They're like London buses at the moment. First Derek Draper's LabourList, now John Prescott's 'Go 4th'. Geddit? The Observer has more on Mr Prescott's teaming up with Alistair Campbell.
Interestingly Derek didn't know that this project was about to launch when I mentioned it to him a week ago!
Tim Montgomerie
PS I've recorded a film for tomorrow's Politics Show on Labour and the web. BBC1 at noon.
GO 4TH into the wilderness.FO for short!
Posted by: michael mcgough | January 24, 2009 at 16:12
McLabour OUT!
Regardless of what the pathetic bunch of anti-English, criminally inept communists traitors do.
Posted by: Steve | January 24, 2009 at 16:21
Go 4th, ie after Con, LibDem, and what ? - UKIP, or the BNP ?
Sounds about right.
Good luck John Piss-take.
Alan Douglas
Posted by: Alan Douglas | January 24, 2009 at 16:25
They're trying very hard... :)
Posted by: Libbie Miller | January 24, 2009 at 16:35
Like London buses, Tim? Lovely cartoon in current Private Eye of long queue with caption "There's probably no bus."
Posted by: dogface | January 24, 2009 at 16:37
Bless 'em.
Posted by: Tony | January 24, 2009 at 16:59
ROFLMAO
Prescott Goes 4th.....
Labour Comes 5th in the General Election.....
Gordon Brown Goes Forth And Multiplies.....
Posted by: William Blake's Ghost | January 24, 2009 at 17:10
Oh my the election is still our to loose but
unless mclabour can scare the public they don't have a hope. I am expecting a very dirty campeign.
Posted by: The Bishop swine | January 24, 2009 at 17:10
Its good to see all these Labour types getting marketable skills.
I'd hate to be supporting them on the dole after the next general election.
Posted by: Man in a Shed | January 24, 2009 at 17:13
"Go 4th" ie F-Off - says it all, had to laugh !!!
Posted by: MG | January 24, 2009 at 17:21
Had to do a gooogle search for this site,
I think the, did you mean seach result say's it all ;o)
http://GO4thGoooglesearch.notlong.com
Posted by: T. England | January 24, 2009 at 17:21
Exactly why should we...its madness. We need to be utterly fair though those who demonstrate adequate or exceptional skills should be reward above losers and lazy no hopers. We can no longer allow talent to go unrewarded , it simply leads to trouble, to suppress those who for what ever reason are no longer blind. A guest of the most high needs little other justification. Those invited to the supper always know who they are.
Posted by: The Bishop swine | January 24, 2009 at 17:27
I have only one thing to say to that crook Prescott: Go 4th and multiply.
Posted by: John | January 24, 2009 at 17:32
MG - Yes "Go 4th And Multiply" was my reaction too....!!
Posted by: Sally Roberts | January 24, 2009 at 17:36
Any spider crabs in it? Or will it eat spider crabs? Or will be eaten by a spider crab?
Will there be a meeting of the avatars?
Posted by: snegchui | January 24, 2009 at 17:48
Note how Satan mimics the words with its utterances, “go forth" is the first and most important of commandments. We should indeed go forth and run hither and thither, as we are at important work. Labour’s godless sodomy sickens me. They are thrashers of the saints. I don’t care how many cross’s that sort trample, I do not want them ruling over me. Its time for the Christian right to stand up and be counted not content with this awful grinding mediocre washy waster of a government. Of course they favour Rome above England they are not Anglicans and they are not Unionists. They are selling us bit by bit to other Nations. Prehaps the answer can only come from the “Working class” simply because that class is the only place truly moral people dwell. I favour this notion of red-Torys I think its exactly what we need to win this next vital election. We need to foster home and hearth and community . Certainly we need a wing that can compete openly with the BNP. The English-Saxon’s are still present and for the most part know who they are. We are an English unionist party, we support the Crown.
Posted by: The Bishop swine | January 24, 2009 at 17:49
Go 4th? They're more likely to come 4th - after Cons, LibDems and BNP.
Posted by: Susan | January 24, 2009 at 18:08
Its OK if they/he 'come' 4th, but to go 4th and multiply, NO SIR!!!, we don't want MORE of HIM/THEM, not anywhere!
