tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77418619991947280802024-03-13T13:40:55.427+00:00The Centre LeftFree thinking encouraged, common sense welcome (please leave your prejudices at the door).Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.comBlogger545125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-62913143936896367242021-11-06T15:54:00.005+00:002021-11-06T21:52:07.008+00:00The exception of stupid<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IZx1w8byY88/YYajujsWl3I/AAAAAAAAObg/YUjFhozNRHghnI7YjVQ4D70DgJOjMW4jwCNcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="509" height="266" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IZx1w8byY88/YYajujsWl3I/AAAAAAAAObg/YUjFhozNRHghnI7YjVQ4D70DgJOjMW4jwCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/image.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is a simple and obvious rule of thumb in politics about policy choices, and it is this: keep your attention ruthlessly focused on the issues voters care most about.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When Labour wins, it wins because it has thought about the things that really matter to the public; thought about what positive contribution it can make to them, in line with its values; and has promised to deliver them up on a plate.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's not exactly rocket science, agreed. But bear with me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In contrast, it is common to hear friends and colleagues say "but nobody cares about that issue", or "it never comes up on the doorstep", as </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">both </span><a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/david-lammy-labour-party-conference-identity-politics-b957866.html" style="font-family: georgia;" target="_blank">David Lammy</a><span style="font-family: georgia;"> and <a href="https://twitter.com/intelligence2/status/1456250442925678597" target="_blank">Jess Phillips</a>* have been heard to say recently. Now, in the main, that is a sound approach. People are rarely going to win parliamentary elections on the basis of constitutional reform, or international aid, because they are issues way down a voter's list of priorities.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So far, so good.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Except that there is an exception to the rule. Let's call it "the exception of stupid".</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Let's suppose you have a policy or a position which is so monumentally stupid, so way out of touch with the views of most voters - or worse, morally abhorrent to them - that <i>its mere inclusion in your programme shoots your credibility on everything else</i>. It does not make people vote for you, but it makes some - a significant few but enough - people say, "I can never vote for them while they have that as a policy."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Does this happen? Of course it does. Michael Foot's programme in 1983 was terrible, but its most standout moment for many was the commitment to unilateral nuclear disarmament. For me, coming from a military family in the middle of the Cold War, it immediately shouted from the rooftops that this was a party unserious about government. But it said to the same to pretty much any swing voter who had ever voted Conservative. It was therefore a "stupid" policy, a credibility-killer.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Of course, different policies turn off different segments, but you only need one or two stupids to turn off enough voters, such that the rest of your policies could be utterly brilliant and you would still lose.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now, during the Corbyn years, enough people within the party managed to explain away antisemitism by dint of it being "Labour fighting with itself about Palestine" or "factional in-fighting" - continually downplaying it as an issue until it grew to such an extent that the party was eventually censured by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, a moment for many of shame </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">unparalleled</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">in the party's century-long history. And it undoubtedly affected Labour at the ballot box. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">How so, we ask, if it was not high on the voters' list of priorities? Because it was a <i>stupid</i> position: most voters are not racist and the mere whiff of racism turns them off. For a while, antisemitism lingered under the radar but, once it had broken through and voters had seen what the party now really looked like in the cold light of day, they didn't like what they saw. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And those credibility issues represent how the party really came to be trounced in 2019, not its (fairly anodyne) policy programme. We should have learned from that, but perhaps we are not that smart.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fast-forward to the present day.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is becoming increasingly clear that the party's current position, in favour of trans self id, fully qualifies for the exception of stupid.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As Tony Blair put it <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/labour-in-crisis/2021/05/tony-blair-without-total-change-labour-will-die" target="_blank">in a New Statesman piece in April</a>**, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zjibzx2WTPk/YYabq9PloSI/AAAAAAAAObY/GVhn5e3wcsMA0G6HRjtCbydHF5LQK0PcgCNcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="680" height="99" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zjibzx2WTPk/YYabq9PloSI/AAAAAAAAObY/GVhn5e3wcsMA0G6HRjtCbydHF5LQK0PcgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h99/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That is, Labour is signing up to something the public is truly unlikely to wear once it understands what it actually means: that is, "anyone can enter a woman's safe space by simply saying they feel like a woman". </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Try proposing that on the doorstep to a few fathers with daughters, in the rougher parts of urban Britain, and see how you get on.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In short: we are currently putting ourselves into a place that soon </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">we</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">will not be able to back out of, as and when self id is shown to be a total disaster; in Scotland, for example. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">When scandals erupt over detransitioning young adults. When sexual assaults occur in women's safe spaces. When further academics, scientists, writers and artists are "cancelled", because they challenged the "Emperor's New Clothes" Stonewall </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">orthodoxy, that biological sex is not immutable and can in fact magically be changed if you believe it hard enough</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Such incidents are already happening, but their severity and frequency will sadly increase. And a cohort of random people will suffer, whose suffering will be entirely preventable.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh, Labour will not be alone, that's true. The Democrats are also busy painting themselves into a corner, as are the SNP, Canada's Liberals and a bunch of other leftish parties across the world.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">But there will be no safety in numbers when it all comes crashing down. None at all. Labour will be shown no mercy by the voters, and we will deserve it.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i>*Full disclosure: in general, I believe Jess Phillips to be an admirable politician, but also feel her to be terribly, terribly wrong on this and its impacts for women.</i></span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">**Hat-tip to </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://twitter.com/JRogan3000">@JRogan3000</a> for the clip.</span></span></i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-9504626816020923492021-10-08T08:32:00.000+01:002021-10-08T08:32:30.389+01:00How not to lose culture wars<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UIkvx5nelDo/YV_zSPFFcRI/AAAAAAAAOQ0/CFvQ1Uy63sA97nJ0SC7-ifExVdX5Us49gCNcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="750" height="229" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UIkvx5nelDo/YV_zSPFFcRI/AAAAAAAAOQ0/CFvQ1Uy63sA97nJ0SC7-ifExVdX5Us49gCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h229/image.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">So, I wrote a little chapter for our <i>Labour Uncut</i> book, on culture wars, which Labour over recent years - and </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">still</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">even today - seems hell bent on losing. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can read it <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2021/10/06/how-not-to-lose-culture-wars/">here</a> or download the whole e-book <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Labours-Reset-The-Path-Back-to-Power.pdf">here</a> (Chapter 4, starting on page 15).</span></p>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-88980030777396309122021-09-20T10:35:00.003+01:002021-09-20T12:24:02.167+01:00John McDonnell spectactularly misreads the British public on Corbyn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2019/07/03/11/john-mcdonnell.jpg?width=968&auto=webp&quality=75&crop=968%3A645%2Csmart" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="267" src="https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2019/07/03/11/john-mcdonnell.jpg?width=968&auto=webp&quality=75&crop=968%3A645%2Csmart" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And so John McDonnell </span><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-conference-starmer-mcdonnell-corbyn-b1922357.html" style="font-family: georgia;">is interviewed in the Independent</a><span style="font-family: georgia;"> in the run-up to conference, aiming to stir up a sense of grievance over Jeremy Corbyn's continuing, enforced absence from the Parliamentary Labour Party.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Trouble is, he seems blissfully unaware that the voters Labour needs to win a general election think the polar opposite: they don't want Corbyn anywhere near Labour. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">In polling specially commissioned by Labour Uncut, </span><a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2021/09/19/revealed-new-polling-shows-1-in-4-non-labour-voters-considering-backing-starmer-at-the-next-election-but-they-want-a-decisive-break-from-the-corbyn-era-60-say-expel-corbyn-if-he-doesn/" style="font-family: georgia;">Atul Hatwal has written</a><span style="font-family: georgia;"> how 60% of potential switchers to Labour would be more likely to do so, if Corbyn were actually </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">expelled</i><span style="font-family: georgia;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh.</span></div>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-32805975462881948302021-07-13T10:25:00.000+01:002021-07-13T10:25:29.272+01:00In the most important union election in decades, Coyne is the only choice to rehabilitate Unite and Labour<span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4dAtdov2xfc/YO1bv4l1ChI/AAAAAAAANUk/r-TWbaw-_fwt3NIuO2X4FiTVAKuKhG7XgCNcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4dAtdov2xfc/YO1bv4l1ChI/AAAAAAAANUk/r-TWbaw-_fwt3NIuO2X4FiTVAKuKhG7XgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />This is not an idle claim. In the 1980s, the unions were still largely regarded as centrist ballast against the worst excesses of a hard left spearheaded by figures such as Derek Hatton, Ted Knight, Eric Heffer, and Tony Benn. But they are so no longer: over the last decade, unions have been way to the left of the party, and that has had a major impact on its political direction.<br /><br />And never, prior to Corbynism, has the party been so much under the thumb of a single union leader. Len McCluskey’s place-people sat for five years at the heart of power in the party.<br /><br />Admittedly, it is less so now – scandal-hit McCluskey is now a busted flush and Unite in an interregnum until the new leader is chosen – but that could easily turn out to be a temporary state of affairs. Choose the wrong leader and, doubt it not, there will be a return to the bad old days.<br /><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span>At this point there is the clearest of choices: forward into a world where corruption, far-left politics and what can only be described as political blackmail become a thing of the past in the party; or backwards, Unite once again dragging Labour towards an electoral abyss and providing a rallying-point – and, most importantly, deep pockets – for the far left.<br /><br />Its propaganda. Its vexatious prosecutions. Its expensive-yet-futile legal defences of its chosen sons and daughters and its vanity projects. All areas on which it openly squanders its members’ subs.<br /><br />Gerard Coyne has not only shown himself an honourable candidate, looking to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9194795/Len-McCluskeys-rival-sees-red-union-bill-hotel-complex-soars-74million.html">wipe out corruption</a> in the face of terrible attacks on him personally and professionally (you may recall he was sacked by McCluskey in 2017, on apparently <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-40345438">trumped-up charges</a>). But he is self-evidently the only candidate interested in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-57270253">prioritising the labour rights of Unite’s members</a> over far-left politicking.<br /><br />Yes, it is a relief that McCluskey’s most obviously-annointed successor, the tainted Howard Beckett – currently suspended from Labour after a race-tinged tweet about Priti Patel and previously <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/top-unite-official-fined-in-miners-payout-scandal-z55v7djx9">embroiled in a miners’ compensation fund scandal</a> every bit as dodgy as that of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41688280">another Corbynite, Ian Lavery MP</a> – has withdrawn.<br /><br />But the two remaining candidates, Steve Turner and Sharon Graham, despite seeming marginally less combative towards the Labour Party under Keir Starmer than Beckett, both have pretty much exactly the same far-left politics as him. Furthermore, after the deal Turner did with him to drop out, it seems a reasonable bet that Beckett will have a significant role in any Unite led by him.<br /><br />No, it has never been a question of a broad spectrum of candidates in this election, rather one of complete polarisation; one moderate candidate pitted against three extreme ones, two of which are still standing and both endorsed by the toxic McCluskey.<br /><br />If you doubt Turner’s far-left credentials, listen to this. Whereas even McCluskey never owned up to being a member of Militant, the far-left grouping which nearly destroyed Labour in the 1980s, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-56747546">Turner did</a>. Yes, sometimes teenage Trots change their politics later in life, but Turner has shown little sign of doing so. He is <a href="https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/communist-party-backs-steve-turner-to-lead-unite">backed by the Communist Party</a> and still pushing for restoration of the whip to Jeremy Corbyn.<br /><br />On the issue of graft, he has half-heartedly said there should be greater “transparency” about <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/steve-turner-unite-len-mccluskey-hotel-birmingham_uk_6088572ee4b05af50dbc4599">the union’s pissing away of £98m on a hotel and conference centre, built by a friend of McCluskey</a>, while at the same time happily endorsing said development as “world class”.<br /><br />But Graham – supported by Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century (rs21), among others – is no slouch when it comes to the politics of the far left, her politics are still full-fat-McCluskeyite, outlined <a href="https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32606">here</a>. She is in charge of the “Organisation and Leveraging” Unit: “leveraging” meaning Unite’s unpleasant practice of intimidating corporate bosses, sometimes in their own homes, as the Ineos dispute of 2013 evidenced. As for “organisation”, insiders say that, with her in charge of membership, recruitment has dropped off a cliff.<br /><br />Now, all other things being equal, there is a good Labour case for electing another woman general secretary, following the election of Christina McAnea at Unison. Graham has also stated – and this seems highly believable in the trade union world – that she has been the recipient of sexist, online abuse during the campaign.<br /><br />But all things are not equal. Furthermore, even the most ardent feminist might pause before putting their ‘X’ next to Graham’s name. The far left is not exactly known for its zero tolerance to misogyny in the first place: but she is also <a href="https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/51712/Back+Sharon+Graham+for+Unite+union+general+secretary">supported by the house journal of the Socialist Workers Party</a>, from which even hard-left fellow-traveller Owen Jones <a href="https://www.indy100.com/news/owen-jones-on-trump-rally-7562891">disassociated himself</a>, as “a cult which covered up rape”. For once, Jones was correct, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jul/29/adieu-comrade-delta-swp-sex-allegations">the “Comrade Delta” scandal</a> amply demonstrated.<br /><br />In other words, if you truly want a Unite which can dig itself and Labour out of the mire of the Corbyn years, there is only one realistic choice, and that’s Gerard Coyne.<br /><br />A vote for Turner or Graham means a return to constant battle over the coming years, and the maintenance of a power base for the forces which have poisoned the Labour well for too long.<br /><br />Yes, they may struggle to be as wily, or as allegedly corrupt, as McCluskey.<br /><br />But frankly, if one of them wins, the only winning option for Labour is to detach itself from Unite entirely and seek other sources of funding. We don’t need Unite’s tainted money so badly that we should be willing to throw the next election and the one after that.<br /><br />The choice really is that stark.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2021/07/10/in-the-most-important-union-election-in-decades-coyne-is-the-only-choice-to-rehabilitate-unite-and-labour/">Labour Uncut</a></i></span></div>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-21082040581383894072021-06-16T18:21:00.002+01:002021-06-16T18:21:24.209+01:00Starmer’s disastrous Pride<span style="font-family: georgia;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o84JP5HgOtY/YMoyjmQQFqI/AAAAAAAANEM/_7GgvtsWtyo1u9Lf3mWsV7YzzMO2l6WzgCNcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="900" height="220" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o84JP5HgOtY/YMoyjmQQFqI/AAAAAAAANEM/_7GgvtsWtyo1u9Lf3mWsV7YzzMO2l6WzgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h220/image.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Clip from the Pink News video</i></td></tr></tbody></table>It was all going so well.<br /><br />Keir Starmer, having made it intact through his first year of leadership, had managed – admittedly, not entirely by design – to remove the toxic presence of his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, from the party and win back a majority on the party’s ruling NEC. And even in the face of an unprecedented “vaccine bounce” for the current occupant of No. 10, he was nevertheless starting to be seen as Labour’s most serious leader in more than a decade, whether or not his electoral ship might come in in 2023-24.<br /><br />His recent “soul-baring” interview with the ever-dreadful Piers Morgan, which could have turned out so badly, ended up showing him in a positive light, as a genuine and humble everyman, in a way neither of his two predecessors could have ever achieved.<br /><br />All in all, a creditable first year: albeit with much left to do, not least on the unpleasant nitty-gritty of eliminating anti-Semitism.<br /><br />Yes, it was all going so well – until last week. The week he decided to alienate a large swathe of women in his own party and many thousands outside it.<br /><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span>A little background: during the last two weeks, the following things happened.<br /><br />One. The boss of Stonewall – which, despite being an overtly political organisation, still provides a system of diversity accreditation to hundreds of public and private bodies in the UK – compared the idea of being “gender-critical” – essentially, to insist on the immutability of biological sex – to anti-Semitism, not only a woefully wrong but an abhorrent comparison.<br /><br />Almost immediately afterwards, Equalities minister Liz Truss followed the lead of the EHRC and recommended withdrawal for government departments, and a former list of <a href="https://archive.is/20210519133811/https:/www.stonewall.org.uk/diversity-champions-members">900-plus Stonewall Diversity Champions</a> is now diminishing rapidly.<br /><br />It is difficult to overestimate the significance of this move. Stonewall, during prior decades a hugely-respected organisation, which did much to bring about the liberalisation of laws on homosexuality during the last Labour government, seems now to be so broken that it is difficult seeing it survive through to the end of the decade – at least, not without a huge shake-up in its management and culture. A seeming obsession with trans campaigning above all other facets of lesbian, gay and bi politics has driven many to a new organisation, the <a href="https://lgballiance.org.uk/">LGB Alliance</a>.<br /><br />And that is not to mention training given by Stonewall according to guidelines that go far beyond what the 2010 Equalities Act actually stipulates, making them look ignorant of the law as it is, as well as conveniently forgetting its special protections for women.<br /><br />LGBT+ Labour, an organisation which has often taken its moral cues from Stonewall, is also compromised and in trouble.<br /><br />But Stonewall’s attitude of “agree with us or you’re a transphobe” is proving toxic to the debate about how far trans rights should go without harming the rights of others, particularly women.<br /><br />This stance has not been without consequence. Former Stonewall founders Simon Fanshawe and Matthew Parris have, more in sorrow than in anger, gravitated towards a more LGB- than LGBT+-oriented version of minority rights. And, to state the bleedin’ obvious, it is hardly transphobic merely to suggest that the gay rights struggle and the trans rights struggle have different challenges and different ends.<br /><br />Two. Last Thursday, policy analyst Maya Forstater won her appeal against her employer, the Centre for Global Development, which had dispensed with her services after her tweets declared her gender-critical views. It was loudly applauded by many Labour women who had been following the case, one with major implications for freedom of speech in this area, as <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/maya-forstater-woman-who-lost-job-over-transgender-views-wins-appeal-against-employment-tribunal-12329249">Mr Justice Choudhury’s judgement highlighted</a>.<br /><br />The previous day had been the day of Starmer’s intervention. It was not being caught off guard in an interview, no: it was a fully-”premeditated” piece to camera for Pride Month, reaffirming <a href="https://twitter.com/PinkNews/status/1402586773499244549">support for trans self-id</a>.<br /><br />Perhaps no-one should be really surprised at this: although he did not go as far as his leadership rivals Nandy or Long-Bailey, he offered support for this position last March in the run-up to becoming leader, and then reiterated it <a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/12/03/keir-starmer-pinknews-awards-2020-speech-gender-recognition-act-reform-trans-self-id/">last December</a>.<br /><br />But the situation has moved on since then: the Keira Bell case of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-55144148">a young, detransitioned woman suing the UK´s premier hospital for gender reassignment</a> cast light on the fact that teenagers and younger were being offered puberty-blocker drugs when clearly not at an age to make informed consent. That is, potentially making life-changing decisions about their future sex lives when not remotely at an age to actually have sex.<br /><br />The Bell case also showed that, when trans lobbying comes up against the current law in a British court, it is often found crashingly wanting, and Forstater’s win last week has only reinforced that impression. One would have thought that a former Director of Public Prosecutions might have noticed this.<br /><br />Or, for that matter, the patent possibility of moral hazard with self-id, and the safeguarding issues that might result. As Fanshawe put it last week on the Today programme: “we have safeguarding for children not because all adult males are paedophiles…we have it because of the very small number of kids who need to be protected.” The same goes for women-only shelters or prisons.<br /><br />Let’s take a moment to explain what self-id actually means: it means that someone no longer requires a legally-recognised Gender Recognition Certificate to be treated in law as a member of the opposite sex. In particular, it means that any biological man who “feels like” a woman, may elect to declare themselves as such, and have a legal right access to all-female toilets; all-female prisons; all-female domestic abuse shelters; all-female competitive sport.<br /><br />Although some of these things are becoming de facto rights (e.g. the Olympic committee is allowing trans women to compete as women, despite countless studies confirming the superior strength of a male body even years after hormone treatment), none are so far actually enshrined in British law and are therefore challengeable.<br /><br />What did Labour women think about this act of video solidarity by their new leader? Not a lot, it would seem, for many.<br /><br />Now, there are some such as Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, who have been vocal in favour of self-id. But many, many female Labour MPs who are not are nevertheless simply too afraid about the pile-ons they invite by the act of speaking out against.<br /><br />And if you want to have a good indicator of how many support gender-critical ideas against the radical trans lobby and are fed up of being browbeaten, you need look no further than the fact that Rosie Duffield, seen by many of the radical trans left as their bête noire, was last month <a href="https://twitter.com/rosieduffield1/status/1394346388742451205">re-elected as Chair of the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party</a>. This self-evidently would not have happened were a majority of women MPs not seriously unconvinced by the party’s current position on trans rights.<br /><br />Why is this? Well, it´s pretty straightforward. First, women are concerned that they are not being consulted about the encroachment of biological males, however harmless the majority may be, in their safe spaces. Or that they find it unfair that they should be able to compete in women’s sports with superior physical strength.<br /><br />But second, and more disturbingly, is use of language. Language – especially pronouns – has become so important that the very words “woman” and “mother” are steadily being removed from the lexicon, to be replaced by such idiocies as “vagina-haver” or “birthing parent”, so as not to upset those who do not share in those physical attributes. Data on sex is being changed in databases, or not kept at all and replaced with “gender”, a construct Stonewall want to be self-defining.<br /><br />If this is not an erasure of women in an entirely non-hyperbolical use of the word “Orwellian”, it is difficult to see what is.<br /><br />And data, a dull subject, is it not? Not so here. In Health, Education and other government departments, we soon may not have records on who is actually a genetic male or female, with predictably terrifying consequences of researchers trying to make sense of statistics, and the risks of who may die of what. For example, how do you contact a biological male over prostate testing, if you don´t actually know they are male?<br /><br />Finally, it is not enough merely to ignore this issue and assume it will eventually go away. Women are being piled onto on social media, publicly shamed and, in some instances, sacked from their jobs, for merely disagreeing with the prevailing orthodoxy.<br /><br />And it is this, the complete shutdown of debate and the immediate assumption of bigotry and bad faith on the part of the gender-critical, that is more than anything going to lead Stonewall and others off a cliff (and that is even before we start with the very real and tricky safeguarding issues relating to children and vulnerable young adults, particularly those with autism).<br /><br />Now, it is unusual for Uncut to find itself on the same side of an argument as both Liz Truss and Ruth Serwotka, but here we are.<br /><br />It is not an understatement to say that there are now women across the left, from the moderate left to the hard left, who are livid. These women are not bigots. They are women with reasonable doubts who are being told to shut up: by a small number of women and a seemingly larger number of men.<br /><br />Furthermore, for moderate women who have already put up with five years of Corbynite agression, often tinged with misogyny, it is particularly galling to suddenly find that the party’s new leader, whom many have seen as the light at the end of the tunnel, lining up with the very people trying to erase them – biological women – as a group with a unique shared experience.<br /><br />Yes, it is an international issue. The governments of Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and the US are all well-advanced along the road to self-id or there already, and are seemingly less well-positioned than the UK to turn back to sanity. In that sense, we are lucky.