Comments on: Fun times in Erith and Thamesmead

By: Beside the sea…. « Harpymarx

Beside the sea…. « Harpymarx — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:14:14 +0000

[...] on the train down I was very pleased to see Georgia Gould lost the chanceto be selected as the Labour candidate for Erith and Thamesmead. She was parachuted in [...]

By: » Budget 2009: A crisis gone to waste Though Cowards Flinch: “We all know what happens to those who stand in the middle of the road — they get run down.” - Aneurin Bevan

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:11:20 +0000

[...] internal democracy is corrupt (as if we needed Alice Mahon’s resignation letter, Erith & Thamesmead, or Calder Valley, to prove that!). The membership has been depoliticized; however abandoned Brown [...]

By: David Semple

David Semple — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:18:06 +0000

Yeah I noticed that – I read his pieces on the Mirror website. Quite hilarious, since the pieces are so clearly tendentious.

By: Mr Eugenides

Mr Eugenides — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 04:57:16 +0000

It’s worth noting that Kevin Maguire has been pushing the Gould/nepotism story all week – actually, all month – warning against central interference in the selection process.

It seemed a slightly odd choice of diversion from the smeargate story until I understood that the problem with this particular brand of “outside interference” was that Gould is merely the *wrong kind* of parachuted candidate, ie a Blairite not a Brownite, if those distinctions still make any sense.

So at least one hack is still loyally taking orders from No.10…

By: David Semple

David Semple — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:35:59 +0000

Could be. But the blame must be laid squarely at the door of the candidate – whoever they are. The swing-state thing aside, employing a PR company and expending a great deal of money on the selection process is a corruption of the internal democracy of the Party – especially as I’ll bet the tranche of money being spent didn’t come from activists in the constituency but either from her millionaire parents or their various allies in the upper echelons.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:16:31 +0000

You think the suspension is ‘political’ and will give more time to both candidates etc.? Another more straightforward ‘political’ analysis is that Ms Gould was losing, and that her team may now cry foul against the others and try to get them disqualified for breaking rules about press contact etc etc.

My astonishment at the crass stupidity and anger at the nepotism of the inner circle goes beyond its normal bounds of party loyalty on this one, I’m happy to admit.

But, measured that I try to be, I’m not going to blame G Gould for it personally, and I think her comment on the swinf state and single-handed winning can be taken as a joke. Surely. Please. I still need faith in humanity.