Re: Duke Fame to run as Marple Councillor?

[Duke Fame]

Well one of the four leading right wing LibDems is now a guest of Her Majesty in some prison somewhere, so alienating him doesn't matter much!  As for the other three, I think Clegg and Cable will swallow their principles (what principles, you may ask?) in order to hang on to their ministerial limos.  And David Laws will look forward eagerly to the completion of his rehabilitation and to being a cabinet minster again.

As for the voters., apparently two-thirds of LibDem voters identify themselves as being left rather than right leaning, so they would probably be OK with it.

But nationally it all depends on Mr Farage and his merry men splitting the Tory vote.......   

Laws was stitched up by ed Balls, he would not pass water on Ed Balls and his 'team' if he was on fire. Laws was credible and talented, Balls made sure he took him out, Labour are full of nasty little pieces of work, Balls is hte master of them, horrible, horrible people.

[Dave]

Well one of the four leading right wing LibDems is now a guest of Her Majesty in some prison somewhere, so alienating him doesn't matter much!  As for the other three, I think Clegg and Cable will swallow their principles (what principles, you may ask?) in order to hang on to their ministerial limos.  And David Laws will look forward eagerly to the completion of his rehabilitation and to being a cabinet minster again.

As for the voters., apparently two-thirds of LibDem voters identify themselves as being left rather than right leaning, so they would probably be OK with it.

But nationally it all depends on Mr Farage and his merry men splitting the Tory vote.......   

[Duke Fame]

A Lab/LibDem coalition is a strong possibility in National Government but it will be a long time before you the same coalition in Stockport. 

A coalition govt is a big possibility but having alienated the left leaning the Lib-Dem voter, they would be made to alienate the right of the party by going with the disgraced Labour party next time around.

[wheels]

The way things look at the moment Duke, your hope is very much a forlorn one. By the Autumn of 2015 we'll probably have both a Labour government and a Labour Council. We could in all possibility have a Labour Council after the next local election in 2014.   

What an odd analysis Simone all the estimates/expectations are that the Lib Dems will gain Offerton and Cale Green and comfortably hold Manor in 2014. Most observers are expecting the Lib Dems to have overall control again by 2015. Labour hold no seats in Cheadle and are unlikely to gain any they hold one in Hazel Grove but are not expected to win that ward again, have all but collapsed in Manor following their dissappointing result last year. Labour have got about as far as they can in Stockport. They have to break out of Stockport constituency into Cheadle or Hazel Grove to have any chance of a majority on the council and that is not going to happen. They are poor third or fourth in most wards in those constituencies.

[simonesaffron]

A Lab/LibDem coalition is a strong possibility in National Government but it will be a long time before you the same coalition in Stockport. 

[Dave]

...or (in both cases, perhaps?) a Lab/LibDem coalition?  A lot depends on UKIP, I suspect....

[simonesaffron]

The way things look at the moment Duke, your hope is very much a forlorn one. By the Autumn of 2015 we'll probably have both a Labour government and a Labour Council. We could in all possibility have a Labour Council after the next local election in 2014.   

[Duke Fame]

Miliband will get about 140K - I think about 50% of that will be his MP's salary, and the other 50% is his pay as Leader of the Opposition.  His wife is a barrister, and will almost certainly earn more.

Yes, tell us about their lifestyle, Duke.  What do you know that we don't?  In what way is it any more 'luxurious' than any other North London family with a combined income of about 350K?

'Champagne socialists' - a tired old cliche, which has been around as long as I can remember.     Why does it matter how rich or poor people are?  Indeed, should we not regard as rather admirable affluent politicians who want the wealthy to pay their fare share of taxes and are therefore, obviously, prepared to do so themselves? 

Well, there is nothing wrong at all but it's funny that you estimate his income being £140K, it's funny that they set the 50% tax band to start just above that level - So the very MP's setting the tax limits set the limit just above their own earnings, typical of the left, they want everyone else to pay for their spending.