<br /><br />Yes, we know that this is not an issue high on UK voters’ priorities. But that stance is in itself a cop-out: there are issues of morality or of credibility which still count at elections if you are on the wrong side of them. Even at sixteen, I could see that Michael Foot would never win an election while he had unilateral disarmament on his manifesto ticket. This is heading to be the same kind of touchstone issue.<br /><br />Starmer’s problem is not – as of now – the portion of the electorate who will see him as firmly on the wrong side of an argument which will very likely end in scandal and disgrace for those involved, not to mention actual harm for many (especially children) on the receiving end of this new orthodoxy, disturbing though that is.<br /><br />His immediate problem is the women who resigned from the party last week and others whose memberships are now hanging by a thread. The women who feel that he has failed to support them.<br /><br />This, do not doubt it, is an inflection point. If Starmer’s attitude to those women, who have stuck it out through five very troubled years, turns out to be “let them go”, he can genuinely say goodbye to this election. And the next one and the one after that.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2021/06/14/starmers-disastrous-pride">Labour Uncut</a></i></span></div>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-86837119207601707392021-05-18T11:39:00.000+01:002021-05-18T11:39:10.512+01:00 The poisonous McCluskey era thankfully draws to a close<span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Vnr2CecLKhA/YKOZGjetbOI/AAAAAAAANC0/XWI9PlGBTXY9jCZakiiNM_j_579rD08dACNcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Vnr2CecLKhA/YKOZGjetbOI/AAAAAAAANC0/XWI9PlGBTXY9jCZakiiNM_j_579rD08dACNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/image.png" width="400" /></a></div>It’s not really been a good week for Len McCluskey, has it? A mere three months away from stepping down, it does seem the once-irresistible grip of him and his Unite faction on the Labour Party is fading fast.<br /><br />First there was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tees-57106985">the Anna Turley libel case</a>, whereby the union is now forced to pay its portion of an astonishing £1.3m to the former Redcar MP, for an article published on the Unite-backed Squawkbox blog (and one imagines that the piece’s writer, Steve Walker, will not be able to contribute very much to the sum, if anything).<br /><br />And who should be in charge of legal affairs at Unite, responsible for keeping it out of such legal trouble?<br /><br />Why, the person who looks like McCluskey’s clear preference to succeed him as General Secretary, Howard Beckett, of course.<br /><br />Yes, that Howard Beckett, demonstrably the most militant of the candidates, who has just been <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/howard-beckett-unite-priti-patel-b1847354.html">suspended from the Labour Party</a> for a deeply unpleasant tweet about Home Secretary Priti Patel.<br /><br />Good. Neither should we shed any tears for Beckett – and for clear reasons of decency, rather than because we dislike the political views he is perfectly entitled to hold. Beckett was – not unlike his parliamentary counterpart, former Party Chair Ian Lavery – embroiled in a scandal over the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/top-unite-official-fined-in-miners-payout-scandal-z55v7djx9">misuse of compensation payments to sick miners</a>.<br /><br />For that reason alone, frankly, neither man should ever have been allowed to rise in the ranks of the labour movement. But, in the strange and twisted world that was 2010s Labour politics, they were.<br /><br />And last but emphatically not least on the list of McCluskey’s woes is the ongoing political meltdown in Liverpool, slowly dragging McCluskey’s name further and further into the mire.<br /><br />Not only has it uncovered McCluskey’s links to the same property developers involved in the scandal but also his regular presence in Liverpool politics. A presence which, the Times this weekend has alleged in a powerful piece, was <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/len-mccluskey-lied-to-unite-about-liverpool-links-m2nbf676p">the subject of a whopping lie to Unite’s ruling body</a>.<br /><br />It is worth taking a moment to reflect on the Times’ use of the word “lie” in the headline. Those of us who have occasionally written controversial pieces for national newspapers know how many rounds you have to go with the lawyers to get that kind of wording approved. It seems hard to imagine that the Times would have published if there were not a rock-solid certainty that the litigious McCluskey could not successfully sue.<br /><br />The unprecedented weakness of McCluskey and his principal sidekick, then, means that Labour is suddenly and unexpectedly at a point of inflection; perhaps a point of opportunity.<br /><br />McCluskey, it is no exaggeration to say, has been right at the heart of the disastrous decade that Labour has just experienced.<br /><br />From his election in 2010, he has been actively fighting moderate elements in the party. Despite its billing as a “people’s revolution”, it is unthinkable that Corbynism would have ever come to pass without McCluskey’s financial and organising muscle to back it.<br /><br />His pet blogging outlets, Squawkbox and The Canary, as well as the more mainstream LabourList, have been central to creating the far-left echo-chamber which helped foster both anti-Semitism and crank policy . And his pockets were deep enough to support them when they were sued for being a little, er, economical with the actualité.<br /><br />So the immediate suspension of Beckett was, in fact, a brilliant coup. There are very few moments when union figures such as Beckett and McCluskey are truly vulnerable, and that is invariably when they are running for office.<br /><br />It is quite possible that Beckett’s suspension has dealt a death-blow to his campaign to be general secretary and, even in the unlikely event he were to win now, it would clearly be untenable for him to sit on the NEC, and Unite would surely end up disaffiliated (we should not forget that he led a petulant walkout from an NEC meeting last year, so it seems unlikely he would have many friends there).<br /><br />So, barring a last-minute, panicky climbdown, it seems clear that Starmer will now not have to face Beckett, across the table either at the NEC or in a one-to-one meeting, for some time. If ever.<br /><br />That leaves two possibilities: the first and “happy” path is that moderate Gerard Coyne wins; if, that is, the incumbent leadership can resist trying to stack the vote against him. This outcome would be a truly cathartic one for Labour; a final putting-to-rest of Unite’s toxic influence on the party for the last decade. Coyne has been for some time the only candidate actively trying to stop the corruption rife in the union. But the current regime has already tripled the threshold of required branch nominations to get on the shortlist, in a clumsy attempt to exclude him, and that alone may just work.<br /><br />The second, and less happy, possibility is that either Steve Turner or Sharon Graham win. Starmer’s team apparently think they can “do business with” such leaders from the union’s left: but that was the mistake Miliband made. And watch them either or both sidestep further to the left, in the event that Beckett were to actually drop out.<br /><br />Turner is essentially McCluskey, without the known grift; close to his boss and for many years his campaign manager. Despite his currently-professed “softly softly” stance with regard to dealings with Labour – presumably to distance himself from the more militant Beckett – it seems unlikely that he would be very different from McCluskey once in post.<br /><br />Graham, on the other hand, is currently abusing the fact that she has a small army of full-time organising staff to blur the line between everyday work and, well, campaigning for her. She is also in charge of what nowadays Unite euphemistically called “leveraging”: as we saw via the Falkirk debacle of 2013, this essentially means going round to the homes of company management and intimidating them and their families. Anyone who thinks that is ok behaviour is unlikely to be a suitable partner for Labour.<br /><br />Starmer does have a choice, of course: he could go for the “masochism strategy” of doing without Unite’s money until/unless they get a remotely palatable leader. But since Ed Miliband’s clumsy strategy of alienating business in the early 2010s, Labour has had virtually no business sponsorship nor high-value donations. So, this strategy would require Labour to truly strip itself down and rapidly develop other income sources, in order to survive financially.<br /><br />However, in the event that anyone but Coyne wins, he might be wise to pursue that course anyway.<br /><br />Right now, the stakes in a union leadership election have never been higher. A political Litvinenko, Labour has spent a decade being poisoned by Unite’s politics, just like the unfortunate intelligence officer at the hands of Russia’s FSB. If it is ever to fully recover, it needs must also be prepared for some drastic medicine.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2021/05/16/the-poisonous-mccluskey-era-thankfully-draws-to-a-close/">Labour Uncut</a></i></span></div>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-91492598060390140532021-01-26T18:05:00.001+00:002021-01-26T18:05:44.879+00:00The ripples from the US election and its aftermath could profoundly affect Labour's journey from here<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://i.insider.com/5f3303873f7370771235b6b5?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp" width="400" /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It should be uncontroversial at this point, for any (small-"d") democrat, to say that the election of Joe Biden is immensely good news for the world in general. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Following the final debacle of Trump's disastrous presidency, the Capitol insurrection, the alternative in retrospect seems ever more unthinkable, because it is now clear that his open contempt for democracy could easily have led the US to a much, much darker place than happened on the 6th of January.</span></span></div></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">We are now at least in the happy position of going back to something resembling politics-as-usual. We can finally start to critique the new presidency as we would have done any other and, for us on the left, things mostly look very promising. But there are also some flaws, as we shall see.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">But, at the risk of seeming a little parochial, what's in it for us? What difference does it make to us, the Labour party, in its struggle to clean itself up and get back into power?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: georgia;">The good news is that, obviously, we will have an occupant of the White House who might be reasonably expected to prefer a Starmer-led government to a Johnson-led one (as indeed he would prefer an </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">anyone</i><span style="font-family: georgia;">-led government, if insider accounts of Biden's dislike for our current PM is to be believed. One thing is clear: there will be a serviceable working relationship between the two leaders - there always is - but it will not be a chummy, personal one, like Clinton-Blair or Bush-Blair).</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are two caveats to this positive: first, Starmer needs not to do anything ill-advised. For example, this effect didn't work so well with Ed Miliband, who was <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/10961077/Ed-Milibands-desire-to-meet-Barack-Obama-hampered-by-inaction-over-Syria.html">reportedly <i>persona non grata </i>in the Obama White House</a> for some time, following his disastrous handling of the Syria vote in the Commons. Second, that this kind of "left-left" alignment is not usually much direct help anyway, although some occasional supportive noises from the president </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">might help a little to build Starmer's desired image as a PM-in-waiting.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And now to the bad news.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">First, there will be things Starmer will want just as much as Johnson, which Biden may not help with, or even actively work against. On a post-Brexit trade deal, for example, all the signs are that Biden may well opt for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/22/barack-obama-brexit-uk-back-of-queue-for-trade-talks">Obama's celebrated "back of the queue" position</a>. Or that from this, the first president with Irish roots to win office in twenty-eight years, help in resisting what is likely to be increasing pressure towards Irish reunification seems unlikely to be forthcoming. These issues need to be handled with care.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Second, and perhaps more concerning, there are concrete things Biden has already done, and others he might do very soon, which can create a negative knock-on for Starmer. Why so?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">US commentator <a href="https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/bidens-culture-war-aggression-fc4">Andrew Sullivan's perceptive piece</a> on the immediate aftermath of the inauguration is instructive: it makes the point that, for all his talk of unity, Biden is not exactly going out of his way to avoid culture wars, either. The Democrats' progressive wing has been exacting its demands on Biden - whose deputy, let us not forget, belongs to said wing - since the day the election was called for him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And the Progressives are big - very big - on identity politics, arguably one of their more successful exports to the European left, despite the fact that, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">for example,</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> the history of race relactions in the UK is markedly different from the US. And that leads us to a couple of areas in which their policies get a little, well radical.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Among others, VP Kamala Harris has very much <a href="https://reason.com/2020/11/02/kamala-harris-equality-equity-outcomes/">bought into the modern concept of "equity over equality"</a> - this may sound high-faluting but, as Sully points out, it's merely what previous generations called "equality of outcome over equality of opportunity". That is, tinkering with labour market operation or public services access for different "identities", in a way which is intended to promote fairness but which ultimately often results in perverse incentives in practice..</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is a major change in thinking. It's useful to note that, for that very reason, the accepted position for years in both the US and UK has been that equality of opportunity is the only desirable way forward. For example, Britain has not had a government which seriously subscribed to equality of outcome since Jim Callaghan left office in 1979 and ushered in eighteen years of Tory government.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now, perhaps this is all just talk on the part of Harris and co., but what if it's not?</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">To reopen those debates long held to be closed on the sensible British left, because they can see American thought leaders promoting those ideas, is not helpful, to say the least, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">at a time when Labour is trying hard to get back to common sense. It is no secret that the Corbynite commentariat are keen to reach out to the Progressives as like-minded souls - and perhaps they are, to an extent.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That's just one example which will likely surface slowly, over the course of the coming presidential term. And note that we can mostly assume that the "identities" involved will refer to a characteristic with relatively clear and firm boundaries, like race, sex or geography. The trouble is, when you start making special cases for a long list of minorities, you end up with an unworkable patchwork of exceptions, and those who are <i>not </i>a special case feeling resentful.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now imagine a case which is still more problematic: where the boundaries are blurry. The most immediate example, which many have pointed out in the last few days, is that the initial batch of Executive Orders contained a provision which effectively enshrines <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/">self-id for anyone identifying as transgender</a> in federal law. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In short, this means that any man who "feels" they are a woman has a right, without being required to pass any evidencial test, to women-only spaces in federal buildings, women's sport, women's federal prisons and so on. As numbers of people identifying as transgender skyrocket, it is not difficult to see how this idea is likely to cause enormous problems in practice.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So this is clearly a big deal. In</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> itself, this change provides a precedent in US law, which is likely to be used as an argument for self-id over here (in my view, inappropriately, given the big differences in existing protections for women and the fact that further change is opposed by activists across the political spectrum, by no means just the right) by the Trans Rights Activist (TRA) lobby. And this is an area where Starmer already has a serious fight on his hands, between those same TRAs on the one hand, and feminists concerned at the erosion of women's rights on the other.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">For the moment, Starmer has kept his head down and largely avoided that fight; but it is coming, and this move by the Biden administration will surely accelerate it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It seems fair to argue that, given the awfulness of the alternative, many centrist electors will have voted for Biden without taking much time to mull over the detail of his policy programme. If you believe in sensible government and democracy first, the rest would understandably seem irrelevant on polling day. But that also implies that, perhaps, ex-post scrutiny of that programme now needs to be a lot stronger. And w</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">e need, as Biden himself ought, to avoid the culture wars.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">In short: it's great that Biden's in power and we cannot diminish the greatness of his achievement. But now he is there, we are allowed to restart the process of critical thought. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As we do, it is right to be aware of how the message of his progressive wing, if heeded by those Labour activists who see them as the "cool left", could well end up prolonging Labour's return to the electable centre, not shortening it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">That is, we should engage with the arguments of the Biden Democrats, but we do not need to swallow them whole.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2021/01/25/the-ripples-from-the-us-election-and-its-aftermath-could-profoundly-affect-labours-journey-from-here/">Labour Uncut</a></i></span></p><p><br /></p>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-4142986461984300042021-01-15T12:29:00.008+00:002021-01-15T22:25:37.034+00:00End of term approaches at the Corbynite clown school<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wzu7qpfEfSo/YAGET1hkALI/AAAAAAAAMSM/g17jRDw8lEc0s74dAScJ0oxGtlaVWeCPgCNcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="680" height="305" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wzu7qpfEfSo/YAGET1hkALI/AAAAAAAAMSM/g17jRDw8lEc0s74dAScJ0oxGtlaVWeCPgCNcBGAsYHQ/w400-h305/image.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yesterday it was quietly announced that the legal challenge to the EHRC report on anti-Semitism in Labour was to be dropped. This was for the fairly obvious reason that the challenge, attempting to trigger a judicial review, stood no hope whatsoever and was costing money.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was a challenge that - although the Unite union may or may not have been directly involved this time - had all the hallmarks of a Len McCluskey tactic: bluster and threat, to create a lot of noise and attempt to save face, and then quietly withdraw when you think no-one is watching.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">What it particularly means is this. It means that the report, so dreaded by the Corbynites that they tried to:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">(a) discredit the organisation via their media outriders and, most shamefully, <a href="https://inews.co.uk/opinion/trevor-phillips-islamophobia-anti-semitism-labour-party-whataboutery-407355">suspending its founding head from the Labour party</a> in the run-up to the report's release; </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">(b) <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/21/revelations-leaked-labour-report-genuine-scandal">create their own trumped-up "contribution" to said report</a> which, on lawyers' advice, was never sent to EHRC and which attempted to challenge its conclusions in advance; </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">and </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">(c) roundly condemn, belittle and challenge it after its release, including <a href="https://www.facebook.com/330250343871/posts/my-statement-following-the-publication-of-the-ehrc-reportantisemitism-is-absolut/10158939532253872/">a rather unwise challenge from the former Leader himself</a>;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">now stands </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">unchallenged</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> and therefore <i>de facto</i> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">accepted by pretty much everyone. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">(Well, not quite everyone: we understand that <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/ken-livingstone-challenge-ehrc-court">Ken Livingstone and disgraced former MP Chris Williamson still intend to challenge it</a>, but good luck with that.)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">But they were right to be afraid of it: the report shone a light into the dark corners of the Corbyn staff operation in such a way that it could never credibly recover. It was, as many expected, the tipping-point which </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">finally </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">swung the balance of party thinking gradually back towards common sense, much as the Republican Party is likely to do over the coming weeks and months.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is perhaps also notable that one of the tactics both cults had in common was this: the use of the specious legal challenge. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">At least, in our case, they never got to run the country.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">(Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/SCynic1">Simon Myerson QC</a> for the heads-up.)</span></p>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-67740816027067745122020-12-19T15:16:00.007+00:002020-12-19T18:22:02.009+00:00Britain edges towards the clifftop - a few things about to happen between now and 1 Jan<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/White_Cliffs_of_Dover_02.JPG/256px-White_Cliffs_of_Dover_02.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="256" height="300" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/White_Cliffs_of_Dover_02.JPG/256px-White_Cliffs_of_Dover_02.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">And after a very odd, year indeed, it seems that political gravity is finally starting to reassert itself.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The thing with populism, as the US is in the process of finding out, is that at some point the lies unravel and the cognitive dissonance many have been living for the duration is abruptly curtailed, by the intervention of brutal reality. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The result is usually a shock: not just in the sense of a person or persons receiving unexpected news, but in the sense that the whole of politics - and often, economics - receives a rectifying jolt.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As the Trump era - barring an actual successful coup in the next 31 days, that is - draws to a close across the Atlantic, chickens are finally coming home to roost for the Johnson government over here.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The price that the US is paying, apart from four years of its diminishment on the international stage, is in its terrible figures for Covid-19 deaths.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The price that the UK is paying is also both of those things (granted, the figures on Covid are not quite as bad) but, on top of it all, it is about to receive an unprecedented shock over Brexit. And this one will surely be economic as well as political.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'll not bore anyone with re-running the arguments from 2016, simply to say that the following is common sense and I think pretty unarguable:</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One. We are twelve days away from the deadline and no UK exporter or importer really has any clue about what paperwork they will be filling in and what tariffs they will be paying on 1 Jan. At the very least, they will have a serious disruption to their business, but the likelihood is that many smaller firms, dependent on foreign sales or supplies, will fold as a result.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Two. If you are skeptical that, as a result of this administrative and logistical disaster, Dover will be a train-crash next year, just look at this:</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">As far as I can tell, this is what both a deal and a no deal Brexit looks like <a href="https://t.co/IPpGz5ASBO">https://t.co/IPpGz5ASBO</a></p>— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnJCrace/status/1339935072208744448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Three. Whatever deal Leave voters signed up for on Thursday, 23 June, 2016, it wasn't this. In fact, there were explicit assurances that a deal would be made. Even if there is a deal at this point, it seems clear that it will be skeletal and have much the same impact </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">on trade </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">as no deal. We are delivering something which was nothing like what was promised to the 52% of the country who voted for it. It is only the shamelessness of the present government which allows it to continue to pretend otherwise.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Four. Neither Johnson nor his negotiators are temperamentally suited to negotiations and deal-making. Worse, he is not seen as a good-faith negotiator. In fact, as his own pal from Wetherspoon's puts it, <a href="https://twitter.com/TheNewEuropean/status/1339950493137833984">"I'm not confident that Boris is capable of tying up a 20,000-page agreement and checking the small print"</a>. There will also be virtually no scrutiny of the deal, if it comes, either, given the tiny parliamentary time allotted over the Christmas period.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Five. This is all going to happen in the middle of a pandemic, where any potential </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">disruption to vital medical supplies at the border could cost lives.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Six. Not only this, but there is also the double-whammy impact on the economy of Covid and Brexit. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">The estimated total hit to GDP will be around 6% next year, a large part of this will be Brexit. That is, the economy will contract like never before in living memory, and clearly a lot worse than our neighbours, who will also have an opportunity to take business from </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">British firms </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">struggling to export. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Seven. Concrete impact of all this? Businesses will go bust. Jobs will be lost. We will have to fight to retain the business of the City and manufacturing here, but some decisions have already been made on this, to invest on the Continent because the UK is too much hassle. Subsidised farmers dropping out of the CAP, mostly Tory voters, will likely be seriously hurt. In short: t</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">he "Party of Business" has somehow become the Party of Business Prevention.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I have yet to hear any convincing arguments from the government as to why the above points are incorrect. I also believe the only reason that the country is not yet in a state of blind panic is because the vast majority of citizens do not have any reason - why should they? - to understand international trade, supply chain, financial markets or macro-economics. But those that do - read what the Economist or FT have to say, for starters - are almost unanimous about the chaos which is likely to unfold on 1 Jan. One can only hope that I, and they, are wrong.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Welcome to 2021, folks. You ain't seen nothing yet.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-12439781816441610422020-11-01T13:57:00.008+00:002020-11-01T17:28:27.597+00:00The EHRC report is conclusive and damning. But with Corbyn suspended, the rebuilding can now start<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://equineteurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/United-Kingdom-Equality-and-Human-Rights-Commission-492x323-96-DPI.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="492" height="263" src="https://equineteurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/United-Kingdom-Equality-and-Human-Rights-Commission-492x323-96-DPI.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />It was a
day of shame for Labour, there is no doubt. Never before had it been criticised so indelibly
about racism: something which a decade ago would have seemed to many unthinkable.
