In praise of Derek Draper

When Derek Draper started Labourlist it was hopeless as a blog but hugely entertaining, largely because Draper picked unnecessary fights in order to promote the blog and. I suppose, himself. It was inevitable that he would come unstuck and so it proved.

Since then I have had occasion to read some of the blog and I have been generally impressed by the thoughtful contributions of a number of its contributors. Plainly they are concerned about the hi-jacking of what they thought was their party by a bunch of mountebanks and charlatans. They are Labour's grass roots, which the party has never much heeded.

But credit where credit is due, Draper did start up this enterprise and it is still there and it appears to be working as a blog. There are people out there who are very adept at starting new enterprises but lack the skills to sustain them.

Perhaps Derek Draper is one suc