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| Is Labour going to split? Our writers’ verdict on the party’s future | Is Labour going to split? Our writers’ verdict on the party’s future |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Giles Fraser: If I wanted to vote Tory, I’d vote Tory | Giles Fraser: If I wanted to vote Tory, I’d vote Tory |
| When I go to the ballot box, I want the opportunity to vote for an alternative. An alternative to austerity. An alternative to the domination of the City banks and the worship of market forces. An alternative to Trident. An alternative to the politics of division in which some people are treated as terrorists because of the direction in which they say their prayers. I want politicians to return essential public services to public control. I want our MPs to wake up at nights worrying about both the forgotten estates of Sunderland and the bedraggled refugees of Calais. When I go to the ballot box, I want to vote for something more hopeful and exciting than the daily fortunes of the stock exchange. | When I go to the ballot box, I want the opportunity to vote for an alternative. An alternative to austerity. An alternative to the domination of the City banks and the worship of market forces. An alternative to Trident. An alternative to the politics of division in which some people are treated as terrorists because of the direction in which they say their prayers. I want politicians to return essential public services to public control. I want our MPs to wake up at nights worrying about both the forgotten estates of Sunderland and the bedraggled refugees of Calais. When I go to the ballot box, I want to vote for something more hopeful and exciting than the daily fortunes of the stock exchange. |
| That’s why many people wanted – and still want – Jeremy Corbyn. I hold no particular candle for him personally. He’s not a particularly inspiring speaker. And I do worry that a vegetarian from Islington may have only so much traction in the working-class Brexit heartlands beyond the M25. But after all those years of Tony Blair’s silky tongue and nauseating PR sincerity, Corbyn’s unspun directness is precisely the appeal. | That’s why many people wanted – and still want – Jeremy Corbyn. I hold no particular candle for him personally. He’s not a particularly inspiring speaker. And I do worry that a vegetarian from Islington may have only so much traction in the working-class Brexit heartlands beyond the M25. But after all those years of Tony Blair’s silky tongue and nauseating PR sincerity, Corbyn’s unspun directness is precisely the appeal. |
| And, best of all, he doesn’t trim his politics to the prevailing political weather. Indeed, if the last few weeks has shown us anything, it is Corbyn’s stubborn determination to stick with what he believes, come hell or high water. Which means I know he won’t sell out my vote if the opinion polls move direction or his parliamentary colleagues become jittery. | And, best of all, he doesn’t trim his politics to the prevailing political weather. Indeed, if the last few weeks has shown us anything, it is Corbyn’s stubborn determination to stick with what he believes, come hell or high water. Which means I know he won’t sell out my vote if the opinion polls move direction or his parliamentary colleagues become jittery. |
| Common wisdom insists that general elections are won from the centre ground. That’s why the difference between the left of the Tory party and the right of the Labour party is often indistinguishable. But the Labour party must not get puffed into a shift to the right. If I wanted to vote Tory, I’d vote Tory. No, the Labour party must present a proud socialist alternative. We must state our case, without fear or apology. Reinstate clause IV. And if that means a period in the political wilderness, then so be it. | Common wisdom insists that general elections are won from the centre ground. That’s why the difference between the left of the Tory party and the right of the Labour party is often indistinguishable. But the Labour party must not get puffed into a shift to the right. If I wanted to vote Tory, I’d vote Tory. No, the Labour party must present a proud socialist alternative. We must state our case, without fear or apology. Reinstate clause IV. And if that means a period in the political wilderness, then so be it. |
| Rafael Behr: Corbyn has a tough job and he is doing it badly | Rafael Behr: Corbyn has a tough job and he is doing it badly |
| The essential problem facing Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents is their reliance on charges of incompetence. This should be an easy argument to win. Every historical measure and dispassionate analysis indicates that Labour, on its current trajectory, is heading for colossal defeat. Corbyn has barely begun to develop a coherent programme for electoral recovery, nor has he outlined anything close to resembling an agenda for government. It is a tough job and he is doing it badly. | The essential problem facing Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents is their reliance on charges of incompetence. This should be an easy argument to win. Every historical measure and dispassionate analysis indicates that Labour, on its current trajectory, is heading for colossal defeat. Corbyn has barely begun to develop a coherent programme for electoral recovery, nor has he outlined anything close to resembling an agenda for government. It is a tough job and he is doing it badly. |