It is a hurt that will take time and care to undo; a stain that will not be
removed any time soon.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But it was
also, unexpectedly, the day where an enormous boil seemed to be lanced for Labour
and, at last, a road out of the mess of the last decade became clearly visible.
That Labour could put itself back onto the road of being a force for good.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span lang="EN-GB">Pity the
poor commentators up and down the country. All about to file their pieces about
the </span><a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/investigation-into-antisemitism-in-the-labour-party.pdf"><span lang="EN-GB">EHRC report</span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> and Starmer’s reaction to it, when
suddenly the massive news of Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension meant that all bets
were off.<o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The content
of the report, it therefore suffices to say at this point, was damning and
conclusive: the party had broken equalities law and needed to make amends.
Interestingly, although it confirmed that the Leader’s Office had clearly
interfered with a large number of complaints, it did not call out Corbyn
himself specifically. In fact, although it was pretty obvious that the person
at the head of the party at that time needed to carry some responsibility,
Corbyn actually got off rather lightly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is
not, we need to underline, because Corbyn was not responsible. It is because
the limited terms of the report addressed the specific question of
institutional anti-Semitism, and did not answer the simple question being asked
by Jewish activists on Twitter: <u>why</u> was there such a massive upsurge in
anti-Semitism on Corbyn’s watch? If that question, to which the answer seems
perfectly obvious, had been asked and data sought, Corbyn would have been in a
much more sticky situation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It should therefore
be underlined that the suspension of the former party leader was emphatically <i><u>not</u>
because of the contents of the report</i>. No, it was because Keir Starmer had
made it abundantly clear during his press conference that <i>the report was to
be accepted by the party in full and without reservation</i>. He also
reportedly shared the press conference speech with Corbyn the previous evening,
so as not to ambush him with the content. And during that same speech, he took
pains not to point the finger but to say that “the party” bore responsibility.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In other
words, Corbyn brought the whole thing, entirely unnecessarily, on himself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So when he
then started, in an interview which was broadcast the same morning as the big
announcement, to make exactly such reservations about the EHRC conclusions and
play it down, it seems that the party’s patience finally snapped (the
suspension, of course, has to come from the General Secretary’s and not the
Leader’s Office, especially in light of EHRC criticism that very day of interference
from that office during the Corbyn years).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Corbyn’s
predictable mistake was that he made it all about him. He now may well pay a
considerable price for that self-regarding stance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the
report itself, it seems clear now that it would never have been enough to
satisfy critics, simply because of its limited terms. The vast majority of
recommendations were about how to reform the complaints process; while
important, they hardly deal with the root of the problem, nor give any hints as
to how to eject a significant but not overwhelming number of renegade activists
from the party.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For
example, their scope specifically excludes actions by ordinary members (i.e.
not officers) and that represents a big part of the problem. For example, a
member who did not hold an officer or representative post is not considered an
agent of the party and therefore not liable to the charge of institutional
anti-Semitism. But such people can certainly cause harm and bring disrepute to
the party; one need only wander around some of the party’s unofficial Facebook
groups to discover “anti-Zionist”, and downright anti-Semitic, content.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also the
report rightly identified that there were shortcomings in our complaints
process <i>before</i> 2015. But, y’know,
perhaps we didn't need an industrial-scale process before, because there wasn't
a massive mountain of complaints to manage under previous leaders?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Such
details have now faded into insignificance with the prospect looming of
internal conflict between those willing to accept Starmer as leader and the
diehard Corbynites. Social media last night was ablaze with defenders of poor,
maligned Corbyn; a crowdfunder has already raised a considerable sum for him to
defend himself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">However, it
is difficult to see that Corbyn will undo the suspension. This is not because
it is not possible: it is because it would require a sincere and heartfelt
apology, and this is something which does not come easily to him, as we have
seen over the last half-decade, and before. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">He is also
talking about fighting the suspension in the courts: but there is also the
point that affording the suspension itself, not to mention a legal challenge, due
process will take time and money and he is seventy-one. Can he really stay out
of trouble for as long as it would take to clear his suspension? The precedent
of the last few months does not augur well; he has already reverted to the
crank politics that were his pre-leadership trademark. And can he really be
bothered with such a big fight, with only a modest chance of success, when it
is so much easier to cry “foul” and become a martyr for the hard left? Will
anyone even care in a year or two?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But because
of EHRC’s limited scope, the real test will be in how Starmer goes above and
beyond its recommendations. How we wins back the soul of the party from the
stench of anti-Semitism. And that is not about improving the process of
complaints, nor could it ever be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The big
issue now, then, is not “what of Corbyn?” but “what of the Corbynites?” The
extent to which they choose to leave, or to stay and fight, and how Starmer
manages the result, will determine whether he can right this ship before 2024.
Even after yesterday, there still remains a huge mountain to climb.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>This post first published at Labour Uncut, with slightly different wording</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">UPDATE 01NOV: On Friday night, there was an online rally held by Momentum, with the aim of reversing the party's decision to suspend Corbyn. Apart from the impossibility of this happening - the ex-leader now needs to go through the same process as all other members and, especially after EHRC, Starmer is powerless to intervene, even if he wanted to - there was a speaker who used the phrase The Jewish Question. She also quoted a classic racist trope from an Austrian Marxist thinker from 1942, that Jews called out anti-Semitism in bad faith to stop "progressive forces". </span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">No challenge to the use of “The Jewish Question” by the Momentum NCG member hosting. <a href="https://t.co/ohzdq4vNCF">pic.twitter.com/ohzdq4vNCF</a></p>— Dan Fox 🦊 (@d4nf0x) <a href="https://twitter.com/d4nf0x/status/1322318169768419340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Way to prove that Corbyn does not have an anti-Semitism problem, guys. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">(And a hat-tip to the excellent <a href="https://twitter.com/d4nf0x">Dan Fox</a>.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><br /><p></p>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-62399776438092403942020-10-20T08:31:00.004+01:002020-10-21T14:48:12.726+01:00Manchester's punishment beating<span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article18778517.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200c/0_Andy-Burnham.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="392" src="https://i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article18778517.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200c/0_Andy-Burnham.jpg" width="392" /></a></div>For anyone following the story about Andy Burnham's negotiations with the government on behalf of Greater Manchester, it is easy to dismiss it as "playing politics" and many have in recent days. </span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Easy, that is, until you read this: </span><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">This is letter sent to Greater Manchester council leaders:<br /><br />Govt offering them £22m for 2.8m ppl and is “open” to looking at more to support local biz.<br /><br />Lancashire got £42m for 1.5m ppl<br /><br />Merseyside got £44m for 1.5m ppl<br /><br />One GM politician tells me: “Utter pisstake”. <a href="https://t.co/4LdtYStURV">pic.twitter.com/4LdtYStURV</a></p>— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) <a href="https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1318318990054379521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2020</a></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is an insult, to give them roughly <i>a quarter, per capita, of what other areas are getting</i>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is difficult to escape the conclusion that this is a petty punishment beating, meted out to Burnham for having the temerity to stand up for his constituents.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">What a government. What a time to be alive.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>UPDATE 22:00: </i>Government has insisted on Tier 3 lockdown anyway and dug its heels in with the £22m. This will be an entirely preventable disaster for Manchester, inflicted by a petulant and incompetent government. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>UPDATE 21/10/2020 15:00:</i> Johnson has today announced at PMQs that he will in fact give Greater Manchester £60m - only £5m less than Burnham asked for - after a letter was written by six Tory GM MPs. But it will be allocated directly to councils (presumably government will choose the split), rather than allocated to the Mayor as a pot. So the government knew that it was not politically feasible to punish Manchester, did it anyway and then rowed back today, trying to save face by blaming it all on Burnham, who was merely doing his job.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Apart from the clear pettiness, a</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> quite unnecessary PR disaster for the government with the people of Manchester, who may now kick out their new, former "Red Wall", Tory MPs. Honestly, you couldn't make this stuff up.</span></p> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</div>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-20967897915747939802020-10-13T17:14:00.001+01:002020-10-13T17:17:04.444+01:00We need to talk about where the trans self-id debate is taking Labour<div class="separator" style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://miro.medium.com/max/1209/1*lH6c7Db26LDH9PFLAhaeLw@2x.jpeg" style="font-family: georgia; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="800" height="257" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/1209/1*lH6c7Db26LDH9PFLAhaeLw@2x.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div></div></div></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.s.thewest.com.au/publication/YA-387756/426342907-1ah4ip4.jpg?imwidth=1024&impolicy=wan_v3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="798" height="246" src="https://images.s.thewest.com.au/publication/YA-387756/426342907-1ah4ip4.jpg?imwidth=1024&impolicy=wan_v3" width="400" /></a></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Last Tuesday, Deputy Leader Angela Rayner stated her view that Rosie Duffield – yes, the Rosie Duffield who has been a champion of women’s rights and bravely <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2019-10-02/mp-shares-with-commons-her-own-experience-of-domestic-abuse">declared her own domestic abuse story to Parliament</a> – should “reflect” on the fact that she had “liked” a tweet which described transgender people as “cross-dressers”.<br /><br />Although Rayner attempted to paint the debate as “toxic”, with “both sides” needing to calm down, this was a somewhat disingenuous deflection; there is no doubt about which “side” she herself has chosen and her criticism of Duffield was clear enough. She was felt to be “upsetting” people.<br /><br />It is also well documented that, during the leadership campaign earlier this year, Rayner – along with Lisa Nandy and Corbynite challenger Rebecca Long-Bailey – enthusiastically endorsed the idea of self-id for trans folk.<br /><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span>Let’s take a step back for a minute: Duffield did not tweet anything herself. She “liked” a <a href="https://twitter.com/MForstater/status/1312567672467529728/photo/1">tweet</a> by Maya Forstater, a tax specialist who lost their job for speaking out about her opposition to self-id, which used a term, “cross-dresser”, which – <a href="https://twitter.com/MForstater/status/1312567682429059073">as Forstater herself points out</a> – is frequently used by some trans people themselves. For the record, J K Rowling writes poignantly about Forstater’s case, as well as her own story of domestic abuse, <a href="https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/">here</a>.<br /><br />Ah, but she had previous, you say. Duffield tweeted that <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/rosie-duffield-labour-mp-cervix-women-backlash-a4514321.html">“only women have a cervix”</a>, which is seen as “exclusionary”. She was then clearly pressured into making an apology. Seriously? Is this what the Labour Party has become, that someone is forced to apologise for stating a biological fact?<br /><br />That is apparently all you need to do, in the modern Labour Party, to be found guilty of thoughtcrime and asked to “reflect” on how you have “upset” people. Indeed, I myself have probably already invited abuse and social media pile-ons already, via the last few, pretty anodyne paragraphs, and probably added insult to injury by mentioning the now-unmentionable-in-polite-Party-circles Rowling.<br /><br />But let’s talk about her anyway. A couple of months later, she penned <a href="https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/statement-from-j-k-rowling-regarding-the-robert-f-kennedy-human-rights-ripple-of-hope-award/">this blog piece</a>:<br /><br /><a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JKR.png"><img height="177" src="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/JKR-1024x452.png" width="400" /></a><br /><br />Yep, sounds like a real bigot, there. No doubt at all.<br /><br />But that’s where we are: for her trouble in revealing her innermost secrets and using them to talk about the likely negative impact of self-id on decades of hard-fought women’s rights, she was the subject of an international social media and press pile-on, numerous death threats and, of course, heavy criticisism by a large number of celebrities, artists and politicians. Finally, the widespread, attempted “cancelling” of Rowling has been supposedly sealed by the – as Nick Cohen points out <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/j-k-rowling-s-latest-novel-isn-t-transphobic-">here</a>, laughable – notion that her latest novel is “transphobic”.<br /><br />How on earth did we get here?<br /><br />This is not the Monday Club. This is the Labour Party, a party with a long history of standing up for the rights of minorities (we will park for now the anti-Semitism issue). This issue is different, though. This is not the new “gay rights” that many of its adherents think.<br /><br />But pronouns have now become weapons. The very language that we use has itself become explosive.<br /><br />More importantly, it has often had to modify to accommodate the demands of a small but vocal group of trans activists (not, it is important to note, all trans people). As George Orwell could have told you, those who control the language control the terms of the debate.<br /><br />And debate is something there is surprisingly little of within Labour about this particular elephant in the room; largely because many Labour people – women in particular – are now refraining from talking about it for fear of online pile-ons, threats, or worse.<br /><br />Yes, the subject is complicated and the debate charged. But Labour’s position on it is also in danger of becoming an unquestioning, groupthink exercise, an emperor’s-new-clothes world where to even debate the rights and wrongs is to be labelled a transphobe. This kind of mentality helps no-one, and in the end that includes trans people, too.<br /><br />“Trans rights are human rights”, fine. We can all sign up to that. Indeed, who can argue with it? No-one in the Labour party wants to take away human rights from people.<br /><br />But the reality is this: it’s an entirely meaningless slogan, unless you define what “trans rights” actually means.<br /><br />Here’s a suggestion: we should stop talking about the trans rights debate in the Labour Party, because frankly that debate has already come down conclusively on the side of trans people. While there may yet be bigotry about trans people (and gay people, and women) left in this party, it is clearly in the minority. In this party, we’re not historically in the habit of coming down on people for being different, for how they dress or who they sleep with, and that’s a good thing.<br /><br />No, we should be talking about the self-id debate, because that it is really what this comes down to.<br /><br />This is fundamentally not a debate about what restrictions we put on people’s behaviour as was gay rights in the 1980s. It is simply, and no less charged for this, a debate about the labels we use.<br /><br />We can debate all you like about what should be the criterion which allows a man to be re-labelled as a woman, or vice versa. The quite reasonable objection is whether anyone should be able to decide that themselves, unilaterally.<br /><br />Why? Because any legal categorisation which depends on people self-identifying as being in that category is open to abuse, and therefore unworkable in practice. A person’s sex is no exception. There needs therefore to be a verifiable legal check before accepting a person has definitively changed their sex. The debate where there is indeed room for a lot of thinking and nuance, needs to be about what that check should be, not about whether or not it is necessary.<br /><br />If you don’t think it is open to abuse, listen to this from Maajid Nawaaz on <a href="https://twitter.com/lbc/status/1301887036111179777?s=21">the white woman who “self-id’d” as black</a>. Think about <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2019/03/16/transgender-woman-18-sexually-assaulted-girl-10-morrisons-toilet-8914577/">the sexual attack by a transgender woman on a 10 year-old</a> in Morrisons’ toilets, and how women need safe spaces away from both men, and anyone who identifies as a woman but perhaps does not meet that legal check; the very real impact on <a href="https://www.bicycling.com/news/a29578581/rachel-mckinnon-world-championship-masters-win-transgender-sport-debate/">women’s sport of people with essentially male bodies</a> competing.