POLITICS So Jeremy Corbyn is the new boogie-man?

More on the coup -

The founder of Saving Labour, the website set up on the 25th June (the day before the resignations started), steps out of the shadows:

Saving Labour? The secretive battle to oust Jeremy Corbyn
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37262869

It's interesting looking on the site because there isn't that much there to see. The facebook page is even more amusing, being as it has - mostly inhabited by Corbyn supporters ripping the place to shreds, although this may have changed slightly


In other news, the recent YouGov/Times poll has Corbyn set to re-win the leadership at 62% to 38% overall, an increased mandate
http://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/08/30/labo...-smith-24/

This corresponds nicely with the [amoff]full tally[/amoff] of CLP nominations, which stands as Corbyn - 282 and Smith - 51, with 50(?) remaining neutral
(a vote share of 67% to 33%)

[amoff][/amoff]
[amoff]http://twitter.com/callumwarwick96/status/764563077157249024[/amoff]

I picked this slightly older (13th August) image, as its got on it the CLPs that have remained neutral, which actually outstripped the nominations for Smith at various points, leading some to joke about Smith coming third in a two horse race  
The Outer Hebrides on the top left also went for Corbyn in the end, i think

But with the reports I have been reading of members/supporters being purged for spurious reasons, I am concerned as to how the final outcome will end up, especially with reports of Reg Race's rather unsettling confidence here.

Will their shenanegans actually work out?

With a few days left now until the leadership annoucement, I'm still left wondering as to what, really, this was all about. Putting aside the issue of brexit, which I think most can see was a pretext, from the outset (Telegraph, July 2015) the theme was Jeremy Corbyn was too left-wing and meant electoral disaster, which may or may not have been a valid concern.

One image that perhaps sums up this sentiment is this (06/09/15), which has been doing the rounds recently
https://www.facebook.com/groups/51994964...854664259/


But even with this in mind, it still doesn't really explain the vehemence with which these attacks from within his own party have continued to be made. So what is going on? It comes down to one of 3 things, I reckon:

• Faced with their own insincerity inauthenticity -
  

With Corbyn being elected, was it the case that MPs were faced with the stark reality that they were within a party who's aims they never were really in parity with? Signs to this extent were evident from the start.

From Yvette Cooper's flipping out on the Sky debate (03/09/15) at Corbyn over people's QE, doubling down on her "PFI on steroids" line from the Channel 4 hustings a couple days earlier:
Yvette Coopers Rips Into Jeremy Corbyn... Or Does She???
[amoff]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHRuef148b8[/amoff]
incredibly this was lauded by commentators after the event (!) instead of derision as the inglorious hissy fit it was;
[NB. It's worth noting the recent reports of BoE's quantitative easing being extended to corporate businesses]

...to Harriet Harmon's barely disguised snipe I watched her make on Daily Politics (09/09/15) just days before the leadership result - even Andrew Neil was left lost for words:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0321302
"Having... 28 years on the front bench, I feel that you know, it's now time for others to, take it forward but it was quite surprising to discover that I'm not, errm possibly old enough or posh enough to be in the front running of this current leadership election"
Clearly - she knew at that point who the winner was going to be, what on earth was the basis for a remark such as that if not of complete and utter contempt;

...to Tristram Hunt's breathtaking display of sour-grapes, slow clapping during Corbyn's acceptance speech (12/09/15),
amazingly this is barely even registered on the internet but I have found this clip -
[amoff]http://twitter.com/MrG_English/status/642964868572794880/video/1[/amoff]
I'm not even sure it would be possible for him to be more rude if he hadn't applauded at all;

...to Jamie Reed's shadow cabinet resignation letter posted on twitter ONE minute (!!) into that very same speech:
[amoff]http://twitter.com/jreedmp/status/642649854624309248[/amoff]

It becomes even more ridiculous when some of them start banging on about being a "party of power" and how people really need a Labour government - it's beyond comprehension the self-entitlement some of these people must feel. This link also gets at a similar interpretation but lays it rather at a simple 'fear of democracy', which doesn't really I feel explain the visceral hatred present:
The Real Reason Labour Elites and Commentators Hate Jeremy Corbyn
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/i...n_20160705

• The Chilcot Report -
  

This was something I was alluding to earlier, with the clip of Alisdair Campbell I posted (28/06/16). There was a panic in his voice, an urgent desperation for Corbyn to be shut down - precisely for this reason? Corbyn was a strong anti-war voice from back then, and with the party and many of its representatives so closely associated with the Iraq invasion, seemingly many would be eager to get him out of the picture that they might 'better' stage-manage the fallout from the Chilcot Report. This was something being reported as suspected by Alex Salmond MSP.

One article made an analysis of this from examining voting records:
Most Labour MPs opposing Corbyn are stained with the blood of Iraq
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/mos...-541347827

Another article also pointed to this as being a main driver:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion...-0009.html
[NB. this time examining from the angle of the coup's 'incompetence' as I've mentioned on before, this is in addition to the AAV writeup on the same theme!]

