Oh Diane
June 10, 2010 9 Comments
I am delighted that Diane Abbott has made onto the ballot for the Labour Party leadership. She will liven up what was threatening to be a one-dimensional contest.
This is not to say that the other four are not great talents – they are. But there was a common theme running through the other contenders.
Diane’s inclusion ticks a number of boxes: she is of the left, she is female, she is black, a backbencher, and she represents a southern constituency.
This is not a sop to tokenism; it is an enabler to widening the debate. Diane’s inclusion will mean that the left of the party will have a voice. This means that issues like Iraq will be debated with a voice who opposed the war from the start (and this is not a dig a late converts). It will widen the debate so that women’s and minorities’ issues will have a voice from within that camp.
Diane is not as polished performer as her male opponents, but I find her occasional skittishness endearing, and it makes her look more human too. She looks like the outsider at the moment; this is not necessarily a bad place to be.
What her inclusion will do is make the other four work that bit harder and no bad thing. She will have a natural constituency alien to the four white middle-aged Oxbridge males. To win this election they will have a foretaste of what will be required in 2015.
I really haven’t made up my mind who to vote for, although as the election is being conducted using a version of AV I can claim that I will vote for all of them. I know that what is needed is a winner, someone capable of ridding us of the Con-Dem coalition.
Julian's musings 
i think she’s a bad advert for positive discrimination i’m afraid.
in the first debate on monday, all the candidates made reasoned and sensible contributions when talking about the private provision of public services. her response was to rant that ‘privatisation is wrong’. when asked yesterday about her sending her son to a private school, she objected that she was only being targeted for being a woman.
And she’s also Oxbridge educated.
Oh bearded one!
Sometimes reading your contributions one feels that whatever happens you cannot be pleased, however perhaps you feel the same about me! Poor Diane – how awful to be thought ‘a bad advert for positive discrimination’! That little statement by you ticks about every politically incorrect box going. You will have seen that I am against positive discrimination of any sort believing in the ‘best person for the job’ principle and imo Diane Abbott is just that. She would not have been my first choice for the Labour leadership contest, that would have gone to John McDonnell [I supported him against Gordon Brown last time around and have sadly just put away again my John4Leader t-shirt!] but once John stepped down yesterday Diane Abbott became my natural next choice. Not for any of the ‘positive discrimination’ reasons but because I mostly like her political views [as Julian says she and I were both anti the Iraq war – I was one of those who took part in all the marches] The issue of her sending her son to public school? I can understand her comment that she was only being questioned because she is a woman as it is true that it is largely the case that women MPs of whatever political shade are questioned a lot more about childcare and things like their schooling etc than male MPs. The question of whether or not the child should be at a private school is a different issue upon which I don’t feel I should comment.
Lastly why the comment about Diane Abbott being Oxbridge educated? Is it forbidden for left wing socialists to graduate from Oxbridge? No-one told me I would have to give up my left-wing credentials when I graduated on that October day in Cambridge! In fact I think that the education I got confirmed those credentials and the work I have done since then has taken me further forward! Diane Abbott comes from an ordinary family where to go to university in the late 1960s/early 1970s was an achievement, let alone Oxbridge. Do you really want to be represented in this day and age by men and women who are disadvantaged educationally amongst their peers?
firstly i’m sorry that i’m only getting back to this a lot later, i had to see my mum and she pulls rank even over party.
my oxbridge comment was because Julian said “She will have a natural constituency alien to the four white middle-aged Oxbridge males”. i was only pointing out that all 5 candidates are oxbridge, not that there is anything wrong with that.
i certainly am politically incorrect, i almost wear it as a badge of honour. i also believe in positive discrimination because if i as a white middle-class educated young man get to the same level as someone from a harder background they have achieved more than me.
Yvette Cooper was my first choice as leader, in part because she is a woman. only in part. after that, Alan Johnson because he’s worked his way up and has good experience. After that I at the very least wanted Harman to run because i really believe in her equality agenda.
I personally want Ed Balls to win because i like his style i.e. he’s a nasty hard noised bastard. but i don’t think that is what the public want in a political leader, so i’m back Ed Miliband as i’m very impressed by the people who are backing him.
