What is so special about a rich MP?

The Spectator is currently owned by the Barclay Brothers who also own The Daily Telegraph newspaper. As with most of our press, it invariably supports the Conservative Party, and editors of the Spectator have included Iain Macleod, Ian Gilmour and Nigel Lawson, who later became cabinet members. The article posted should perhaps be viewed in that context.

The comments made regarding Blair, Mandelson and Campbell I agree with. Many members and supporters of the Labour Party would, I think, go along with them and that is why the Blairites in the party (the so-called "modernisers") are not very popular. And yet when it came to the Labour leadership election the Blairites were the very people that the right wing press and media were implying were the only people fit to be considered for the leadership.

Then there are the usual attacks on any Labour MPs or ministers regarding where they were educated, where they live and what they earn, etc.

The article says about Miliband "he has acknowledged that his house, valued at £2.3 million, would be subject to the sort of mansion tax he wants to introduce." Well, that's exactly the point isn't it - even though the tax would have hit him and some of his friends, that didn't make him think it was a bad idea. Cameron went out of his way to protect offshore trusts from EU tax avoidance measures and Conservatives are much keener to increase VAT, which hits the less well off much harder than the better off, than to increase income tax at the higher end.

It seems to me that, so far as the right wing media is concerned, hardly anybody who stands as a Labour MP is to be respected or trusted. If they are from a privileged background, well educated and wealthy then they are hypocrites and "champagne socialists", and if they are from a poorer "blue collar" background and state school educated they are "not up to scratch", "low achievers", motivated by the "politics of envy".

Spot on Eloethan.

Cameron has a degree.

Corbyn was awarded the Ghandhi International Peace Award for constant effororts over 30 years parliamentary career to uphold the ghandhian value of social justice and non violence

To my shame, I have not read through this thread, but my first thought on reading the title is "Depends if he's cute or not"

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-tax-avoidance-trust-consultancy-earnings-a6987351.html

Well said, Eloethan.
We lefties do not trust Blair.

www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/12/blairs-add-manchester-flats-to-property-empire-before-stamp-duty-deadline

Blair hated in the country now, yet he is being condemned for his Tory values , Corbyn who is very the opposite is mocked by the same people who despise Blair

They are opposing sides, but still in the same camp.

That's a bit of an oxymoron! But does it mean that you just hate them because they stood for Labour- in other words whatever Labour does you would never support them? I can understand people feeling Blair was too right wing for them because they believe in Labour values but surely anyone with middle to right views would approve of him?

Where on earth does it say I hate them?
Why on earth would you think my post meant that I would never support Labour? Again

I dont even understand your last sentence so I will leave things there.

Some forget there is socialism and new labour ,

Sorry if I misunderstood obieone but your meaning isn't at all obvious, please could you explain it for me. It sounded quite condemnatory to me, but it seems I have the wrong end of the stick.

One is left wing Labour, one is right wing Labour. Both still Labour.

Blair wasn't Labour; he just pretended to be to get elected.
No Labour party would have both Tories and Libdems voting for them, which is what happened to my knowledge.

Not likely to happen with Corbyn as leader, which is why Labour has no chance of winning the next election, whenever that may be.

You can sign as many petitions as you like, but the reason Blair was elected was because he appealed to more than just the grass-roots Labour supporters. Corbyn just hasn't got that appeal - although he's got four years to work on it...

Tony Blair was a member of the Labour party for many years he was selected as candidate by a northern mining constituency who elected and re-elected him over at least 4 parliaments.

I find it quite frightening when people, and there are a significant number, start stating that he wasn't really a labour supporter, just an interloper who fooled them (for how many years?). It reminds me of the worst excesses of the communist years and the purges and show trials under Stalin and Mao. First you accuse someone of being a traitor and not a true member of the party, and expel them then you try them then you kill them.

If many on the laft wing of the labour party have even begun to think like this I find it very worrying. That is thinking like a terrorist.

Looks as if the northern mining constituency voters must have been New Labour, not Socialists at all. Bunch of class traitors!

What has class to do with it grumppa , surely not the clogs and flat cap again ?

Aren't they dj's uniform?

I think you are going a bit over the top there, monica.
I am a northern mining constituency voter. I am not a terrorist or thinking like one. If I were, I would expect a knock on the door.
Only those in Blair's constituency of Sedgefield voted him in. The choice of the party leader was nothing to do with those in the North East mining districts who voted for him, unless they were party members.

In his early years Blair brought in the minimum wage, the human rights act and the freedom of information act. He has since said he wished he hadn't brought in the latter two of those.
He also called the party New Labour to distance itself from the working class roots. It was Blair who left the Labour party, not vice versa.
Like many others, I left the Labour party because of him. Lots of us have rejoined because it is no longer a Blairite party. How does that make any of us terrorists, or traitors?

I've never worn clogs or a flat cap, grumppa, any more than you wear pearly king clothes.

Not every post is solemn and literal. Some are there to add colour and light to the thread.

durhamjen i think you are deliberately misunderstanding me. My comments referred quite clearly to those in the current labour party who are saying, 'Blair wasn't Labour; he just pretended to be to get elected'. It did not refer in any way to the electors who voted for Tony Blair

I will now repeat what I said about these current labour party members, and I would make it clear that these comments refer ONLY to the sub-group of labour party members who think like this. It does not accuse anyone of being a terrorist but makes it clear that the thought processes that lead to these remarks are analogous to those used to justify the Stalinist purges and are the similar to the thought processes that lead people to embrace extremist views, and eventually actions.

It reminds me of the worst excesses of the communist years and the purges and show trials under Stalin and Mao. First you accuse someone of being a traitor and not a true member of the party, and expel them then you try them then you kill them. If many on the laft wing of the labour party have even begun to think like this I find it very worrying. That is thinking like a terrorist.

Perhaps you should reread 1984 and Animal Farm.

' All pigs are equal but some are more equal than others ' oh yes indeed.

In this case 1984 and its 'unpersoning' is the most approriate.

Read them both Monica but I think both would be better used as examples of Blair's behaviour than anyone else's. When he first joined the Labour party he described himself as 'soft left'. He was a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, claimed to have come to socialism through Marxism and disliked the right wing of the party. His views shifted considerably during his time in office. The reasons for this are debatable. Some think his earlier statements were just made to gain approval. I really don't know. However I think all parties have the right to expect members to adhere to certain principles and to leave the party if their views are not in line with these. Other politicians have done this and crossed the floor. Why didn't Blair? He just got out-jumped before he was pushed!!!