Having sat through the Jeremy Paxman roadshow last night, I was left wondering why it was hailed as a Labour leadership hustings. Twenty prospective Labour voters were bundled into a studio and forced to endure 30 minutes of Paxman demonstrating why he is one of the most unlikable political commentators in the UK.
At the outset he implied the audience would be given the opportunity to question the candidates on their policies and views on a variety of current issues. When it came down to it, none of this happened and all we had was ‘Basher’ Paxman interrupting the candidates every time they tried to answer a question.
Unequivocally, he had his favourites and Ed and David Miliband were given a much easier ride as well as more time to put their view forward. Ed Balls also had a fair bit of air time but was harangued by ‘Basher’ for his links to Gordon Brown and his refusal to stand against him – has ‘Basher’ never heard of loyalty?
Poor Andy Burnham looked scared stiff throughout the entire proceeding and never really managed to move off the starting line. In his delivery he sounded wishy washy and barely managed to sound like he was engaged in the entire process. Oh .. and a silly question. Was he wearing too much make up? He looked like way too orange .. like he’d been Tango’ed.
Diane Abbott managed to battle through ‘Basher’s’ inherent sexism and put forward some interesting points, but because she was stifled on so many occasions, it did little to move her forward. ‘Basher’ steered the debate in such a way as to allow David and Ed Miliband (Tinky Winky and Laa Laa) to organise a pincer movement against her, but she’s too astute a politician to fall for it. One thing though, why does she always use the line “I’m not like the other people up here”?
Finally, in the programme, David Miliband said he wanted more powers to be devolved to English local government outside of London. Good point – but then he went and spoiled it by saying Labour could not argue against the vacuous notion of “Big Society” because we are too associated with the centralised state and, according to him, that explains why Labour won just 10 seats out of 213 in the three Southern English regions. Has he been taking happy pills? We should be breaking down this whole Tory idea of the Big Society. Besides, wasn’t it Cameron’s big pal, Maggie Thatcher that said there is no such thing as society?
Ed Miliband also called for greater power for local government and used local bus services as his example. He might like to try visiting Great Haywood, just outside Stafford. Our local bus service is a joke and no matter how much you complain, nothing happens. Is this enough for me to vote for Ed “Laa Laa” Miliband? Ummm – I don’t think so!
With all her weaknesses, I am sticking with Diane. She’s increasingly showing herself to be stronger, more clear-minded and more focused on where the Labour party should be going over the next few years. Above all else, she’s not afraid to say where she stands on policy issues.
My one big hope is that in the next televised debate Andy Burnham finds his start button and helps Diane prevent this whole leadership contest becoming the Ed and Dave Miliballs show.
No comments:
Post a Comment