Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Foresight of David Miliband

Remember this famous quote by David Miliband on Question Time last winter?
"People will be saying 'wouldn't it be great to have that Blair back
because we can't stand that Gordon Brown'".

Alan Johnson and Charlie Falconer to name but two. Who'd have thought his prediction would have come true so quickly.

See his words on THIS video, courtesy of Biased BBC.
Hattip Canvas

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

If New Labour people want Blair back, it's probably because he has the performance skills to deal with Cameron( who I think would rise eeven more if he calms his attacks down before he is seen as virulent). Brown looks like a normal bloke to most people, not good-looking, not very quick-witted, not beautifully rehearsed or turned-out, and with dubious personal habits (fingernails, etc.) - and that's why he was preferred to Blair.
I will understand if people on here disagree with me, but can we please stop talking about snot? It's making me feel sick and sounds obsessive.

The Huntsman said...

Great minds think alike, for I have just used this same moment in my take on the last week:
http://tinyurl.com/2sljet

Note, though that this is the same David Miliband who has moved himself as seamlessly into the good books of Mr. Nasty as ex-Gestapo officers used to sign up for the STASI. he for one has gotten over his remark.

Praguetory said...

You may wish to refer readers to this on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrjuX99_nU4

Anonymous said...

Obsessive? Oh no it'snot...

Before Blair was ousted he was actually getting better polling than Brown. I bet that any poll would show Blair to beat Brown in the "who'd you rather have a drink with?" test.

Sure, Brown was needed to help in 2005, but this was only because he'd managed to give the impression that he was nothing to do with Iraq. A lie which should receive greater exposure.

Brown does not come across as an ordinary bloke. He comes across as an aggressively boring man who combines mild obesity with a passion for the nanny state (a little like obese people who join environmental groups to preach against the waste of resources). People forgot this for 100 days when the press gave him an overly effusive honeymoon. They now begin to recall that he was actually a skulking brooder for ten years.

I think (we'll see) that his personal ratings wil fall rather fast over the coming weeks.

Anonymous said...

Spooky?! Innit? LoL :)

He is the Mystic Meg of politics -our wee Miliband!

Anonymous said...

anonymous- can't you see that your views represent the nastiness that has put prople off your party for so long? Rhetorical question, I'm afraid I have to go so can't wait to read your riposte.

Chestcracker said...

I suspect that the clunking fist (currently ineffective against Supercam) will be needed to control people behind him (together with the new pair of eyes he needs to have on the back of his large head) - that's unless the discipline that impressed you so much in Bournemouth holds.

Anonymous said...

Oh well.

When "my" party drives doctors to suicide rather than face its lies, allows otherwise healthy people to die in hospitals through contracting some entirely avoidable bug, mocks Cameron for his social background (he can hardly help that, though Brown can take some exercise) and arrests octogenarians at its conference, then can you call it "nasty".

Anonymous said...

I'd listened to PMQs yesterday on the radio but got to see it on TV in the evening. I'd also just recently installed new speakers in my living room and I kept hearing this repeated THUD whenever GB was replying to DC. Then I realised the THUD was in fact GB's big clunking finger repeatedly beating downwards! The CLUNK just made him look and sound like even more of an idiot.

Anonymous said...

Who was Blair?

Anonymous said...

Didn't Blair write some book called 1984 about a state in which civil liberties no longer existed, lies were the basis of its war-making and the economy was entirely dependent upon public spending.

Tony or Eric, I forget now.

Anonymous said...

This happened last Thursday, not winter.

Anonymous said...

I see Fat Charlie has been out stirring it against Gordon today.

Who will be the next to put the boot into their beleaguered leader I wonder?

Anonymous said...

Blair was a first-class politician that rang rings round us for years.

Brown is second-rate and managed a few good stunts for a couple of months during his honeymoon (during which all and sundry wanted to lick his boots clean).

Whatever some Labour people might say about how we all now want someone dour and boring for PM, there is no going back. I for one do not want a mechanical, methodical PM, I want someone interesting and persuasive. And I am sure most people feel similarly.

