Those Labour MPs who voted for (and against) the Lib Dem customs union bill in full

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Labour List has helpfully printed the names of the 13 Labour MPs who voted for the Liberal Democrat customs union bill yesterday and the 3 who voted against.

For the bill

• Sadik Al-Hassan (North Somerset)
• Fleur Anderson (Putney)
• Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower)
• Richard Burgon (Leeds East)
• Dawn Butler (Brent East)
• Marsha de Cordova (Battersea)
• Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch)
• Imran Hussain (Bradford East)
• Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme)
• Peter Lamb (Crawley)
• James Naish (Rushcliffe)
• Simon Opher (Stroud)
• Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill)

Against the Bill

• Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool)
• Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
• Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase)

It's interesting that there are some old lags of the left on the side of the angels, which you wouldn't necessarily have expected. On the other side, Jonathan Brash is a fully signed-up member of Blue Labour.

Though if I were creating an overambitious Labour MP for satirical purposes, Jonathan Brash is just the name I'd choose.

Row in Corby lays bare the tensions in the Labour Party

Walked out of my first CLP in almost 10 years of membership. Final straw was someone, who I respected for all his campaigning efforts, claiming Jeremy Corbyn 'did us a favour' and it was therefore a 'success'. We lost a quarter of our MPs. I said so and left. We need to wake up.

— Beth Miller (@BethMiller91) January 31, 2020

Corby, traditionally a marginal seat, was held by Labour between 1997 and 2010. At December's general election, where the Labour candidate was Beth Miller, it was held by the Conservatives with a majority of over 10,000.

The constituency has an interesting history and sociology: Lewis Baston dissected it when there was a by-election there in 2012.

And last night it all kicked off there, according to the Northamptonshire Telegraph:

The former Corby and East Northants Parliamentary election candidate Beth Miller marched out of a tense constituency Labour Party meeting last night (Friday, January 31) after listening to a speech she says was ‘disrespectful’. 

Mirroring many CLPs across the country, discussions about the future of the party became heated because some members believe the party should take a more moderate stance in future, while others believe that the party should retain its Corbyn-style left wing politics. 

At the strained meeting, attended by about 40 party members, a participant reportedly gave a ten-minute speech backing Jeremy Corbyn, saying the leader had done the party ‘a favour.’

I fear that Labour activists have learnt nothing from four consecutive election defeats,

This may sound like good news for the Liberal Democrats, but it is not. Having spent every evening canvassing it Richmond and Barnes in 1983, I am convinced that we only win over moderate Conservative voters when they are not too scared by the prospect of a Labour government.

So a Long-Bailey/Burgon leadership at the next election would be very bad news for us.

Lord Bonkers' Diary: The mint cake workers of Kendal

Whether this is news from the past, present or future, you have to admit the old boy made the most of his time away from the Hall.

Friday

I enjoyed Uxbridge, particularly the crowd of mothers and children I found hammering on the door of the Conservative campaign headquarters. Down in Devon I ran into the Attorney General and found his theatrical mien puzzlingly familiar. It was only this morning that I remembered where I had seen him before: he was playing the rear end of a cow in Aladdin at the Alhamba, Bideford.

Then I travelled to Witham in Essex, where the sitting Conservative offered me a lift in her sleigh and some Turkish delight. I insisted on being set down so I could catch the Green Line bus instead.

In Somerset I tipped the local urchins sixpence apiece to follow Jacob Rees-Mogg around, point at him and double up with laughter. Eventually his Nanny chased them off and I ran too – you know what Nannies are.

Passing through Leeds I bought Richard Burgon a colouring book, before spending a day with our own Tim Farron canvassing the mint cake workers of Kendal. I am pleased to report he has a considerable following amongst them.

Then it was Scotland for a night at my house Brig o'Dread, before I finished my tour delivering leaflets in Orkney for Alistair Carmichael. I was dispatched to the islands of Papa Westray and Papa Lazarou.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10.

Previously in Lord Bonkers' Diary:

• The Well-Behaved Orphans have been carefully measured
• Buckled inside the large wicker hamper
• From Whissendine to Essendine
• He had fashioned a rope from the bedclothes
• An amusing limerick told to me by Herbert Gladstone

Should Jeremy Corbyn be doing better?

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If the Conservatives were trying to ensure that Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister, it is hard to see what they would have done differently since he became leader of the opposition.

Yet the Conservatives remain neck-and-neck with Labour in the opinion polls. The question “Should Jeremy Corbyn be doing better?” is beginning to be heard.

Some of his supporters will laugh at this. Weren’t they told that Corbyn would be a disaster? And didn’t he surprise everyone at this year’s general election?

They were and he did. In part this was because some of the factors that were supposed to make Corbyn unelectable – such as his proximity to Irish Republican terrorism – turned out to have happened too long ago to concern many voters.

But largely it was because his economic plans went unchallenged because of the unique incompetence of the Conservatives.

Can Labour really discard austerity and pay for all the extra spending without increasing tax for the average voter? It sounds unlikely, but thanks to the Tories we never found out.

Jeremy Corbyn cannot rely on such kind treatment if he fights another election. Nor will he face a Conservative leader so lacking in any of the qualities of leadership.

These are not the only reasons for suspecting that it may all be downhill from here.

There are the Remainers who will have had more years to contemplate Corbyn doing nothing to oppose Brexit.

There are the idealists who will have noticed that Labour is proposing to do more for the middle classes than the poor.

 And there are the voters who have grasped that winning a place in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet says more about your political loyalty than your ability – call it the Burgon Effect.

All of which suggests that it may all be downhill from here. And that means Labour should be worried that they are not in a clear lead in the opinion polls.

Angela Rayner thinks the Tories are "selling off" the green belt

The gov't should not be selling off our green belt to private developers;we need low cost housing built with the right public infrastructure

— Angela Rayner MP (@AngelaRayner) February 7, 2017

We know Richard Burgon is a laughing stock, but Angela Rayner has been getting good notices - at least from her colleagues.

So how to explain this tweet she sent today?

The government, of course, cannot sell off the green belt because it does not own it. The debate is about whether local authorities should be allowed or compelled to grant developers permission to build on it.

I think we are entitled to expect a member of the shadow cabinet to have grasped that.

But then I am puzzled by all the talk in the media about local authorities being forced to sell their land.

Are local authorities really sitting on large land holding? Maybe large authorities are, but when I was a councillor in a rural district 30 years ago we owned very little land even then.

I suspect a lot of journalists don't understand this debate either