Labour Party/government Watch

[emordnilap]

The fact remains that there are a few places in the UK where Labour has no chance whatsoever of winning, but the LD's might. Specifically, those seats where a LD lost their seat to the Tories in May, but still came second or third with Labour trailing a long way back in 4th, after UKIP. Labour has nothing to gain from contesting those seats, but every seat the tories lose to the LDs makes Corbyn's job easier (assuming the LD's won't repeat their suicidal decision to go into coalition with the tories - even the most bone-headed of MPs must realise now what a disastrous move that was).

You're right UE, especially about the places where Labour doesn't stand a chance. It's doesn't mean I have to like 'em though and many of them would be better off watering down turgid toryism.

[emordnilap]

[oobers]

I think Corbyn could have popular support. At the moment, I suspect we are kidding ourselves if we think it is much wider than the support base that voted him in though, so he does need to get some positive messages out there quickly before the MSM and his own party destroy him. I think the co-operative approach, welcoming ideas from all across the party, the innovative PMQ's for the people and the shunning of polished media style will win him friends amongst the electorate but he needs to broadcast rather than hide. Social media is not enough. And he needs to be able to point to the people who gave him his mandate and show his opponents in the PLP that the support is real and ongoing.

Owen Jones here
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/me ... -wont-help

and George Monbiot here
http://www.monbiot.com/2015/09/16/the-same-hymn-sheet/

are of the same opinion - We, the supporters need to mobilise to help make this work. They haven't to my mind fleshed out enough of what that might mean though. Any ideas?

[johnhemming2]

His idea for PMQ was a good idea. However, his underlying difficulty is what the alternative he proposes in terms of government ends up as being and to what extent

a) That is practical

b) He can persuade people it is practical and will improve the situation.

[kenneal - lagger]

He would get a lot more support if he kicked the lobbyists out of Parliament. The corruption is worse than the expenses scandal. Political parties taking money to enact policy is what is happening in all the parties. Shocking!!

[emordnilap]

A cautious but optimistic summary here from Seumas Milne, hopefully swinging The Guardian back on track a little.

the anti-democratic virulence of Britain’s tax-dodging media monopolists still has the capacity to take the breath away

Corbyn may be inexperienced in this role but he's clear-headed and can extemporise intelligently without the usual smarminess. He can only get better.

Apart from dragging up genuine errors of the past, which mean nothing, the media will simply have to distort everything he says and does out of all recognition. There's only so much of this storytelling one can tolerate. It's about time the media were put in their place.

[kenneal - lagger]

The Press Complaints Commission will be busy then!

[AutomaticEarth]

Corbyn being given just 475 days by the bookies, according to this article. I can't imagine the MP featured in the article to overtake Corbyn in this timescale. I think he'll be around longer than many will admit.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens ... eader.html

[UndercoverElephant]

http://www.scriptonitedaily.com/2015/09 ... my-corbyn/

The Real Reason The Permanent Political Class Is Freaking Out Over Jeremy Corbyn
Scriptonite / 3 days ago
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 16: Jeremy Corbyn poses for a portrait on July 16, 2015 in London, England. Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British Labour Party politician and has been a member of Parliament for Islington North since 1983. He is currently a contender for the position as leader of the Labour Party. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 16: Jeremy Corbyn poses for a portrait on July 16, 2015 in London, England. Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British Labour Party politician and has been a member of Parliament for Islington North since 1983. He is currently a contender for the position as leader of the Labour Party. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

A quick scan of social media and mainstream news sources today should alert you to the fact that the war against Jeremy Corbyn and his hew front bench has already begun. This is because the permanent political class are freaking out over Corbyn’s win and how it imperils their grip on power. Here is how.

Over with the Labour establishment, their reaction was best captured by the purge, scaremongering and refusal to work with a Corbyn front bench.

The reason Labour had a new leadership election process this time round, was the result of the parliamentary Labour Party and the NEC long term efforts to diminish the power of Trade Unions. By widening the vote to Labour voters, and quieting the voice of Trade Unions, the Blairite factions of the party gambled on those new voters being to the right of the Unions.

But they got a shock. It turned out that many were actually well to the left, and ready to take a chance on a social democrat like Corbyn. So, the Party responded to those new supporters as ‘infiltrators’.

