As with the Richmond by-election, I'm not sure there's much cause for concern in Labour not gaining Sleaford, or even losing some % of the vote, although the Corbyn/Labour critics will use it to stick the boot in.



It's certainly a risk. I think with the majority of policies and ideas Labour speak about, the majority of the populace would probably agree with them. They promoting fairness & equality. Unfortunately it's their ability to communicate said policies to the general population that they're failing to do effectively.

The bad PR and feeling around Corbyn (partly drummed up my the media, and partly by himself & some of the things he says that get picked up on) doesn't help either. He doesn't look or sound like a statesman. Whilst this shouldn't necessarily matter & people should be more concerned with what he actually says and judge him on his actions, unfortunately for a lot of the electorate it does matter.

The worst thing for the Labour party I believe was the terrible timing of the coup, straight after the Brexit vote. Corbyn won with a huge mandate in 2015, and there's no way those same voters would back a coup and oust the leader after just 9 months in charge. Plus, the polls at the time for Labour were reasonably good. If those MP's had kept their powder dry and carried out a coup further down the line, it might have worked.

Sadly for him the job of PM requires that you are a statesman and represent the country on the world stage. People are proud of this country and wouldn't want a rag bag like that representing them.

Blair, Obama, Cameron, even Sturgeon are smart, articulate and represent their respective countries on global front very well. How would Corbyn look turning up for a meeting with the Chinese, Japaneses, American... leaders. Even if he had something of value to say the message would be lost.

You just proved the point I was making really. He's smart & articulate (despite you alluding to him not being), yet the points you raise are superficial, they're commenting about Corbyn's appearance, rather than the substance in what he says and does.

I'm not having a go at you or anyone else for that, it does matter to some people, and it unfortunately matters to a large section of the electorate.



Just on the subject on "rag bags" representing our country - what are your thoughts on Boris as Foreign Secretary?

Not gaining Sleaford wont worry Labour or Corbyn but, their 28% rating in current opinion polls would worry any "main" opposition party that is not in power.
We've had 7 ? years of the Tories (albeit 5 years with the Libdems) and during this period we've had the toughest cut backs in the last 80+ years and still Labour are as popular as a fart in a space suit.
They need to wake up and smell the coffee, it's just not funny.

We had the failed coup among the parliamentary party and still Corbyn holds the reigns but, anyone can see that they are further away from winning the next election than ever.
Midn you, the Tories could implode over Europe but, Labour need to change direction or, at least improve their public perception.

You wanna think yourself lucky. Plenty of us had to endure a fooking witch followed by the grey man for eighteen long years.
We got our own special pr!ck after them.

Indeed and unless Labour get their act together, the Tories will get stronger and stronger in England, Wales & N.Ireland, which will give them carte banche to impose whatever they wish and despite May's promises to look after the poorer members in society, we ALL know how that one ends, more and more for the well off, probably some tax cuts as well and screw the rest.

The war was lost on a sunny day on a field at Orgreave a long time ago.
It wasn't for want of trying by many of us.

Too many Lemmings at Orgreave following king Arthur over the edge

Out thought by those nasty capitalists - now all Arthur argues about is whether he can keep his pad in the Barbican - and you wonder nobody takes socialists seriously!!

"The journey of the sun and moon is predictable. But yours, is your ultimate art."

Nice saving there for Arthur , cost the NUM a fair bit to rent that place for him for all those years too at £ 34 grand a year

The NUM should have contacted Shirley Porter and seen if she could have got him a nice pad in Westminster instead.

You gone a bit Sun Tzu there chief?

Just coz we adopted Brunette Coleman doesn't mean we aint entitled to a little diversification, innit guvnor?

That shows a defeatist mentality. Anybody serious would say they lost the battle but will win the war!

Yes, Labour is heading for oblivion. That's for the simple reason I have been banging on about for years (pre-Corbyn) - they do not represent anything or anybody. Until they can themselves answer the basic questions of what they stand for and who they wish to represent they will fail. They have already fallen so far it will be a very hard climb back up, which I doubt they will achieve any time soon. The vacuum they have created and are creating will probably be filled by a combination of the far right and some poncey middle of the road party in the short to medium-term.

I think that Corbyn is trying to align himself to an "old school" working class population, that works down t'pit or in a factory somewhere.
Unfortunately, people no longer carry out the hard semi skilled manual labour that they once did and his "target market" is simply too small to have sufficient votes to carry him to power.
The first requirement for any party leader, who is serious about wanting to be prime minister, is to be sufficiently popular as to obtain enough parliamentary seats to have a majority and in this respect Labour are failing quite spectacularly.
Sure, there are thousands of people on low wages or, who are unable to work and the Tory government holds them all in contempt, no longer trusting the medical profession to advise if people are fit to work and instead forces them to prove their fitness to a government official but, there just aren't enough people who want to fight for the same things that he does.
The "working class" sadly, are more likely to see the right wing Tory, Farage as their saviour, which is just bonkers as the guy is seeking power for his own means and like the rest our right wing politicians, doesnt give a damn about those people that he pretends to represent.

Apologies to middle England........... Not!

Comes down to whether you want an anti austerity government or more of the same- only that 'same' will mean more ordinary people getting shafted, more public services ( NHS , education etc.. £ being privatised and ergo running primarily for profit, and a less equitable society- which of course was the prime reason for austerity in the first place, the further enrichment of the already rich at the expense of the poorest in society.
Whatever you think of Corbyn and co, Labour will go into any election under him offering this alternative- no other party will. It will be up to the voters to realise this or to continue voting in the turkeys for Christmas manner. Or worse still not bother getting off their backsides to vote in the first place!

I don't have an issue with this. Back services such as procurement, contracting, administration.....amongst many more should be centrally managed across the UK where significant savings could be made.

The people of this country are already like turkeys voting for Christmas as shown by the Brexit vote.

Mr Corbyn today declared that Mrs May and Britain , " wants her cake and eat it " ! , yes Mr Corbyn , we do , we might not get it , but that's our staring point , if it was you sorting it , we'd end up with nothing

Theres a couple of Bye elections coming up which Labour should pick up, but let's wait and see.

They should , but they won't

How useless is Diane Abbott?? What are Labour thinking when throwing her in to programmes where she gets opened up time and time again. She should avoid aggressive interviewers like Andrew Neil at all cost. That was embarrassing yesterday morning.

They really need to find someone articulate who can front the party up in the face of the public.

Whatever happened to David Milliband, the bloke who should have held the reins instead of his bungling brother ?
You're right about Abbott though.
However good she may be and however knowledgeable she is, she just isn't the person to be stuck in fron of the camera, when the pressure is on.