Desperate Balls comes out fighting

lescam

‘I fight on'
said Margaret Thatcher, just before resigning.

'I’m in it to win it'
said Hilary Clinton, when beginning her doomed campaign for the presidency.

If I were Balls, I'd keep quiet.

Irene

I am really hoping that it's a case of "what goes round comes round" and he ends up with nothing.

Frank P

"I'm in it win it."

I'm in it to spin it?

Clear Memories

Dear God, its Sunday - hear my prayers.

Please let the blinking bastard win, its no more than the followers of blind dogma (and a half-blind Scot) deserve and should ensure that the malice and venom that is socialism are not inflicted on this nation for at least a generation.

BillMarden

Desperate...??? That's total bullcrap.

'Hopeless' is for losers.

A "doomed campaign" is only doomed in retrospect.

Ed Balls has the best chance of anyone in pitting the Glossy Brothers at the post.

Simon Stephenson

I suspect that the powers behind the Labour Party have long had the opinion that Balls is just not good enough an actor to hoodwink the electorate into believing that another Labour government would be far more cuddly than Brown's effort, which they rejected.

Ideally, what the power-brokers would like is someone with Brown's intentions and Blair's bonhomie, but there isn't anyone like that. Second choice, I think, would be a dupe like Blair, who'd give the Stalinists a free rein in return for personal aggrandisement. I'm not sure they have anyone well-enough established to fill this role. So they are left, I fear, with the third option which is to choose a Stalinist and then work overtime to convince the public that he's really a social democrat - with the whole thing made more difficult by the fact that none of the contenders is enough of a chameleon to be able actively to do much to help this process.

But the challenge of persuading the public that Balls-led Labour is a social democratic party must have a degree of difficulty not far short of trying to do the same thing with a party led by Arthur Scargill. Or even one which had concluded that its best interests lay in reappointing the Great Helmsman of Kirkcaldy himself.

Ed P

Balls is the preferred leader of the Right, as it's assumed his malevolent touch would keep Labour out of power for ages.

But Ed Milliband, with his swivel-eyed devotion to discredited AGW theories, should be just as unelectable, especially after people see the disastrous effect "green" policies will have in Australia (where it's reckoned the Greens will hold the balance of power after their election and insist on economically suicidal policies).
Vote for Ed & oblivion!

charles hercock

Although Old Labour he is clearly the most impressive opposition fighter.Yes he would not win against the Brokeback Twins but he will give them a pile of grief such as the Millibands could only dream of.Sad

roger

Lets all hope he wins it. The end end of Labour once and for all.

Boudicca

Sadly, it looks like Unite isn't quite as suicidal as we all thought and hoped.

Come on Chaps .... you just need to have faith. Balls will make a wonderful Labour Leader. He could do great things for the country. You don't want to bother with that idiot Ed Miliplonker or his big brother Dave Milipillock.

You want socialism - remember. Go on - support Ed Balls. You know it makes sense.

(Do you think they've changed their minds?)

David Lindsay

Ed Balls could pull out in favour of David Miliband, but Milly could only make him Shadow Chancellor if he were elected to the Shadow Cabinet. There is no guarantee of that.

How priceless, if neither of them were to be elected to the list of those to whom Ed Miliband was to allocate portfolios. They would probably both announce that they were leaving Parliament at the next Election, as Tony Blair had been about to do when John Smith died.

As much as anything else, that would be one in the eye of the BBC, which has been campaigning for David Miliband ever since Blair announced that he was standing down.

Captain Christy

I hate them all with a passion, but am I alone in thinking Ed Miliband is not of the human race. I dread having to look at him on a regular basis and can anyone believe that with his upbringing he has become the union candidate.

TrevorsDen

Balls is surely far too tainted with Brown to ever have a hope of winning the election. Damn!!

But I cannot help but think his argument that there need not be any cuts is so far removed into la la land that even the labour electoral college look at him and say 'he's bonkers'

Likewise - can any winning labour candidate think seriously of appointing him chancellor.

ollie

Who really cares which of these fools wins? None of them are a match for Cameron. I can't wait for the first PMQS after the Labour leadership contest. It could be a nasty car crash for Labour.

