Not loving Labour’s loss

A Labour MP writes:

We don’t know the identity of this particular Labour MP but it doesn’t matter. What we do know, particularly those of us who were around in the 1980s, is that they are right.

I watched and listened to lowlights of the Labour conference on telly and radio yesterday and felt like I had emerged from a TARDIS. Not just any old TARDIS, though. This was one where yesterday’s reality was even worse than I remembered it.

It wasn’t just the decision of Labour’s conference to support Jeremy Corbyn’s fence-sitting ‘policy’ on Brexit, which is only, after all, the biggest issue facing Britain since World War Two. Of course, that was bad enough, not least the way it came about which, if you don’t follow these things, was a classic Labour stitch-up, organised I’ll wager by the fixers in places we used to call ‘smoke-filled rooms’. Smoke-filled rooms aren’t allowed these days. but cynical political stitch-ups are still the norm in the Corbyn era. It was what seemed to go on all the time. Frankly, it looked quite mad.

Yes, I was there in the 1980s and saw at close hand what the hard left did in both the labour movement and the Labour Party. The cult leader back in those days was Tony Benn. Whilst Benn was far more of an intellectual than Corbyn – and who isn’t? – he dealt in the same rhetorical, sloganising, simplistic nonsense. Eventually, Benn and the hard left never fully gained control of Labour, thanks to great people such as Neil Kinnock, John Smith, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Benn spent the rest of his life addressing the minority of people who hung on his every word. His was undoubtedly a cult following. Benn’s cult following was nothing compared to today’s adoration for Corbyn. And the comrades have gained control of Labour.

With Labour tanking in the polls, with Corbyn on -65 in satisfaction ratings, the delegates who supposedly represent ordinary Labour Party members and ordinary trade unionists, sang to Corbyn as if he was some kind of messiah. “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn,” they sang, in the same way darts fans sing “Oh, Michael van Gerwen”. Surely these people must know what we all know: Corbyn is an elderly backbencher who has never had an original idea in his life? They must know his lifelong disloyalty to past Labour leaders and his close links to terrorists and anti-Semites. They must know that Corbyn has never held a position of power in his entire political life since he was chair of the housing committee of Haringey council in the 1970s. He is a career backbencher. And yet his cult following chanted his name. Why?

My guess is that the senior comrades, who are mostly old white men, just like Corbyn himself, know that the Corbyn project, which has been to push the Labour Party to the far left fringes of politics once and for all, is under threat. He represents the symbol of everything they believe in. They fear that once Corbyn goes, the project will go with it. I hope their fears are right but the real question is this: once Corbyn has gone following a potentially disastrous election, will there be anything left of Labour worth saving?

I agree with everything the anonymous Labour MP said. Labour looks exactly how he describes it. I see people who regard self-improvement as an anathema. You should work less, be taxed more and you should definitely not aspire to be better off. Even the Labour slogan says it all: ‘For the many, not the few’. Why not, ‘For the many, not just the few’? Why should we not want our children to be better off and more successful than we were? Why should we oppose properly regulated and fairly taxed wealth creation? What we need is not stopping people trying to improve their lives, we should be ensure everyone has the genuine opportunity to fulfil their talents, regardless of background. Labour might believe this, but I just don’t see it.

Above all, though, was the regular chanting of Corbyn’s name. This was not solely by young idealists who see something new and refreshing about Labour’s leadership (spoiler alert: there is nothing new and refreshing about Corbyn), this was middle aged – and older – mainly men chanting the name of another old man. And they voted, in a classic Labour stitch-up, by a show of hands to support Corbyn rather than actually have a policy on Brexit. Not only that, the chair initially stated Corbyn had lost but Labour’s had left general secretary Jennie Formby, the former partner of UNITE dinosaur Len McCluskey and mother of his child, told her that the vote to support Corbyn had won. So she changed her decision. Labour: back to the 1980s and before.

If, as a former member and lifelong supporter, I was embarrassed by Labour, god alone knows what centre ground voters will be feeling. Can I really vote for a party that beatifies an elderly man who is more Chauncey Gardener than Tony Benn? Labour does indeed deserve what’s coming to it. I’m not sure the people do.