This Futile Factional Labour Party Doesn’t Deserve Jeremy Corbyn
Correct.
During the last year I’m pretty sure I’ve only ever put together 3, maybe 4 blogs, where the main subject has been Jeremy Corbyn - and that’s out of 70+ blogs and articles for other publications.
I mention the past year, simply because it has been a full year since Mr Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party - on exceptionally spurious grounds - and the party whip was removed, as I’ve no doubt you are aware.
“One antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media.”
Jeremy Corbyn in response to the EHRC report into Labour antisemitism.
Of course, the facts entirely backed up Mr Corbyn’s response, and the fact that he is still suspended a year later, despite being the Labour Party leader between 2015 and 2019, is a perfect example of the factional direction Keir Starmer opted for in his pursuit of Labour Party dominance, rather than just sticking to the job title and opposing the Conservative government.
So now is a good time to write a little bit more about Jeremy, the Labour Party, and the future, mostly from how I see it now, but also how I saw it a few years ago, because I had a good view, certainly not a front-row seat, but I wasn’t many rows back.
Mainstream media made a few mentions of the anniversary, although it was more of an exercise in putting the boot in, rather than an accurate portrayal of the reality that unfolded. The left has no friends in the Establishment media.
Note to the Mirror and Guardian: moaning about the cost of living crisis and running a few articles on the astronomical rise in the use of food banks doesn’t make you left-wing. You had your chance to show your apparent left-wing credentials a couple of years back, but you chose instead to join in with the most vicious and utterly dishonest campaign of hatred against the one person that actually could, and would have done something about the soaring levels of inequality, the painful sight of seeing human beings curled up in the doorways of closed-down shops, and the repugnant spectacle of witnessing our public services being raffled off to the rich.
Free broadband wasn’t the *real* problem. Making the very richest contribute a bit more was a problem. The recognition of a Palestinian state was a problem. A media where the most abhorrent of shitbags couldn’t own an unhealthy amount of that media was the problem.
One of the most common things I’ve heard from the morally-vacant centre, and elsewhere during the past year has been something along the lines of, “Corbyn will never be Labour leader again”.
Either these individuals are even more clueless than their Twitter timelines might suggest, or they think we lefties live in hope of Mr Corbyn overcoming his non-Labour MP status, steamrolling through the right-wing Labour NEC, handing the right-wing PLP its backside on a plate, before romping home with 99.9% of the membership vote.
We don’t need telling how that time has been and gone. We know. We know Jeremy Corbyn will never lead the Labour Party again, and thank god for that, because this Labour Party doesn’t deserve him.
And it’s not just Mr Corbyn this party of the plutocrats doesn’t deserve. Trickett, Sultana, Lavery, Burgon, Pidcock - none of them are welcome in this Labour Party. I would even go as far as to say that this Labour Party doesn’t deserve Wes Streeting, quite simply because nobody does.
For the first few months of this entirely factional suspension I was genuinely in favour of screaming and shouting for Jeremy to have the whip restored. I know how much the Labour movement means to him, he has spent decade after decade not only crafting party policy, but arguing against party policy, the illegal catastrophic invasion of Iraq being the most obvious example.
But now? I’m at the front of the queue wishing he would tell the Labour Party exactly where to shove their demand for (yet another) apology, and when they feel like they’ve shoved it as far as it’ll go, shove it some more.
Take a look around that current shadow cabinet - which is no more than a collection of failed estate agents and self-seeking careerists with the collective political nous of a toaster.
Name me just one current shadow cabinet member that has spent more than 5 decades campaigning against racism? How about one just one current shadow cabinet member that can say they have won international awards for their services to peace? Or even one shadow cabinet member that can say they wake up each day feeling the deep injustices and inequalities that surround us today, and actually wanting to try and do something about it?
Jeremy Corbyn was a one-off. I know some good friends are still attached to the prospect of Jeremy returning to the Labour Party, but even if the suspension was lifted, Jeremy would be absolutely wasted in this version of the Labour Party.
The disgraceful treatment of Jeremy Corbyn isn’t a new thing, and it didn’t begin a year ago when the party leadership suspended him. They party machinery were plotting against him the moment it became obvious the 200/1 outsider Corbyn was likely to win the contest.
One of the plotters, who now sits in the House of Lords, guaranteed Jeremy would be gone within 6 months, a full 2 months before Jeremy won. They were also the go-to “senior Labour source” when a reporter needed a couple of paragraphs laying into Jeremy.
Jeremy wasn’t gone within 6 months, of course, and this is for 2 simple reasons. The membership - many of who joined the Labour Party because they were inspired by Mr Corbyn - remained solidly behind him, and vitally, Jeremy surrounded himself with a strong team.
In an interview I did with Jeremy earlier this year he revealed that during the early days he only had the support of 10-15 MPs. He had the full weight of the Party machinery against him, and a vast majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party against him, and the campaign of maliciousness and dishonesty from the British media hadn’t even really started.
I understand the many people calling for a new party. I would back a credible left-wing alternative, as would many of you. Apathy, no matter how essential, is never comfortable. But it really isn’t just as simple as it sounds, unless you have backers with very deep pockets, the structures in place to challenge in marginal seats, and most importantly, someone willing to lead the party.
Is Jeremy that person? Does he even want to part company with the Labour Party? Is it time to accept Jeremy carved the pumpkin and now it’s time for the tea lights to burn brightly?
Don’t get me wrong, I support and respect Jeremy as much as all of you. What that man endured between 2015 and 2019 was unprecedented. No party leader has ever been attacked and smeared with such ferocity, and I think that would take a toll on the very best of us.
Let’s see what Jeremy Corbyn wants to do.
You know my opinion of this Labour Party. It is not a Democratic Party, and it is no longer a home for socialists. The treatment of Mr Corbyn has been utterly diabolical, and the shambolic handling of his suspension is entirely consistent with the running of today’s Labour Party.
Sadly, this Labour Party - who commissioned the independent Forde Inquiry only to decide it was a little too independent for their liking - cannot claim to be an anti-racist movement. That ship sailed as soon as the Labour leaks went public.
And let me be clear when I say, it was a scam.
Jewish members of the Labour Party are being thrown out at a rate that warrants nothing but absolute condemnation. What makes this even more disgusting is the complicit silence of the British media, who have suddenly lost all interest in Labour Party antisemitism.
This Labour Party really isn’t worthy of a decent and principled man like Jeremy Corbyn, and the same can be said for some excellent socialist MPs that find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place.
A year on from the ludicrous suspension of Jeremy Corbyn the Labour Party finds itself in a perilous position. Keir Starmer isn’t cutting through with the public, the bank account is empty, and they find themselves some 120,000 members lighter than just 18 months ago.
You really deserve a better opposition and Jeremy Corbyn really deserves a better Labour Party, but both of those prospects seem most unlikely while the Starmer and Evans circus is in town.
So what next?
Something has to give soon, and I don’t think you’ll have to wait very long to find out what comes next. Conversations are held regularly, movements from across the left will soon need to come together under one umbrella.
And will Mr Corbyn be the one to prop up the umbrella?
Only time will tell.
Have a great day.
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