I hope i haven’t missed the boat as i’m enjoying this thread
I, too, wanted to see Yvette Cooper in the race – she would have had my vote. I am looking forward to the hustings, which will help form my opinion. My current preference for either Ed Balls or David Miliband, although I am genuinely open to the other three.
I am unimpressed by Ed Miliband thus far. Although I do not doubt his abilities I do not see him as a leader. I do not see any fire in his belly, and I favour someone prepared to have a go (and hence my liking for Mr Balls). I have similar feelings about Andy Burnham.
Diane’s biggest weakness is her lack of ministerial experience.
I hope that whoever wins, the other contenders play a prominent role in the party going forward. I particularly hope that Ms Abbott has a role in the shadow cabinet.
i think that of Ms Abbott’s weaknesses, a lack of ministerial experience is not the biggest. Aside from her popularist, shouty, dogmatic style as against the reasoned and boring approach of the others, i’ve had it comfirmed to me by some people in parliament that she is a nightmare to work with, for and around.
if the lack of experience is the reason she’s so unreasonable (in my opinion) then that’s something to work on, but that would (for me) rule her out for being too inexperienced in my eyes.
i must admit i can’t stand David Miliband, maybe the others haven’t had the chance to disappoint me to quite the same extent, but i think David Miliband’s a poor person’s Tony Blair (and i don’t think Blair was that bad)
Rumours have it that Gordon Brown was difficult to work with, and I hear many tales about polticians. Perhaps my own reasonableness is the reason my attempts so far have met with failure.
Diane is telegenic, and nowadays this matters a lot. A Labour leader’s first duty is to get us into government. Although I think policy is paramount, for many voters elections are a form of beauty contest.
i agree with all that. a friend of mine describes Balls as Brown without the good bits. i think a person usually has to be a fair bit narky to get on in politics, so i have no problems with that.
but i take Kinnock’s definition of a leader as the person we want to be prime minister, and i see Abbott being less successful than Foot in that regard (and a huge fan of Foot for the record).
but that aside, i don’t like her approach as i mentioned above in relation to the hustings and the involvement of the private sector in public services
I think Balls is great, but the reason I’m not supporting him right now is that he’s too aggressive. The Labour Party is currently in Opposition for the first time since Tony Blair was embarrassing John Major all those years ago, and we need more of a doctor than a soldier. For example, in the Queen’s Speech Debate where he and Gove went head to head, he simply couldn’t make much ground despite the fact that he clearly had better ideas than Gove simply because the Tory was always able to say (and I paraphrase) ‘well you should have done that in the thirteen years you had then’.
I would be happy if either Miliband won, but I would see Diane Abbott as a competent leader. She may be a backbencher (as Julian said) but she is a excellent speaker, a bold speaker, a likeable leader and knows what she’s talking about – the less said about her foolish private school decision the better.
If you’re interested I write a blog on PMQs at http://commentsonpmqs.blogspot.com/
I too am enjoying this thread because it is what we should be doing in the party – discussing openly what we want in a leader. No behind doors ‘men in grey suits’ as happens in other places and times…
I have already replied to BS on his blog so won’t repeat it all here [sighs of thanks all around] but will concentrate on the discussion subject of Diane Abbott!
Sure enough, what appeals to one is distasteful to another. I like Diane’s ‘Shouty, dogmatic style’ because I feel the real passion of political belief there. It reminds me of my political heroes – Michael Foot, as you have mentioned BS, Nye Bevan [who I only just remember but I have read extensively and watched on DVD!] through many others until we come to John Prescott. She is also a ‘character’ and as you said telegenic – a lot of people know her from the TV prog ‘This Week’.
‘Characters’ are not always easy to get on with – I shouldn’t think Winston Churchill and Ann Widdicombe were the easiest for whom to work – but can be immensely rewarding and fun in the long term. As someone said to me last night, ‘Do you know, she could just do it!’
David Cameron’s buzz phrase during the election was ‘Time for a change’ and perhaps Diane Abbott will provide just the sort of change and breath of fresh air the Labour Party needs at the moment! She will certainly blow away a lot of cobwebs and get things moving! And for this reason alone she will get my vote although as I said previously she is the candidate nearest to my political views. Now I just have to persuade a few others! I have started on family members and may have one so far but Andy Burnham seems to be coming up on the outside….