How about the pledge card above? I don’t know where it originated from. I do know that it was heavily publicised by the hard left Corbynista propaganda clickbait website Skwawkbox. At first I thought it was one of the better jokes on social networks. Then, I saw members of Corbyn’s laughably named ‘top team’, the likes of Dawn Butler and Rebecca Long Bailey, signing up to it. Butler, indeed, referred to it as a ‘no brainer’. As the excellent Mrs Martyn said on twitter, the ‘er’ was not needed.
This is not a manifesto for government. While it is childish and silly, there is something sinister about it to. At a time when the more dubious members of Corbyn’s cult following are issuing lists of Labour MPs who they deem unsupportive of the Blessed Leader, I’d say there is a lot more to it. Just a week ago, Luciana Berger was threatened with a no confidence motion in her Liverpool Wavertree constituency, whilst at the same time receiving industrial quantities of anti-Semitic, Jew-hating abuse. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said, in his usual thuggish manner, that if only Ms Berger would declare loyalty to Labour, all this abuse might end. Perhaps, he had this loyalty card in mind?
Allow me to quote the writer and comedian Lee Kern: “Anyone who actually signs a pledge to a political party is truly fucked up in the head. That is not normal behaviour. That is not how free people behave. Pick a value, not a team. If better ideas emerge, ditch your old ones. Do not sign a pledge of loyalty to a political party.” Exactly.
If loyalty pledges were around in the Kinnock, Smith, Blair, Brown and Miliband eras, you can bet your bottom dollar that the likes of Corbyn would never have signed it. Corbyn, lest we forget, voted against Labour more often than David Cameron. But then, sensible people do not put out loyalty cards for people to sign, to demand their loyalty at all times.
On the question of the pledge itself, would I support Labour under literally any leader? Well, frankly no. I happily voted for Callaghan, Kinnock, Blair, Brown, Miliband and, not so happily because of Brexit, Corbyn. The latter went well when Corbyn reverted to the hard Brexiter type he has always been. I’d never vote for a Labour Party led by the likes of Diane Abbott, Chris Williamson, John McDonnell or Corbyn. And would any Labour government be better than something else?
A Lib Dem government with its real values and not those of the Tory government of 2010 in which some of them had jobs would be infinitely better than Corbyn’s Labour. Unless Labour changes its tune, it is very likely the Lib Dems will get my vote next time. I am not voting for a hard Brexit, Jew-hating, terrorist supporting, pacifist Labour Party under any circumstances.
Labour is in such a mess that last week some of its members wanted a parliamentary debate about Winston Churchill who literally died in 1965. I owe them no loyalty and they can go whistle for mine.
If you want to know what a political organisation looks like when the hard left gain total control, then look at my old union the PCS. It lies in tatters, with virtually no power, no influence, a rapidly dwindling membership but plenty of far left politics. That’s what will happen with Labour and I won’t be pledging my loyalty anytime soon. Loyalty is earned, not demanded.
