Ivan Lewis tells it how it is

[Hopeless Romantic]

Here's one to that could set the cat among the pigeons.

Shadow Culture Sec Ivan Lewis - one of the Blairite believers left in the Shad Cab - is making a speech to Progress tonight in which he admits that the elections last week proved that Labour has still not managed to win over the 'squeezed middle' made famous by its leader.

In a brutally honest 'truth to (lack of) power' type analysis, he says that southern voters see Labour as standing up for other people.

"Today, they see Labour as the party of the North, standing up for the poor, benefit claimants, immigrants and minority groups.

"A party which overspent without delivering sufficient value for money. A party which talks a lot about rights but not enough about responsibility."

"It is important we understand the depth of people's feelings and frustrations if we are to have any chance of reconnecting so they start listening to us again."

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http://www.politicshome.com/uk/article/27774/ivan_lewis_tells_it_how_it_is.html

[ikri]

1. It is people like Lewis who hurt Labour

"Today, they see Labour as the party of the North, standing up for the poor, benefit claimants, immigrants and minority groups.

Seriously? Labour aren't doing as well as expected because they stand up for the poor? Those utter bastards! How dare they!

Idiots like Lewis should fuck off to their natural home with the Tories and let Labour rebuild as a party of the centre-left. There is a centre-left or progressive majority in this country, despite what the Tories would like us to hear but having neo-liberal cretins like Lewis hanging around just paints the party as Tory-lite.

People in this country aren't idiots, if Labour came out & told the truth about how disastrous 30 year's worth of neo-liberal monetary policies have been for the country they will listen and they will vote. But only if they're given a reason to do so, Tory-lite won't do that.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Ugh. So Jeremy Hunt isn't enough? We also have a *shadow*, er, Hulture Secretary...

'Today, they see Labour as the party of the North, standing up for the poor, benefit claimants, immigrants and minority groups.'

Shock, horror! Labour standing up for the POOR! That was never a core value of the Labour Party, was it? Historic Labour leaders from Keir Hardie to Clem Attlee would turn in their graves at the thought!... Or at least they'd turn in their graves at Lewis' remarks.

"A party which overspent without delivering sufficient value for money. A party which talks a lot about rights but not enough about responsibility."

Oh stop it, Lewis, you sound just like George Osborne. Labour's problem isn't that it 'overspent'. The economy went belly-up in much of the world; not just the UK. Admittedly the British economy wasn't helped by the fact that too many Labourites were just like you, and accepted the Thatcherite principles of dominance of the banking and financial industries, the decline of industry, and the partial privatization of public services.