From a profile of Ken Livingstone in today's Observer:
"Everybody loves him, apart from the people who hate him."
I still maintain that anyone who joined the Labour Party in 1968 was either a political strategist of genius like proportion or a bloody fool. Look out for anyone who has joined the Labour Party in the last three months. You're possibly looking at a future Prime Minister.
Looks like the Crewe and Nantwich Constituency Labour Party hasn't gone with my original suggestion for a candidate to replace the late Gwynneth Dunwoody at what will be an incredibly difficult by-election for them. Shame that, as it was probably their best chance of retaining the seat.
Of course, what with Tamsin Dunwoody being born in Devon, educated in both London and Kent, and someone whose working life has been spent primarily in London and Wales, she's obviously the best placed local candidate for the Labour Party in the North West.
I'm sure that the matter of the selected candidate's surname didn't even come up during the selection process. The realisation of the winning candidate's surname just happened to be a fortuitous added bonus for the local PLP after their decision was made. They do say that fortune favours the politically brave.
Don't let it be said that this blog exhibits any cynicism towards political dynasties. Why shouldn't the offspring of political grandees be allowed to go into the family business? It is one of the more lucrative of business options in a time of recession, after all, and if an electorate are willing to give extra weight to an individual's candidature simply because of their surname, then maybe they get the politicians that they deserve.
I only wish more scions of the political class took the Oliver Baldwin route when following in the parental footsteps. That bloke had a chutzpah that's lost on today's motley Krew of Kareerist Kidz.
Class Warfare John takes a trip down memory lane with one of his friends in the north:
It's Bill's own fault if he will keep that sort of company.
On a slightly more serious note: who'd have thought that with the coronation of a bloke who wrote his PhD on Jimmy Maxton, and who was the editor of the 'Red Paper of Scotland' anthology in the mid-seventies, we would see the final death knell of Old Labour?
OK, I'm exaggerating for blogging effect - just woke from the strangest bastardish dream - but I will stand by what I always insisted: now that Blair has finally picked up the cheque from that dinner date from 13 years ago, we have the closing chapter on what has been - in terms of personnel - the most left-wing Labour Government in history.
If you don't believe me, check out Richard Heffernan and Mike Marqusee's 1992 classic 'Defeat from the Jaws of Victory: Inside Kinnock's Labour Party' out from your local library.
