Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
#1
Michael Foot, former Labour leader, died today at the age of 96. I could never get on with his politics - far too left wing for me (and for much of the country, I suspect), but he always seemed a decent man to me.
RIP Michael Foot.
True friends stab you in the front.
#2
Posted this on the wrong thread:
RIP Michael Foot
A great activist, terrible party leader and orator par excellence.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
#3
Always found him in the 70s a very weak looking person, for walking all over, although I wasn`t into politics then, but just my opinion from that time.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
#4
Sid is right, he was a very poor leader and far too left wing for most people but at least he was a man of honour and principal unlike so many these days. RIP
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
#5
Ah shame re Michael Foot, sadly it comes to us all. I lived in London during his best days and he was truly a heroic barnstorming speaker, a speaker of the old school and a voice for the underprivileged. The earth moved when you heard him speak. He wasnt a politician for the modern age and had in some ways outlived his era by the time he reached the top of the Labour tree, but a great intellect.
I think he was the last of the great speakers. I havent heard anyone since with such power. As has been proved since by Tony Blair and others..what's needed these days more than anything else is telegenics.
But it is interesting to reflect on the power of speech and how it has been used in the past. It was the premier tool of the old time politician, practised brilliantly to good effect by some and to ghastly effect by others. Possibly the greatest public speaker of all time was Hitler, but while his speech making may have rallied his own nation to ecstatic frenzy, it didnt turned out so well for everyone else.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
#6
As a speaker I would put William Hague up against Michael Foot any day. But yes, he was indeed a good speaker though not to my taste.
I have been reading many tributes and I note how generous right wing commentators have been to him. I wonder if the left will be equally as generous of spirit towards Mrs T when the sad day of her demise comes along. I doubt it. (hat tip to journalist Iain Martin of the Wall Street Journal for that thought)
#7
Absolutely not - Foots oratory powers were far superior to Hague, who has leanred some good sixth form tricks but hasn't the depth, intelligence or passion to carry them off well enough.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#8
would not have lasted today though, too much of an intellect, liked good debate rather than soundbytes and photocalls.
R.I.P
#9
True - he had depth and substance, not like the current (and shadow) shower.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
#10
An intellectual..sadly missing in todays spin doctor era...who believed in what he said. Not just soundbites but he had feelings that he expressed with real commitment and passion.He will be sadly missed. To compare Hague, the baseball cap wearing 14 pints a day lout,with Foot is nothing short of an insult.
Socialism without public ownership is nothing but a fantastic apology." Michael Foot writing in the Daily Herald, 1956.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
#11
I think you will find that among senior level politicians, Hagues powers of parliamentary debate are almost second to none. Wedgie Benn is a firm admirer for instance.
But, for stump oratory, we have to say Foot and Churchill were a class apart from the rest.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#12
hague is an intelligent speaker, but far too easily dragged down into the yah boo stuff.
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,709
#13
A sad day indeed, a great parliamentarian and orator and one of life's true gentlemen to boot.
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
#14
There are very few M.P.s who I would have voted for, whatever their politics, inasmuch as they were of such stature that they should be represented in the House of Commons.
The late Michael Foot was one of them.
A man of principal who (unlike others) refused 'honours' or 'elevation' to the House of Lords.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
#15
He was only a stand in leader and by that time he was geting old, but when he was a young man one of the best speakers in the house and outside, he would go down to speakers corner stand up on the old soap box and say what he had to say to anyone who was there. As it has already been said on this forum nobody like that in the house now.