The blog Awards for political moment, mistake, speech of the year, surprise winner + more
Speech of the Year – Hilary Benn, shadow Foreign Secretary, during the Syria debate. Best House of Commons speech I have heard for a long time.
The ‘Oh God what have I done moment?' – Chi Onwurah, Sadiq Khan and Frank Field and all the other Labour MPs who genuinely do not support him but for reasons nobody can fathom chose to nominate a man they have no respect for in Jeremy Corbyn to be Labour leader. That clearly went well....
Highlight of the Year – Winning in Hexham, closely followed by the realisation that Balls was gone, Farage had lost and many of my Women2Win protégées had won
Political Achievement of the Year – Jeremy Corbyn winning the Labour leadership.
Most Unlikely Political Moment of the Year – John McDonnell as Shadow Chancellor, Bringing out his well thumbed copy of Chairman Mao's little red book during the autumn statement debate, and referring to it favourably. But then he (McDonnell) is a very odd man, who makes Miliband and Balls look like two twin economic colossus.
Most bizarre appointment -Ken Livingstone, who opposes all military / trident etc etc to co-chair Labour’s defence policy review. How logical!
The New MPs showing promise: too numerous to name and not showing any preference, and in no particular order - Maria Caulfield (ex cancer nurse now new conversatve MP for Lewes), my Northumberland neighbour Anne Marie Trevelyan, who triumphantly won Berwick after 9 years of campaigning, after a desperately ugly and viscious campaign against her by the liberals. Seema Kennedy, is impressing in the north west, alex chalk in Cheltenham, Johnny Mercer and Scott Mann in the West Country. I could name many more. The liberals have no new MPs and are a rump rarely seen in Westminster. They may go down to two MPs after the next election. Labour - see below. Their best new MP is probably their newest = Jim McMahon, who won Oldham, not Corbyn. For the Scots Nats Hannah Bardell is very good. Alex Salmond is a fading force, whose expanding waistline is in inverse proportion to his influence and ability.
Mistake of the Year – The ‘Ed Stone. Enough said. Talk about bad advice. Imagine the strategy meeting - which comes out of the The Thick of It. "I know Ed, let's get a huge tablet, full of meaningless catchphrases, which somehow you would transport to the number 10 garden , when you win ...."
Political Worry of the Year - Donald Trump
Comment of the Year – Jess Phillips, new Labour MP telling Diane Abbott to ‘f**k off’.
New political party - the ABC party= anyone but Corbyn
Odds on Corbyn being ousted as labour leader after May elections in Scotland, Wales and London? Pretty good I reckon, although the mechanics are difficult. The longer the labour MPs leave him there the greater their prospects of deselection before 2020.