This was a bizarre move, because if Labour don’t win back these voters, they are sunk in 2020. Labour need to win an extra 106 seats next election to gain a majority, an almost impossible task. But that almost impossible task becomes totally impossible without a mass, popular movement to reengage the public. Just 24% of people voted Conservative in the last election, 76% didn’t. The largest gains went to socially democratic populists the SNP, who killed Labour in Scotland. The biggest losers were the Liberal Democrats, the only ‘centrist’ party in town.

So why would the Parliamentary Labour Party NOT want to harness the power of a populist, social democratic movement? Especially when it is the only chance they have of regaining office in 2020.

It is becoming ever more clear that the Labour Party in Westminster has become a part of a permanent political class alongside their Tory and Liberal Democrat counterparts. Disengagement and voter apathy means a fairly stable job, a few seats lost and won either way each election and no big surprises. The chance to earn a great wage and pass policies which guarantee lucrative consultancy/director roles after politics. All done with the passive acceptance of a disaffected electorate, half of whom don’t even bother to vote anymore. To this permanent political class, a popular movement based on social democratic values is about as welcome as a fart in an elevator.

This is why Harriet Harman planned to cull over 100,000 so-called ‘infiltrators’ from the vote. This is why self-appointed voice-of-the-left Polly Toynbee, the Guardian editorial team, and most of the press (right and liberal) were busily character assassinating Corbyn and anyone who would give him their vote.

But despite all efforts, Corbyn won with a greater landslide in 2015, than Blair did in 1994. The ‘unelectable’ Corbyn galvanized a thumping majority against a hostile media, commentariat and even parliamentary party.

[continues]

[UndercoverElephant]

Corbyn being given just 475 days by the bookies, according to this article. I can't imagine the MP featured in the article to overtake Corbyn in this timescale.

Absolutely. The right wing of the labour party is where the left wing was when Michael Foot lost in 1983.

#OCCUPYTheLabourParty

[mr brightside]

Just seen Corbyn discussed on BBC Daily Politics and i'm appalled, but this is what we should come to expect on the issue i fear. I don't know who the bloke and the woman were, but they've nailed their colours to the mast very quickly IMHO, it's less than 2 weeks since Corbyn was appointed and the language being used would make you think he was 3yrs into a term as PM. The only respite from the onslaught came from Owen Jones who was slightly more tactful and seemed to comment with less haste, but still was clear about his lack of faith in Corbyn. At no point did any of them seem to acknowledge the massive mandate Corbyn has to construct a cabinet and set about business. It's knee-jerk reactions right accross the board, the gloves seem to be off already and the term IRA Sympathiser was used to describe John McDonnell.

[kenneal - lagger]

Brits always favour the underdog so this could be the making of him. We also don't like injustice and if his opposition carry on like this for much longer there will be a public backlash.

He says hopefully!!

[mr brightside]

Brits always favour the underdog so this could be the making of him. We also don't like injustice and if his opposition carry on like this for much longer there will be a public backlash.

He says hopefully!!

It's all very conspicuous, and a waste of time too because he was voted into the party leadership precisely because he's different and talks from a new angle. It looks like the media have begun trying to give him a bad name within the loyal established Labour electorate, when actually his victory is more than likely courtesy of those who have never voted or are swing voters; people who will not buy this sort of song and dance and, like you say, will always support a genuine and interesting underdog rather than the G&T brigade. Judging by the scale of his victory in the leadership election it's going to take one hell of a smokescreen to derail the train.

[UndercoverElephant]

Brits always favour the underdog so this could be the making of him. We also don't like injustice and if his opposition carry on like this for much longer there will be a public backlash.

He says hopefully!!

It's all very conspicuous, and a waste of time too because he was voted into the party leadership precisely because he's different and talks from a new angle. It looks like the media have begun trying to give him a bad name within the loyal established Labour electorate, when actually his victory is more than likely courtesy of those who have never voted or are swing voters; people who will not buy this sort of song and dance and, like you say, will always support a genuine and interesting underdog rather than the G&T brigade. Judging by the scale of his victory in the leadership election it's going to take one hell of a smokescreen to derail the train.

Yes. And perhaps more to the point, "the train" isn't just Corbyn. There has been a full-on revolution in the membership of the Labour Party that cannot be reversed. The threat to the establishment is not Corbyn, but the spontaneous movement that propelled him to power.

[kenneal - lagger]

Corbyn is a threat as well because there would have been no movement without Corbyn to stimulate it.