You have to ask why Sir Ming is doing so rubbish - it is not just because their policies are shite.

Anonymous said...

"Brown looks like a normal bloke to most people"

I think you are confusing "normal bloke" with what passes for normal at a Labour Party conference. If that charmless bigot is your idea of a "normal bloke" friends only dinner parties at your gaffe must be gruesome.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 12.20pm, and chris goodman
It's the tone that's offensive to me, though I disagree with the substance,too. The tone of what you say is bilious, and if I wasn't a Labour voter next time before, I certainly haven't shifted towards your unpleasant side.
As far as parties at my gaffe go, they tend to be full of laughter, and I only invite people who can understand what each other says.
Chris I said Brown LOOKS LIKE a normal bloke to most people - it was a comment on his visual image, not on his personality, and think his recent poll popularity is partly down to the fact that he doesn't look like Blair. Or CAmeron for that matter.

Anonymous said...

Presumably the Labour Party is the nice party.

Nice to legions of immigrants who then stab each other on Britains streets.

Nice to the 1million people that are claiming disability pensions that are actually quite able to work.

Nice to the Iraqi parents that never wanted children anyway.

Nice to the people that got us up to our armpits in debt.

Nice to the people that run hospitals that are death traps.

Nice to mail-workers that don't work.

I think I'll stop there. I think we all want a lot less mindless niceness and a lot more "firm but fair".

Anonymous said...

In the interests of debate, anonymous, can you say what you think Cameron should do about the issues you mention - I promise I won't tear your ideas to pieces, but I've been trying to find out all week what people on this site think about whether Osborne's IHT success will leaed to new policy initiatives, and what they should be
So :
Immigrants?
Soi-disant "disabled pensioners?
Iraq?
Financial regulation?
NHS?

How, practically does "firm but fair" translate?

You would see, if you trawled this site that I've had very little success in engaging in debate, through no fault of my own (don't bother though, I haven't said much that's very interesting!

Anonymous said...

sorry I forgot industrial relations / strikes?
If you like, I'll suggest wqhat CAmeron's new policiews should be, and you can comment, but I feel the onus should be on you, since you brought them up

Anonymous said...

Tony Blair has a sense of humour. That sense of humour gave Blair a clear advantage as PM.

Gordon Brown lacks humour - he sometimes appears
quite vacant - in a slightly demented way. People can't warm to a man who never sees the funny side of life.

Anonymous said...

I apologise if you found my tone offensive johnt. I must confess to nursing a visceral and vicious hatred for Brown. There is no other politician I can recall who I have actively disliked as a person. I'm 35 so still have time for others.

I think Brown to Tories is a little like Thatcher was to 1980s Labourites. There is something in him which leads many to dislike the man as well as the "ideas".

I appreciate that this is not healthy. It's an explanation rather than an excuse. I'm not generally so "bilious" regarding people; it's just something in the way he moves, repels me like no other f*****

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, you'd be welcome in the City Of Culture with a lyric like that!
The atmosphere on this site leads to extreme reactions in many posts - yours are by no means the most "bilious", but can I press ytou on the policies? As an example , to deal with your list (and I write as one who's voted Labour since 1992), but could change. Very short ideas,don't want to hog the space :
Immigrants? Compulsory english language skills a pre-requisite (kids included) Criminals? Same as UK criminals, only housed in a Widdecombe-style (read her ideas on prison reform?) educative/training environment, with empowered governors motivating teams of POs with re-habilitation and respect as an ethos
Soi-disant "disabled pensioners?
Presumably you meant incapacity benefit claimants? Give regular reviews, and incentives to be weaned into suitable employment and treatment. Leave the genuinely disabled alone!
Iraq? Beef up secret service accountability, to ensure we don't intervene on a false prospectus again (though, controversially I think it was morally right to depose Saddam - the reprehensible error was political, not moral, and Howard would have pinned "liar" on Blair if there was a chance of it sticking - he didn't)
Financial regulation? Have a look at sub-prime, and BofE accountability but no more regulatory than Labour.
NHS? Empower strongly led small teams with their own budgets, accountable still to Dept of Health but via report writing rather than stupid targets.
Strikes - Expand the list of essential services who are banned from striking, and reward them for agreeing.
If Cameron does most of that, he'll have my vote.

