I am greatly amused to read in the Independent (it isn’t) that “Labour is ramping up preparations to relaunch Mr Corbyn as a left-wing populist figure.” This is apparently “to ride an anti-politics mood following Brexit.” Before I join this bandwagon – as if – can anyone explain to me how a career politician who until 2015 spent 32 years avoiding any kind of responsibility is somehow part of some “anti-politics mood?” This is the new politics of the early 1980s when Corbyn’s old mucker Tony Benn led the Labour Party to the cliff-edge and 18 years of miserable opposition.
I struggle with the very idea of Corbyn being referred to as a “left wing populist figure” because there has never been a less popular leader of the Labour Party. There has never been a less competent one either. You cannot polish a turd.
I didn’t think Corbyn was all that bothered about being populist or even popular since his “style” demands that he spends the vast majority of his time avoiding the public spotlight. This is a man who doesn’t even know how to oppose never mind govern. And it has been confirmed over and over again, this time by his casual dismissal of Tony Blair returning to front line politics.
The very idea of Blair returning to the frontline is fanciful to say the least, given the levels of hostility to a man who led Labour to three successive general election victories. Iraq undoubtedly ruined his reputation but I have become tired of keeping quiet about his time as PM when this country was undoubtedly a better, happier and fairer place. Corbyn refers to the “nuanced differences of opinion” he has with Blair, whatever that is supposed to mean. An aversion to winning elections must be one of those nuanced differences.
Allow me to quote at length from the Independent: “Senior party officials reportedly believe his unpolished authenticity could gather support from the same anti-establishment sentiment that has heralded the popularity of the likes of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, and believe this could bolster his chances in a potential early election.” There is so much wrong with this assertion I do not know where to begin. The reason Corbyn is unpolished is because he is hopelessly out of his depth and has no idea how to be polished. He is undoubtedly authentic but who wants a leader who has authentically supported mass murderers and despots all over the world? And really: does anyone really, seriously, sincerely believe that Trump and Farage are somehow anti-establishment? These stupid white men ARE the establishment. Does Seumas Milne, Corbyn’s posh chief spinner, really not get this? Probably not.
The so called “anti-politics mood” that saw Britain vote to leave the EU was fired by a variety of different reasons and, eventually, it was Nigel Farage’s xenophobic anti-immigration stance that swung the vote.
Corbyn doesn’t even have any policies, he just has political positions. Little is thought out, nothing is costed and, worst of all, Labour is not trusted with anything by the electorate these days They can re-launch Corbyn all they like but if you put lipstick on a pig it’s still a pig. And with Corbyn in charge Labour is a pig in a poke.
