I thought this was a joke, but it’s not.
Mike Watson has been appointed to Jezza’s front bench as education spokesman. That’s Mike Watson, the convicted firestarter.
Who on earth is writing these scripts?
Agent Corbyn strikes again
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At the ‘Scottish Politician of the Year’ dinner in 2004:
“After the private function, staff on duty noticed that Lord Watson appeared drunk and was acting strangely as he was looking for his coat. Fiscal Depute Adrian Fraser [prosecuting] said the accused was also approaching staff and being rude to them as they would not serve him wine. He said that CCTV footage showed the accused entering the reception area and taking something from the fireplace. He then lifted up a lamp from the fireplace and started to point it around the room as if it was a torch. He was then seen bending down for a number of seconds at the curtain that was set on fire, the court heard.”
Maybe Jerrys hoping he’ll invoke the spirit of 1605.
Lets hope the defection of sensible Labour MPs to the Lib Dems starts after a rally call at the conference this week.
Child abuse aside, obviously, in 2015 there is absolutely no such thing as bad publicity, unless it is, as evidenced by the Labour Party of the last five years, ‘no’ publicity.
That is disastrous (see ‘election result’) and is certainly something we can’t get Jeremy on.
If he buys a packet of peanuts tomorrow morning, it’ll be on the front page on Monday!
It’s a pity the left didn’t have a go at the Tory Government since 2010 with as much gusto (I didn’t detect any) as they are aiming at their new leader.
A convicted fire starter who has done his time, been rehabilitated and regained the whip in Parliament. Just saying.
@mikethep
Fair point.
This does however demonstrate poor judgement on Corbyn’s part. A convicted arsonist (no matter if he had been rehabilitated or not) would be barred from teaching for life. How can it be right that the potential Sec of State for Education can’t be held to the same standard? Or perhaps it doesn’t matter if Corbyn has no real intention of winning a general election.
The evidence of his first week suggests that Corbyn is far more interested in becoming a left wing martyr than in winning a General Election.
Sad, but true.
Up arrow in the post BL – well said.
Utter nonsense.
It would seem that politicians are allowed to behave idiotically where teachers are not. I have no idea if, arson conviction aside, Watson is even qualified for the job, and like everybody else I would prefer it if Corbyn didn’t keep tossing these juicy bones to the mal-pensants of Fleet Street. But I would also prefer it if everybody calmed down, remembered that Labour are unelectable anyway, that it’s 5 years till the next election (by which time Labour could easily have disposed of not one but two more leaders) and just watched to see what happens.
Peter Hitchens, by the way, has had a Pauline conversion in the Mail today: “We say we want politicians who are open and honest. And then, when we get one, we angrily pelt him with slime until he cringes to the mob, starts hiding his real views, and hires a spin doctor just like all the others.”
Trouble is the messages are mixed and contradictory so he comes across as inept and lacking judgement, rather than refreshingly honest. Hitchen doesn’t want the nuanced reality to muddy his typically strident polemic. We could all calm down if it didn’t matter but while this farce plays out damage is done to the opposition’s prospects and the Tories’more toxic policies remain ineffectively challenged. Spin doctor or not, Corbyn’s image is being airbrushed anyway.
The next elections are actually less than 9 months away. On 5 May 2016 there will be elections for the Scottish Assembly, Welsh Assembly, and various local government elections including the London Mayor. So Jeremy Corbyn has to start winning votes now, or more likely anyone standing for Labour will start distancing themselves from him. It looks like Sadiq Khan is already doing this.
Good grief, I just agreed with Peter Hitchens. Am I unwell?
If everything was going swimmingly, a PM or a leader of the opposition who was 10 or 12 points ahead in the polls could (maybe) just about it tough it out on an appoinment like this, but trying to set fire to a hotel isn’t the same as fiddling your expenses.
I think it would be wrong, in most circumstances, to appoint a convicted arsonist to such a prestigious position, but I know other opinions are available. As @adman points out, this is about judgement. Does Mr Corbyn really believe that things are going so well for him that he can ride this out without giving lots of folk the impression that he’s either incredibly stupid or incredibly arrogant?
This really does beggar belief. As @adman says, he and I would never work in education again, regardless of how “rehabilitated” we’d been.
And while we’re here, anyone really believe McDonnell would ever have apologised for the IRA thing if he hadn’t just been appointed shadow chancellor?
(Integrity. Authenticity. A new kind of politics. Etc.)
And while I did see what JC was trying to do with PMQs, he’s going to need to up his game, because Cameron came out of it better. He was asked questions and answered them. No follow-up. No holding to account. In trying to get rid of the puerile theatricality, he’s in danger of chucking the baby out with the bath water.
Last weekend I was furious and despairing. Then I had 48 hours of trying hard to give him a shot. Then PMQs which I superficially liked, then liked less and less the more I thought about what had actually happened. And now I’m dangerously close to being past caring.
I think PMQs will improve. He will ask the difficult questions politely, having first established the new rules of engagement, which will make it harder for Cameron to respond with bluster and evasions.
Yeah, fingers crossed. At least there’s some potential there.
General consensus even in the Tory press was that Corbyn won PMQs. I’m with Hitchens on this one.
Totally. I’d come to see PMQs as a total embarrassment. It had become a forum for childish point-scoring, insults and jokes. Corbyn’s approach was adult and sensible.
I read in the Telegraph he’d made it deadly dull and had let Cameron off the hook. The consensus seemed to be he’d done OK but the Tories will be quite happy to carry on this way since they were under no pressure.
Presumably spent conviction aside, arguably the bigger issue is that Watson allegedly spoke 5 times in the Lords last year ( and claimed nearly £50k in expenses). If true, he would not normally be top of the list of working peers you might appoint as a junior minister.
There are only two questions worth asking here:
1) Is this a politically astute appointment?
and
2) Does it improve Labour’s chances of winning a national election?
I think ‘no’ and ‘no’ are the answers to both of those questions, but other opinions will be available.