Home > Melanie Phillips

Friday 10 February 2012

Really silly season

Tuesday, 29th July 2008

The Times on-line edition is reporting that, along with David Miliband, Harriet Harperson is preparing the ground for a leadership election:

It is alleged that Ms Harman was spotted on Thursday night, watching the scale of Labour's defeat in the Glasgow East by-election on the television, telling aides ‘this is my moment’.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni

asserted Tuesday that she would beat Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the upcoming Kadima primary should he decide to run...and that she possessed ‘all the qualifications to be prime minister.’

What is the obvious factor common to both these individuals?

No, not that.

It is that their incompetence and absurdity are manifestly beyond satire. The fact that their names can even be mentioned in connection with their party leadership illustrates how political life in both countries is now a really bad joke.

Update: Harriet denies all.

Previous Back to Melanie Phillips Next

Blogs: Martin Bright | Susan Hill | Alex Massie | Coffee House | Faith Based

Actions: Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (7)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Miranda Rose Smith

July 29th, 2008 4:35pm

Has anybody except for these ladies themselves mentioned them for party leadership?

Tom

July 29th, 2008 4:41pm

I keep reading these Harperson for Prime Minister stories and have to keep flicking to the front of the paper to check I'm not reading Viz I'm laughing so much.

The end of New Labour is like the fifth act of a French farce. You think you've bust your lungs as hard as they can go and then comes along something even more ludicrous than what preceded it and you're off again.

Keep the tissues close by, Melanie. We're a long way off curtain down and the nonsense looks as if it's still to reach its zenith.

Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

Kevyn Bodman

July 29th, 2008 6:11pm

Tzipi Livni has telegenic charisma, as does Barack Obama.
It's a significant asset because so many are taken in by it and give more weight to it than they do to judgement, principle, consistency and policies.
Remember how Cameron won the Conservative party leadership, and Davis lost it,partly based on their speeches to their conference.
Voters can be pretty silly.

David McAdam

July 30th, 2008 9:03am

The shadows of Golda Meir and Margaret Thatcher alone had infinitely more substance.

Mervyn Doobov

July 30th, 2008 1:31pm

I assume you are making a particular point by changing Harman (of whom I have never heard)to Harperson. If so, I suggest you go the whole hog and change it to Harperchild.

RUTH

August 1st, 2008 11:10am

Who does Melanie Phillips think should be the next Labour Party Leader?

and who does she think should be the new PM of Israel?

michael

August 1st, 2008 1:53pm

Easy!

For Israel she wants Netanyahu - that discredited hard right 'bomb the beaches' peace hater.

And for the Labour Party, it is bring back Tony, Likud's man at No 10, who allowed the cluster bombs that blow up Lebanese children on a regular basis to transit Prestwick airport in 2006 and failed to condemn Israel for any of its collective punishments in the region.

With the Labour Party, what's best for Mel isn't what's best for the UK, its what's best for Israel, or at least her version of it.

Most read
Most commented on

1 Ignore the European Court and deport Abu Qatada tonight - Douglas Murray (98)

2 Don’t let’s be beastly to the bankers - Fraser Nelson (71)

3 We must be honest about honour killings - William Maxwell (62)

4 Lawson: Abolish DECC - Fraser Nelson (48)

5 Where has the pro-EU camp gone? - Daniel Korski (39)

Melanie Phillips is a Daily Mail columnist. She also writes for the Jewish Chronicle and is a panellist on BBC Radio Four's Moral Maze. Her most recent book is 'The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power', published by Encounter.

For a complete set of Melanie's articles click here