with Julie Kirkbride at the time. She was quite attractive. A strange erotic preference.

 

You reckon Jeremy's still carrying a torch for her, after 35 years (allegedly) and 3 marriages? What did she offer Red Ed to get her ample rump onto his front bench, then?

 

I do hope that we'll be able to get on with discussing politics and not smutty trivia soon..... I know, I'm the worst offender, on the sly.

 

Oh my, the first sex scandal I saw was David Mellor involved with that model, Chelsea kit and toe sucking, most of the country I think were just wondering how David Mellor had managed to get a gobbel.

 

Reminds me of an old story about Churchill I read a while back (probably a myth but amusing all the same), he was awoken in the 50's at about 6am saying he needed to make a statement, one of his male MP's had been caught giving a male guard from Buckingham Palace one in a local public toilet, "tell them it's makes you feel proud to be British" was apparantly the reply.

 

I've got a bad feeling Portillo might have had a bit of a chocolate dip with Abbott, I really hope I'm wrong as he's one of my heroes.