Labour: who's a campaign assett?

Following on from my previous post about my fave Lib Dems I thought it would be only fair to do the same, or similar, for Labour. This time I thought I'd go for who I thought was doing a good job in Labour's election battle rather than those I most admire.

This is partly because I've felt that Brown has been swept under the carpet somewhat (leaders' debates excepted of course) and also because Ed Balls is so dismal yet seems to be given the job of fronting the campaign far too often (or not often enough if you're churlish enough to want Labour to do badly, cough, cough).

Also the people I most admire in Labour aren't allowed anywhere near the election campaign.

Mr John Prescott

The only left-wing thing about Prescott (shown here receiving his induction to New Labour) is his accent, which puts him streets ahead of the rest of the cabinet put together.

His other advantage is that he's straight talking and, dare I say it, rather funny. When I heard he was being drafted in to rally the youth vote I have to say it left me utterly non-plussed, however he's pretty good at it.

Prescott is an excellent tweeter for example and has taken to other new media and techno-gizmos in a surprisingly easy way.

Most of all he's one of those Labour politicians who doesn't actually resemble a protocol droid. The more Prescott elbows Balls out of the way the more hard hitting Labour's campaign will be.

Eddie Izzard

When in doubt wheel out an intelligent, much loved personality not particularly known for being a party hack or as a bomber of small children.

You'd feel terrible throwing rotten fruit at Mr Izzard and in his star-turn for Labour he even says right out that Labour haven't been particularly wonderful, but at least they aren't Tories. Honesty runs through him like words through a stick of rock.

However, leaving aside the whole 'there is no alternative' shtick of the LabCon duopoly, Izzard is definitely the kind of person to present an upbeat and fresh face to what could otherwise be a slightly embarrassing 're-elect us for change' campaign.

Harriet Harman

While I've always warmed to Harriet Harman in person I'm well aware that the public and the press are not as keen as they might be about her. However, if Labour do not make more use of Ms Harman there will be a complete absence of experienced female politicians in their election line-up, and no, Sarah Brown definitely does not count.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that this election will be about boring men in suits sniping at each other and, in my opinion, that's not a good look. Labour could do well to try to break it up a little by wheeling out the steely glare of Harriet Harman.

She may be slightly off message at times but at least she's a reminder that Labour used to stand for women's rights and equality. If Gordon really wants to put a bit of mustard on all that fairness talk he'd be well advised to add a few women to his team, and he could do far worse than Harman.


Don't get me wrong, they're all war criminals obviously, and Labour is under no obligation to listen to me on this or anything else - but moving these three further to the front would, in my opinion, give them a stronger election team than the Milibandian Ballsite vacuity they make us put up with sometimes.