You Cant Just Print Money!!!!!!!!!...........or can you?


Last Night we saw the final televised Labour leadership hustings. So lets have a look at each candidate and their strategy.



Liz Kendall

Liz has adopted an approach that if we basically say we will do all the things the Tories do, but we will do them nicer, then we will win more votes. I think she has come up with this philosophy by looking at the Tories recent triumph in the general election and deciding that everyone now has Tory values and to win, Labour must blur the line between the two parties even more than it already is. There is no doubt her heart is int the right the place but her strategy will ultimately let her down.



Andy Burnham

Andy is one of my favorite politicians at the moment. Not because of his policies but because I can't help imagining him being created in a secret laboratory and being programmed to be the perfect New Labour candidate. Even when he smiles it seems like hes activated a programme in his software to do so. He often says very passionately that he wants things to change without every committing to any policies on how to change them. He takes aspects of Brown in that he often starts his speeches at hustings with that famous phrase "I agree with (insert politician here)" Unfortunately for Andy he seems the ultimate yes man who will do or say anything for a bit of applause. One moment hes on Jeremy's side if the mood seems right and the next he thinks Jeremy is incredible if that seems like that could win people over. I think Andy will ultimately struggle from this flip flopping as his own credibility and lack of clear vision suffers. With a little more tuning the BurnhamBot v2.0 could do better.


Jeremy Corbyn

Jeremy is without a doubt the front runner at this stage. His honesty of opinion and clear socialist values are drawing people in. Jeremy is breaking the mold of the last 20 years by doing the forbidden and stepping outside the safety box of the center ground. He is not afraid to give his opinion on things and people can see he genuinely wants to help all those he can. He is the only candidate that is clearly stating that he wants to oppose the whole ideology of austerity and has put forward clear proposals in order to achieve this. The vision of hope is very powerful and will keep bringing success. People want to dream of a better tomorrow and not just a slightly less crappy one.


Yvette Cooper

Yvette did well last night. But she is finding success not by putting forward plans herself but by being the biggest and most hostile critic of Jeremy. Its seems as though a campaign advisor has come forward and told her to show in the phrase "You cant just print money!" as often as she possibly could as this will make the public panic. She is of course wrong. You can print money. Labour pumped around £370 billion into the banks, Japan has been pumping billions in for years the EU is near to the start of a 1 trillion euro programme and the US has only just stopped. None of these have or will result in the kind of hyperinflation she tell us to be worried about. Instead of criticizing the economic plan Jeremy puts forward, perhaps she should read the excellent Richard Murphy's Blog the well respected Tax campaigner and economist behind Jeremy's proposals. Yvette has definitely gained some ground over the last week or so but mostly by criticizing the front runner rather than putting forward a clear vision herself.

Whatever happens after this election one thing is for sure. A movement of the left has been born and whoever wins must ensure that the passion and drive of that movement is captured and not focus entirely of the Conservative-Labour swing voters. It seems there is a real opportunity for the Labour party and the country here, lets hope it doesn't all come to nothing as it could be a generation before this opportunity comes again.








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