<br /><br />It is also undeniable that a minority of radical trans activists, inside and outside Labour, are acting in bad faith and operating with online bullying and insults, particularly shouting down women and <a href="https://twitter.com/iamtranssexual/status/1299619339633668098">other trans people who disagree with them</a>. There is also frequently a clear misogynist undertone to such attacks. We should hesitate to associate ourselves with this minority.<br /><br />If there is to be any real progress on trans rights, this minority needs to be called out and confronted. The reality is that such activists are potentially setting back the cause of trans rights decades, not to mention potentially triggering a backlash against the hard-won rights of gay, lesbian and bi people, by association. LGBT Labour is really not helping at the moment, by accepting with little challenge such arguments, as is not Stonewall. Both put at risk the extraordinary gains made for LGBT in the last thirty or so years, precisely by playing this new challenge so poorly.<br /><br />Bottom line: this is not the new Section 28. It is much, much more complicated. It does not help when people like Rayner use this comparison lightly, as she did this week.<br /><br />And if the logical points don’t convince, a practical one: this now-minority debate is going to increase in volume over the coming months and years. If Labour comes down on the wrong side of it, it has the real potential to deter large swathes of the public, particularly women, from voting Labour.<br /><br />In short, about half the electorate will very likely soon have a problem with Labour, should it become a national issue, which it sooner or later will. Recent <a href="https://fairplayforwomen.com/polldata/">polls</a> clearly back this up. And that is notwithstanding the effect of the issue on the party itself, where anger from feminists and others from all wings of the party about self-id is <a href="https://unherd.com/2020/09/keir-starmers-women-problem/">clearly on the rise</a>.<br /><br />We take this risk at our considerable peril: the patience of the Great British Public with a party which has already spent a decade self-indulgently examining its own navel is not, after all, infinite.<br /><br />Finally, think of the debate about men allowing them to declare themselves as women, with legal validity, as what it is: a political border dispute.<br /><br />And you will never get agreement by talking to people on only one side of the border. Those on the other will see the incursion into their territory for what it is – an unlicensed land grab. Both sides have to agree new rules, and the party is engaging only with one.<br /><br />Angela Rayner and a number of other prominent figures in the party have, and surely with the best of intentions, called this wrong.<br /><br />But at some point, Keir Starmer as leader will have to steer the party towards common sense, because this issue will, otherwise, one day seriously damage Labour. There will be a big public debate at some point and it will be settled, believe you me, with Labour conclusively on the wrong side of history.<br /><br />And if you think this is overblown, remember how a few lone voices wrote about Labour’s tolerance of extremism, and creeping anti-Semitism, almost a decade before it finally reached its peak in the party.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2020/10/11/we-need-to-talk-about-where-the-trans-self-id-debate-is-taking-labour/">Labour Uncut</a></i></span></div>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-10769808550028969752020-05-20T13:28:00.000+01:002020-05-20T13:40:13.822+01:00Crank Labour stops pretending: and a rather important meeting<img alt="Embedded video" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1255082725079494656/pu/img/OSLlzNnGP_7Wr-to?format=jpg&name=small" /><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As Keir Starmer puts in two commendable first performances at PMQs, so the upper echelons of the Corbynite house of cards, thankfully, continue to collapse.<br /><br />The Crank Labour caucus has largely reverted to type in an overt way: one <a href="https://antisemitism.uk/caa-calls-on-sir-keir-starmer-to-condemn-mps-for-event-claiming-that-addressing-antisemitism-can-be-to-the-detriment-of-other-minorities/">wild fringe</a> in a Zoom conference a couple of weeks back claimed that Labour is institutionally racist against black members, in order to muddy the waters as much as possible against the anti-Semitism accusations and, clumsily, to try and discredit the EHRC before it reports on Labour.<br /><br />And that Zoom conference was nothing to a second one, a few days later, peddling a similar victim-narrative and where MPs Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy were <a href="https://twitter.com/lmharpin/status/1255611969878528001/photo/1">snapped rubbing shoulders</a> with a veritable Who’s Who of left anti-Semites, such as Tony Greenstein and Jackie Walker (h/t: Lee Harpin).<br /><br />It is no longer, it seems, necessary to keep up pretences of common sense or decency.<br /></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Corbyn himself has also had an uneasy return to the backbenches: not only has he decided that he is <a href="https://twitter.com/rob_marchant/status/1255124568303435779">too important to observe lockdown</a> but, like an ageing rock star unable to grasp that the crowds are getting much smaller than they used to be, cannot quite get used to the new status quo. No longer hampered by sharp-eyed media advisers keeping him under control, he posts <a href="https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1255083716134789120">strange videos of himself, not observing lockdown</a>: half of it him standing in the rain actual silence, the other half a shuffling, mostly inaudible tribute to frontline staff.<br /><br />Politically he, too, has reverted to type: he is now happy to associate once again with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/online-event/internationalism-the-crisis-with-jeremy-corbyn-global-guests/227105618512248/">the assorted freaks and anti-Semites at Stop the War</a> (remember them? The supposedly anti-war gang who had no problem whatsoever with Assad killing about half a million of his own people in Syria, many with chemical weapons). And now again <a href="https://labourlist.org/2020/05/17-labour-mps-including-corbyn-slam-pms-declaration-of-class-war/">happy to sign up without reservation to 1980s-style statements on “class war”</a>.<br /><br />And then there is the infamous Formby “report” into anti-Semitism. A few weeks on, it doesn’t really look so credible, does it? As veteran Corbyn-watcher, Alan Johnson, notes, far from exonerating the Corbyn leadership, it is actually <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/leaked-labour-antisemitism-report-shows-the-community-was-right-all-along/">a tacit admission of guilt</a>.<br /><br />The icing on this cake, of course, <a href="https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/equalities-watchdog-may-now-include-leaked-pro-corbyn-report-in-hate-probe-1.499809">is a report from the Jewish Chronicle</a> that the EHRC is now seriously thinking of using it as evidence in its report into Labour anti-Semitism – in the exact opposite sense to that for which it was intentioned.<br /><br />In other words, the report that was cobbled together by a couple of Corbynite back-roomers to try and rebut the anti-Semitism charges may just have ended up reinforcing them, as indeed the party’s own lawyers had feared it might.<br /><br />Cut back to Starmer, doing a great job in Parliament. However, his main strategic challenge, should it need to be spelled out, is not Parliament or even holding Johnson to account, important though these things are.<br /><br />If he ever wants to win an election, he has to sort out his party – undoubtedly the no.1 job for any leader in a situation like the present one. As it once was for Kinnock.<br /><br />He is making progress, that is certain. And how much longer can the more thoughtful members on the party’s left continue to see these cranks as comrades, you ask? Well, a little longer, it seems.<br /><br />The Corbynite leadership is gone, its General Secretary gone, its staffers will soon be all but gone. But it still has the loyalty of some of the NEC and a good chunk of the party.<br /><br />The first NEC meeting next Tuesday, about which everyone is keeping very quiet but which you can be sure is triggering frantic backroom manoeuvres, presents two opportunities.<br /><br />First, to put down the attempted rearguard coup by Corbynites to install a sympathetic General Secretary and get someone sensible in, preferably one who has some clue about running elections, unlike the last. And second, to ensure NEC elections do take place this summer and are not deferred until next year.<br /><br />The first is a pre-requisite to Starmer’s main objective, sorting out the party. Last week’s <a href="https://labourlist.org/2020/05/labour-lengthens-timetable-for-general-secretary-appointment/">extension of the GS election timetable</a> was a good step towards winning that battle, after the outgoing regime had attempted to impose a stupidly short, two-week timetable, one imagines to facilitate a stitch-up. There are also rumours of trying to change the voting system to Single Transferable Vote at that same NEC.<br /><br />The second is also important, and will likely set back progress in various areas a year if put on the long finger – Starmer will continue to be dependent on tricky union votes if the 9 CLP seats are not all occupied by moderates, and those unions will want to exact their pound of flesh.<br /><br />So we are back to dull-but-vital party machinations, which even the Parliamentary lobby barely understands, and of which it is difficult to say how they will pan out. Perhaps both will be lost, or perhaps they are already lost.<br /><br />Either way, Tuesday’s NEC is shaping up to be one of the most decisive for years. A good performance in Parliament is helpful, but it is not enough, not even close. It is reviving the party which is the <i>sine qua non</i>.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This post first published at Labour Uncut</span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">STOP PRESS 20/05: the NEC yesterday pretty much made it clear that we were going to have a mostly sensible list of candidates, and two of the main Corbynite candidates have withdrawn. Although there is a possibility that Starmer's preferred choice, my old friend and colleague, David Evans, may be omitted from the shortlist because of the selection panel being balanced pro-Corbyn, things are looking good to get someone sensible. And there will be NEC elections this year. So I have one-and-a-half of my two wishes granted, at time of writing.</span></div>
</div>
Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-85089577879737885042020-04-20T14:15:00.002+01:002020-04-20T14:15:47.406+01:00The Corbynite leadership’s final, scorched-earth, rearguard action<img alt="Image result for scorched earth images" height="265" src="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" width="400" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was all going so well: but a matter of days following the election of Keir Starmer as Labour’s new leader and it is convulsing itself over the scandal of a report, leaked widely, containing sensitive, personal information and also making serious allegations about current and past staffers, not to mention various members and non-members.<br /><br />It has the makings of a PR disaster of epic proportions which, thanks to Covid-19, national media has not yet given the prominence it is likely to have in future. But it will: make no mistake about its seriousness. It could even bankrupt the party, or some of its individual figures.<br /><br />Corbyn himself is gone, of course. But this week we discovered, not to much surprise, that the report was commissioned by his last lieutenant: the party’s General Secretary, Jennie Formby.<br /><br />You do not have to agree that Formby created a climate of fear and bullying at Labour HQ; or that she allowed unresolved anti-Semitism complaints to balloon on her watch and then disingenuously blamed the problem on her predecessor, although there is ample evidence for both these things. But they are opinions.<br /><br />Where one has to despair with some party members over recent days, in uproar on Labour’s social media echo chamber, is the wilful blindness to the following actual facts:<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><b>1. Spying on staff is not ok.</b> Honestly, what is wrong with you people, that you think it’s fine for any organisation to spy on its staff on an industrial scale, compiling their emails and WhatsApps, whatever the nature of their comments turned out to be?If you go into pretty much any organisation in the world, you will find groups of people being rude about their bosses and colleagues on email, chat or text, in a private way: this is human nature. Most of them quite reasonably do not expect they are about to be spied on by their employer. Even if use of information extracted from such monitoring is legal under certain, specific circumstances, it is clearly not behaviour which would be calmly accepted by a workforce as a rule and rightly so.<br /><br />With that one action, Formby has destroyed the trust of hundreds of people employed by the party and using its email or mobiles on a daily basis. She surely cannot continue long in her role now, for purely managerial reasons – she has clearly lost confidence of her staff.<br /><br /><b>2. A major data breach has been committed. </b>Are we really saying that Jennie Formby, who commissioned a report she knew contained highly sensitive and personal information, should not be held responsible for its safekeeping?<br /><br />And how could she realistically not have known that such a sensitive document could not possibly be kept secret in a million years, given the controversial nature of its contents?It is all very well, Ms Formby, to tell local party members not to distribute it, now you are personally implicated in a serious breach of the Data Protection Act. But your either malicious or incompetent handling of personal data has now left a number of people involved in current cases, including some minors and Jews, exposed and vulnerable.<br /><br />It would have clearly have been better had this report never been compiled at all, for the damage it has done the party. For example, Uncut is aware of some Jewish former members whose personal details have now been posted on far-right websites, thanks to this idiotic report and letting it into the hands of numbskulls like Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP. You, as commissioner of the report and as the chief person responsible for the data contained within it, have to carry the can for all of this. The buck stops with you.<br /><br /><b>3. Non-independence of report.</b> “The work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014 – 2019”, does not read like an objective, formal report, despite its 800+ pages and pseudo-academic footnotes. Its authors were not named, for a start. And then the tone, which often reads like a Squawkbox editorial:“The result [of the 2015 leadership election] was seen as a triumph for Jeremy Corbyn, and a rout for the ‘Blairite’ politics of ‘Progress’, whose candidate acquired just 4.5% of the overall vote”.<br /><br />Pretty objective stuff, eh? No, the simple reason that the party’s lawyers have not accepted the report into its submission to the EHRC on anti-Semitism is because it is an embarrassment. This is not any kind of independent report: it is a propaganda exercise by the last remnants of a dying order.<br /><br /><b>4. This is not whistleblowing.</b> For those who have been disingenuously referring to the raising of personal grievances via this report as “whistleblowing”, the government is very clear about what constitutes whistleblowing, and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/whistleblowing">it’s not this</a>*.<br /><br />While it slyly purports to explain the lack of action on anti-Semitism cases, the report liberally throws the blame at everyone except the current regime – surprise, surprise – and as a side order, ends up lobbing random smear grenades at a list of the enemies who have crossed it over the years. It is petty revenge, essentially to scorch the earth behind them: we are not going to have the Labour Party, but we are going to make damn sure that quite a few of you won’t, either.<br /><br />Given the legal, regulatory and industrial action which will now ensue, from Data Commissioners, wronged individuals and staff unions, this story will run and run, be in no doubt.<br /><br />But we should also note that the legal position of the General Secretary and the current regime managing the party is now very, very tricky indeed. With advent of GDPR legislation, privacy of personal data is taken very seriously indeed, and the owners of that data have a duty of care.<br /><br />When the current froth settles, it is difficult to see how the current General Secretary comes out of this in any kind of tenable position. After the last week’s revelations about her people snooping on others’ emails, she will certainly not be missed by many of her staff.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2020/04/18/the-corbynite-leaderships-final-scorched-earth-rearguard-action/">Labour Uncut</a></i></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">* “You’re protected by law if you report any of the following:<br /><ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">a criminal offence, for example fraud</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">someone’s health and safety is in danger</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">risk or actual damage to the environment</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">a miscarriage of justice</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">the company is breaking the law, for example does not have the right insurance</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">you believe someone is covering up wrongdoing” – <a href="http://www.gov.uk/">gov.uk</a> website”</span></span></li>
</ul>
</span></span></div>
Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-29407318080774758952020-04-14T15:41:00.004+01:002020-04-14T15:41:24.109+01:00The party, the party, the party: an eight-point plan to save Labour from itself<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><img alt="Dyntra - The Transparency of Labour Party" height="266" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAARMAAAC3CAMAAAAGjUrGAAAAwFBMVEXw8PDcJSHbJB7w8O/w8vLx7/Dx9/jaAADbIRzcFw/w7+/kfnrw8vPbHxju29ndIyDv6OjdLSjv5eXt09LfSkbePjfhWlbiambbGRTlh4XbFg3syMfw6+3lfX3rdXTibGvqp6ffQj3hYFzqr6/ouLTljYztz9DgU1DeMi/mlJLqvLnfQDvicW3oop/sysfdMCzjeHTs3treTkrhZGPkkY7ps67uw8HhiYHu3uLjf3Pdg3Tnm5rggH3koZnt1dnkd3hM5BIGAAAV+UlEQVR4nO1b6XriuLbFtiwPkWxjMwhDbpghBEJGTs4lp+v93+quvW0SoJJOqrvOd/uHVvpLp0DY1tIe1t4SjYaFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFxf8rvIbn45fw/UYjpr98vOLRG/zbjz0eUQ3FP6u/fH7fp7F/7bb4JF1U4I6+95ev8t9CTE/lNwR+fE8omrogGkCQ8AUG+Jg6GItjDPGIKYEPNHhcXLP1yxB0Q7oxriAqev5B8IU8g2AjUKJaPyEF2QPmUL2pYB6gjv7GL/U3FlgIXEZI5dMFf9+EfgNEvu+d4HWoyI/wnDGeWmS9DWYOjl6u8eYmV/SWKmazpxmQ/NXJwCgbyYqR4/Lxb53T34Tot8rIRAB+BUEZlaYQDbYQJYSfDV5awWsulPLUrlma6OZWYVnlRWAIwav8y3dWXttoHeqyGwtP/cYp/V2IwThyXNdxUjeMmuPeODSPGWYNb/Hmk33vcd0NguBhMi28hnyO0jBawKd8eRmF+JgbXf5VTuCLmROmburqh+yfFU5EHuGxXDd0TflavHiTsOz5yEFeLKY3IGO2mUyGs1YQjnZCeGDCDXLERHkRuW6apn+Pk2ZItwYnwvsn5R2RB+DESR29KKQSarXVE4lQ4ou8vRxmCKIIKVIWo6ArlZrfuE5AIeTASfl3OYGxheDkt87p7+LAiW4nEg6jpvoBc6ZEcNvqS2RKiobgoD9K94nI1iY9cOL8Lk5065/JSViuJIXV+DXYS88j2xi/IgsrJEoQg9x7HZUTJXvR77cTPcr+Wfqk4sSNXn0oVF8+Bymkgpe99K+C1nO/nyAHw3oaMZLOYy6yq/+GnYz+kXYSLncIc7HsL82D9FQ+W5jFZPXQvHkoJLQqPEjebl+l3GAWJ3byVYzlYPQuBsX75D/gRNRQ6s84Esf45M0/+eD7n0cv07OdcuIg/8YCdjJZmrAJdZ+PWzto+0GW5XkvIXUlknU03t2F2jniBJH5Q06Ql6h+gcf52R+T2fpx3OmMH9evm36ekQzmcuqIk5vM49oiy5Pb1XS6K/KMjPWobCBtwNUWch9G9XfT6aqf0DARk77EcJhzLBQemRCr+LyCwvwG+Inxlq8G+X0e8wAlBlkx2V+s5++kMCdueY1oIpKb4TIsZ76Xdwspp4vnXMJy1qrhybkuEXOiFG727jufceLzJDwV316PyqA0GtIM+g6K0B1v5oL0zUneaUOfqLz/NG5jCMEZX+8GSvBVDqxQ2SnE/Lm32Najou2iNy0U5fE4pppSePndgjGhcuTkmWLxvAZ+XG2gvvD0Ws8GeBCRDLtLUqpB530iFSfBVMYNMV0mwyDcrmR2tdj4973meD9sBdFOqlWrV6Yu5peG7omdfBxPoNSFJ5O7ZRnSKIgf0nckDE3U7iXyjJObTIjhGCI5DOGP9Ioptz9ukfUOix0rLrzmvZaONH2IdI0LCZy2LuDdsBNizxfwfdCvg4uYCsvjJ1JZF8o7MuWoACct7ermvafkqmMiup6jH045SdOgj3mKaXnrv0am9SImixW8Wl7qUW81uctm7etd4Ib7ZN9Mv2EnHlmCmiwjjSEhUYHM5hAtoCcsl8+CGwVvnIy8+TgyoZMyc241zpQ9MFEvNipNT2R3mG5IdDikHgBcHbS8vlA55tOq99shfdhckuEcW67vZV2dQnqHLVQu4MQJg4n09qWmy+ExzjjBk8BOkGD6TiFf1kFwLVVMLQPPXyVSxu1u90U9B6G7k2JmvmMnmLIcGjDihKAidRj8f7zk6mClTuxkNGnBClNmjgwFHyNeorv8zccRKvqdoLoED6QIz7aCyS0KmEnsw5rACV5OzcVAnPgOKM26hlZRt+Bt4ATEXcm9oQIl5dd/4qTckChJRn+gDF4HelA1eWIPlZ/sB2Ei5DAIrhIlEjc8sZMPOUFQVrutJjeg+emqwgx5ovQImtbqnRPH2WqnsqOQxH7Ko6jauHtLDr68HRleUJcnEeJqsJKQmY4eCsGtMMV2QlXYQJzFWOKEaCQ78eQD7MRt3uG+xC5dU7dOfQcXuYNpNLIOgi/iQN/nLhglRenPm1cocOT6aihhnbjaUS7+tAYUycLQs4eoGZedu17v9cfjA3yJpoBJlFeZRy5ec4LFJpMCbc2mo8mLqtVzgyfMNaY0hcUwbBi4JkY0m9smIkvK4cdxo23C4YM4IXaZk7MnIk5wL1oPn3yHghs+Dw41rViwOOEEPqU7ORx2cLeiDppCYYMgWUzmxe3z63YG9SBEJ+fPyK75mhPUj8OosslQ3+1ySv/KS3YbdhEyft0nCfJmJ2QV5fJi87xaTSf77rakoIygodvIUh4/5ZWhsJRSlF48Pa92q9XkumMMzYlIeYS0BMtfcOKccEK0gJSy9bofDje740/0e22tm2DDE8Mex/dijwQn8utRuz16hfuJeDBbS+7PyjtzpGM/4QSO8aDZ4cPmZABF4pMyghS4n2lOQWm0lrE6+A6xZJb7l5gME3fLkpkmi8LlzeuAG3lqSOGaIphZ7DKfVJ2QfnbbhUdSdAk1ZV/xPU7UOydhWj6scggW4GS0zPbb8s5TDTEf5XgEhJT9fDgXshgWL1fD+Xyy3gYb2aBWpHz8hp3A0inBY1GDZ0l+6Ff6K0a9VNLL4GqAZR3UMTZNDellis0Q07BKuUOyJFZCZ07rL/IbzYEidHuCn54loSfktUN+56Z68UId3l+1E9esPahr5JfT5idIaEwDPaUOwSW0G96MN0uUgrRqWStYbqGPxhkFct+XC/21nXjiOaDlpwQHpUntbp6uB0tpaw6Ruo8HqTmhZNBXtD+AcTECO1hZbTX5hFM+0fWpDONgSJOF9KBwRxsMiHkzQxIIljel1fxVTvTjC3kGtT5PJR6MTm5MEw6lsvaQFlWo3U25z0id55N1Z9y7HbBb461l+A07kfuSFQTMhDraqp4BZbJ/RRxTzUb6b74ThkPyXBoUU/7ASBTgFI3DsE32I8eGExEULyQL55iY8jO8JR/rlFK8GePVX/WdsLnjjjvVDT81tUT8Wt5MPFksoqeYpiCSqxJZCOmNizdFuRPKSU6O9Qk82fzPh5xcl7SsoZ4rrm083jqiBC8mhp/G9GgFKk6QH7OT9j+FhjxyeWCQkEhYkqBzUkiGszspmFC15GUuvskJazaXE09Xspt8DFW0zfZy2DFl0F0JJB4Zb8uW5CbkoS9IVvNo3ONewcec+HJTVSRpobza86mGw+3VzmEJZy6wyLXvuFFPxifL5CtfdKqlDCYY+MxCB6EjUfGp3+Phypq8qYi/6TsN1mx4epKyjc/bnnJWhgbSc79at53uvl9caDd45VRw2GdA1fkauek37ER4O96kKHwqzzyqPhFXpIiz7LlZcbKO3+IJKgt1unUGSaL2ZbX8M9kQ16b6UDc/q2LAtBxX5JU9eOP3fKfiBDAvotH4fNdOFAFLx/VAFtdl5+omRLWoe7t5wjsxBBU/kUt8bSekx5AtkS89cn/IE5EX/elkM7u8GoWV76wzceDE1ffnM4DzTKN6oPDiy8rhouv4dFUpSMmaPEj178ZY9h0qc9osvT6jBFELpUKIarEQQqwWRQ6J1RtDoLQu66pDZT1NUuJrO6GWHVVLittDyWp/0V2M2k3XRKxRqxkMxFH/5Hyp8Nl+5S/U2cm7dRCaiLMOAG1CPVec6I7/pY49sRP4Im4MX/xku432t64Q28M2CkDPl/1OXvfHlJdzxS4G/VHAQvo4F6cf+06Dc5fIit1s3KTuBO1twQrTsK4HiZO3GKsfsvPiBM9zu3WrqebqhWIL3Xta7TIfP7cvbivCdCv/JidVXUwpoJ15n2zLkkHinQt85nr3cCPxgrxbTFh/+iQ/4Qmy/9qs/PY473zCCWV7lE3D9ciU3O3g+q4q8t84yRCeKk7M+KcZwCrnS56eXiQqWfCfaSW2T7hHQp5XhbduJeL7vsMbduw7HyHOuS0Qq15geg05CQpS4kVTj3cxhQRQEufTdfNg9Wec/PsDTlAtNbJZOzQhKy0mg2oL2iBwP+CkOxA/JUQ1r6anHxJZPFScLHcfTEEUFdEhFfWfc+L/AidwVpDiI8fNb0i2bRDoKUYmvW3Qmc6Lor/aP6YBlZBnnHCZbv73w3pHFZ0yPBT2tZGE2pioNB9wgpDx02bGm52ccXI+TmD5ak4S9Qsx9s85CboJNdTlZo9qR07N4p6EovLmm07gjG6WujSuc1jfUzvB3T/ixPOyRUQ1LH0upP5JiaDSHHV+9PZX+gNOsp9ZFe+ciD8e3n3n5wkU7oGT3+U74MRs756T+31w9ViQVDZ7bvuiwBL57nq9QPFIPU597jtsJ+WH5wrkRVk3G+E/7Yer3n46TwbIRkrsluk5J7qTnfmOD532FmNfxEul31J3+vNpF3GIsWErx9+fcuKR3HzX9txf+xNOwtAERkOytedy1hnp5sSn0zZe0t/tds+XxjjLVme8aCNgUngIEnXoPTof73lVsYDe1w7q6kxWu85UDKpd842Tg46FtBfiJCFS6OxXAzWqT0yHV4MaAuf38sSqzsWLrOo9MifZ2YEW4YHYX/Ad3hulTt4oy++GzTB01sPdar9ejJbNMHgY9osiuX9Jit11K4i4b+95dT/WjT6yEzXU3GNMjbvLuMiqZhpDQazCN9/xDv3YbaZOkzH57u7gZA0v+xFxkRxtUBSfZW1f/qfWbI+y6lE7Ve/RPz3RIuatI05G+gs74T106najIkq2OgzDqAQM/opuprzGqtpDk0VvGcFO4Ffcj3U+5EQMLiPuvlMqIIri+DABIYbRT5y4wfy8fYH71fIUtZCnro1LJ1XMXXY2kE7CPNaCDk8i51U/losA//SKuy33KSvNNvqOnZD8L5+kfAqC5tKYKllEy9lcch1NmxPUxxp481mEws6vY+yHvQLSndw4Ndd8eu9NjtN+w535mROUu6flDkm+x7oGHApfDkPuWYY3+bmQRRnl1jXgEPXOH6PqREvr/EiZj4LcPbOTLzkh0T5U8c1i8vIyXxjaUTDjJKb2d+xXV5Xz7sNi/bTJMdE6xn7KCQsTPZSsEmt7p3ZW3vzZd1I9lie+g9JO5VXZ5wRzeMG8WTWOyunp3fAhuQsOTQWFOz/oqkk1Pw1Q1Gt+4+S7dkJ+AKb3EwGvlAhqSKEPWJWaEKr2vWGrRAIqKZ58YSdXhrVadM3dJO9Q32NRL8pan3SPasDQ2Z0nFDGrBoZNGeNjC0PCLNSt87OAfly7jn6gGlzShgX1ey/l6QVFEbkH3/munbi8aazuRVXVJhskoxkdj6VSn/YdoV8Czfn1kHd4QaKLE04EVwnZXcRXNB0qH/kscrX8YkLB/IQTahXxv6gJJyo/i1FwceZyaP/I92L5VNIcELSHPFef++UwBV8Nncp3yg0qLJ/6vfRCaBJRWbfHp3qV+hHx/pv7a5yk1IKt1jNW3quJruswBWKoG1lpKOe0LgYn3vHZB9TBsa/2hoV/ap6Eqg460dFgFQ+buq59iAWqi2mDAn5h1mxLgqcbw0upmKetz/BWEZcv1MimjYfmM27C281+jIFi2qRqHuF3VFDRL8iTMDQ0jy+yOplATV41mGneWXLT2ne+0mzMSejqRX7YsQaxK5daHJwWeVPwpWM+0rGoVWpkNQZwEeaPAkAwSyD9eCNDevPL4LADmr5x4lb7ycG4P6C98Aa1npKJNrzD4Zr/ydmrxFNUVU66xBUVHdgg+ovrEt5HV9TXTJXwlrraPy07u1hywlRycHsVUfPyiJPv5GLalpwc3J6OBUyDIJyw1FJ0elj+y7g/61j8NLtXR+jiZwoHGhsugmmTojcpcjoyMry7MZzg2AKYE/hO3TyATS/Xw9v7wSAvVrOOrjYoEE2g5mFhvihahrdM4RUPvWmRx4N8Pum1eOOdtiSQkdhJxSzgTTA47vJu2E/ukzmUVpsOiaTVpsev5B1kgoPKoTwxnwxfF4/D+UuexXH2ch2k55zwvTHrY6DMCy7hPIXR9aYnHQVwmk0qD8LqyGmLFvbACcZok1YhwOiUtjzxCZoAbQUHT7S1Tx4Fu9UuW1h1xe3W0fwHCyGd9jmbI5j90UI4poY//If6FFRumcoqaMP8V+wEc5sODqHab1QH6uNpt7wZ/+i9rtsmPBSBp2ctXLaWtN7lJ6ONLgYqVnvMKXXrcyK0481v08zvEmqgHjhBwhi9OppPE1CXJwxd+q86cBGNB8iv/P2HhtzwFmJKtOJqOmTJwnHQ0dshRS3kA6SHIR41ZL3Fux88joND+QNB6mAnX8WTSmAvxSQX1R4M+TUdfoLHbwI6cm503RMi9gJKTvIyclL3J/AJtwGJkk1QLT87RprWJ7VNMMsEBQE+rM25ONh7+8Dw2zRftlmHJxR0/uBmqVflwo2pInd19OBwqoVSfvkcH5Qcoso6SLnCYytmy6KQY4JXf2M47yjvK9/JOoaeJfhP3qKuOB8seBsq5KQ+UFNNjtLhSMas2ehMUVqdjHkDnsNcxMqPlbwduzSkZpLO5oRl8/FWKrVqsu/E1HuE4RRKrh7gL/XBHfyf19Y4r7E4yBH6mpCcL2gb2alO4zAvLJbTx0K+7S3QAa4LSlKhw2m/PuFj9GInuRqisxYx7ITv81mfTayWkGLRNnkOkurrTauHoTqUWqhdUPjUgGPqiE5IUnMy4H9WLx+FEx1cDHjPT+bPXSeINJyaDFhHQXO9or0tL1+UunzMGv7A1SFpGF/db0YoLyuxSmaiTTCekAA5bC2RtpX5ZhGUdPKED4NxayaKFjBvFBvibaAaDJeBpqMp7GsYVEad4T00A5Y/1KPC92SbqrpQbz/jJJ7Twbh9vHae6TtLg95ou37flxPFuPOOxeLfcz54p3ZjoPMRprT3R1pBZcXz3eKmScu5bF1NkgH1ZXCPXTXKFx2nuZxwC8HPp1dN6j4xtXp5Nc2Oi7jqPL4S2erHKA3rVUCEHfVu8+rcQv39M+rDK5E8tY4GtV77GWS4gmSMHD1+QYy9ay6B5jr+mBNqHlXbn5K2Yn1vQPsy7xJanX/hyYspXpy/fDSAy1XmhQaJPCmS+7hqoVRfd+OXY9IieQ4RwbumcNPBfLKn7wTth30a7vF34mrfISnn82lbkaw21xj1tB/uSPzwAb+3ckmwwlVSzSfXs14P19rd85e0fPpOmsxf7mM6/CbpWGg2+HRvh3f9eTvMr1QzpbS3mxz3Kyj/x/W7sf/R197qbw6CNCqVOFiTtqK9RI+kOIt3vzo/S+lE8HcO6TwNm8HhfLEQ9ZcRj06C0u4ClU5Hp5BZpuE+jfed1Wou4vClNF6J6quLfC3BrNF3HPkLSf+oE+0WFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWFhYWX+L/AJQe0itMNk9oAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" width="400" /><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We have now had the Shadow Cabinet appointments. While a few have raised eyebrows among moderates – not least the reappearance of that self-same Miliband who helped get us into this mess in the first place – it is not a bad selection from the limited numbers of available MPs.<br /><br />Its significance will be dissected for weeks by the Westminster lobby, because that is what they see – the Westminster face of the party. But the first thing we members need to realise is that the Shadow Cabinet and, indeed, party policy in times of Covid-19, is a sideshow.<br /><br />Let’s not forget: the party is finally out of immediate danger, but it is still in intensive care.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>Yes, it is important in these difficult times to provide a reasonably effective scrutiny function to the highly-variable ministerial quality on the Tory benches. But most moderates, we might wager, inside or perhaps temporarily outside the party, have always seen this leadership election as a two-step battle, in which both steps are essential and not just the first.<br /><br />Step one: get a decent, competent, non-extremist leader (a low bar, you might reasonably say). Tick. And with Starmer, at first glance, things looks considerably better than anyone might have expected. Then, step two: sort out the party. In short, get it back to a decent, healthy, functioning organisation without the slightest hint of anti-Semitism or far-left extremism – both of which pretty much amount to the same thing.<br /><br />And it is this second one to which we need now turn. It is not a question of it being a nice-to-have or an “in the fullness of time”: any failure to act on this immediately will mean that the good guys will not return – either our members or our supporters – and the whiff of racism will remain. The party, simply, will not recover. It is a sine qua non.<br /><br />Here Uncut proposes eight things which will need to happen to make that a reality, and they will all need to start – and some finish – during the first hundred days.<br /><br /><i>One. Make it abundantly clear there needs to be a new General Secretary.</i> The GS cannot easily be fired, but it is also impractical for them to continue if a party leader really does not want them there. The only key figure who will now want Formby to continue is Len McCluskey; the PLP, NEC, Leader’s Office and other unions will not.<br /><br /><i>Two. Eradicate anti-Semitism, branch by branch if necessary, as was done with Militant.</i> The EHRC report, when it comes, will help mobilise opinion within the party and ensure that the guilty are brought to task, but action needs to be taken before then. Starmer’s meetings with JLM and BoD have been a good start. But this cannot really happen until we deal with point one. This will also have the happy side-effect of removing some of the nastier extremists from the party.<br /><br /><i>Three. Ignore Momentum. </i>It is not necessary to try to attack it, it is already in disarray; a fan club based around one man can hardly have much future when that man goes. It is fracturing, as the far left always does. Its anti-Semitic members will be expelled from Labour. The important thing is not to engage with it, let it have its little conference in September and let it be a flop. Ironically, an organisation called Momentum will die if it lacks that which gives it its name. Those decent members, who are not mad or extremist and joined in good faith, will drift back towards the party proper. Eventually even Unite will dump it – they will want to be where the power is.<br /><br /><i>Four. Consolidate the NEC. </i>As of last weekend, Starmer now has a non-Corbynite majority much more quickly than anyone expected. But it is wafer-thin, and any setback could cause backsliding towards Corbynism, and potentially block resolution of some of the anti-Semitism cases, although Starmer has said he wants an independent process. This summer’s NEC elections matter like never before. As an aside, suspended Peter Willsman needs to be expelled from the party and the NEC forthwith, if the party is truly serious about anti-Semitism.<br /><br /><i>Five. Break Unite’s stranglehold on party funding and remove its placepeople.</i> Miliband’s pushing away of corporate sponsorship and High Value donors inevitably weakened his negotiating position in resisting McCluskey’s demands. Corbyn killed these things altogether. But McCluskey is now weak: he self-evidently backed the wrong horses in the leadership contest and he may soon stand down anyway. Corbyn let him dominate his private office and party HQ: this must never be allowed to happen again.<br /><br /><i>Six. Rebuild in Scotland. </i>If the party is ever going to get back to majority government, the current situation in Scotland must be reversed. Significant focus and resources will need to be put into this longer-term task, and for this reason we may need to accept that majority government is not a realistic option for 2024. But the later we start, the later we will finish.<br /><br /><i>Seven. Extend the hand of friendship to the people who left.</i> We lost a lot of good people – many of them lifelong members and supporters – over the last four years. We need engagement, not recriminations, to get them back.<br /><br /><i>Eight. Get the party into a sensible place on trans self-id. </i>A warning light for the party: during the leadership election, several candidates tied themselves up in knots over the rights of transsexuals to self-identify, an issue on which they are seriously out of step with the public and many of their own members. It is a ticking time-bomb. If not resolved, it will inevitably flare up into a huge embarrassment for the party and may well cause more members – especially women – to leave, at a time when we should be persuading them to stay.<br /><br />That’s just for starters, of course – we are starting from a low base and there will be more reform tasks to come next year. But these are the essential ones from day one, and some must be fixed within weeks and not months.<br /><br />As one former leader once said, “Our top priority was, is and always will be education, education, education”. For Keir Starmer’s top team, it must now be the party, the party, the party. Its very survival depends on it.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This piece first posted at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2020/04/12/the-party-the-party-the-party-an-eight-point-plan-to-save-the-labour-party-from-itself/">Labour Uncut</a></i></span></div>
Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-34385235748461572262020-03-31T20:27:00.001+01:002020-03-31T22:49:56.833+01:00Coronavirus in Hungary: the perfect distraction for an anti-democrat to make his move<img alt="Viktor Orban says he may resume media attacks on EU institutions ..." height="224" src="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" width="400" /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For nearly a decade, the Centre Left has been <a href="https://thecentreleft.blogspot.com/search?q=hungary">writing periodically about the unpleasant regime of Viktor Orbán in Hungary</a>, and how it would likely end up as the first dictatorship inside the EU: starting with a <a href="https://thecentreleft.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-pseudo-democracy-fools-us-all.html">ropey media law</a> his government enacted in that year, passing through a blind eye to anti-Semitsim and <a href="https://thecentreleft.blogspot.com/2014/03/viktor-orban-bought-and-sold.html">a suspiciously over-generous nuclear deal with Russia</a>, and ending with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/30/hungary-jail-for-coronavirus-misinformation-viktor-orban">open-ended rule by decree</a> yesterday, a mere nine years later.<br /><br />He has not disappointed: indeed, if there is a difference between this and the dictatorship declared yesterday, it is starting to be a fairly fine one. <br /></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He is not the only one, of course: China has been transparently fiddling its virus figures so as not to cataclysmically lose face, <a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2020/03/30/the-coronavirus-crisis-china-capitalises-on-covid-19-by-blaming-foreigners/">blaming foreigners and hoarding supplies</a>; Putin’s Russia has not just been in denial about the virus but sees it as a golden opportunity to <a href="https://twitter.com/RussianEmbassy/status/1243533198346371072">challenge sanctions from the West</a>. <br /><br />But Orbán is somehow worse: we do not expect repressive China or pseudo-democratic Russia to behave themselves. <br /><br />Orbán, on the other hand, has successfully “boiled the frog” with a people not that used to democracy anyway – you would have to be in your 70s to even remember pre-Communist Hungary. I remember exchanges with people living there about five years ago, people I worked with three years ago and visiting two years ago. On all these occasions, people told me I was worrying too much. <br /><br />Well, we now have the path to Orbáns putative dictatorship clearly visible. The only faint ray of hope which could now stop it, it would seem, would be a truly tough EU, willing to face him down and threaten him with ejection, should he continue to curb the media and human rights. But one would imagine that is unlikely to happen while the otherwise admirable, but Putin-nervous, Angela Merkel remains as German Chancellor. <br /><br />Therefore make your contingency plans, good Hungarian comrades, because the time may soon come when you will need them.</span>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-12425202060396816282020-03-20T18:25:00.000+00:002020-03-20T18:28:04.471+00:00This past few weeks have only confirmed Corbynite Labour’s unfitness to govern<img alt="Image result for 10 downing street images" height="266" src="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" width="400" /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And so, while not wanting to be complacent, many of us dare to hope that the shutters are finally lifting on the Corbynite era, where the openly continuity-Corbyn candidates seem poised to lose in both Leader and Deputy Leader elections.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The beginning of the end, fingers crossed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even were that not the case, it seems that the dying embers of that Corbynite leadership seems bent on helping them lose, through a series of actions so cack-handed, so politically tone-deaf, that they leave even their most ardent supporters within the party are left struggling to comprehend them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">First there was the Trevor Phillips suspension from the party by Labour’s high command.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For those unfamiliar with Phillips’ record, he is a decent and sometimes thought-provoking former politician, who was the first leader of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), set up by Labour as a real step forward in protecting minorities of all kinds.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh and, we might just mention in passing, it is the organisation currently investigating the Labour party for anti-Semitism.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In short, Labour has decided, a matter of weeks before the likely-critical EHRC report is released, to try and clumsily discredit that organisation by association.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">In fact, to try and </span><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/labour-veteran-trevor-phillips-suspended-over-islamophobia-allegations-11953457" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: blue;">discredit it on a trumped-up charge of “Islamophobia”</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> for comments made years ago, levelled at a man who has not merely </span><em style="color: #333333;">talked</em><span style="color: #333333;"> about fighting racism – all the while consorting with real racists, like the party’s current leader – but who has genuinely made it a great part of his life’s work to lead institutions and initiatives which promote tolerance between communities.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To try and dump on Phillips is transparently a move both of grubbiness and of desperation, in case we should expect anything less from the Corbyn place-people currently in charge of the party machine.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then – were this idiocy not sufficient – we might note that the main target of Phillips’ so-called “Islamophobia” was the rape gangs in Northern cities such as Rotherham. Thus neatly putting the party on the side of the rapists and against the overwhelming majority of the British public, most of whom are both disgusted by what went on and perfectly capable of distinguishing between an ordinary Muslim and a Muslim rapist.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">But that is not all. The debates have shown</span><a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2020/02/19/we-like-you-lisa-nandy-so-why-are-you-throwing-women-under-a-bus/" style="color: #d52b1e; text-decoration-line: none;"> </a><a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2020/02/19/we-like-you-lisa-nandy-so-why-are-you-throwing-women-under-a-bus/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: blue;">even some of our more promising candidates to be batshit crazy on trans self-id</span></a><span style="color: #333333;">, let alone the leaden-footed, continuity-Corbynite duo of Long-Bailey and Burgon.