| Some former Corbyn supporters can see that and might, with heavy hearts, abandon him. But many will either deny that he is underperforming – Labour is winning safe seats with increased majorities – or blame problems on wreckers who tied the leader’s hands from the start (and on the media). They can also reject the whole premise of competence-based argument as a shallow “Westminster” expression of what politics is about. Perhaps Corbyn isn’t great at fulfilling the established role of leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition, but he shouldn’t have to be because, in fact, he is leading a social movement that is so much bigger – see how the membership ranks have swollen. | Some former Corbyn supporters can see that and might, with heavy hearts, abandon him. But many will either deny that he is underperforming – Labour is winning safe seats with increased majorities – or blame problems on wreckers who tied the leader’s hands from the start (and on the media). They can also reject the whole premise of competence-based argument as a shallow “Westminster” expression of what politics is about. Perhaps Corbyn isn’t great at fulfilling the established role of leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition, but he shouldn’t have to be because, in fact, he is leading a social movement that is so much bigger – see how the membership ranks have swollen. |
| So Angela Eagle, or Owen Smith, will end up trying to persuade Corbynite members that their hero should be ditched because he is useless at something they either think he is good at, or something they don’t think he should be good at. On that front, the anti-Corbyn side has made little progress since last summer. They ceded ownership of the very idea of left principle, indulging an image of “JC” as the avuncular, beatific figure who articulated the deep yearnings of the true left. They criticised him mostly on grounds of practical implementation. | So Angela Eagle, or Owen Smith, will end up trying to persuade Corbynite members that their hero should be ditched because he is useless at something they either think he is good at, or something they don’t think he should be good at. On that front, the anti-Corbyn side has made little progress since last summer. They ceded ownership of the very idea of left principle, indulging an image of “JC” as the avuncular, beatific figure who articulated the deep yearnings of the true left. They criticised him mostly on grounds of practical implementation. |
| What they have failed to do is expose the hollowness of the Corbyn proposition in office, not just as poor political practice but as moral and intellectual vacuity: the failure to offer any realistic engagement with current or imminent political challenges except by reference to platitude, stump-speech exhortation and cynical mobilisation of old anti-Blairite grudges. Instead, the coup plotters have reinforced the impression that they are the bitter reactionaries and unprincipled assassins. They dare not challenge Corbyn on belief, only on capability. That creates a dynamic similar to last summer’s contest with probably – but not certainly – a similar result. | What they have failed to do is expose the hollowness of the Corbyn proposition in office, not just as poor political practice but as moral and intellectual vacuity: the failure to offer any realistic engagement with current or imminent political challenges except by reference to platitude, stump-speech exhortation and cynical mobilisation of old anti-Blairite grudges. Instead, the coup plotters have reinforced the impression that they are the bitter reactionaries and unprincipled assassins. They dare not challenge Corbyn on belief, only on capability. That creates a dynamic similar to last summer’s contest with probably – but not certainly – a similar result. |
| It is hard, then, to see how the two immiscible substances of Labour can remain in one compound party. But then again, it is a longstanding rule of Labour crises that when it looks as if things are in such a mess they cannot possibly carry on like this, they do. | It is hard, then, to see how the two immiscible substances of Labour can remain in one compound party. But then again, it is a longstanding rule of Labour crises that when it looks as if things are in such a mess they cannot possibly carry on like this, they do. |
| Rachel Shabi: These grassroots supporters are Labour’s backbone | Rachel Shabi: These grassroots supporters are Labour’s backbone |
