The slipping mask of the Tory Party

Just finished your book John. I thought it was very good. Too many lawyer types with no life experience as Mp's these days.

Anyway, anybody who believes that things like the Mcbride afair doesn't go on on the Tory side are sadly mistaken. I suspect Cameron has frantically memo'ed his advisors etc. telling them to hold off any gossip slimming of Labour until this storm has passed.

I think Labour has a very good chance of winning the next election but we need to really get stuck in to the Tories and force them to tell us what their policies are. This will expose their lack of ideas and the fact that "Camo" is just sitting back and watching the econmic whrilwind devour Brown.

At best his opportunist mismatch of ideas will boil down to base thatherism and at worst he will be forced to admit that he can only carry out Labour polices in the first and probably second terms of a Tory government because of the downturn. Win/Win for Labour as I see it.

I’m currently in China discussing climate change and the country’s response so forgive me for not getting back to those who’ve left comments on this blog and on my Facebook over the weekend.

Frankly I am very disappointed by this turn of events. I’ve always believed as a Labour activist that we should campaign on the issues and the politics. But smear campaigns - be they in the newspapers or on the internet - are fundamentally wrong and only help to poison the political debate.

I understand one man has left his job at No10 – and quite rightly so. I believe Derek Draper should now follow him too.

He is not a paid official or even employed by the Labour Party and was just a voluntary adviser on new media.

But I’m sure that that the General Secretary will and should make clear that such advice is totally unacceptable and not wanted.

We’ve shown in the last few months that Labour can have a coherent voice on the internet with many left-wing bloggers putting the case and building campaigns, like our successful one against bankers bonuses.

But this should not be done at the expense of integrity or decency, which were clearly breached in this matter.

Hi John. Thanks for working on this site. It goes to show that we do have a positive message and that, done properly, we have a lot of potential on the web.

With that in mind - can I ask what you think of this debacle over McBride and Draper?

I've posted on Labourhome (http://www.labourhome.org/story/2009/4/11/5586/43767) and the more I think about it the more these capers undermine our message and the good campaigning we do.

Anyway - good luck with this site!!

Go Forth? After the events of this weekend showing just how deep Gordon and his henchmen will sink to try and retain power, New Labour will be lucky to come forth!
It's over boys, time for the whiskey and a pistol

No. The mask that has slipped is not from the Tories but from the heart of the Labour Party itself and from INSIDE 10 Downing Street.

I can only assume that Mr Prescott's silence on the matter is tacit approval?

Labour is now seen EVERYWHERE as sleaze, filth and utter incompetence.

Go Fourth indeed. I can think of a better way to put it. Please go away and leave British politics to those we can trust. Thanks to you and your filthy party the UK will be in the hands of the Tories for another 20 years.

What a tupid person Hannan is, he calls gordon brown asn idiot in that interview with fox, who is the idiot who says that the nhs is a 60 yr mistake he bloody is. I read in the new statesman i think it was he bookies have slashed the odds of him taking over from david cameron from 100/1 to 50/1. He is not fit for opposition let alone a possible government! All i can say is Labour Go Fourth.