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span id="more-22257"></span>Happily, for the public in general, this is a minority interest, but these things do not help. The over-long campaign, as happened in 2015, has merely served to point up the relatively low quality of many of the pretenders to be the next PM, while helping to queer the pitch for the incoming leader.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">Finally, of course, there has been coronavirus. Corbyn himself, along with his more fanatical followers and outriders, seems intent on removing any last vestiges of vague credibility attached to his tenure as leader. With only a few weeks left to go in the Leader’s Office, his comments reduce to whining that </span><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-jeremy-corbyn-accuses-government-of-being-well-behind-the-curve-on-covid-19-11958076" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: blue;">“the government seems complacent”</span></a><span style="color: #333333;">.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">No-one in Labour likes Boris Johnson, even among those of us who think the Tories wrong rather than evil. He is quite probably the worst prime minister of the postwar period. But he has both done one smart thing regarding the virus: on policy, he has largely got out of the way and let the experts get on with it.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not so the Corbynites. So, when we criticise the approach, we are criticising <em>the experts and not the Tories</em>. Poorly-briefed politicians criticising experts, in a time of national crisis, is hardly a good look. It also puts us in the position of carping from the sidelines in a moment when, perhaps unexpectedly, the country is largely pulling together after the painful Brexit divide of the last half-decade.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In other words, the last thing Labour needs right now is to be lumped together with the armchair experts currently filling the airwaves and social media with dangerously uninformed opinions. An intelligent opposition might make the odd, measured criticism, while ultimately supporting the broad thrust of government action, which is what you do in times of national emergency. Political comms 101.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">If you doubt the impact that all this is having on the party, you need only look at the Tories’ polling of an incredible 50%, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/britainelects/status/1237706031834292224" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: blue;">a 21% lead over Labour</span></a><span style="color: #333333;">: extraordinary numbers and for a party with a relatively modest majority.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In summary, we are doing the nigh-on impossible: we are making Boris Johnson look good.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We can only hope that the incoming leader can put down an abundantly clear and differentiating marker regarding the last three-and-a-half years. The last-chance saloon having passed by some time ago, there is precious little margin for error.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2020/03/18/this-leadership-election-period-has-only-confirmed-corbynite-labours-unfitness-to-govern">Labour Uncut</a></i></span>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-34000183372645424422020-02-21T14:25:00.001+00:002020-02-21T14:25:22.839+00:00We like you, Lisa Nandy, so why are you throwing women under a bus?<br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img alt="Image result for lisa nandy images" height="266" src="https://i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article17415763.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/0_170217lisanandy1.jpg" width="400" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Current Labour leadership campaign status: both cautiously encouraging, and flat-out disappointing.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Encouraging, because the nominations stage is making it look like the far left – in the shape of Burgon, Butler and Long-Bailey might finally, finally be on the back foot (that said, the actual vote for leader is likely to be far tighter and no-one should be complacent).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Disappointing, because for any moderates, there is actually no candidate at all aligning with their views. The choice is soft left, or hard left. That’s it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And all are playing, to a greater or lesser extent, to the Momentumite gallery. Perhaps foolishly, given the occurrence of members of new members joining to oppose Continuity Corbynism and who are now crushed to see all candidates espousing dumb policies (not that policies will even matter for the next year or two, as the party tries to rebuild).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then there is the debate on trans rights.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let’s get one thing perfectly straight. No-one, on any wing of the party – or at least, practically no-one – is anti-trans. This is the gay-friendly, lesbian-friendly, every-orientation-party par excellence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The issue most people are concerned about is a simple and specific one, and it is this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Self-id, in any sphere of life where privileges are conferred by the attribute you are self-id-ing, is clearly open to abuse. It is obvious that pathological cases can falsely id themselves as having that attribute and claim the privilege. And it is happening right now with trans self-id.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, women’s sport is being disrupted by suddenly having disingenuous people with male bodies competing against women and, surprisingly, winning everything. And a small but pathological minority of trans women with male bodies are predatorially invading women’s toilets and changing rooms, molesting or even raping them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It. Is. Happening.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is what economists call “moral hazard”, and anyone who has ever run an organisation or a large project understands that. You should never allow this type of moral hazard: at best, it is merely unworkable and, at worst, highly damaging to that organisation or people in it. Relatively few, of course, will abuse the system, but the only way to protect against that abuse is to disallow the moral hazard – in this case, self-id.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This, patently, has nothing to do with one’s feelings on trans, non-binary and so on. It is not treating people as second-class citizens. It is protecting women, end of.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then we come to the Labour leadership election.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The cult of the modern left not only feels it needs to forcefully rebut this common-sense argument – because, y’know, thin end of the wedge and all – but aggressively pursues those who advance it with insults, social media pile-ons and general, bullying behaviour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Three leadership candidates – Long-Bailey, Thornberry and Nandy – have voiced support for the Trans Rights Charter, a list of twelve pledges that are at best, bonkers and at worst, horrifically damaging, both to the cause of trans people and the rights of women in general to privacy and safe spaces (Starmer has signed up to a more general pledge card from LGBT+ Labour, but that too endorses self-id, although it is clearly not as radical as the other).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Among these twelve pledges are not only self-id but calling Women’s Place UK, an organisation full of decent women concerned about safe spaces, “transphobic”, a slur which would be libellous, were it directed at a single person. All the while not actually defining what “transphobic” means, signifying that the word can be used as a catch-all smear, to isolate and expel any member who disagrees with this disturbing set of pledges.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Other supporters of this radical agenda are frequently to be seen on Twitter and other social media, using the word “TERF” (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist) as a term of abuse against non-trans women who dare to cross them. Which is, essentially, hate speech.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How Labour ended up here is simply yet another outcome of the last four years of Corbynite nonsense, but the painfully divisive nature of this issue has wider implications for both Labour and society in general.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not to mention the optics of this in the country, where Nandy’s assertion that trans rapists belong in women’s prisons contribute to the perception of a leadership campaign, for a prospective party of government, descending into farce.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lisa, we like you. You are decent. You are clever and articulate, and clearly have a bright future ahead of you. You interviewed brilliantly with Andrew Neil, Britain’s toughest interviewer. Many of us want to believe that this was an aberration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And we also want to think that, perhaps through inexperience or perhaps through naiveté, you genuinely cannot see that this cannot work and is furthermore a social bad, not a social good, which is likely to set the legitimate trans cause back decades.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Trans is not “the new gay rights”: the two paradigms are not remotely comparable, because gay rights never risked this moral hazard, did it? You will note that there is no legal measure which depends upon someone “proving” that they are gay or lesbian, because you cannot. So why would you introduce a self-defined, legal status for trans which cannot be legally tested or proven, either? And which is clearly open to abuse?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I, and many others who do not share some of your soft-left worldview, were thinking very seriously about giving you first preference. But now we cannot, and you have to understand why: the terrible, unworkable and divisive nature of what you have just signed up to.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In particular, as a woman MP, it should concern you greatly to know that an awful lot of these people giving up on you are women, who feel strongly that you have just thrown them under the bus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Please – reflect on your support for this measure. Yes, you should support the vast majority of decent trans people and trans activists – but not this small, nutty brigade of sociopaths and haters, who happen to have the loudest voices and have grabbed control of the agenda.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Most jarringly still, they are representative of precisely the kind of extremist, malign forces you have convincingly pledged to drive from this party.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In short: you can credibly hold one or the other position: you cannot have both.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2020/02/19/we-like-you-lisa-nandy-so-why-are-you-throwing-women-under-a-bus/">Labour Uncut</a></i></span>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-87910759346603249552020-02-06T21:09:00.001+00:002020-02-06T21:09:39.240+00:00Labour, co-owner of #brexitshambles<img alt="Image result for corbyn mcdonnell images" height="237" src="https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/139/590x/corb-1150255.jpg?r=1562500036377" width="400" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We are out. That’s it, the fat lady has sung.<br /><br />But of course we are not out at all, not in any meaningful sense. This is just the start of a tortuous, eleven-month scramble to try and get some kind of a sensible result in place by the end of the year.<br /><br />Remainers have to admit that they – we – lost the argument, at least for now. Leavers have got what they wanted and, ultimately, that’s democracy.<br /><br />But, Leaver or Remainer, we have had in many ways the worst of all possible worlds. Leavers have not really got what many wanted, at least, not yet. If we leave aside the semi-suicidal, macho contingent who are happy to have the hardest of hard Brexits, moderate Leavers will now see that we now have eleven months to get somewhere on the sliding scale between what one former PM has rightly called <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-46334584/tony-blair-deal-is-choice-between-painful-and-pointless">the “pointless Brexit” and the “painful Brexit”</a>.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>If we end at the “pointless Brexit”, people on both sides will rightly say, we might as well have stayed in. Most of the benefits but without a seat at the table.<br /><br />If we end at the “painful Brexit”, for example, with few and/or poor-outcome trade deals in place, the economic jolt to come will be memorable. And, it must be said, we have both precious little time to get those deals in place and the poor bargaining power of the supplicant. But we are where we are.<br /><br />And somewhere in the middle? A bit of both of the above or, perhaps, not even really possible. Perhaps it will quickly converge down to just that binary choice of one or the other: who knows.<br /><br />As a man of scant firm views Johnson is, of course, capable of pushing for either, depending on what he sees as most expedient. The Tories, egged on by Farage and his allies, have built this edifice up from nothing and must now go through with it.<br /><br />But it is probably also the right time to just review Labour’s hand in all this. Imagine, if you will, a half-competent leader in charge of the party the last four years. Holding May and then Johnson effectively to account.<br /><br />Whether Leaver or Remainer, you have to admit that an effective Opposition would have helped get a better deal on the table sooner. Instead we had a Labour leader vacillating between the Remain position his members largely wanted, and the Leave position he had himself openly held his whole adult life, until the moment he became leader in 2015.<br /><br />In short, Labour has been wildly gesticulating, Janus-like, in both directions. For four years.<br /><br />The resulting gridlock in Parliament did not help Britain make up its mind. It made the wounds of a divided country fester and left us in the hands of the populists, who had nobody’s best interests at heart, save their own.<br /><br />When the history books of this time are written, they will surely write that Corbyn’s leadership was asleep at the wheel, when the country needed Labour. It will take us some time to recover from that conclusion, let alone still-growing anti-Semitism or the party’s worst election since 1935.<br /><br />That heady cocktail would be enough to shame most people. Corbyn, on the other hand, is unrepentant and continues to cling to that position only by avoiding all journalists who might question him on his starring role in the defeat.<br /><br />But we should also be fair: Corbyn’s team, and their union backers, should not take all the blame.<br /><br />Labour’s MPs – almost all of them against him, at least at the beginning – had four years to stage a successful coup. The far left is awful, but it knows how to organise. Whereas the party’s moderates, stunned to find themselves suddenly on the back foot, failed palpably to organise. The Grand Old Duke of Watson, who marched them up the hill to stay in the party, and then back down it again as he headed for the exit door last December – handily accompanied by a recommendation for a peerage – did not help.<br /><br />There are notable exceptions, of course, some of whom have stayed honourably and some of whom left honourably. But any PLP member with an ounce of self-awareness must admit that a collective opportunity was missed; not to mention the indescribably foolish MPs who lent Corbyn their nominations to get him onto the leader shortlist in the first place. And now, of course, the PLP is a very significantly different group from that of 2016. The new intake does not share the blame but they will now have to grow up politically, and fast.<br /><br />So yes: Farage, Cameron, May and Johnson have been the co-parents of a most dismal Brexit outcome for both Leavers and Remainers, with little resolved and precious little time left to fix things. But Labour has been the midwife.<br /><br />We can only hope that the current leadership election can draw a line under the whole sorry affair; to start the long, slow grind of cleaning up the toxic sections of the party which led us to its 110-year historical nadir.<br /><br />Because if it cannot, quite simply, the party cannot survive as a party of government. The stakes could not be higher.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This post first published at Labour Uncut</i></span></div>
Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-83196188532468131202019-12-15T19:49:00.000+00:002019-12-15T19:49:05.843+00:00Dear hard left: you broke it, you own it.<img alt="The Vase Fell on the Floor3.jpg" height="290" src="https://www.boloji.com/poemphotos/The%20Vase%20Fell%20on%20the%20Floor3.jpg" width="400" /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After such a defeat, there has been extraordinarily little soul-searching by the Corbynite left, in case we should have expected any.<br /><br />To go by some of the comments by frontbenchers and their media outriders, it is apparently the people who have erred, not the Labour party, rather recalling <a href="https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-solution/">Brecht’s satirical poem about “dissolving the people and electing another”</a>.<br /><br />Even now, there still seems a question mark over exactly when Corbyn will go, even if it is abundantly clear he must. No Labour leader has ever survived two election defeats, let alone the worst defeat in the best part of a century and, for afters, likely censure by an anti-racism watchdog in a matter of weeks’ time.<br /><br />But own it the Corbynite leadership must, because barely anyone else was even at the table (we might make an exception for Keir Starmer, but the point is probably somewhat moot).<br /></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All Corbyn supporters in the party are not hard left, of course. There have always been three distinct groups: them; the influx of bright-eyed idealists who thought Corbyn nice and were too young to know his history or Labour’s; and the soft left of throughout the party’s history, decent people who did not care to dig too deeply into the views of a man who, like Miliband before him, made all the right noises.<br /><br />The young idealists, one imagines, will drift away again at some point, once they realise that the party is now genuinely riddled with cranks and racists. Many of the soft left may well stay, perhaps slightly chastened.<br /><br />But it is the long-time Trots, tankies and Stalinists who are still there at the top, running the show. This is evident fact, rather than the smears they constantly claim, and those of us who have been around for a while knew them long before they came to run the party. Apart from the parliamentary duo of Corbyn and McDonnell, we have the four Ms: Milne, Murray, McCluskey, Murphy. All people who seriously revere a 20th century regime which killed quite a lot more people than Hitler.<br /><br />These people represent the cancer which needs to be removed from any positions of power in the party if it is to survive.<br /><br />Once upon a time, the party used to understand this. Like liberty, as <a href="http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2011/01/eternal-vigilance-is-price-of-liberty.html?m=1%5d">the American founding fathers wrote</a>, the price of electability is eternal vigilance. Against extremists.<br /><br />Ed Miliband thought it was time to relax this fuddy-duddy vigilance thing, following the “control-freak” New Labour years and, through his term as leader, they started to trickle back through into the membership. And, of course, the £3 membership changes let in a flood of these old-fashioned tankies. It is this group which will now have to be ruthlessly removed if the party is ever going to survive.<br /><br />Some, as the dust settles, are still trying the “big tent – One Labour – period of healing” approach. That we ought to all look for common ground and evolve together into something better.<br /><br />Nope. It ain’t gonna fly. Not now, not ever. You cannot save anything from this disaster: destroy and rebuild is the only way.<br /><br />You can take some of the more reflective people from the other two groups with you into a renewed party. You cannot take the hard left, because they do not want to change, ever. They will fight you to the death.<br /><br />The only way to get them out is to do what Neil Kinnock and Joyce Gould did, pick them off group by group, council by council, member by member. It is hard and thankless work but it must be done. No other remedy is possible. Momentum must not be allowed to run a rival conference and a rival, cuckoo-like power structure.<br /><br />The Labour Party now has a matter of months to get itself a proper leader and head back towards sanity. Another fool or knave for a leader will result in the party’s demise.<br /><br />If you think this sounds extreme, think about this: strange as it may seem, in the recent months of self-inflicted disaster, the party has just had the luckiest of escapes. If Jo Swinson’s Lib Dems had been anywhere as sharp as Labour were in the twenties and thirties, when the Liberals were in trouble, they would have hit the tipping point and switched places with Labour, just as Labour did to them back then.<br /><br />But 2019 Labour will not be so lucky a second time. Activists and particularly moderate MPs, many of whom have been keeping their heads down the last few years, now have a frighteningly short time to act decisively against the far left, while they are still on the back foot. Local party organisations and the NEC must be released from the grip of the Corbynites and it needs to start now.<br /><br />And yes, we’re talking about you. You people broke this party, now you own the defeat. Not to put too fine a point on it, it is time for you, your leaders and all your tankie mates to pack your bags and get out of this party. The grown-ups want it back.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2019/12/14/dear-hard-left-you-broke-it-you-own-it/">Labour Uncut</a></i></span></div>
Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-51268791174714258162019-12-02T20:38:00.000+00:002019-12-02T20:38:08.227+00:00Labour’s core demographics are dissolving before our eyes<img alt="Image result for demographic images" height="285" src="data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBwgHBgkIBwgKCgkLDRYPDQwMDRsUFRAWIB0iIiAdHx8kKDQsJCYxJx8fLT0tMTU3Ojo6Iys/RD84QzQ5OjcBCgoKDQwNGg8PGjclHyU3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3N//AABEIAHwArgMBEQACEQEDEQH/xAAbAAABBQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAAEDBQYHAv/EADcQAAIBAgUCBAQGAQMFAQAAAAECAwQRAAUSITETQQYiUWEUMnGBBxUjQpGhUhZDYiQzgrHRcv/EABgBAQADAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgME/8QAMBEAAgIBAwEGBQUAAwEAAAAAAAECEQMSITFBEyJRYXHwMoGRodEEscHh8SNCUhT/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AO44AWAFgBYAWAGvgAetqlpUjdlLB5Uj27aiAD/eACBwMAPgCKpl6NPLLpLaELaVG5sL4Aiyupasy6mqnTptNCkhT/EkXtwPXAlqnQVgQK+AKgSZgs+ZyWWSEFBRpspvp82/fzH+jiNyz00vEth3xJUTcYAGy6SaWmD1AGpnciwt5dR0/wBWwASDfAD4AWAFgBYAWAFgAKnq5JMzq6V47JCkbo4/dqvf+Lf3iFdgNxIEcABw07rmE9T15GjlRFELW0oVvuO+9x/GACHjWTZ9x6XwBDV5hSUQ/wCqqoYRcD9RwN22H82P8YAq4PFmVTyypHUq4i3Z13AGoLcntudvbfEJ2TpaM8fxFiqqx6OkoXMsLMZkZtylroy2+bVtt/8AMQpJq0X7Nmwyavir6KOSNOmdCs0f+Fxe2JUk26KuLjyVvi3xCcgpkljCTSkgCnvu12Av6+uJEY6jPv8AiR06iON8sdk6Ukkx1hTGQoKIdVrEknmxAA23sKa1W7Ldm26Rosv8UZbX0kdUpeJHDlFlQq4Cab3XkfMux+vGLXRSmXcUiSLdGDC9tjiSD2wDCx3GAK/N6x6RIooImklqS0cdhsrCNmBPt5bffDoWik3vwF0qlIY0dtTqigm97m2IRV8nmtqo6KlmqZ20xRIXc2vsB6YngtGLlJRjyyaNw6hl3Ui4OBXh0yKrqY6SFppyRGvJAJwBNgB8ABZk1QkcZpAGfrRhlPdC4Df0SftiGWjpvvEdPFVLnFRKZi1E8EYSKwskgLaiPqCv8YkqTCocV80MgARUR0aw3uSCObm1vQcjEdSa2IPD8VdBlsUOZOsk6XGtb+ZbnTe/e1r++CutyZyUpNpUF1lVBR00tRUyLHDEhd3bgAcnElTCeMfGlRDS1MGRNTmf4bqhmkHUQEHcKL3N7ADub9sVjK3sjTs3psyWZVlTVT1ZzKWqF+lIDVEI111GMrblWYsRb6W5xRZGpKuS6W1orYMwqoUgjao6nxwEDEAuBqI1gkWZtLfNe1hcXva8SxRW8HT29/P7loZJPutKv5BauKfK3qGyaWneAhFDuCpfRYG2m/l39bbYlTjwTCE5trr515cfU6f+EtNFFlVbLBL1VM/SMgJs5UDdQSSBvbex2GNKp2YTb+F9Ci8cPJL4qYRNTRFqN0Idv1NW9t7G3cAA2JOIcZPaK3LY5VfgZFnWvPxVS8z1SELLGoXVo6ZBk0kj9wBLcWBsTjGU212fT+fwb4npepe/fJYfmLyGtpKZWp6moUSdQEBmUi2sAbA3QWY9trX2wcoYoLbYVrdN7osct8VViZhQ19TVzw5f+m8sjkhZVAYNq2489xx8va2191KijgpQcv8ATU5b48ePMpaPOoIYdDuvWjlGljsURb7lj5gR6g4vfiZOCq0bnQC+s8jYX7YsZgtLRsmaVVc0jnrxRRCI8KELm/1Jc/wMRW9kVvZPV0qVcLQzANG3zL64l7loycXaJlGkADAgHrKVasKkhIjDBiAbXINx9sBuEAWwA+AG25wArc4ABpasS5jWUpgZGp9FpG4kVhe4+4I+2BLWyZF4jzeLIsomzCYBljsLXAvc274iTpbExi5PY414w8RUmb5/UwPX1McMc6NG6zqqi4CgA/tXnVq77d7YNS0/M0hJQkn1KquyqmknpljklHUp5JnkqApE7q1lj29SV3bbkA9hRzlJSemvfJTIpaai9z29ZFSrRLJBCkkr2Zpr2TSpGpOSCtySAQPpfe+LHbSu7NpSkkk9wl6NiqilimjphMIpXmYW0DUxdgBfUxL722svHescSinUrXj02r8FMqamqVtfzzRLRVVPntVBR0NNBTBZJUig/wC5GQEazAndlNz7YynDfVHy+QSTptW1f3Oh/hRQrTZJVVIiEb1M92VX1XKjTq3JO9uMawk5Lcpki4vczf4i5M1TnkVbP1Y4nMcbRCM/IjM2+k8eff0+9saJtbp8Fse9p8GNlnpIWhgFT55ZJC4QHSYggKgA7g22tbve998YRk2tVGskm6ug0y1ss60lRLr+JuatmlQxpKVXSUfYg+f5bnftvu0N2vUvqaVpVtXoSUtOagwU9DTxVIpiipqO8p0/4/tB378/fGE9Uk4pb+K/Y1hHDocnKvKvfQ3WT+CWhqIsxz+ZHSmYzLHpHNmF3I5IDEE+w9MdSVbs4JSvbzLrOfHWVZNm3wFVICEXXNIhLdMEgAEAc7k27AXvwMXSbK1S1Pg0VFWw1sZenkV1U2a3Y2BsfexGJaa5Kp2rR7qp0pqeWeU6Y4kLsfQAXOIJPcT9SNWsRqUHfAHvACwAzGwwBTGirfzaknjlHQSWVpVvbyMmwt3OoXxVRS4L6+61RcnjFihC7RUyvNKQAANTn+v/AHgDlHiTN6/OarN8tzOKKKnpXV6GXsx408Xe9iCBuOfYY5WuFyjSELavgyuYIPhailFZHXRxBTLDGBpaXQHOl9NiNRjJ27G9sauTk27pkY8WlLGk2kTxRUtfWpVLrpp51VZBquKhRGVMZAsbhghvcCw3tscYuSxQk0tluvGn74N4R17SrzPcyw09XXBpIp5ZkaI0sk3VVXG7DVv6hRfuP+IxE5LKsc09tmZpPvEVbO6ZnLCZemogamkJYWawsF3OwOpm1egIxEdbpX7Z0NxjNNbrqeMvPRzOsrKiZVdw3nUk6LC4sFsTez7bWBHoMayUqp9PvZl2aW/idQ/C2olmyus6kvURZUClvm2jUEn1vYG/ufTFP08nKO/O9/UyydptrVP6/cpfxFr4xXPTu8rU5QS1ESRgll30EX3HmU2PHO3GNZJSqPn9hjn2dz6mGrsnqKrORQU9Ki1vRZpdDr+kUjO9zcAkdhvx2xnij3bbvw8zXJnXaSVLf6r09SxyPwzUeI5hRPRzfCuEM9Ws2mPYblU7Esg27G23fG8H3m5r3Zj+qxuMlGE+HyuHsdTyDKsh8Pyx5ZRmP41Yer5zqkKXPm+lyf7xHO5RXRzvxh42r5Kl0hiX4aYRokfVZTHcOCePMfOB6bW7Yr/61LZHR2V6YLl/sA5T0oszp8xnCKlQ+iYMGZTMfKxdSLXtqsbnck9jesJXF6dnV87Gn6jElJqD1L6dLLH8Ks+raA1cOY1Mk8JkQKXBJIu4Li5vuSpOx2HriqyVJRfL3K5YvIlJRSqlt4nW66ljzGjlpZgGgmXS/uPTGxyoKUW449MAPgBu+AHwA1sALAGP/EevRMtTKy8atWturyFC6KQSFI4Y272+uItWrLwg5XXQ5dI7HNqAQTyiOnLF1iIk8j3CKL3F1B3/AOItjJYoRk5Xz9ToebuR2458ACSm+FrwiQmWcuFqqiW0cdit77Dy2K/Lq7b7Y01Rb1tV5EvU3oi7+uwbM9FHT5acwy+mYR1wvUQyr1L6TpIA7EquzXBOrYd6TlHKmq2KOFSpeO3n/pHDVN8b/wBXDUVDpIY5JOtZbsbDVpFwDtx6cYosbjWh++q3NllSxpPbff8Agkraikr8rnpo0paOWfyRUpJUKFQ7ksouttrbDcd7HG9JUkjmdtW+oLJUzVU01dRx08FJ8MAJ5Kg6eosWliAbte4Nt+bepxlqUY1T322Xj/Hn0LThw643e/v+zrH4XQ0aZTWT0LmSOacHrmPR1AEFjzaw429PXFscJwVTMpzhJ9134mZ8d1atmVJRASv8RK36y7s4BAVTt8oJFt97nbFnJxaZr+nxdo2rrZ/bc9eDPB+Z/AS1fjCqCUxf4jpFyDCQLG5PYi979sRHHCD1RW9UYyk5cl5mfjPKMmpYaLIgJQALiEXCIykhtzySeOb3GNdGTJFzXC5Cjuk+plZK3OaSly+moK95pHpYqaeKSyanO1rsb3Nibkbjn0xhGt2jVrfvGZVZ51ijCQUtFLD5JtIZowtxosRdWK7je31OKp1kqXPP9kzyxctMOUkFwT1EjwfAs5papFUdeMMUKhh5l58z+U37i/tjR44z1bL31Ck4yV8EdJKuW0rzpl+rqRrJCNRtDYMSNuRo/aewuOMZJvVpk7dbfI6JSWmNKkn4fydh8C52+dZS7SR9OSCTpsCWN9gb3I9zjaMrOXNj01JdVZpsWMRYAbAD4AWAPJwBx78QPFVXQ+I4aaSXpUqlnjkaNGtsAdHcH5gD/wAu9rYxzYu0h5rdev48jTG0mrMrT5hQw5nTVTQwua2SSqaHpBlvuEut/Qjtvf2xLdc+/E2WOUrS67/Qapmjlqammpw0AVuv1ekRJJIIyWL22JBPP0G+94yRppjFpptv6fyWVdSKkNW9ZRU1OI+nUTfrKxbyD9S7AC/HlFwCTa++LQ70Vb+fn1RSaj4/50KnNMuDwNVUf66NHolgmn6QcAcqoNhawO1sSk4yVOq6kRnFwltbC6VqZ674jLKoCWOIU1RT1BQlk2FlANv2sbi+17W7y0kqSs02T0y8UvTxssaOgggpKhVZJzL1J4YJFJ8y+QFLblnKsCePNfFVOT0waVLh9d/x0IlCUZSSlzz8jpngCiq6LJJUrIViaSUsqE3Fio/q99satts52kuApsmpaapObV0RnnWyosSFgoLgghR6Gxv2tfFHXJMW1wY/xL41nzRajL8oR6fpvomlnTy3BcMhN+/kta4332xnOcWqZ0Rw6VGT9ow1FFPmtFBBHlscsjyChaQG0cIBBZVb/b2N9xdhf0uLJyTrhfuMmmW8Hb2+Vk9ZU1VVLBThYZ5aab4WpjdB5F/dJc2udhc3ta1uTfPFFR24XiTk76tbv9iWR0tl88cAZjO5lqmOxKMwCkC5tcArwVvfYXOLY8bg3F8cotlyLLFZOvB7SajgnlnasHUkk6lYKhCQSbfqWH/IyP7BR64tJxx5E1vfX0RWMZyTS/6g9VSPGYoIyho6UdCmjJeORwTYbE+5F97X9ScIQj2mrhmcsktDrdHQPwvrJJoOjAnTpBCJpBIP1Wlex39gNh9MXqVJspNKjoJ5xJmPgBjgB8AMcARzgmFgASbcA84A494tpaeHNKyplokqpZjHD0lp1O5tZfNsV8vJ4JN+9s4f8snFcr/TWKjDTKfDKmDLqt1qY6maiNPLWFqKfLkKurh11XUbhLtptwCp45xk4d7XXTdG0ZpxbvdV8yFMi/SqaOTrzSSs0j1ekAALp1G67A3U7WHvzvrCbnpU1SozbUHcWGZR4aqKgh6ijlqujFJSOZGJSoUAqCAf8Tc39D7YZsdNrG9tn8+pMJRl8b33/osv9H5hNNmMc1VHBC/Tmi4VVVEsSLncamN+2/vi80p7y6GOKTxN6OvJbr4a8OeHqY1dUI9VP0XIijXqosj6VJO1xcsTe+wPsMVcoxRrCE/1GSorf8eY9b4jyDJaekWlpBUvLSdSnCx3RG2CqTzub9vTi+7XHoW7DLKTT597+hM/jH9Whaeqij+IqoIGp451UxIHkYyne2kqqg+wI98Wnaopjxwlqt1S/wALyl8RfnFM/wAIFiMIV5Q7fKGuU9jcDf64h07RRxcaOeeLMhzZpKSSh1voqyiIC2lFcMTqUDfzWJ9gBtbEyipvciMnHgroaOiivPmUjmljMrSU4/SRpCNOuQkgFgJABcgG3FhuzRUWlF3a+hrit97hoDrZ5TRSV0dC0lS6q5qqhQrSEt5FjNhYFQfLxYDHPBwjJYlS8F18zSUW7kt+rolp6ibw3NRTzuSah1hiqIkUohBAdQGuLlNr7n63xeMG5anIZZpRhHR058fweqilizqSZIHEFNXgTJq81iqGyNb5RudhyTbgWxecpKuqRhHd7gbDLcxgko6eGWolj/7HUlOqMMCS2q+4uL3P+VhzikZS+J+/karFFdyPJ1P8Mqqgq1zB8ulMpDL8QWW5EnmvZ/3Dk/Un6DTXc2jFxcccTdnnFig+AGOAHwAsAQ1VjAwOvcW/T+b7YAwviDwzV5pXI1LOIKdWCSxO9gosbOCP9wMRb3GIS0vVHktq20vgDy6l8P19Ac5pZVrPhFYs3TYfMCdR23Btzbc4dPEndsnp63KIZc8psvp5paqhYvpsxEzMFZuN9i3y7HnFXJJ0W7JqKk3szzmfilTmdJHlkarGkDPXRhQ4RNB4A7q3TtuL6jxucNE5SU18PHnf4Dioxp88mTnz9cwq2OYytVU/wfwtUrWdxLsGC2NreUEqeTvjOc2kkvi3o0alKM9FJfaysjkkhpaiaeGULSQiKNH2jYLsl97Dy3uRY874SyKKjCfL6lsUJqTroe4pJ6any2oUxaJVXTVOR5XuWkA3J2ZDtb7etMmOORyg+HtX7ERm9m1YzQQxS1dNW6ZqdqhZ2pqkDQrONyCGJ7Lew/y9RffBGU12Ueenv0LTwpacnSV7eBcUdSyVlIaGgaJKlikmvSFMZBEYJPKA6lF9rN7DFVpXD+Zjr1QXggyLxPmNJSiqr0EkMdbIs9UrrIIYWuUB0mxIYgbbG3fjEynHHNYpvvPden9E5I6pJxVcGg8TeGaXMklpZldaYOpcoQBIQNrqBx/V98XqzOE3C66nNJo8wi8RtlWcy1UtFCjSRTkm8mhVCHYHa9h9NQ4OIhFRydrXeNnkUl2cZaU1Tr9z2EnVcwgFI1GY5vLX02jRA9yDqDHjYg9rqfXEZpRlLivInFKSj2Ud/PxBDDUNknToxLMqgiSpAbVIp1NqsbgAdvpzi7yKra6UUeNLu731PeUp8aG/LqWsjzPp9PXK1lUMouNNiDdXay78bfKLVjo0+Y0zk76dTsH4b0s9LlUy1kLR1IMayFgvm/TUjjsNVt99sIrqUyNN0uhrzzixmPgBYABzt6yPKKuTLFDVixMYVNt2ttztgge8prVzHK6SuVSq1MKShWFiNQBt/eACtsAZnx+KmTwzWU+VOFrmUNCoHJUhrc7Xta/vis4qSpl8ctM7OUxzTjM6mjrI6g04iWkjjRuldhcsquNxtYe9rkb4ylknBrS90dLgpRVDNVTDMczmoqhoaZCXqobGMl2Gi5YfNsNW3cE+mJnPTFRkvi+5moKTuPQp56edpqGHKVWOojAQTxozNIBZSx7PfTqIH+X1A1m3jeiexKwynFzrZe16lq1HVZpUjLleIx1jRyHooFWVFFizW3Hnt9PfEYp4Yzlp39ehEoZHGn0JY6zMcyy6PrRTQUqv0ZXdimuwAA033kB21bXAtbffPRHEtMfhXH1LRpu29/6B5amrpEjjSppVQTyxyvBsFcq1z90AX63NsMmLscak1dq178Tn7TssbpXRZzR1tbRyPS0rZj8UyCtaU6XrLLZUuLWGpkOxFvXtjpxQjjS1fFfnsuj9S88kptJvZLYD+CjpqMV9fEI6OmVUjp/MTItzqJvZtvlB4uN/U87xKWpLzYjJY5KO3+lbXLSxrG8UppMtcSKsCRmVRIGDbhbb7KBYchr+uGKCl8XPmXlcduKNLD4tzXJ/zqpqaVZ6eoqEFPTqF/TjW6hWI31NdLfMbAn3Ewnq3IywjF1Hf/PzZsckNB4hhsHjXXDG0kWzEM41FNtha3a/rfEqdsycaM34tyeurfiIaLpxU5jKu+oiUsJF3H/iD97DEydd7wJi2u76FXW5ZPlmXZVSMY51nn0pAl9bAlde97IQL/UYxinkxa22lV8cPz+ZvLJWV0lbI/DkH5h4jp2o+tDM7qgZJAqRmPZibfNqXj/8m/O3TGMe61vtb/Yw7RuDjXP5O1RtFSmnpLnUwIQW5Cjk/wBfziCvO4XgQCz19PBXU1G8gFRUhjGnchQCx+m4/kYAKwBDIru1r2TuO5wAElRDPkzNlMsUYMbR05VQVRxdQLD0I49sEyCTKnk/K6Z6yOSGcxL1Y5WDMr23BI53vuOcCQHLcpkpcojpWe/S1JGzeZljBOkfW1hf2wBjvFtJJAsNSEkkpzMPiIFQEN5SA527bfwPTGU8erg3xZIqLUlZgqKjmp6OWSRKOrrY9NU3ULFNPCottmuL2uDbkYlzUXBy3S2Jg61V1J6t4IWlSkpPPPEfho0aRDCdlLhwdwS4Fjwdr2XfOSfeb6s2wynLSpS449CWGrrZdST06LXNKhSVmZ4kAUayzLcAb307AkXOJy5dDjPTt1ojVG5UAUVTJNl8U0PU6RmqKhpVJYwqpCsXGwbd1tsTpJ4xpPvbGCUdNu7sv4pKOpy6OoWrklqYkdNDRssSruulgTdiSAQ3uf8AlfKddk7bJyQevRf0KumqZ4fDBqZyUWpWQQINTK0rs2kHc8m/ra+NIuepOUrXh78ti2fstVY40tud2DS1T5rRNDU1UqwjTerdCqmRtStGwtcLYEDjnvyatOEXo2RXHXaapVJ7dPsS0qSVJjp8rymWekpXWJZKYIWsyjUQ5AIuJH20/wA3xaMIqak5Nqi2SSbaSrf6AcdXT1jTDVHQimUB3fdpGYeZQDa4BDXJtsxt2xM5ZO7CK7vy29TaKwz1dHXjta/JY5N8RFmdXmlNWRTytMtUYHJsysullO9mW11+nHbENNRTT9TGTi26W3Tr0NDQeL6VzBQ5c4qaOJ3jk1xFG1sxN9XdAC3HNxxfak801K2tmXjgjOL8ftsWmXZLSSxtmMDmJWKvrAXVqa7ED6hu/a2N4v8A7HLJOPdZo/D/AIZp6aWOsnh6cscnVjQeUB9LKWIBsbhjz7HnEUQ3YTnGWzVuZ5fNCnyVCmdmbdYVBYADgXdU/j2xO1MJ0aAkAb4EFJUKiZ/S1zEs8yfCwRkcDd3b7hV/j3xnKelpeJWWSMaT6l5jQsRyuFXf7Ad8AVuS5QMtjmDSGYy1DzjUoHT1cjb/AN4yxY+zVXe5lix9mmru2WtgTewuMamoiBY7YAoqtoq+pqY6Z+s1I4jmQcoxUMB/DA4A554l8GrMsCZciQCnsDGFBDBUKqoP374ibenY0xSUZpvgyhpFyfMZsvzRzllMQ0iSJEhEsagKQLixJYoQbEjSTcdkW1F/cmXfkkvkGHNJXzdIswiv50jp40t+iSpYtbeyEKLj1W3Y2zmnLDpTT/Hh5MSgtbUk1+SszCSaeigy/LomhpoQYGlb/ekuf1JAADdjqFye698dM/00Ket8JP8AJEM8oP8A40yx/wBPtJ8bHTTokip1I2gbU3T0aVYkHffzc7GxtjHFKMbfCNc7yTpydvj0AvCSU6V2WwZnJULSxTynWsTeeU7B1W172VTfke174Ofe34ZMMMcmGVOpR38LXgX1iMmhpp6qSslmfoSLCUF0jk1bEcMuqxF+RbbkxCd5HGK3VP39DJXW7IDmC0GT1MWVRRRUy61LTsY3mjVbG4+XhWW+25ttbGmRJS0t8q9vMR3i5PlFJlbTzVDdBaSONnjmeaSNv1uoCEQlhe2zR3vY6vsMakorU90adxSdq0/AuKdHhzarqJEvQ1CovwgAUMGG/mG9td7Ecbeu95TlHHutmZrDic9be6VfI8f6ezlKTKaBGjvMXRzENo4dj5u+o2PNwNgMYprJHumqdanN79PqdlyTKTS0rir0ySSS9Ujfy+UKB78X+px0LaMY+COectTthlRUrHXUdPeUNKXICKCCFX91+BuOO9sQVC1UAGw55xIPWAIPho2nWeSNDKoIRrXKj2xFK7IpXZPiSRrC99sAPgCuybMRmAq7aA1NVSQMFN7aTtf3sQfvgXnFRqnewdI4jQsQTYcAYFALL8tipauurETRLXOryjtdVCj72GBLe1A9SKWsqqqhpqiP4qJUMyarmNWuV27A2P8AGBBQ55kFPVPTGppg8lNNHLCwS+lkN7C/ze/1PtYCol8HfDzy18lXpr2jEcd0uIUBbSPclWII+4tjD/54PG8bWzNHkbkpGXzPI86hr4YaMO+XPUXanjBLBNJN2N/8r/yLe8ThJ43XxCefLHFKOPwpbe9yd8sNDJ8JDqhnhp1friFekqqLWO12sSt97d+2LTyacTeRceHU1wpzjFOXe/kpaeSOr6MGp6fMQsjWjp9YEiqoYra1rqTH9gecXx5VKbnXdfTyL5sOyp71ZeK2UVE81Dl61InEZnpqpUEalwxJJHO9jfuTisMqnslwMv6WeHGsjkt9q68FdS+HanNaWaeepXZb0S1ANqpyxMjEW2YW2sOR741zRSVY1uZfpskNa7W9PuvuWFHkE+a1GUZjIyyRpJJHUdSPphukzaFXSB8rILDvvziqtrcyrS6qjR5f4KmqZYZTOyRDUJkJttawCkc2tf0Hvjf9TJZZLwRaWRvg3mX5XTUCt0VuzEks25ud/tjFJJUjNuw7Eg8JGFubkk8k4Aq/Eef03h+gaqqY5HUWVVS1yx4HN/U7X2BxDkkC2VtW44xIHwAsALAEczFVuGC+pPbAFD4U8PnIqzOGjKtTV9V8VHckyKzDzAk9rjUN/wBx2wJbb5NFgQeWIRSTsBgAGCgi/NZMzWFY5pYViZgLM4BJGr1tfb03wAfYXuQLjvgCkr81oF8RUmRzRu1XVwPLGVW4CqQDv27/AMYCgs5RT9PSq+f/ACOAK3MfDoq4zT6dULLZyWtq3vb6drYEp0QReFIoqg1qU8AqypGsfN+3a/8A4j+MQklshfU9ReHKL8yikkKfGCL9QBt9F9gB9e+FCyy/JkaSNzpQJcBUW2gei/XucSQE02XQU9rRqSDcXAsv0HbAWCeJneHJ5RToTI5SKNV28zMAOCO59frthTeyL43pkmWkPU6ada3UsNWni+BV1exJgQLAAOYUKV46c6B4xuAR3xWUVLZkp0GRqVUAm5A5xYg9YAWAFgBmUNyL4AfACwAxF8APgBibDAAE+XQ1tdSV1TGVnpGYwENYrqFjf6gYAsMALADE2wAClGr5sMxDyhlgMGi/kYFg17eu3Pvh5APwAjxgCFo+qwMqjSOFO+/rgCbACwAsALACwAsALACwAsALACwAsALACwAsALACwAiL84AWAFgBYAWAFgBYAWAFgBYAWAFgD//Z" width="400" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While the election is still, like 2017, messy in terms of the multi-party split and further complicated by Brexit, the issues at stake are at least simple. For a start, no-one is remotely pretending that this election is about overall policy of the two parties.<br /><br />No, it is about two things: a. Brexit and b. who is felt to be the least unsuitable leader, given the direness of both the main ones There is really nothing else. Hence, the ridiculous, magic-money-tree manifestos of the two main parties, which will be even more roundly ignored than usual.<br /><br />So, what’s new about this election?<br /><br />The first thing we might observe is the virtual collapse of Labour’s Leave vote.<br /><br />Some Labour MPs may well be sincere believers that Brexit will be good for the country, or that they are morally obliged to implement it because of a (supposedly “non-binding”) referendum. There are surely other MPs who campaign for it, simply because they fear they will lose their jobs.<br /><br />But, in Leave areas, they will mostly lose them anyway.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>Exhibit A: the <a href="https://twitter.com/kevcunningham/status/1198981478916481024">analysis</a> by former staffer Kevin Cunningham on Labour seats, which showed that the biggest drop in the country has been in Bassetlaw (John Mann, now resigned) and Don Valley (Caroline Flint, standing again, but under terrible pressure).<br /><br />Whatever their motivations, Labour cannot compete with the Tories for the pro-Brexit vote – why would any Leaver vote for a party transparently trying to ride both horses at once, when they can have an unequivocally Brexit party in the Tories? Hence, the bailing from Parliament of Mann, De Piero and Hoey, the going independent of Field and the grave danger to Flint and others still standing for Labour.<br /><br />But they are not the only group of core Labour voters being squeezed. The leaching comes from three groups in all:<br /><ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Said Labour Leavers, especially in former industrial heartlands, who want full-fat Brexit and will now vote Tory or another Leave party;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">People horrified by the racism encouraged by the leadership, and who will vote Tory or Lib Dem as a result;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remainers who have realised the leadership is essentially pro-Brexit and will now vote Lib Dem or Green, perhaps even where that will let the Tories in.</span></li>
</ul>
We might also note that it is hardly worth talking about Labour in Scotland, where the vote is already at rock bottom, and whose mostly Remain voters have a strong, pro-Remain party to vote for. If they are pro-Indy2, they will vote SNP. If they are against, they will fear Corbyn will do a deal with Sturgeon to form a Westminster government, and so vote either Lib Dem or Tory. Finally, if they are Leavers, the same applies as in England and they will generally vote against Labour.<br /><br />This leaves the only people left to vote Labour:<br /><ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dyed-in-the-wool Corbynites, of which there are really not so many outside the party itself), and</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remainer tactical voters in <a href="https://www.thearticle.com/peter-kellner-some-of-the-most-startling-polling-numbers-i-have-ever-seen">15 or so Tory-Labour marginals</a>, who are furthermore prepared to hold their noses on anti-Semitism – this is not a large group, either.</span></li>
</ul>
And, er, that’s it.<br /><br />If Labour’s vote is in the end saved by anything, paradoxically, it will be people believing it can’t win. Conversely, the more voters believe that Corbyn could be prime minister, the more they will avoid Labour (luckily for Labour, a Corbyn majority government is possible only in fairyland).<br /><br />It is a godforsaken election. But if there is one crumb of comfort for those wanting the party to survive, it is the strong probability of a Corbyn defenestration in the event that the election is lost.<br /><br />At that point it will be the last-chance saloon: for Labour to choose a half-decent leader and recover, or not. Another Corbynite leader will almost certainly be the end – the untreated cancer of anti-Semitism alone will see to that.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2019/11/30/labours-core-demographics-are-dissolving-before-our-eyes/">Labour Uncut</a></i></span></div>
Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-69127343290599248722019-11-15T15:20:00.000+00:002019-11-15T15:20:39.684+00:00Ed Miliband, Lucy Powell…we see you<div>