| When even his opponents berate as undemocratic the attempts to take Jeremy Corbyn’s name off the Labour leadership ballot, you know you’ve got problems. In that light, the party NEC’s vote to keep the incumbent in the race was a sensible move: not doing so would have sent a terrible message about Britain’s main progressive party to its thousands of engaged, committed members. | When even his opponents berate as undemocratic the attempts to take Jeremy Corbyn’s name off the Labour leadership ballot, you know you’ve got problems. In that light, the party NEC’s vote to keep the incumbent in the race was a sensible move: not doing so would have sent a terrible message about Britain’s main progressive party to its thousands of engaged, committed members. |
| Now, after failing to depose him via hostile media briefings, mass resignations and a secret vote of no confidence, Corbyn’s opponents have set a leadership race. And it’s one he is expected to win again – even assuming the NEC’s subsequent, shadowy ruling, to disenfranchise over 100,000 members who have joined the party in recent weeks, does actually stand. Corbyn overwhelmingly won the last leadership election last summer – now he has even more support, predating the NEC cut-off, and a larger, better organised grassroots movement behind him, poised to canvass on his behalf. | Now, after failing to depose him via hostile media briefings, mass resignations and a secret vote of no confidence, Corbyn’s opponents have set a leadership race. And it’s one he is expected to win again – even assuming the NEC’s subsequent, shadowy ruling, to disenfranchise over 100,000 members who have joined the party in recent weeks, does actually stand. Corbyn overwhelmingly won the last leadership election last summer – now he has even more support, predating the NEC cut-off, and a larger, better organised grassroots movement behind him, poised to canvass on his behalf. |
| This nationwide movement, inspired by Corbyn’s anti-austerity politics and embodying a left resurgence, seems also to be the bit rebel MPs are not getting. It’s not just that this surge of grassroots supporters represent much needed political hope; it is that they are, after all, Labour’s campaigning backbone: the bit that drives and mobilises; the bit that amplifies the party’s message, building support, galvanising communities, expanding a voter base. | This nationwide movement, inspired by Corbyn’s anti-austerity politics and embodying a left resurgence, seems also to be the bit rebel MPs are not getting. It’s not just that this surge of grassroots supporters represent much needed political hope; it is that they are, after all, Labour’s campaigning backbone: the bit that drives and mobilises; the bit that amplifies the party’s message, building support, galvanising communities, expanding a voter base. |
| Bluntly, Labour MPs ought to be delighted to have this extraordinarily large, energised network behind the party, not trying to ignore its democratic will. | Bluntly, Labour MPs ought to be delighted to have this extraordinarily large, energised network behind the party, not trying to ignore its democratic will. |
| These are ugly days for the party, but it still doesn’t have to end badly. If – or when – its membership re-elects Corbyn as leader, that’s the time for more MPs to unite around him. With their expertise and commitment on side, Labour can be the strong, principled and progressive opposition – with its sights on governance – that the country so desperately needs. | These are ugly days for the party, but it still doesn’t have to end badly. If – or when – its membership re-elects Corbyn as leader, that’s the time for more MPs to unite around him. With their expertise and commitment on side, Labour can be the strong, principled and progressive opposition – with its sights on governance – that the country so desperately needs. |
| Anne Perkins: Even talk of a split is dangerous | Anne Perkins: Even talk of a split is dangerous |
| At least the NEC came up with the right answer about Jeremy Corbyn’s name being on the ballot. It’s a shame they also opened up a whole new can of worms by imposing contradictory and, on the face of it, legally unsustainable restrictions on the voting rights of new recruits. | At least the NEC came up with the right answer about Jeremy Corbyn’s name being on the ballot. It’s a shame they also opened up a whole new can of worms by imposing contradictory and, on the face of it, legally unsustainable restrictions on the voting rights of new recruits. |
| Existential battles – and be in no doubt, that is what is underway – are unavoidably ugly and messy, but they should never be violent, nor even hint at violence. | Existential battles – and be in no doubt, that is what is underway – are unavoidably ugly and messy, but they should never be violent, nor even hint at violence. |
| So for a start, left and right, however beleaguered they feel, must recognise that the language they use and the way that they use it can all too easily legitimise much worse behaviour among supporters. If John McDonnell is first and foremost a potential chancellor he should avoid being recorded swearing about his opponents, even at late-night stand-up routines with party supporters high on victory. | So for a start, left and right, however beleaguered they feel, must recognise that the language they use and the way that they use it can all too easily legitimise much worse behaviour among supporters. If John McDonnell is first and foremost a potential chancellor he should avoid being recorded swearing about his opponents, even at late-night stand-up routines with party supporters high on victory. |