So £140k, after tax, £60K which is not a bad wage but that pays for 2 mortgages on a £1.5m house & a £750k house. 2 sets of council taxes teh money going down, 3 x £10k holidays a year, hang on, he's overspending like a Gordon Brown

[Duke Fame]

Despite, being initially a raging Marxist, living the life of a penniless academic for many years after WW2 and seemingly having no money, Miliband senior (Adolphe, famous in his own right)  throughout the 70's,80's began to buy property in the then poorer parts of central london. Areas that would become trendy in the nineties and where properties would appreciate in value to stratastrophic levels. By the time of his death he had acquired an impressive property portfolio worthy of any successful capitalist and thought now to be worth many millions, some estimates have put it at £40/50M. I think that his widow ( David & Eds Mum) is still alive. However at some stage (if not already) a large chunk of this will be winging its way to our future Prime Minister.

It is some thing that the labour party plays down by not making any reference to it. But there is no doubt that Mister Ed is/will be a multi millionaire in his own right and that compared to he rest of us he is extremely wealthy.   

God loves a hypocrite and I think you may find a lot of that money has already gone to Ed & david through a trust set up to avoid inheritance tax, now there is nothing illegal about that but they are hypocrites.

You slipped in that "our future Prime Minister" line in very quietly. I really hope he and his lying sidekick never get near government again after the mess they made last time.

[Dave]

You have posted on this matter quite liberally in the past.

I doubt it, as tax avoidance isn't a matter that particularly interests me. 

[Bowden Guy]

The Benn family have also used a similar scheme to avoid paying what many people believe is their "fair" level of tax. However, TB is a man of the Left, so that's alright then.......

[Bowden Guy]

Dave, I have no idea whether Ed Miliband is a "multiple-millionaire and, frankly, I am not interested in the level of his wealth. The fact is, he has been involved in a tax avoidance scheme, the express purpose of which was to minimise the amount of tax he would have to pay to the Government. You have posted on this matter quite liberally in the past.

[Dave]

Do you not wonder how Milliband with an 'OK' salary & a wife with a relatively unremarkable career can live such a luxurious lifelstyle?

Miliband will get about 140K - I think about 50% of that will be his MP's salary, and the other 50% is his pay as Leader of the Opposition.  His wife is a barrister, and will almost certainly earn more.

Yes, tell us about their lifestyle, Duke.  What do you know that we don't?  In what way is it any more 'luxurious' than any other North London family with a combined income of about 350K?

'Champagne socialists' - a tired old cliche, which has been around as long as I can remember.     Why does it matter how rich or poor people are?  Indeed, should we not regard as rather admirable affluent politicians who want the wealthy to pay their fare share of taxes and are therefore, obviously, prepared to do so themselves? 

[simonesaffron]

Despite, being initially a raging Marxist, living the life of a penniless academic for many years after WW2 and seemingly having no money, Miliband senior (Adolphe, famous in his own right)  throughout the 70's,80's began to buy property in the then poorer parts of central london. Areas that would become trendy in the nineties and where properties would appreciate in value to stratastrophic levels. By the time of his death he had acquired an impressive property portfolio worthy of any successful capitalist and thought now to be worth many millions, some estimates have put it at £40/50M. I think that his widow ( David & Eds Mum) is still alive. However at some stage (if not already) a large chunk of this will be winging its way to our future Prime Minister.

It is some thing that the labour party plays down by not making any reference to it. But there is no doubt that Mister Ed is/will be a multi millionaire in his own right and that compared to he rest of us he is extremely wealthy.   

[Duke Fame]

By 'he', I assume Duke's near-libellous comment refers to Ed Miliband, and not his brother who is no longer an MP. 

I still don't understand why the personal wealth of politicians is such a source of fascination to Duke and others.  If it is Ed we are talking about, I only know what we can all read on Wikipedia and elsewhere on the internet, but there's no evidence that he has 'such wealth' at all.  As I said earlier, in all probability he lives somewhere in North London, in a house no grander than some of ours, but because of where it is it's now worth over a million.  To Bowden Guy that apparently makes him a multi-millionaire, but in reality that is no big deal nowadays in London.  He doesn't just have an MP's salary - as Leader of the Opposition he also has a further salary for doing that.   

So he's well paid, but probably not 'wealthy' in the way that the term is usually applied.  So let's get over it, and maybe hear a bit less of the politics of envy - or even the politics of evny!      

But not actually libelous.

Do you not wonder how Milliband with an 'OK' salary & a wife with a relatively unremarkable career can live such a luxurious lifelstyle? His father seemed to live an extremely rich lifestyle yet had a modest income.

Now, which party bleats on about paying their fair share in tax?