Wikileaks came out with this tidbit on Hilary "Bomber" Benn:
[amoff]http://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/750727000390762496[/amoff]
WikiLeaks @wikileaks — "#Chilcot: Hilary Benn, responsible for post-war Iraq, starved it of funds and certainty #Corbyn #ChickenCoup #Blair" [5:23 pm - 6 Jul 2016]


But this was really brought into focus the day of the parliamentary debate. Yvette Cooper, sitting behind Rachel Reeves during the initial PMQs session - just look at her miserable expression
26m31s in — [amoff]http://youtu.be/1verzK5W3tE?t=26m31s[/amoff]


And then, during the actual parliamentary statement debate:

[amoff]http://twitter.com/deidrebrock/status/750660836813860864[/amoff]
Deidre Brock @DeidreBrock — "Head shaking & groans of discontent going up from Labour back benchers behind Corbyn as he speaks in statement on #Chilcot" [1:01 PM - 6 Jul 2016]

[amoff]http://twitter.com/chrisshipitv/status/750660372361805824[/amoff]
Chris Ship @chrisshipitv — "Labour MP @IanAustinMP sat behind Corbyn heckles 'sit down and shut up ... you're a disgrace' #Chilcot" [12:59 pm - 6 Jul 2016]

(also reported here [amoff]http://twitter.com/liamyoung/status/750659766456901632[/amoff] and here [amoff]http://twitter.com/peston/status/750659632402669568[/amoff]; read this for a good overview http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/pol...22871.html )

• The pro-Israel lobby -
  

With so many of the MPs having links to various pro-Israel groups that seemingly exert such shadowy influence over UK politics, is this the key issue in that Corbyn has been a continued campaigner on the plight of the Palestinian people? In the debate over Israel/Palestine, the UK has been little other than a staunch supporter of Israel, and the whole subject can hardly be examined without howls of outrage and charges of anti-semitism being levelled.

Michael Foster, the multi-millionaire Labour member & donor seems to have been one in particular fanning the flames on this issue. I mentioned earlier about his furious, furious heckling of Corbyn speaking at a Labour Friends of Israel event (29/09/15)
[amoff]http://youtu.be/SwXJwfP9qKk?t=7m48s[/amoff]

Sometime later he published this opinion piece in the Daily Mail (10/04/16), with choice statements such as "We would be foolish to donate to a cause whose leaders view us with contempt" and "We won’t be defeated by ignorance, hate and a godless totalitarian black-and-white view of the world"

And at the height of the 'anti-semitism crisis', of which a very helpful and informative 'timeline' was provided by The Telegraph, in this The Times article (29/04/16), Foster is quoted as stating "[Corbyn's] myopic view ... unleashed a whirlwind of antisemitism from some of his fellow travellers, which in his complacency and naivety he fails to comprehend" [read here]

But with the inexorable leadership re-election contest underway, Foster then goes as far as to mount a legal challenge against the Labour NEC, disputing Corbyn's right to be on the ballot - appearing on the Today programme on Radio 4 (14/07/16) to unbelievably claim it was "not about politics" and that "The issue raised by my application to the court is the proper interpretation of the rules of the party" (also writing a justification piece in the Times to plead the same thing)

Of course, as we know this ended in failure, at which point Foster completely loses it and in another piece in the Daily Mail (14/08/16) refers to "Corbyn and his Sturm Abteilung" whilst similtaneously protesting the perception that he, and others like him, are "plotting to falsely use the accusation of anti-Semitism" .
Well, what can be said.

The thing is, many other Labour figures have themselves aligned themselves with this line of attack, wholeheartedly perpetuating a concept that is surely, utterly ludicrous. Why would this be happening?


- - - - - - -

So, these are my 3 possibilties.   I don't know which one is most likely. Perhaps it's a combination of all them.

But perhaps I have missed something. In this article, someone else gives his take on the underlying cause. Expanding upon, perhaps, my first possibility (of MPs being faced with their own insincerity inauthenticity), he suggests a more fundamental issue - one of pragmatic concern for their own career paths...

What do you think?


  The ‘left-wing’ journalists attacking Corbyn need an urgent reality check
  — Steve Topple, 8th August 2016
  http://www.thecanary.co/2016/08/08/the-l...ity-check/


"...Corbyn’s severing of ties with corporations would also mean the ‘revolving door’ between being an MP and having a cosy job in the private sector when you retire would be slammed shut. The likes of Lord Darling, Lord Blunkett, Lord Mandelson et al could be unemployed now if it wasn’t for the perpetual back-scratching that has occurred for many, many years. And it’s all this which explains why some members of the PLP are so against Corbyn."

[Statto]

With a few days left now until the leadership annoucement, I'm still left wondering as to what, really, this was all about. Putting aside the issue of brexit, which I think most can see was a pretext, the theme was Jeremy Corbyn was too left-wing and meant electoral disaster, which may or may not have been a valid concern.

Corbyn isn't particularly left wing in traditional Labour terms, even if he might be regarded as such in today's political climate.

