A long shadow will encroach on the Labour party’s pre-election “congress” this weekend: a Green shadow. There will be shorter shadows, too.
The short shadows are a faltering leadership, bad polls and a spectre looming out of history and off the internet. They add up to a growing sense in the electorate that for a second election in a row Labour is not headed for office.
A year ago most MPs agreed David Shearer had to go as leader. Now a broadening number concede that Labour under Shearer would not be doing worse than it is under David Cunliffe.
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However decent, it was painful to listen to David Shearer and his difficulty speaking off the cuff. David Cunliffe has the necessary articulateness; he's just got nothing to say that resonates for me.
ReplyDelete"...for a second election in a row Labour is not headed for office."
ReplyDeleteI think James got it wrong there.
It should be the *third* election in a row - 2008, 2011, 2014.
Fourth election.
ReplyDeleteRemember Labour actually lost in 2005 and only got "elected" thanks to a massive illegal spend - if we'd had an ICAC Labour would have been thrown out of parliament and Brash appointed PM for the full term...