The arrogance and intolerance of the Blairites is breathtaking. Faced with the prospect of a runaway victory for Jeremy Corbyn who has come from repudiated outsider to front-runner in scarcely more than a month, their sole response is to prepare a coup against Corbyn if he is elected leader under the section 47 procedure of the Labour Party rules. It is hard to exaggerate the folly and selfish indulgence of such a move.
For the party to spend 3 months in continuous debate and hundreds of hustings in accordance with the legitimacy of party democracy, and then have an insider palace coup seek to overturn it via back-rooms intrigue within the PLP would be utterly disreputable. It would split the PLP and likely also the Labour Party as a whole. Maybe that is what they want: if they cannot get their own way, they would prefer to bust the party rather than accept democratic choice. That has always been the way: the Right has always used the Party as a base for its own domination and access to government, while the Left has always remained loyal to the Party it seeks to represent.
Of course the Blairites think their clinching argument is that if the Party moves away from their chosen course – or as the obsessive and delusional Blair himself has said: “a millimetre from my path” – Labour will lose. They like to recite endlessly that Blair won three elections (though he lost 5 million votes along the way), but what they never draw attention to is that his regime, copying the Tory one of course, led to the most cataclysmic collapse of the banking system and the global economy for 100 years – not something to write home about, apparently, particularly when Blair himself played a major part in causing the collapse by his so-called ‘light regulation’ (i.e. let the markets rip and hands-off laisser faire).
What the Blairites can’t get their head around is that there is now a monumental continent-shaking tide of public opinion building up against the cruel ideology of austerity that the Right, including the Blairites, have inflicted on the public. It is happened in Greece, Spain, Italy, and even France, and it is now in full swell in Britain. Jeremy Corbyn is its champion here, and he has the further advantage, as his appearances have repeatedly shown, of manifesting conviction, principle, integrity and above all authenticity.
Nor is this just about austerity alone, though that is central. It is also about sweeping away the Right-wing ideology of financial de-regulation, market fundamentalism, privatisation of all public services, and suppression of all institutions that truly represent real working people. The road to a Labour victory at the next election does not, repeat NOT, lie through continued austerity and an utterly discredited ideology; it lies through growth, the revival of wages, and the restoration of public services.
Well I never! How times have changed! That’s the label the Right pin on Loony Lefties, that they are nothing but Party poopers!.
Yes with Jeremy we will have power back to grassroots members and CLPs which the top downers in Labour hate – they want the power for themselves, but interestingly seem devoid of original ideas. We don’t need the ‘great men and women of history’ – the future is grassroots, bottom up, and democratic. Could be exciting times!
Please could someone explain “the section 47 procedure”.
There’s zero evidence at this time that a so-called “coup” is being planned, all we have at the moment is an unsubstantiated article written by Mark Leftly and Jane Merrick for the Blairite “Independent” newspaper a few days ago.
Without any evidence to substantiate this story, all there is, is a rather pathetic piece of scaremongering, with an anonymous “quote” that has zero credibility.
Don’t just accept this story at face value – it must be challenged for authenticity.
If the “Independent” newspaper wants its claims to be taken seriously, then it must name and shame the alleged “plotter”.
The Blair years were typified by constant and largely successful attempts to remove internal democracy and accountability inside the Party, and they always never trusted Party members.
Then Collins conference last year was always about further weakening both union influence and that of the local activists and replacing it with loose ‘supporters’ who they assumed would be influenced by the Mail and the Sun to vote the ‘right’ way.
How ironic therefore that far from securing the bankrupt ideology of right-wing ‘modernisers’ it has now all blown up in their faces and far from weakening further Party activists it has done the opposite and left the majority of right-wing welfare cutting Labour MPs looking like the unrepresentative, out of touch nasty selfish bunch of careerists that they are.
We live in interesting times but if that grassroots movement becomes beholden to the trade union movement then the game is over, The unions, from a grassroots point of view, are part of the problem …. entrenched, establishment, ennobled …. Oh, and JC, he’s not your bleeding messiah, he’s a means to an end …. if this is going to work, we need the next tranche of leaders to come forward … and soon.
And just who was it that founded founded the Party then?
As for unions being part of the problem you clearly haven’t experienced life in the average UK workplace so get back under your stone and carry on reading the Mail or whatever right-wing rag you get such reactionary nonsense from.
Interesting point ie is the Party to be a mere tool of the Unions, or has it the right to stand on its own two feet, left and right?
Didn’t Co-op Fabians,also have a say in founding, plus,many Fabians,or co/op stayed in the liberals, plus,how many union members are Toey members/voters
Thatcher said her greatest achievement was Tony Blair so it is not surprising that the New Labour mission is to eradicate socialist consciousness in the British working class.
…a job very nearly done, but for the last-minute shot in the arm from JC. He might even attract some of the deserters back from UKIP!
Of course had labour stayed in the left,we’d have lost the 97 election (the democrats win 5 election on the trot in the USA in the 30’s-40’s,so the Tories could have won in 97) so had labour stayed on the left we’d lphave lost in 97’2001 ,2005
And thatcher could have said, her greatest achievement, was labour never won again.
Left futures stated here two weeks ago that new labour had 2 election losses in 87′ and 92′ before a success
So by your definition,even though labour lost 5 million votes from 97-2010′ they also increased labour a vote by 5.2m from 1987-1997
Regarding the banking crisis, yea ,but ignoring it when it happened and thinking we can spend our way out of recession,made things worse in Greece