Redvine Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I think Sturgeon could handle him comfortably in any debate. However if he's appointed it may galvanise a few Labour voters who were on the fence about voting for another party. In my personal opinion he's an odious human being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunning1874 Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 He's certainly considerably more competent as a political operator than Lamont, but he's likely to move Labour even further from where they need on policy to be to stop their support collapsing while his belligerent style will only reinforce the perception that Labour are completely incapable of constructive opposition to the SNP, instead just disagreeing with everything they say because Tartan Tories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandarilla Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 The way he came across on election night told me he was coming back to Scotland. He wasn't the arsehole I expected, and that was a clever ploy. Even the UKIP nutter picked up on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H_B Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Psychosis Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 No, Johann Lamont is getting stick for being an incredibly incompetent person who cannot string a coherent sentence together or think on her feet. She's a Labour automaton who cannot do anything that isn't scripted for her. Her gender has never even come into it. Ian Gray got just as much stick for his bewildering incompetence. I've been told---by people who I have no reason to disbelieve---that Lamont is very good at being a constituency MP and is very good at being out speaking to people one-to-one and in small groups. She's clearly a shambles as a leader, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaffenThinMint Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 It's no accident he turned one of Scotland's safest Tory seat into one of Labour's safest. Taking aside his politics he does have a reputation of being one of the hardest working constituency MPs - I think he averages something like 2 constituency surgeries a day - some going considering he's at Westminster for most of the week. Politically he's not stupid either - has built his career on forging links with the right people - his flip-flop on Israel-Palestine is well-known - all related to getting the UJS vote to be elected President of NUS UK. As a political operator he's probably smarter than Lamont - I'd be more worried over the sort of politics he'd bring. If you mean by "constituency surgeries" having dinner parties with local business people sooking his arse hoping he can grease wheels for him, then yes he does average that. Murphy won & kept the seat because of local demographic changes & Labour's sharp lurch to the right. It's as simple as that. No magic, no "hard work". The area has returned Labour & Liberal MPs in the past - on each occasion because they'd candidates who out-Toried the Tories. Before Wormtongue was parachuted in at the behest of New Labour (who knew it was about to fall into their hands after Allan Stewart made an arse of himself), the constituency's candidate the previous two occasions had been that well known champion of the working class Sheriff Peter Grant-Hutchinson. Try asking a certain state school in his constituency what they think of him when he told them last summer he was too busy due to referendum campaign commitments only to drop everything to address Hutchie a week later. The man's an "aspires to be English" maggot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AberdeenBud Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Couldn't you say that about every politician. Lamont is getting stick on here for being a woman that isn't a sex symbol. When you get right down to it we all find any excuse to dislike someone we don't agree with You've just made that up, haven't you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hampden Diehard Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I've been told---by people who I have no reason to disbelieve---that Lamont is very good at being a constituency MP and is very good at being out speaking to people one-to-one and in small groups. She's clearly a shambles as a leader, though. Politics, especially party leadership politics, has moved on. Speaking nicely to auld biddies at the bingo might be great as a cooncillor, but Lamont is the leader of Scottish labour. Where was she during the referendum debate?....locked in the lavvy, either of her own free will, or by fellow Labourites who saw her (rightly) as a PR car crash. Murphy would be a step up on her and that Ian-nice-but-dim, but he is a slippery weasel of a man who will tell you that he agrees with anything and everything if it's worth a vote, and he'll be at the opening of a sweetie shop if it gets him in the paper. With Scottish Labour heading for a skelpt erse, I can't see such a political opportunist being so daft as to the one to take the flak that's a-comin'. He won't be the next leader of Scottish Labour, but he might be the one after that. A bit like not wanting to be the Man Yoo manager after Fergie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaffenThinMint Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Murphy would be a step up on her and that Ian-nice-but-dim, but he is a slippery weasel of a man who will tell you that he agrees with anything and everything if it's worth a vote, and he'll be at the opening of a sweetie shop if it gets him in the paper. With Scottish Labour heading for a skelpt erse, I can't see such a political opportunist being so daft as to the one to take the flak that's a-comin'. He won't be the next leader of Scottish Labour, but he might be the one after that. A bit like not wanting to be the Man Yoo manager after Fergie. Jim Murphy