| Next, the right need a single candidate. Existential battles aren’t nuanced affairs capable of multiple options. They are about survival. Owen Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary, has thrown himself into battle while simultaneously criticising Angela Eagle for not trying to work with Jeremy Corbyn. Have a hustings. | Next, the right need a single candidate. Existential battles aren’t nuanced affairs capable of multiple options. They are about survival. Owen Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary, has thrown himself into battle while simultaneously criticising Angela Eagle for not trying to work with Jeremy Corbyn. Have a hustings. |
| Then both sides need to be absolutely clear and unrepentant about what this fight is for. It seems obvious. Fundamentally, the right believes that MPs have a greater weight than ordinary party members in deciding who the leader should be. | Then both sides need to be absolutely clear and unrepentant about what this fight is for. It seems obvious. Fundamentally, the right believes that MPs have a greater weight than ordinary party members in deciding who the leader should be. |
| I agree with them. MPs have a different kind of mandate: the support of thousands of people who are not party members. They are the people who have to sell the party to the wider electorate and hold government to account. But times are changing. Tribes form for a purpose and then dissolve again. People are actors on multiple stages. Politics needs to reflect that. | I agree with them. MPs have a different kind of mandate: the support of thousands of people who are not party members. They are the people who have to sell the party to the wider electorate and hold government to account. But times are changing. Tribes form for a purpose and then dissolve again. People are actors on multiple stages. Politics needs to reflect that. |
| Labour’s sense of gravity has always see-sawed uneasily between hard pragmatism and the pursuit of some fantasy doctrinal purity, between the parliamentary party, the unions and the members. The left sometimes has the backing of key trade unions but it almost always takes most of its support from party activists. | Labour’s sense of gravity has always see-sawed uneasily between hard pragmatism and the pursuit of some fantasy doctrinal purity, between the parliamentary party, the unions and the members. The left sometimes has the backing of key trade unions but it almost always takes most of its support from party activists. |
| That is what this fight has to decide, for the 21st century. It’s the same fight as the last one; what’s different now is the nature of politics itself. It may be that the time of the member has come. That it’s time for the party to re-imagine itself entirely, and try to build a mass membership that stretches across left and green, the trade unionist and the self-employed. | That is what this fight has to decide, for the 21st century. It’s the same fight as the last one; what’s different now is the nature of politics itself. It may be that the time of the member has come. That it’s time for the party to re-imagine itself entirely, and try to build a mass membership that stretches across left and green, the trade unionist and the self-employed. |
| What Labour cannot possibly afford to do, if anyone is ever to believe that their first purpose is to form a government that can improve the lives of ordinary working people, is split. Even talk of it is dangerous. It makes it seems as if it is a viable option. For as long as the voting system is first past the post, only a single united party can contest power with the Tories. There is a desperate need for a party to do that. And there is no appetite at all for an opposition locked in alienating conflict. | What Labour cannot possibly afford to do, if anyone is ever to believe that their first purpose is to form a government that can improve the lives of ordinary working people, is split. Even talk of it is dangerous. It makes it seems as if it is a viable option. For as long as the voting system is first past the post, only a single united party can contest power with the Tories. There is a desperate need for a party to do that. And there is no appetite at all for an opposition locked in alienating conflict. |
| Polly Toynbee: First-past-the-post kills upstarts | Polly Toynbee: First-past-the-post kills upstarts |
| Vanishing into an irrelevant protest party, that’s one option. Labour can be a movement of ardent believers eyed by most voters as curiosities. | Vanishing into an irrelevant protest party, that’s one option. Labour can be a movement of ardent believers eyed by most voters as curiosities. |