Anonymous said...

Hello again

That wasn't my post. I got myself an id but I keep having problems with the passwords so here I am as anonymous. I'll sign myself off as "Set England Free!" everytime, so people know who I am.....

I've a meeting now so couldn't tackle that list anyway. May have a go later..

Anonymous said...

John T,

I think you will find that you said

“Brown looks like a normal bloke to most people…not very quick-witted, not beautifully rehearsed…and that's why he was preferred to Blair.”

Which rather undermines your claim that when you described him as a “normal bloke” all you were talking about was his appearance.

As for your sanctimonious twittering about not shifting towards the “unpleasant side” because the tone of the Right offends you, I could not give a tinker’s cuss what you think about anything. In a free society I do not have to apply for certificates of correct thinking from you and your Guardian/Independent reading chums.

Anonymous said...

Chris Goodman
It's possible to look not very quick-witted, and the rest are unambiguous visible traits.
I enjoy a good insult as much aas anyone and can take them but I don't read those newspapers and if you really don't give a tinker's cuss what i thimk (very un pc that!) then what are you doing polluting Iain Dale's site with your rubbish? There are better forums to spill your bilge than this one.

Anonymous said...

nor do i think you deserve to occupy the same "right" wing of the many traitional tories whom I respect, as evinced by other posts on this site.

Anonymous said...

John T

You argue that describing somebody as “slow-witted” is simply a comment about their “visual image” – what a feeble response!

Thanks for sharing your views about what does or does not count as right wing. I think I have already mentioned that I am not interested in anything you have to say. I cannot say you have changed my opinion.

By the way you seem to be under the impression that this is your blog. I feel I ought to draw your attention to the fact that you are writing in the comment section of a blog written by Iain Dale. For some reason – because he believes in something called freedom of speech I suppose - he lets people comment.

Anonymous said...

Chris G
My comments may sound feeble to you, but yours convey the impression that you are a gap-year intern with too much time on your hands. Anyone with any sort of developed mindset can tell that my comments about Brown were based on his image rather than on his character, and that my point (not addressed by you) was that Cameron would do even better to resist the temptation to hurl gratuituous, demeaning insults across the floor.
I wonder if any of your fellow posters agree with my point, or whether they, like you, visit this site in order to convince themselves that hatred of others' opinions is interesting.
Feel free to respond with more gibberish. I'll let you have the last word...

Anonymous said...

What is all this talk at Guido's of "the Miliband boys successfully awarding themselves and IHT cut"?

These two goodly Socialists surely wouldn't do that, would they...?

Auntie Flo - who's only just realised that you're again accepting anon postings.

Anonymous said...

David Miliband's father and grandfather were avowed Communists, and therefore no friends of democracy (see
this interesting piece from which I quote verbatim:

"It is often noted that Miliband's father and his grandfather immigrated to Britain from Belgium 67 years ago. What is not mentioned as often is how did they get to Belgium.

Miliband's father, the late Ralph Miliband, the leading British communist, and his grandfather (RM's father), the late Samuel Miliband, emigrated to Belgium from Poland. They were Polish Jews, i.e. Poles of Jewish origin.

87 years ago the Soviet Army invaded Poland. David Miliband's grandfather was called to serve. As a Polish citizen he was obliged to join the Polish military. Not only did he derelict his duty, he even joined the Soviet Army, i.e. he committed treason. After we Poles defeated the Soviets, Samuel Miliband left Poland (knowing that otherwise he would be executed as a traitor). He went to Belgium and from there to Britain.

David Miliband is a 3rd generation communist. He is a traitor just like Chamberlain, Iudas (spl?) and Bliar."

No wonder David Miliband is sensitive about the matter!