Well, the day dawns.

[norfolkngoode]

The way things are going Starmer may well be replaced by a radical far left nutter pushed by Momentum, It appears that there is a large section of the Liebour party who think they lost the election because they're not left enough!

I don't think it matters who leads them, they are in danger of becoming a middle class, metropolitan, trapped in their London bubble, fringe party, who nobody cares about but you can have a bit of a laugh at!.... A bit like the Lib Dems!

Oh yeah they already are!

[Inspector Knacker]

They don't see their own weakness and pomposity.... and run for cover when  asked awkward questions, the eternally outraged left will act like spiteful children. A party eating itself devoid of political discipline.

[akarjl2]

Well Cwistopher and and hubby will be looking for new challenges will they not having pillaged and destroyed aaartlepool.....?

[Inspector Knacker]

Well Cwistopher and and hubby will be looking for new challenges will they not having pillaged and destroyed aaartlepool.....?

I suspect their ....'Age of the Buffoon', laid the foundations for the fall of Labour in Hartlepool. How they held onto power so long is one of the great mysteries of life. They didn't just undermine the foundations of local politics, they dug them out and sold the rubble as hardcore.
They were an increasingly obvious failure by the time the first cracks and  fissures began to show in their limited ability to run the town. Not one of them had the qualities of an even mediocre 'politician', they were self indulgent, achingly incapable who'd been in power far too long as the vital structures of the town both physical and structural, collapsed under their 'stewardship'. Yet, the Party did nothing to curtail 'Carry on Councillor'.
They survived and held on to their career of outstanding incompetence with the unquestioning, fatalistic obedience of the Labour voter to follow the Party doggedly, their subordination  along with their pathological devotion to voting Labour brought them to where Labour in Hartlepool is today. Starmer gets the blame, but it's their legacy.

[akarjl2]

Hopefully now travel is allowed they will be digging out their Santas little helper suits, loading the convertible up with chocky wocky......stopping off at Belchers Bun shop for an all day breakfast then foocing off to Brighton to do what ( or who) ever they do down their. Does lard ar** still have his pseudo job running that waste of space and time centre?

There needs to be a cleansing of the town clownclil and  all the hangers on and wanna bees need to understand the party is over....the trough is empty....off you go and claim benefits or or go get a job.

One of the first things our new CONSERVATIVE MP should be doing is challenging the clowncil about clowncil tax levels here.....

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

There are (unconfirmed) rumours that they're planning on opening a B & B in Brighton.

[akarjl2]

B & B

[Inspector Knacker]

They could take some of their old underlings with them, Barclay would make an 'interesting' butler.

[eddy]

On a more national level, it seems like the conservatives have moved into area where Labour typically set the tone.  A lot of what Mr Houchin has done (bringing the airport back into public control) is not really the typical neo-lib approach.  There are other examples, Homes England funding for new housing for example.  This makes it hard for labour to identify where they sit or what their appeal is.  I dont really know myself at the moment, simply sitting around waiting for Torys to c**k up probably isnt going to cut it either as a strategy for labour.  That said, I dont think the electorate will be as forgiving as they were with labour either, they have already broken the mould once by voting conservative, the precedent is set.  it also begs the question, if labour are finished will the conservatives rule in perpetuity un-opposed.  Although as  a cautionary tale, people said exactly the same things of the conservatives in 1997 

For what its worth my main beef with the Torys is public spending cuts / small state mantra, we dont have a court anymore, very few police, under funding of public services, universal credit etc.  They have also spent an insane amount of money on stuff in covid that didnt work (Test and trace) and it remains to be seen how much the stench of cronyism may persist around that.  I am no hard line socialist but most of the jobs in Hartlepool are public sector based, I dont buy the whole small state thing, you either pay for it by keeping people in jobs like the public sector or you pay for it in crime, prisons, poor health and depravity

This is all of the Dave Cameron era though and the noise coming out at the moment doesnt really match that approach.  What will be tricky for them will be balancing public spending with their mantra of low tax / small state.  At some point this massive storm created by Covid will need to be paid for somehow.  Also moving jobs and investment to the town will mean taking it from somewhere else, to quote Ms May there isnt some magical money tree that can be shook to pay for all this

[Inspector Knacker]