| Labour is at the crossroads: is it serious about power? Are members willing to compromise with swing voters in marginals who don’t think like they do? That’s painful, but Labour is 14% behind in those vital seats. Earning voters’ trust needs a leader they can imagine as prime minister – and that’s not Jeremy Corbyn. Will his admirers block their ears? | Labour is at the crossroads: is it serious about power? Are members willing to compromise with swing voters in marginals who don’t think like they do? That’s painful, but Labour is 14% behind in those vital seats. Earning voters’ trust needs a leader they can imagine as prime minister – and that’s not Jeremy Corbyn. Will his admirers block their ears? |
| Talk of curbing austerity, building houses, restoring the NHS and council services is empty without power. All Labour governments – Attlee, Wilson and Blair, delivered great social progress – now in reverse. Will we ever see another Labour era? | Talk of curbing austerity, building houses, restoring the NHS and council services is empty without power. All Labour governments – Attlee, Wilson and Blair, delivered great social progress – now in reverse. Will we ever see another Labour era? |
| Labour MPs must choose one Corbyn challenger, as Owen Smith stands today. Angela Eagle, Smith and any other will lay out visions and strategies, but MPs must agree just one. Just as Neil Kinnock from the left pulled the party back from the Michael Foot disaster, so someone further left might bridge the Corbyn gap. A clean skin with no Iraq voting record would help: Smith makes that pitch. But a Labour woman against a second Tory female PM is important too – and others may step up. | Labour MPs must choose one Corbyn challenger, as Owen Smith stands today. Angela Eagle, Smith and any other will lay out visions and strategies, but MPs must agree just one. Just as Neil Kinnock from the left pulled the party back from the Michael Foot disaster, so someone further left might bridge the Corbyn gap. A clean skin with no Iraq voting record would help: Smith makes that pitch. But a Labour woman against a second Tory female PM is important too – and others may step up. |
| If Corbyn goes, his admirers can take comfort in this: his short term will have changed the Labour party – and for the better. The party has moved left, ending the era of tongue-tied, third way triangulation. Labelling any who want Corbyn gone as red Tory, Blairite scum is outrageous. Most of those 172 MPs are of the left, but they’ve seen the chaotic incompetence of Corbyn-led opposition. | If Corbyn goes, his admirers can take comfort in this: his short term will have changed the Labour party – and for the better. The party has moved left, ending the era of tongue-tied, third way triangulation. Labelling any who want Corbyn gone as red Tory, Blairite scum is outrageous. Most of those 172 MPs are of the left, but they’ve seen the chaotic incompetence of Corbyn-led opposition. |
| If he stays, Labour will writhe in perpetual warfare. Of course the party should split as the Tories should have long ago, but don’t even think about it: first-past-the-post kills upstarts. Proportional representation would allow new parties to gain seats and share power. But for now entryism – taking over one of the two main parties – is the only way to win. The romantic left has seized Labour, Brexit zealots the Tories. | If he stays, Labour will writhe in perpetual warfare. Of course the party should split as the Tories should have long ago, but don’t even think about it: first-past-the-post kills upstarts. Proportional representation would allow new parties to gain seats and share power. But for now entryism – taking over one of the two main parties – is the only way to win. The romantic left has seized Labour, Brexit zealots the Tories. |
| In their constituencies, Labour MPs see the terrifying party crisis: working-class votes in “safe” seats slide to Ukip, far from their socially liberal university-educated representatives. Yet those MPs risk deselection by angry leftwingers even further from the real voters they don’t meet on doorsteps. Union leaders, once party stabilisers, ignore their members’ need for Labour in power. In the coming Brexit turmoil, recession and worse austerity, Labour risks ceasing to matter, denying a voice to those who need them most. | In their constituencies, Labour MPs see the terrifying party crisis: working-class votes in “safe” seats slide to Ukip, far from their socially liberal university-educated representatives. Yet those MPs risk deselection by angry leftwingers even further from the real voters they don’t meet on doorsteps. Union leaders, once party stabilisers, ignore their members’ need for Labour in power. In the coming Brexit turmoil, recession and worse austerity, Labour risks ceasing to matter, denying a voice to those who need them most. |
| Aditya Chakrabortty: This is about who gets to define what leftwing politics is and how | Aditya Chakrabortty: This is about who gets to define what leftwing politics is and how |