<img alt="Image result for miliband corbyn images" height="240" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSs0NB07qreSEBP0ECdopKEw1nyvqLBBHZQ-FB661OiiwnxgPR1&s" width="400" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Tom Watson’s resignation last Thursday as Deputy Leader is not a great blow to the hopes of Labour moderates in the sense that they have lost a great figurehead. The loss at this stage is, sadly, merely symbolic.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />In the end, Watson’s Achilles heel – the perennially poor judgement displayed in his former close friendship with Len McCluskey, and his part in such disasters as the <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2013/10/30/the-web-we-have-woven-in-falkirk/">Falkirk debacle</a> and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/sep/06/labourleadership.labour">Blair letter</a> – meant a truly wasted opportunity, of galvanising moderates during four years of Corbynite destruction. No, no Denis Healey he.<br /><br />The moderates’ overall failure to shake off their worst leader ever, or even to stand up to his cabal, is a tragedy tinged with farce which will surely one day be the subject of much debate by historians.<br /><br />Some, like Watson, have bailed, and who can blame them? Many noble exceptions are protesting every move by the leadership and rightly challenging the party’s continuing slide into a racist swamp, as exemplified by the disgraceful selection of a number of <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7666279/Corbyns-dirty-dozen-Roll-call-shame-12-Labour-MPs-embroiled-controversy.htm">openly anti-Semitic candidates</a> in the coming election.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>But if there is something more frustrating than that failure, it is to see MPs we once thought of as decent, mobilising to support a floundering party regime and elect a racist.<br /><br />It is to be seen in the uncomfortable grin of Caroline Flint, feeling compelled to <a href="https://twitter.com/CarolineFlintMP/status/1183421956294631424">gush about sharing a stage with Party Chair Ian Lavery</a>, the man who <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2017/02/17/ian-lavery-should-not-be-labours-elections-coordinator-or-anything-coordinator-with-his-toxic-past/">paid for his house with the invalidity payouts of sick miners</a>.<br /><br />And then there are those who once espoused a quite different political direction. Backbenchers who have no reason to toe the party line, yet who now not only acquiesce to, but fully embrace, the ugly reality of the current party and hope that no-one will remember when this is all over. They will.<br /><br />Step forward, Lucy Powell, Ed Miliband’s former 2010 campaign manager. <a href="https://twitter.com/LucyMPowell/status/1192560341877772294">Compering a Manchester event for Jeremy Corbyn’s adoring fans</a> from the cult (sorry, let’s please not try and pretend that members of the public turned up). Signing up to the leadership’s ridiculous farrago of a policy programme. Smiling for the selfies with the Shadow Cabinet “stars”.<br /><br />And, as one Twitter commenter noted, all this from someone who last year spoke at the “Enough is Enough” protest against Labour anti-Semitism. Oh, sorry, Jews, there’s an election to win now; we’ll be back after this short word from our sponsors.<br /><br />Perhaps predictably, though, this is nothing as to the actions of her former boss, Miliband junior himself.<br /><br />Let us not forget that it was Miliband who, through his complacency about the rise of the far left on his watch, and his cataclysmic £3 associate membership scheme, held the door open for Corbyn and his recently-joined, far-left acolytes who have done so much to infest the party with anti-Semitism.<br /><br />The crashing irony is that it was he, the party’s first-ever Jewish leader and fearing being pigeonholed as such, who <a href="https://labourlist.org/2011/07/our-tolerance-of-extremism-will-do-for-us/">downplayed the Islamist extremism which fuelled that anti-Semitism</a>, and which was visible almost as soon as he became leader. By the time he left office, he had <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/04/how-ed-miliband-lost-the-jewish-vote/">already lost Britain’s Jewish vote</a> to the Tories.<br /><br />It would have been sufficient, one imagines, had Miliband shown some kind of contrition. If he had simply said, “I made a terrible mistake and I am sorry”, the party would surely have forgiven him (some contrition over his shameful role in the <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2013/09/04/syria-the-hangover/">2013 Syria vote</a> would not have gone amiss, either, but let’s let that pass).<br /><br />But that, it seems, is not Miliband’s style. He has boisterously reinvented himself as a media personality, who has appeared at all four editions of The World Transformed, the Momentum conference held in parallel with the annual Party conference.<br /><br />It is worth thinking about what this conference means for the party staffers – once his employees – who spend months organising the main conference.<br /><br />It undermines them, acting as a cuckoo in the party nest, sucking attendance, importance and sponsorship out of the main conference.<br /><br />More importantly for the party at large, perhaps, it detracts from the political importance of the main conference itself. The main conference is about the whole party and all its MPs and representatives; the Momentum conference is about Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters. It is a classic far-left move, to infiltrate and take over party bodies and structures, to diminish their importance until only a husk remains.<br /><br />But Miliband is there every year, with his jokey pub quizzes and game shows. Oh, how we laughed.<br /><br />Not to put too fine a point on it, to support such a conference at all is to spit in the faces of his former staff, not to mention his colleagues on the moderate wing he once claimed to be part of.<br /><br />Ed Miliband, if he had a shred of self-awareness, would have at least twigged that the credibility the party he once led has been comprehensively destroyed by his successor. If not, as a man of Jewish heritage, that it has ceased to be a safe space for that community.<br /><br />But he does not. He continues to suckle lovingly at the Momentum teat, presumably hoping that, in the unlikely event that Corbyn finds himself at the head of a government, he might be short on ministerial experience in his Cabinet and look to his predecessor to provide such.<br /><br />Ed Miliband, Lucy Powell…we see you.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2019/11/10/ed-miliband-lucy-powell-we-see-you/">Labour Uncut</a></span></i></div>
Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-13622856674661564302019-09-22T12:12:00.000+01:002019-09-22T12:12:08.668+01:00The last forty-eight hours just showed how Labour can save itself<img alt="Related image" height="216" src="https://ramumine.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/nautilus-life-support.jpeg" width="400" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In one of the maddest developments in an already certifiable world of Labour politics, we have, within the last twenty-four hours, had the following: the party’s leadership threatened to immediately abolish the role of Deputy Leader (i.e. strip Tom Watson of his party office), only to pull back at the last minute from doing so.<br /><br />And, during that time, we have learned some important things we didn’t know yesterday. More of that later.<br /><br />The trigger to Corbyn’s reverse ferret? Simply that almost all commentators, party officials and politicans, past and present, had stated the bleedin’ obvious: that, with the country facing the meltdown of a hard Brexit and a possible general election in the next few weeks, a massive bun-fight in the party on the eve of its conference was probably not a great idea.<br /><br />We will probably never know the extent to which this was Corbyn’s idea and how much his cronies, but Jon Lansman’s attempt to railroad his motion through the NEC has backfired: Watson will now be emboldened and knows that the PLP will back him.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>This one incident finally caused real threats of party splits in a way we have not seen in the whole of the last four years. Resigned MPs who had not plotted in a long time were suddenly talking about how a rival power centre could be set up and initiate a challenge to Corbyn or even a new party.<br /><br />In short: the party veered pretty close to genuinely hitting the self-destruct button this morning. The fact that it did not showed that there is still some power in Labour’s moderates, should they choose to exercise it.<br /><br />In some ways, it is a shame that Watson’s defenestration did not come to fruition. The temptation now is to go back to how things were and forget this ever happened. That said, though, the mask has slipped: along with the not-very-successful deselection campaign in train, members can now see that this is a desperately brittle, insecure leadership, which demands absolute loyalty, or political death.<br /><br />In fact, as someone observed this morning – and unsurprisingly for a kitchen Cabinet largely staffed by Stalinists – the whole thing was straight out of the Soviet playbook. Kindly Uncle Joe comes to save a rival about to be destroyed (only to try and finish him off later). It could even have been entirely staged from start to finish. Who knows?<br /><br />However, the public can see that these are not normal events and damage has been done. At this point, it seems inconceivable that Corbyn could win a majority from here, or even lead a unity coalition (Jo Swinson, for one, will not serve under him).<br /><br />As a further negative for Corbyn, another thing that all this has highlighted is a point little focused on to date: that the day the Dear Leader finally goes, which may not be very far away, the Corbynite top team are terrified that Acting Leader Watson could actually use that time to right the Labour ship and dispense with their services. Forever.<br /><br />In other words, if now (at least, after October) is not the time for a leadership ballot, it seems likely that it never will be. If Labour MPs cannot grasp the moment that history has handed them, when will they; what are they waiting for? Corbyn to finally resign at a convenient moment of his choosing?<br /><br />No, there is one way through this and that is for Watson to challenge for the leadership, whether or not Corbyn resigns after a snap general election. That is, while he has the momentum (sorry) to do that. The Honourable Member for West Bromwich East is the only person who remotely has an appeal across the party, especially among longer-standing members. He appeals to soft left as well as old right, if not the Corbynite hard-core.<br /><br />One last thing these events have highlighted is this: Watson has never challenged Corbyn because it would mean resigning his office; it would have been an all-or-nothing gamble.<br /><br />But perhaps it is now time for that: if he waits, it is now painfully clear they will emasculate him and his office sooner or later, if not abolish it completely. Perhaps he should even defiantly taunt them to finish him off, if they dare; the optics of that show a position of strength and not weakness.<br /><br />Much more dangerous, then, for Watson to be outside the tent with the backing of the PLP and nothing to lose, that is the way back for Labour.<br /><br />Give ’em more of what they are scared of. That is the way back.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2019/09/21/the-last-twenty-four-hours-just-showed-how-labour-can-save-itself/">Labour Uncut </a></i></span></div>
Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-36847539573288012752019-09-06T08:16:00.000+01:002019-09-06T11:18:45.597+01:00Representative democracy: once more a thing<img alt="Image result for commons house images westminster" height="289" src="https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5763/6a30/e58e/ce0d/8700/004c/slideshow/IMG_012.jpg?1466133020" width="400" /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The unprecedented madness of the past few days at Westminster – even against the fairly mad backdrop of post-2015 British politics in general – has made commentators run out of superlatives. They have rather stopped, agape, no longer able to predict the slightest thing. <br /><br />But, in brief summary: </span><br />
<ul><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Johnson has effectively lost all control and authority as prime minister, having lost all of his first three votes in the Commons, along with his tiny majority. </span></li>
</span></ul>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A legal bar against no-deal Brexit is almost certain to be passed into law imminently. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even his own brother will not serve as an MP in a party led by him. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Further, unforced errors, such as stills and clips from the parliamentary debates of an angry, braying Johnson and an openly contemptuous Rees-Mogg, have surely helped further damage the government’s standing in the country.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>And there is almost certainly going to be a general election soon, but probably not before 31st October, meaning that Johnson will have failed utterly in his one overriding goal, to leave the EU by that date. </li>
</ul>
Short of ignoring the no-deal bar and attempting to exit the EU anyway – an idea which could scarcely be accepted quietly by the EU itself, let alone Parliament, the public, the Civil Service and even the monarch – he has no way out except pushing for an election which he now looks unlikely to win, at least outright. <br /><br />There is still a major remaining risk in the current crisis: and that is that the election, when it comes, might <u>not</u> result in a hung parliament. Either a further spell for Johnson or a Corbyn majority would clearly be disastrous for the country. Thankfully, a hung parliament looks more likely than not, although it is not a done deal. <br /><br />In any event, any true democrat should be pleased with the events of the last week. Parliament has, at last, reasserted itself, remembering that it is not secondary to an advisory plebiscite, unwisely “bigged up” by the government of the day. It has done its job as a check on the executive, a job at which it had until recently showed itself somewhat workshy. <br /><br />Hopefully, future prime ministers might remember this next time they feel tempted to lurch into another, populist referendum; especially one into which they are largely goaded by their own party and for which there is eminently resistible public pressure. Perhaps, in the style of Lyndon Johnson, they might keep a little sign on their No. 10 desk, saying “Do Not Feed The Monster”. Because populist monsters are always, always hungry. <br /><br />There is a reason why we elect people to represent us, rather than directly voting on everything, and it is this: our oft-maligned MPs are actually paid to try and master the complexities of subjects which we, the public, lack either the time, the wit or the interest to. <br /><br />After the last week, we might reflect that it is a system which has, over the centuries, served us pretty well.</span>Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7741861999194728080.post-72163070348961580372019-06-17T12:59:00.000+01:002019-06-17T12:59:06.555+01:00Peterborough shone a light on the dire state of Labour. The Tories’ beauty contest is the same shade of awful<img alt="Image result for peterborough images" height="233" src="https://www.visitpeterborough.com/imageresizer/?image=%2Fdmsimgs%2FCathedral_for_website_904x528px_45987962.jpg&action=ProductDetailPro" width="400" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The week before last, numerous MPs went to campaign for a racist sympathiser. I am sure most thought they were doing the right thing, dutifully answering the campaign call, as politicians do. Quite possibly some didn’t even know the story, or did not dare pull out at the last minute. Either way, they supported Lisa Forbes, surely one of the worst candidates we could have ever chosen for a by-election.<br /><br />Thanks to the scrutiny a by-election suffers, all parties generally try hard to get the right candidate, one who will not suddenly find themselves at the centre of a media storm.<br /><br />This time Labour failed dismally, presumably because those leading the party and its machine – not, you understand, the regular staffers, decent folk who have to live with the constant shame and embarrassment about their superiors – couldn’t care less about a bit of anti-Semitic dabbling.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a>Rather, they see it as a badge of honour: of being “sound” on Palestine, unafraid to speak truth to power (“power”, in this case, meaning simply “Jews”).<br /><br />On the day, Labour showed it still had a tight machine, which the Brexit Party did not, and beat them by a whisker. But it still won on a simple principle, which seems to be a novel, new party strategy: winning by having their vote decimated a little less than the Tories.<br /><br />In other words, although both main parties’ votes were slashed, the votes Labour lost to the Greens and Lib Dems outweighed that which the Tories lost to the Brexit party and UKIP.<br /><br />Corbyn and his coterie are still, like Vladimir and Estragon waiting for a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot">Godot</a>who never arrives, yearning for a general election. It is the only way they believe they might come out of the whole mess and retain the opportunity to blame everything on the Tories. Such an election will not come any time soon, because it is not in the Tories’ interests to allow one, certainly while Brexit is not delivered (which, of course, it may never be).<br /><br />Further, it is really anyone’s guess who would win anyway, because you cannot extrapolate the result from either the Euros or Peterborough, unrepresentative polls both. And the habitual model of translating vote-shares into seats in a two-party system has suddenly been turned on its head with a five- or six-party system. Meaningful predictions are on temporary hiatus in this looking-glass world.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the leading lights of the Tory party are in the process of competing with each other as to how many unicorns they can promise to the members and MPs in their stump campaigns. Those who want to deliver a Brexit deal by the impossibly short deadline of Hallowe’en are fantasists; but they can do no other, their party obsessed by a macho race to favour the Brexitier-than-thou.<br /><br />Among the hopefuls, only brave Rory Stewart has had the guts to say the emperor has no clothes. Although he polled better than expected in the first round of MP voting – these are secret ballots and there are still some Tories who espouse the “love that dare not speak its name” of supporting membership of the EU, albeit privately – he obviously cannot win.<br /><br />But if those looking to get a workable deal are fantasists, those who go a step further and seriously advocate a No Deal are dangerous fools. No serious country has ever opted deliberately to live by punitive, WTO trade rules; rules designed to deter countries from going it alone. It is an extraordinary failing for an adult politician not to recognise that they were never intended to be actually used in anger. They are designed to hurt.<br /><br />Neither has any serious country ever purposely advocated a strategy, such as ours over the Irish border, which so risks dismembering it into its constituent parts, not to mention rekindling sectarian tensions and violence.<br /><br />Thus Brexit Britain rushes hurtling towards the autumn deadline: rudderless, leaderless, hopeless. Waiting for some political lightweight, one probably called Boris Johnson, to become Prime Minister, who will be committed to the hardest and most damaging of Brexits. The Leader of the Opposition supporting them while pretending not to, his party flailing in a mire of racism.<br /><br />And our one hope on the horizon? The “kindness of strangers”: an EU which might look kindly on a request from Britain’s weak and slightly deranged Blanche, coyly requesting a further delay.<br /><br />What a time to be alive.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This post first published at <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2019/06/15/peterborough-shone-a-light-on-the-dire-state-of-labour-the-tories-beauty-contest-is-the-same-shade-of-awful/">Labour Uncut</a></i></span></div>
Rob Marchanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534810369839848312noreply@blogger.com0