Did you hear the one about the Labour MP who has suffered from depression being criticised by another politician and then being told he needed “psychiatric help”, “obviously very depressed and disturbed” and “should see a GP”? Then may I introduce you to Kevan Jones MP and “Red” Ken Livingstone.
Livingstone has been chosen by Jeremy Corbyn to be co-chair of the Labour Party’s defence review, without bothering to mention it to Labour’s shadow secretary for defence Maria Eagle. Kevan Jones had the temerity to question whether Livingstone knew anything on the subject of defence which prompted Red Ken’s crass attack. Livingstone declined on a number of occasions to apologise for his comments until he was told to do so by Corbyn – well, we need party discipline, don’t we? It’s a subject the Labour leader knows plenty about.
Livingstone’s lame defence was that he knew nothing about Mr Jones’ mental health issues which is strange since I do and he’s not even my MP. Yes, I know I maintain a keen interest in mental health matters, so when I heard about Mr Jones’ illness, it stuck in my mind. I simply don’t believe Livingstone’s faux ignorance and actually his belated apology is utterly worthless.
The words used to attack Kevan Jones were downright unpleasant, regardless of whether he had mental health issues or not. Livingstone suggests that if anyone is critical of him, he must be mentally ill. You simply cannot read his comments any other way. He says so in three distinct comments. He was simply saying what he thinks and he has been caught out.
But look at the apology itself: “I unreservedly apologise to Kevan Jones for my comments. They should not have been made at all, let alone in this context. I also make this apology because Jeremy Corbyn is right to insist on a more civil politics and as a party we should take this seriously”. To which I reply: bollocks. This is precisely the type of “more civil politics” you get when the hard left are in charge. This is what they are like, this is how they operate.
If it speaks volumes about Livingstone’s unsuitability to be co-chair of Labour’s defence review – it’s absolutely spot on that he has no specialist knowledge on the subject – what does it say about the judgement of the Labour leader himself? Livingstone has clearly been appointed as Ms Eagle’s minder. It’s an overtly political move, with a quite deliberate purpose. It’s not “new politics”: it’s the old Bennite/Militant politics of the 1980s of silencing the opposition. It’s every bit as cynical as the old left politics of the past, if not more so, by pretending there’s something new about it.
Corbyn’s shambolic leadership gets more ruthlessly exposed by the day. His judgement is woeful, he U-turns like any other politician (yesterday he believed that terrorists should not be shot dead if they were wandering round with Kalashnikovs shooting people, but today he thinks it’s all right) and he surrounds himself with political placemen (never women), like IRA sympathiser John McDonnell, the day before yesterday’s loose cannon Ken Livingstone, his policy advisor Andrew Fisher (currently suspended from the party for urging voters to support Class War in an election) and Seumas Milne, his pro Putin communications supremo who made excuses for the murderers at the offices of Charlie Hebdo. And let’s not even mention Diane Abbott dealing with personal correspondence – some say writing Christmas cards – during a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
The story is about Livingstone, Corbyn and the sorry implosion of the Labour Party. There are hundreds of thousands of people who voted for Corbyn to be Labour’s new leader. They must be thrilled that he now is, but not as thrilled as the Conservative Party who can’t believe their luck. And who can blame them?