| Here is where I think we are. This week, the headbanger Theresa May made a speech that put her to the left of most of the parliamentary Labour party. George Osborne has just ditched the austerity that the likes of Stephen Kinnock claimed was essential for credibility. The “experts” supposedly running the Labour machine proved so inept that the man they were trying to depose now looks set to win his second thumping mandate. | Here is where I think we are. This week, the headbanger Theresa May made a speech that put her to the left of most of the parliamentary Labour party. George Osborne has just ditched the austerity that the likes of Stephen Kinnock claimed was essential for credibility. The “experts” supposedly running the Labour machine proved so inept that the man they were trying to depose now looks set to win his second thumping mandate. |
| Ever since the crash, the elites in Britain – whether in politics or business and finance – have held power without commanding the credibility to wield it. In the last month, that has begun to shift. With first the Brexit vote and now the Corbyn showdown, the political establishment are struggling even to hold power. | Ever since the crash, the elites in Britain – whether in politics or business and finance – have held power without commanding the credibility to wield it. In the last month, that has begun to shift. With first the Brexit vote and now the Corbyn showdown, the political establishment are struggling even to hold power. |
| That, it strikes me, is the true significance of the Labour leadership battle. It’s not whether Angela is more electable than Owen is more electable than Jeremy. It’s not really about Jeremy Corbyn himself – who has always struck me as less interesting than the mass of voters who put him in charge 10 months ago. It’s about who gets to define what leftwing politics is and how. For most of my adult life that job has been taken up by a generation of men who talked about “narrative” because they couldn’t really handle discussions of policy and thought the political centre ground was a fixed address that you typed into Google Maps. Those old moves won’t work in this era. Not when economic inequality has produced such sharp political polarisation. Not when the Union is in slow-motion breakdown. Not against a whole backdrop of regional cleavages – and a middle class that is breaking up, too. | That, it strikes me, is the true significance of the Labour leadership battle. It’s not whether Angela is more electable than Owen is more electable than Jeremy. It’s not really about Jeremy Corbyn himself – who has always struck me as less interesting than the mass of voters who put him in charge 10 months ago. It’s about who gets to define what leftwing politics is and how. For most of my adult life that job has been taken up by a generation of men who talked about “narrative” because they couldn’t really handle discussions of policy and thought the political centre ground was a fixed address that you typed into Google Maps. Those old moves won’t work in this era. Not when economic inequality has produced such sharp political polarisation. Not when the Union is in slow-motion breakdown. Not against a whole backdrop of regional cleavages – and a middle class that is breaking up, too. |
| Such are the challenges that face the Labour party – and they are existential. I have written before that Corbyn and John McDonnell have not done a good job so far in addressing them. That’s not all their fault: it’s hard to make policy in the face of a hostile parliamentary party and a shadow cabinet ever ready to leak your strategy documents to the newspapers. | Such are the challenges that face the Labour party – and they are existential. I have written before that Corbyn and John McDonnell have not done a good job so far in addressing them. That’s not all their fault: it’s hard to make policy in the face of a hostile parliamentary party and a shadow cabinet ever ready to leak your strategy documents to the newspapers. |
| They were right to adopt an explicitly anti-austerity politics – and in doing so only reminded us of how much ground Labour MPs ceded to the Tories between 2010 and 2015. But the left needs more than a hankering after statist investment. Blair and his followers spent the last 20 years taking as their biggest task the reform of the public sector. The left’s task in the years to come will be reforming the private sector: so that it’s no longer a machine for producing vast gaps in income, so that finance is the servant of business and so that businesses display more commitment to the localities they operate in. | They were right to adopt an explicitly anti-austerity politics – and in doing so only reminded us of how much ground Labour MPs ceded to the Tories between 2010 and 2015. But the left needs more than a hankering after statist investment. Blair and his followers spent the last 20 years taking as their biggest task the reform of the public sector. The left’s task in the years to come will be reforming the private sector: so that it’s no longer a machine for producing vast gaps in income, so that finance is the servant of business and so that businesses display more commitment to the localities they operate in. |