Posted by: Patsy Sergeant | January 24, 2009 at 18:21
Brown finds it impossible to engage in a proper political dialogue. Maybe these recent converts to the power of Thinterweb will be able to. I'm not holding my breath though.
Posted by: Conand | January 24, 2009 at 18:25
Labour certainly have gone forth and multiplied: the number of people on state benefits, the number of broken families, the number of unecessary regulations stifling businesses, the number of victims of knife and gun crime, the number of Eastern European workers, the number of CCTV cameras and the amount of tax the poorest workers have to pay.
Posted by: Rachel Joyce | January 24, 2009 at 18:29
I did not know Prezza was on Facebook..
Posted by: Pat | January 24, 2009 at 18:56
"McLabour OUT!"
The English Democrats might attract more support if they didn't come across as being an anti-Scottish pressure group.
Come to think of it, why do so many of them inhabit this website?
Posted by: RichardJ | January 24, 2009 at 18:58
The English Democrats are a funny lot. There is a very good case to be made for an English Parliament but the CEP blog is just a rabid collection of anti-Scottish slurs, conspiracy theories and the endless use of "Mc" as an insult. The reason they all end up on ConservativeHome is because their cause has zero popular support. They regularly get less than 1% of the vote in by-elections. I wonder what they'll all do with themselves once the Conservatives are in power. Will they still peddle the Scottish conspiracy myths?
I'm also not sure why ConservativeHome feels the need to reproduce the anti-Scottish rant from UKIPer Simon Heffer. I can accept this worthless sack of lard hates the Scots but he uses his Telegraph articles to argue that the (Euro region) South East of England should declare itself an independent state so he's no English nationalist.
Posted by: wtf | January 24, 2009 at 20:09
Well, they must realise their position in each constituency in the land at the next general election!
Posted by: strapworld | January 24, 2009 at 20:11
I note that your linked “Observer” article refers to “relaunch”, but this is old news – the Comrades launched this effort headed by Prescott, Campbell, Glenys Kinnockio, and Richard Caborn at their conference last autumn. Check out this post on the subject signed by Prescott in “The New Statesman” of 18 September 2008 - link:
http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/09/labour-party-term-campaign
So it’s hard to believe “Dolly” Draper wasn’t aware of this as there was a lot of publicity at the time – especially their silly slogan of “Go Fourth”. They should have been aware that name would backfire because – like so many of the posters here – I can’t wait for the Comrades to “Go Fourth” and Foxtrot Oscar! [And don’t forget they could be dubbed “Go Fifth” after their abysmal result at the 2008 Henley by-election when they came fifth – after the BNP, but in front of UKIP!]
And let’s hope this “relaunch” reflects what happens at the next general election – the Comrades fail!
Posted by: Jill, London | January 24, 2009 at 20:56
"Go 4th"...?!
Remind me... Is it tragedy that returns as farce, or the other way around? I honestly thought this was a wind-up. I suppose, though, with Prescott and Campbell behind it, naming a Labour website a near synonym for "F*** off" is actually quite appropriate. We're not allowed to swear on conhome, quite correctly, but that @is@ the very phrase I mouth to myself whenever either of those two creep into view.
Posted by: Graeme Archer | January 24, 2009 at 22:02
www.labourist.org makes www.labourlist.org look like the joke that it is.
Posted by: David XL | January 24, 2009 at 22:03
Prescott learning to use computers? If it had happened thirty years ago, he may have discovered "grammar check" ;)
Posted by: Super Blue | January 24, 2009 at 22:21
Well done Tim on your appearance! You were right to warn Labour against Control-Freakery but of course they simply can't resist it and this is where "Go 4th" may fail as its predecessors have done.
Posted by: Sally Roberts | January 25, 2009 at 12:25
Thanks Sally :-)
Posted by: Tim Montgomerie | January 25, 2009 at 12:47
Hello Tim,
Thanks for all your advice. Very constructive and some well made points that we'll take on board.
And as I said on the show, you're the first Tory to wish me good luck!
All the best,
JP
Posted by: John Prescott | January 25, 2009 at 15:43
My pleasure "JP".
The fact that you don't think you are too important to interact with bloggers on threads like this is a really good sign.
If you stay interacting and responding to people's comments you'll soon build up a following.