Whether a Labour party led by Corbyn is "unelectable" is a different question. The Labour right keep saying he is and may actually believe he is – and are doing their best to ensure that he is – but obviously they're massively invested in believing that, since their entire approach was to move right to win votes. Corbyn being elected would be a complete dismissal of everything they've done.

Whether their strategy is effective either is a serious question too of course. Blair won a big victory in 1997, but Labour were always going to win then against a conservative goverment mired in corruption scandals. Blair won again in 2001 and (just about) in 2005, all the time losing votes by the bucketload, particularly heartland votes. Brown and Miliband only continued that decline, so that there's now almost no Labour heartland left, as seen most clearly by their obliteration in Scotland.

But as Blair has said: he wouldn't want Labour to win an election with Corbyn as leader. Probably a lot of the Labour right feel the same way. They're mostly career politicians with no real roots in a (previously fading) Labour movement, and no desire at all to see it revive itself. They're basically Red Tories. Deselect the lot of them.

[Statto]

Sleaford Mods: I fell foul of the Labour purge
The band's famously outspoken frontman on the paranoia surrounding the party's leadership election...
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/sta...bour-purge

and at the same time. Damn, I'm glad I don't take this serious any more. Whatever your views on Corbyn, he won't win the overall election, so nobody cares in the general election. If you want my more intelligent side: Brexit coming along shrivelled hopes for labour activism tenfold; because there are so many loopholes with how the public get involved to allot an agreed decision (quantitative easing disguised as disruptive ballot - the EU vote) and dislocation/disloyalty of all party policies henceforth. 

It's simple dopplereffekt.

"Shh Shh Shh! I've never done five!" ~ Steve Coogan.

[Statto]

The movement behind Corbyn is not driven by Trotskyists, revolutionaries or even ideologues. What unites its foot soldiers is a rejection of a political consensus that they believe brought disaster in Iraq, financial collapse, unnecessary and ideologically driven cuts and policies that have disproportionately hammered the young. Many are strikingly aware of Corbyn’s flaws and limitations, but they fear his fall will lead to a restoration of the old order and the systematic removal of the left. Since Corbyn’s election, they feel that not only has their chosen leader been smeared by the press, but that they themselves have been subjected to campaign of vilification.

They believe MPs plotted to undermine their preferred leader before he was even elected, that they undermined him through his tenure in office and plunged the party into an unnecessary and destructive leadership contest at a time of national crisis. They are infuriated by bureaucratic manoeuvres they believe were designed to block Corbyn’s re-election, like an attempt to keep him off the ballot and a heavyhanded purge of the leader’s supporters.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...-freakshow

So the old geezer won, ey?

[Statto]

of course

but what a totally pointless and stupid waste of time this election was

[noisemonkey]

the biggest balls in UK politics

of course

but what a totally pointless and stupid waste of time this election was

At least this generated some buzz on social media (and therefore some low tax revenue for the corporations running them)

[Statto]

Whether Labour can beat [the Tories] under Corbyn remains to be seen. Anyone who predicted four years ago that Britain would be heading out of Europe, Corbyn would be leading Labour, or that the party would have just one MP in Scotland deserves a deferential hearing about how the 2020 general election will play out. Everyone else should approach the current volatility in British electoral politics with more humility.

another terrific piece by Gary Younge

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...principles

Bump

The tired old lines of attack are arising again...

Copeland defeat last night is causing some to ask questions of Corbyn's position

groan

[Statto]

https://medium.com/@MissEllieMae/how-do-....nnbolt5z5

I kind of agree with this. It was never about Corbyn himself anyway, just the politics he stands for. I wouldn't mind if someone like Clive Lewis took over as leader.

[Statto]

Ken Loach: Don’t blame Corbyn for the sins of Blair, Brown and New Labour
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...new-labour

[Statto]

Owen Jones: Corbyn says he’s staying. That’s not good enough
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...ood-enough

[Statto]

Why Corbyn-bashing liberals must vote Labour on 8 June
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...-austerity

The cameraman's foot conspiracy ideologue of the BBC yesterday was hilarious. "An investigation is being conducted" - for fuck's sake, the stupid cameraman just got too close to the car and got his foot run over, what do they think it is, Corbyn steering the wheel into him into a borderline psychotic episode?

The rabid right-wing press is around the bend.

In a post on facebook I mentioned why wasn't the cameraman wearing the correct PPE. I think its a very pertinent question. Next time he wants to film so close to a moving vehical he should wear some appropriate footware

You gotta give it to Theresa May, tactical masterpiece to call for general elections this spring.

[Statto]

I'm all in on a Corbyn vote, Theresa May's new "Partridge Over Britain"-esque magisterial vote-grabbing policies are like dead fish out of water to Liberal Democrat legalising of marijuana (which is much better than all of her flimsy 'new' policies put together).

However, this got the laugh of the week from me, politics wise:

[Statto]

Think I'm gonna vote this time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUIHMxOFOafp...MsjF9zKA0/

Think I'm gonna vote this time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUIHMxOFOafp...MsjF9zKA0/

i'll be voting but not for jeremy