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
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 )
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."