I fear that politics in Britain is, finally, leaving me behind. Somewhere between a Tory government that talks centre but walks right and a Labour opposition that marches further to the far left and even further from the electorate. Who speaks for me?
The current debate, such as it is, about taking military action leaves me even more dazed and confused. A prime minister who fails to produce, at least to my eyes, a convincing or even credible case for attacking ISIS in Syria and an opposition leader, if you can call him a leader, who fails to produce any kind of argument at all, save for his enduring pacifism. I’ve decided to oppose air strikes, but with little conviction either way. It’s an “if in doubt kick it out moment.
The cynic in me sees things with more cynicism than ever. David Cameron wouldn’t, would he, take the country to war with half an eye on further dividing an already divided Labour Party? Jeremy Corbyn wouldn’t, would he, direct his henchmen to lean on MPs in order to vote “the right way” with the suggestion that de-selection might not be far away if they don’t? I’m afraid I don’t think either scenario is impossible and certainly believe the latter to be the case, no doubt about it.
As a lifelong Labour supporter and a member from 1975 to 2003 and again from 2015, are they really there for me anymore?
I have noted that Corbyn has urged his MPs to consult his local party members about military strikes, but not the ordinary voters who live in those constituencies, as if they don’t matter. With the activist base of Labour swollen by an influx of far left supporters, it’s obvious why Corbyn is encouraging the comrades but as someone who was around during the dark days of the Militant tendency burrowing deep into the party back in the 1970s and 80s, you can see where this is going, My MP at that time was one Tony Benn who, strangely enough, never, ever consulted with the members of his constituency on any issues at all. The same Tony Benn who was Corbyn’s mentor. Funny that.
The choice really is Labour or nothing. If Labour moves away from the “broad church” it used to be and becomes a full blown hard left party in its leader’s image, then there really will be nowhere to go. I saw how Tony Benn and the comrades led Labour to 18 years of opposition from 1979, I saw my old union destroyed by the friends of Jeremy Corbyn and now I see the man himself moving Labour to the fringes of far left politics from which they can never win.
In order to win a general election, Labour has to reach out to swing voters. There are a lot of swing voters and none of them usually favour the extremes. But first, it needs to remember its own base, those of us who are of the left, always have been, always will be, and persuade them, us, that there is a place for us in Labour and a point to voting for it.
When I look at Corbyn, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott, I do not see future leaders of the country. I see lifetime rebels and in Abbott’s case a loose cannon and a hypocrite. I see the friends of Hamas and Gerry Adams, a woman who really said that Mao did more good than bad. I just see incompetence. Corbyn, a man who has positions, not policies; McDonnell a nasty piece of work with friends in low places and Diane Abbott who thought writing her Christmas cards at a vital meeting of Labour MPs was the most important matter of the day.
If you were a swing voter and you heard the intolerant far left calling those of the centre left “Tories”, “Blair-lite” and saying that they should all “fuck off and join the Tories”, would you be more or less inclined to vote Labour? Hmm, that’s a tricky one.
I’m not leaving Labour, at least for the time-being. There’s too much to lose at the moment and there’s still something worth fighting for. But once the hard left gather and own all the machinery, as they do at my old union the PCS, they cannot be shifted and everyone loses, except the toy town revolutionaries who have the power they crave, which in terms of representing those who depend on it means no power at all.