:-)
PS I hope to put up a YouTube of my advice/ your response later or tmrw.
Posted by: Tim Montgomerie | January 25, 2009 at 15:49
Well done on TV today Tim. Perhaps Labour should bring back old JP and dump GB. On the other hand JP did not take any responsibility for the mess that Labour has got us in to and for that reason Labour will as they say come 4th.
I think the time has come for all members of this Labour Government who continue to run our economy like a giant ponzi scheme to resign.
Perhaps people should stage a protest outside Parliament to demand that GB grant us an election. At the protest we could like the Icelanders bang some plant pot lids together and shake a few sauspans.
After all this type of protest appears to have worked in Iceland. I understand their PM has now stepped down.
Posted by: Joe Mooney | January 25, 2009 at 17:26
Give me strength!
So bankrupt of ideas and talent are 'New' Labour, that they brought back Campbell, Mandelson and now Prescott or if I may Liar, Sleazy Liar & Obnoxious Ignoramus.
THEY continue their blind support of the architect of this economic disaster who is now bankrupting the country in pursuit of his own political survival.
How sad. How very sad...
Posted by: John | January 25, 2009 at 18:52
Wow, tribalism came back pretty quick!
I have a low opinion of old Slugger Prescott but 1) he was willing to step outside his tribalist box and engage with Tim and ConHome and 2) this kind of consensus to bring politics down to a human level, to use technology to directly engage with electors and ideas that may not be common in our governing elites should be applauded. Its not a left-right thing, in this regard, its an *engagement* thing - its about how politicians, politically interested people and the wider public interact with eachother. Raw tribalism in the face of such a revolution is an affront to the shift away from interacting just once every four years at the ballot box!
/never thought I'd ever find myself even obliquely defending Prezza but as Iain Dale suggests, if he 'gets it' more that Dolly Draper and his uni-directional shout-site where The Leaders can speak down to the readers and not take comments then that has to be a truly great thing!
Posted by: Shaun | January 25, 2009 at 20:04
Tim - well done earlier. You were brilliant.
GoFourth is though however the same old story of the same old Labour. Will it build a grassroots campaign separate from the party? No... Will it campaign against a party policy? No... How can I be so sure? Because at the bottom of the site it tells us "Promoted by Ray Collins, General Secretary, the Labour Party on behalf of the Labour Party, both at 39 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HA". Enough said
Posted by: Dominic Llewellyn | January 25, 2009 at 20:45
It's weird, Go4th has hardly any content on it thus far and yet is infinitely more engaging than LabourList. We should all wish for a better quality of discourse in the Labour blogosphere; they do after all remain in power until that election is called.
Posted by: Tom FD | January 25, 2009 at 21:18
Joe Mooney- I'm pleased to see someone else shares my assessment of this Government's economic policy as a giant ponzi scheme!
As if any further proof were needed, local government pensions are now so in deficit that each taxpayer is forced to cough up £218 extra to make the numbers add up. Bernard Madoff may have swindled people out of millions, but at least he didn't force anyone to pay into his scam- with public sector pension liabilities, we're all roped in! Brown should be in jail.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | January 25, 2009 at 23:55
I`m not a John Prescott fan, but appreciate his polite message to Tim. Thought he came across pretty well in his TV interview yesterday - he has a sense of humour.
If he does decide to take part in this site, I hope he will not be subjected to cheap jibes. These do not do any good.
I have a question to put to Mr. Prescott. You maintained your support for retaining the Post Office in public ownership, but ducked the question about Lord Mandelson`s privatisation proposals.
Do you not understand that this once great institution has been damaged already, possibly beyond repair, by countless EU directives forcing the handing over of profitable sections to foreign competition?
Labour, Conservative and LibDem, they all stood by and let this happen without any complaint. Afraid of upsetting our European Partners, no doubt.
Posted by: Edward Huxley | January 26, 2009 at 08:38
When I look at what the Americans are offered in Obama and Clinton and in the UK Brown THE IDIOT P and Campbell it shows how really bad politics are in this country. Politics are now used by the gravy train riders and they are usually people who are no good for anything else I/ve heard that Prestcotts son is thinking of going into politics which speaks volumes about the Labour Party.
Posted by: robo1936 | March 22, 2009 at 14:57