| Oh, and if Corbyn’s Labour and Momentum want to be social movements, let’s see them get involved in civil society. How about getting more people registered to vote? Now that access to legal advice and other civil society organisations have been so badly stripped back, let’s see Labour organisations help renters in dispute with sharky landlords, or negotiating good collective deals with utility firms. If the future of left politics lies partly in becoming a social movement, that means actually doing stuff. | Oh, and if Corbyn’s Labour and Momentum want to be social movements, let’s see them get involved in civil society. How about getting more people registered to vote? Now that access to legal advice and other civil society organisations have been so badly stripped back, let’s see Labour organisations help renters in dispute with sharky landlords, or negotiating good collective deals with utility firms. If the future of left politics lies partly in becoming a social movement, that means actually doing stuff. |
| Frances Ryan: Those crushed under the Conservatives need Labour in power | Frances Ryan: Those crushed under the Conservatives need Labour in power |
| I doubt I’m the only member of the Labour party who’s had a sleepless night. There was no defeat in the early hours, yet the current situation somehow feels worse than the general election loss last year – more grave, more permanent. Perhaps because it could be. | I doubt I’m the only member of the Labour party who’s had a sleepless night. There was no defeat in the early hours, yet the current situation somehow feels worse than the general election loss last year – more grave, more permanent. Perhaps because it could be. |
| Where now? Jeremy Corbyn is rightly on the ballot but – though likely – his victory is not guaranteed. Many who previously supported his leadership have lost patience; principle can soon turn into dogma, just as a democratic mandate can translate into a selfish refusal to listen. | Where now? Jeremy Corbyn is rightly on the ballot but – though likely – his victory is not guaranteed. Many who previously supported his leadership have lost patience; principle can soon turn into dogma, just as a democratic mandate can translate into a selfish refusal to listen. |
| Corbyn has the chance to run without hubris – to show he can communicate ideas beyond the already converted, that he understands that being the leader of a party requires earning the confidence of MPs (who, notably, have their own democratic mandate) – and would be wise to take it. Similarly, his rivals must learn from past shambles and field a candidate the membership can actually embrace. It is his critics’ failure to inspire that is as damning as Corbyn’s failure to lead. Owen Smith – openly anti-austerity – is surely a wiser choice than Angela Eagle. | Corbyn has the chance to run without hubris – to show he can communicate ideas beyond the already converted, that he understands that being the leader of a party requires earning the confidence of MPs (who, notably, have their own democratic mandate) – and would be wise to take it. Similarly, his rivals must learn from past shambles and field a candidate the membership can actually embrace. It is his critics’ failure to inspire that is as damning as Corbyn’s failure to lead. Owen Smith – openly anti-austerity – is surely a wiser choice than Angela Eagle. |
| But how the contest is conducted will be as defining as who is in it. The division and outright hate that we’ve seen from both sides must be abandoned. “Useless plotters”; “Corbynistas”; “Blairite careerists”; these words are as damaging as they are simplistic. | But how the contest is conducted will be as defining as who is in it. The division and outright hate that we’ve seen from both sides must be abandoned. “Useless plotters”; “Corbynistas”; “Blairite careerists”; these words are as damaging as they are simplistic. |
| Valid grievances exist – and regrets are plenty – but there are bigger things at stake now. For anyone who wishes to avoid a stranglehold of centre-right power in this country, a split within the Labour party would be nothing short of a disaster. What follows in the coming weeks is not about Corbyn, rebels, or even the inner democracy of the membership. It is about the millions of people who are being crushed under the Conservatives and who need a Labour party in government. If the party cannot unite for that, it will be a lasting betrayal. | Valid grievances exist – and regrets are plenty – but there are bigger things at stake now. For anyone who wishes to avoid a stranglehold of centre-right power in this country, a split within the Labour party would be nothing short of a disaster. What follows in the coming weeks is not about Corbyn, rebels, or even the inner democracy of the membership. It is about the millions of people who are being crushed under the Conservatives and who need a Labour party in government. If the party cannot unite for that, it will be a lasting betrayal. |