Whoever was in power would have been landed with a COVID bill they didn't want.
May was as wet as sleeping bag on the fish quay and I class her as in the same clique as Cameron and Osborne.  They got into power because Labour was looking tired and Brown was hardly an inspiration to anyone.
I put it that traditional Tories in Westminster didn't want Johnson anywhere near Downing Street but the actions of MP's of both major Party's over Brexit showed them in a light to the public that alienated them. Politicians created the crucible that created the lust for change, and if the vote wasn't split in 2019, then Hill would be History.
I still blame the Council under the dumpling dictator as being a contributing factor in the local result..... it cast a very long shadow.
As I write this the good doctor is being interviewed on what went wrong,  on Look North, one sentence explained it all, he stated that ....."Voters didn't know who we were or what we stood for".

[akarjl2]

As I write this the good doctor is being interviewed on what went wrong,  on Look North, one sentence explained it all, he stated that ....."Voters didn't know who we were or what we stood for".

I actually thought he looked relieved whilst being interviewed as if he is heart was not in it. He should concentrate on medicine, god knows we need every doctor available even at this stage of the pandemic.

Actually it was quiet clear for me he (the candidate) was an immature, wannabe politician who was also a liar and full of s**t. I made a decision not to even consider voting for labour when I did my due diligence regarding their candidate. They handed the town to the tories when they selected him.

[Inspector Knacker]

He came over as still not in touch with reality, a politician who had a problem understanding politics.
The Labour Party national executive chose him, parachuted him in as 'Mr Presentable' and smugly expected that predictably, the gormless mugs in loyal old Hartlepool would vote for him......oh what a miscalculation.
He may have ticked all the right boxes for the national executive of the Labour Party, but they didn't figure on an awakening of the Hartlepool electorate which to any fool, had been indicated at the 2019 election.
The one manifesto topic the doc presented on national TV was to make Hartlepool great again by spending lots more on education so that 'we' have a super educated workforce to which company's will flock to open businesses......sadly,
1. Such a rosey glow policy would take a couple of decades to bear fruit.
2. Surely if it was applied in Hartlepool it would be being applied nationwide, so no advantage there then.
3. It was presented in such a pressured disjointed way it looked like another vague pie in the sky plan cobbled together on the hoof. One of those policies everyone surely has to approve of, a bit like a manifesto to stop the drowning of kittens in public swimming baths, a bleeding obvious policy you expect to be a the norm, not some exception.

[eddy]

Am gonna flip the narrative on its head, is there anything Labour could have said / promised or fielded as a candidate that would have prevented what happened ?

I have no say over who was selected but it is pretty obvious he wasnt the best choice

Am not being confrontational here or all woe is me, I am curious as to what would be required as its evident the party has less than a clue!

[Inspector Knacker]

Am gonna flip the narrative on its head, is there anything Labour could have said / promised or fielded as a candidate that would have prevented what happened ?

I have no say over who was selected but it is pretty obvious he wasnt the best choice

Am not being confrontational here or all woe is me, I am curious as to what would be required as its evident the party has less than a clue!

No one is saying your being confrontational, relax.
I suspect as I said elsewhere, it was the result of an accumulation of long standing straws that broke the camels back.
I thought the Tories had c**ked up with their choice, but when the Dr's background was revealed, all she had to do was keep a low profile and watch it crash and burn . Blame that one on the Labour National Executive.
The joke the Council became under the Dumpling Dictator and his cabal was beyond parody, as though Vic and Bob had wrote the script. They cast a very long shadow over events from beyond the political grave.
Starmer, ....what can you say, a man without a personality and no policies.
Like all relationships, the tired marriage between Labour and Hartlepool ended when they started to go their separate ways .....and no one noticed.

I suspect a lot more thought on Labour's part as regards research and surveying the constituency may have saved a few blushes if not the seat. An attitude was abroad after the result that rankled with me when certain figures referring to the town as 'their seat', as though we were their serfs in some medieval soap opera, not the attitude to take.
To be fair, this result should have occurred in 2019, it was just delayed.

[eddy]

Its on the Graun, so take with a pinch of salt, but they should make this mandatory listening for all people in labour who are in charge of policy

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2021/may/12/can-labour-survive-britains-political-realignment-podcast

I genuinely feel moved to get involved, its excruciating watching this car crash of avoidable c**k ups.  It may not have changed the outcome this time but its a start