Simon Stephenson

Ed P : 4.28pm

"But Ed Milliband, with his swivel-eyed devotion to discredited AGW theories, should be just as unelectable"

Mmmmm. I think you'll find that Miliband Minor's devotion to AGW theory is totally conditional upon it being perceived as the flavour of the month in the circles he seeks to impress. The moment it ceases to be so, you'll see his enthusiasm disappearing faster than lager turns to p*ss.

Alexander

....but he looks odd!

Balls really should wear his glasses - not contacts. (It is important how you appear on TV.)

David Lindsay

Ed P, and Cameron's view on AGW is what, exactly?

Paddy

No one in their right mind can possibly picture Ed Balls and his charming wife Yvette living in Downing St.

BillMarden

(oops In my post above, I believe I meant pipping at the post instead of "pitting".)

The Tory and nuTory(Lib dem) posters are quite right, in that, anyone who looks the least bit progressive will be labelled a 'namby pamby socialist', so the Miliband brothers are the only real choice in the political climate of the moment, but attitudes can change rather quickly(especially when the body of Tory cuts and inevitable growth suffocation kick in).

Fergus Pickering

All the men are so shifty and shady.
What WE want is the nice black lady.

Peter From Maidstone

Ed P, I don't think many people have much interest in the Australian economy. Maybe they should have, but most people don't even know who is the Australian Prime Minister.

Moraymint

The man's deranged, like his beloved mentor before him ...

Dragon

David Lindsay: "Ed Balls could pull out in favour of David Miliband, but Milly could only make him Shadow Chancellor if he were elected to the Shadow Cabinet. There is no guarantee of that."

I always thought that the Labour leader could appoint a small number of people to his or her Shadow Cabinet? That way they can still include one or two figures who may not be popular with the PLP, yet still have a significant role to play in the leader's plans.

And what is your source regarding Blair's supposed intent to stand down from Parliament in 1997, before learning of John Smith's death and the vacancy to which he propelled himself?

David Lindsay

Dragon, I was a Labour activist (in County Durham, in fact) for many years. I can assure you that that story is true.

As for what you say about the Shadow Cabinet, it is news to me.

Stuart Seacole Smith

To BillMarden:what do you mean by "progressive"?

Geoff

Rather Ed Balls than the slimy Wallace or swivel-eyed Gromit brothers - one of whom with his banana is much too clever by half, and the other seems a bit secret militant tendency.
Labour's extinction has often been forecast in recent years in the light of one scenario or the other, but they keep coming.
While millions rely on hand-outs or PS jobs, as in Scotland for example, Labour are always half-way home.

The Laughing Cavalier

Why would the winning Milliboy need to give the loser Balls any sort of top job? If he is elected to the Shadow cabinet (if ...) he could he made Shadow Minster for paper clips.

michael

Oh well its Milidros. Let apathy commence.
AT least Ed's a positively interesting specimen.

2trueblue

Balls, that would be fantastic. He would have to learn to speak properly all over again. Either of the Millipedes a 2nd best.

BillMarden

"To BillMarden:what do you mean by "progressive"?"

To Stuart Seacole Smith.

As an example: A country progresses due to the non privileged 95% being upwardly mobile (as oppossed to being downtrodden, so as, the top 5% can have their full clutch of heirs and graces)... That's not to say there needs to be NO privilege at all - absolutely not - there needs to be plenty of incentive to climb socially and economically.

If you look at the history of prime ministers and political parties just in this country, you may well conclude that ever since the inception of the parliamentary system, politics has evolved away from aristocracy.

In short: we progress further and further from aristocratic rule, aristocracy being a state every advanced countries of the world has evolved away from. Thus cultural and economic evolution on the planet has PROGRESSED.

(please excuse my lack of intimate knowledge , I need to devote my time to my study of Physics and maths.)