would be at the opening of a packet of crisps if it got him in the papers or on TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H Wragg Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I've often wondered what it is that makes those inside parties elect who they do as leaders. Surely electability is one the main keys? In recent times I've thought Andy Kerr seemed a better option than Iain Gray and the wrong Miliband got the nod. Also, Lamont and Rennie are completely useless although to be fair I can't remember what the alternatives were in those 2 cases. Going further back, I saw trouble for the SNP's chances when Salmond was succeeded by John Swinney and he was back in jig time. I know there will be a lot of cliques within parties and policy differences between candidates but I'd have thought the main aim would be to get the party in power and therefore elect the leader most likely to appeal to Joe Public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moses1924 Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 As a labour voter I would be much happier if Jim Murphy led the party in Scotland. It's a good question from H Wragg about why certain leaders are chosen, I also thought the wrong Miliband was chosen and JL / Ian Gray have both been terrible. The pool for labour at hollyrood is a shallow one to be fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paranoid android Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Murphy has better legs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reynard Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 As a labour voter I would be much happier if Jim Murphy led the party in Scotland. It's a good question from H Wragg about why certain leaders are chosen, I also thought the wrong Miliband was chosen and JL / Ian Gray have both been terrible. The pool for labour at hollyrood is a shallow one to be fair. An area they totally neglected during opposition in Holyrood. Lamont and that teacher guy that hid in Subway are fucking useless. I'm quite happy to see them with useless c***s as leaders regardless, and of course the SNP are going to have the utter shambles that will be Sturgeon so it should be quite funny at Holyrood, especially with some new "levers" for slaphead Swinney to pull, or more likely,quietly dump when nobody is looking so they can carry on pretending they are hard done to.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H Wragg Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I may go on to be proved wrong but I think Sturgeon will do OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confidemus Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 An area they totally neglected during opposition in Holyrood. Lamont and that teacher guy that hid in Subway are fucking useless. I'm quite happy to see them with useless c***s as leaders regardless, and of course the SNP are going to have the utter shambles that will be Sturgeon so it should be quite funny at Holyrood, especially with some new "levers" for slaphead Swinney to pull, or more likely,quietly dump when nobody is looking so they can carry on pretending they are hard done to.. Yeah, if only the SNP had stellar political luminaries like David Coburn to call on eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pull My Strings Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I don't think he's as awful as everyone makes out tbf. I disagree. I'd say he's much more awful than people make out. A smug, dishonest, unprincipled, shouty wanker. ETA: also sneering and opportunistic. If I think of any more. I'll let you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pull My Strings Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 An area they totally neglected during opposition in Holyrood. Lamont and that teacher guy that hid in Subway are fucking useless. I'm quite happy to see them with useless c***s as leaders regardless, and of course the SNP are going to have the utter shambles that will be Sturgeon so it should be quite funny at Holyrood, especially with some new "levers" for slaphead Swinney to pull, or more likely,quietly dump when nobody is looking so they can carry on pretending they are hard done to.. Are we to assume from this that you expect the Scottish Parliament to be given sufficient powers to effect substantive change to the economic landscape of Scotland (leaving aside for a moment your obvious presumption that they wouldn't use those powers)? Seems unlikely to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 As a labour voter I would be much happier if Jim Murphy led the party in Scotland. It's a good question from H Wragg about why certain leaders are chosen, I also thought the wrong Miliband was chosen and JL / Ian Gray have both been terrible. The pool for labour at hollyrood is a shallow one to be fair. As a Labour voter you should be embarrassed to admit you're a Labour voter. Must have a brass neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moses1924 Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I don't see why GD, i don't want independence so don't vote for the SNP, I'm not left wing enough for one of the minority partys, not right wing enough for the tories so therefore vote labour as they most closely reflect my political views. I don't agree with all their policies but no one agrees with every policy of the party they vote for I don't suppose. There must be those on the left who vote SNP who don't agree with NATO membership or cutting corporation tax but still vote for them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrontPage Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 He will never give up the gravy train, isnt is in the range of 120-150k a year in expenses, including 20k a year he rakes in from renting out his pad in London? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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