Stephen Twigg selected over Bob Wareing

Posted on Wednesday 19 September, 2007
Filed Under Labour Left

 


wareing%2C%20bob.jpg

Ultra-Blairite former education minister Stephen Twigg looks set to return to the Commons at the next election, after winning the Labour nomination for Liverpool West Derby. The seat has a 15,000-plus Labour majority.

The sitting MP since 1983 has been 77-year-old Campaign Group stalwart Bob Waring (pictured), who was deselected. As a result, he is likely to stand as an independent.

‘Serbian Bob’, as he was dubbed for his pro-Milosevic views during the Kosovo conflict, is a member of the RMT parliamentary group and will probably attract the backing of the rail and shipping union.

He told the Liverpool Daily Post:

“The party leadership (under Blair and Brown) have regarded me as a thorn in their side as I rebelled against their betrayal of the basic principles of the Labour Party.

“Anti-Labour policies, such as privatisation, tuition and top-up fees for students and the stock-transfer of council houses, with the threat that no repairs would be carried out if they remained under council control, forced tenants to concede to New Labour’s wishes.

“Worst of all has been the disaster of the invasion of Iraq, an illegal war in defiance of the United Nations.

[Hat tip: For a New Left Party, a new blog that does pretty much what it says on the tin]


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Comments

62 Responses to “Stephen Twigg selected over Bob Wareing”

  1. Louisefeminista
    on September 20th, 2007 at 11:07

    Southpaw: “I presume you and Louise will be in Labour until you get your CBEs”.

    Tarnation!

    That dastardly Southpaw saw through my ruse, dammit. Foiled again by the ultra-left adventurer. Must rethink strategy…

  2. andy newman
    on September 20th, 2007 at 11:13

    It is a bad idea to accept a CBE, becasue you should hold out for a knighthood.

  3. Louisefeminista
    on September 20th, 2007 at 12:30

    Yeah and as the song goes, “There’s nothing like a Dame”….

  4. Tom, east London
    on September 20th, 2007 at 14:18

    “An irony here is that I think Twigg’s parents were CPers of a similar age to Wareing.”

    This is indeed completely true, according to my reliable sources

  5. Andrew Coates
    on September 21st, 2007 at 09:20

    Tend to agree with Mike that the alternative to Labour is not a new electoral bloc but working class action – to which I would add community politics. The main struggle is now between the public sector unions and the government – plus local Tory-Liberal groups (follow what’s going on in Brum, and indeed, here in Ipswich).

    If Twigg’s parents were Communists, btw, what was he doing as Head Boy of my old School, Southgate Comprehensive? I loathed that place, ultra reac, and left when I was sixteen – encouraged to leave in fact. Wonder if he ever saw the Hammer and Sickles I used to carve on the desks.

  6. Jeff
    on September 21st, 2007 at 10:24

    Southgate was ultra reac? I went to Latymer down the road.

    I know, typical grammar school socialist, etc etc.

  7. tim
    on September 21st, 2007 at 11:58

    Twigg got the selection as a product of SlobaBobs second preferences.

  8. Duncan Money
    on September 21st, 2007 at 12:04

    Tim, you have developed a new interest!

    Coming soon to every blog you ever read, Tim repeating the same thing about Bob Wareing over and over again until more news about Galloway surfaces.

  9. tim
    on September 21st, 2007 at 12:12

    Dont worry Duncan theres a biog of Galloway out next week.

    Its an interesting point though that Wareings second transfers went to Twigg.

  10. sue r
    on September 21st, 2007 at 14:30

    Stephen Twigg is a lot taller and slimmer in real life than he looks on the telly. I know this because I live in his old constituency of Southgate. He also lives/lived in a flat nearby and I often saw him walking arounda on his way to selling out the working class. His election propaganda was written by a PR person, not the local party. I know this because she was my friend and she told me that he had promised her a full time job when he got back into Parliament. I don’t say she was unLabour, I’d just say her politics were totally anodyne NuLab. Incidentally, she told me that Twiggy had been promised a front bench job in the new Parliament, but losing his seat put paid to that. Perhaps he’s hoping to make good that promise next time. The Labour Party Rooms i Southgate have closed down, they are now rented out to an alternative health practice, you know, Reiki, reflexology all that sort of thing. Guess Southgate can’t be one of those key marginals.

  11. tim
    on September 21st, 2007 at 14:52

    Also,its a hell of a step forward for an openly gay candidate to be selected in this part of this city.

  12. resistor
    on September 23rd, 2007 at 23:46

    The ‘Harry’ of ‘Harrys Place’ is believed to a very similar person to Simon Evans who is a sports reporter for Reuters in the USA

    http://www.network54.com/Forum/3…ns- Harry+Steele

    Like Harry, Evans is from Burnley and likes to quote Orwell inappropriately and repetitively.

    http://bbs.clubplanet.com/226904…041- post14.html

    http://uk.reuters.com/article/ sp…566453720070205

    Harry developed a soft spot for Italian Fascists

    http:// hurryupharry.bloghouse.ne…nd_imagined.php

    Evans worked in Italy for seven years and wrote about Fini about the same time as the article above.

    http://in.sports.yahoo.com/04030…/137/ 2brvr.html

    Of course it is possible they are different people, but when I posted a question about it there, it was removed by David T alleging it was libellous.

    Do they think so little of their founder?

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