It is no longer 'New Labour' , indeed it is not even the 'Labour Party' but in fact it is now the minimalist 'Northampton Labour'.
Is it possible that in four years it will become 'Northampton' or maybe just 'North' and deny any connection with any political party.
Probably the safest thing to do for a party that is now run from Attenborough in Nottingham- is that Lord Attenborough or just David?
And then the eye catching slogan 'Your voice in tough times'
If they are my voice in tough times then I think I'll stick to the Strepsils!
After all our voice in tough times couldn't even manage to put up a full slate of candidates, and threw away a number of seats in the North constituency that they should have won.
In tonight's Chron. Lee Mason, erstwhile head voice in tough times admits that at best the voice may only manage 15 seats- hardly a real voice-more a soft whisper behind closed doors.
In almost 40 years of membership with Northampton Labour Party there has never been such a poor effort to field sufficient candidates.The easy line at the moment is that "candidates failed to get their nominations in on time!"-Oh yeah!-That's why a Party has f*****g agents!
When I asked dear old Rawlings last week who his agent was back came the reply "Dick Barton"
As well as giving his age away John also revealed the state of the Party at the moment.
Perhaps the most ironic thing is that given the state of things at the moment it might have been expected that the biggest cock-ups would have appeared in the South constituency.
Yet it was in the North that the debacle spilled out-the CLP that was once under the iron rule of Sally Keeble and her minions.
Has the writ of Sal evaporated since she got her job with God in London?
A party that once had vision and ideas for both this town and the country has become a hollowed out vehicle for some ambitious retreads to get reunited with their allowances!
Consider the embarrassing manifesto. Six pledges;
1.To ensure front front line services are protected......and reliably delivered at an affordable cost.
that fair sets the pulses racing with excitement.
3.A strong working partnership with everyone who smiles nicely at us -and we will continue to support city status.
Not unitary you notice,although it does appear on page 9 almost as an afterthought.But they will keep the leader/cabinet model! Well goody-goody.
2.Coming in at two was the pledge to re-introduce neighbourhood wardens in their first budget.
Good pledge that, but they sort of spoil it on page 8 when they make a populist pledge:
"Northampton Labour will help to provide money to reintroduce neighbourhood wardens by freezing councillor allowances for two years."
That 'freeze' will produce somewhere around £9,000- about the cost of a neighbourhood warden's leg!
And what is worse the greedy bastards are only promising a two year freeze, so they will get a rise half way through the term.Even the bloody Tories have promised a four year freeze!
They then offered to speak to the Cobblers and Saints within 50 days,consult with everyone about the town centre and the only real pledge in the whole twelve pages is to "aim to half the number of homes not meeting the Decent Homes Standard"
A totally worthy pledge but one they know is dependent og government money and they know the likelihood of that coming will happen when hell freezes over.
What has happened to the Labour pa-r-t---y?
John for this line alone, you get a hug...
ReplyDelete"If they are my voice in tough times then I think I'll stick to the Strepsils!"
You do make me smile!