by Robert Williams
It is now quite clear that Jeremy Corbyn is prepared to destroy the Labour Party in his desperate attempt to cling to office (but not power – he has never had any power). In any sane and rational world, a leader who suffers the resignation of more than half his shadow cabinet, and who can muster the support of barely 20% of his MPs would resign.
That would be the honourable thing to do. It’s what a decent, compassionate and humane leader would do.
Instead, we have the appalling spectacle of a man with cloth ears, a total absence of communication skills and the political nous of a dung beetle, refusing to engage with his own MPs and then addressing a cheering crowd consisting of a few labour members and an awful lot of Socialist Worker, Militant and other fringe groups from the wilder shores of political sanity, preaching the Mandate Gospel. Part of which is to harass and threaten Labour MPs who dare to disbelieve in Jeremy’s capacity to convince someone to jump out of a burning car, let alone to persuade the electorate to put him in high office, outside their offices and homes.
The hitherto hidden vanity and ego of a man who has sat at the margins of politics for a lifetime, and so decent and principled that he has only put his head above the parapet to sit on platforms with terrorist organisations, anti Semites, Islamo-fascists and holocaust deniers is astonishing.
This honourable and decent man who thought the death of Osama bin Laden a “tragedy”. This political titan who thinks the way to regain the trust of the millions of voters across Britain is to offer the Falkland Islands to Argentina, and who hesitates about authorising a policy of shooting to kill terrorists in the process of murdering innocent civilians.
This decent man refused to appear on platforms with David Cameron to defend membership of the EU and yet has been happy to do with Hamas and Hezbollah, and happy to appear on Iranian and Russian state broadcasters with no complaints about their lack of democracy or attitudes to women and gays. Jeremy Corbyn sacks people who condemn fascist terrorism while being pathetically weak himself.
And now Mr Corbyn is holding the labour party hostage, with his “mandate”. As if the 100,000 odd people who voted for him in last year’s leadership elections count for far more than the 9 million people who voted labour in the 2015 general election.
Toxic doesn’t do justice to just how incompetent, inept and awful Team Corbyn has been. Every day he remains “leader” of the Labour Party means it is another light year from power.
That might not matter to the idiotic, undemocratic, out of touch, beyond reason hard Left, Green fantasists and other fellow travellers of the extreme fringe of left wing politics, but it does matter to millions of people who’s lives would be improved with a Labour government, and who are completely turned off appalling 1970’s student politics,
The odious bullies of the far left having any say on anything, displays a political ineptness (from spending 40 years talking to the same out of touch fringe activists, and no one but them) that makes the Monster Raving Loony Party look like a better bet than Labour.
Labour is doomed unless Jeremy Corbyn and his ragbag team of nonentities are removed this week.
It is no exaggeration to say that we are in the midst of a (self inflicted) national crisis. We need more than ever, a progressive, social democratic Labour opposition and, hopefully, government to deliver a more equal society, fighting against fascism around the world rather than appeasing “anti Americans”, opposing intolerance rather than apologising for it, striving for a sustainable economy, supporting the British people rather than obsessing about cultural and racial difference, supporting, above all, continuing membership of the EU and other pan national organisations to achieve global justice and to play a positive role in the world.
Yes, it is time to go Jeremy. The emperor has no clothes beneath the baggy beige cardigan. And, if you refuse to move, it is time to leave you with your mandate and form a genuine social democratic party that does see electoral success as a priority. That time is now.
Robert Williams works in public affairs and as a journalist
Tags: Brexit, EU referendum, Jeremy Corbyn, leadership election, Robert Williams
Jeremy is our democratically elected leader and he deserves our respect.
I think Corbyn will hold out, at least till the Chilcot report is published on the 6th of July.
Lol when was the last time Labour had a leader who was not cloth eared, stubborn and refuse to go at all costs until overtly beaten….Blair was probably the only one who came close to that ironically. Since the party is devoid of compassionate humanity I would not worry too much about using that as a motive for him leaving.
He knows this is the looney Lefts last chance at power and he has successfully consolidated the position so far. With the MPs turning on him during a time when the United Kingdom is in flux Labour really is in big trouble. It appears to the public as though self interest is in the dominance. There was a time and means to shift Corbyn and it was not seized, because as anyone knows only the Leader can call time as clinging desperate for dosh Kinnock did time again after countless failures. The precedent supports Corbyn. I fear now he has ammunition to remove MPs and bring in more of his cronies, he will wait now because the only thing MPs can do beyond defying the whip in Parliament is leave the Party or Parliament. Dangerous times ahead…and no credible alternative from the Blairite wing beyond more characters designed to scare and disturb the public.
hi
as some one present on Monday night there were mostly Labour Party people there – who were offered SWP placards as they came out of the tube station and on the corner of the square.
At almost every demo i have been to in the last ten years rightly or wrongly, neither Labour or any of the internal pressure groups have provided any placards ever.
Great article Rob, but a tad unfair to dung beetles….
Remark from non political activist friend: “Why do Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters have Socialist Worker Party placards; I thought they were supposed to be members of the Labour party?” Perhaps Mark Livingston would like to ponder that question.
All is not yet lost, and as a Liberal Democrat I would remind you that:
– The LibDems were the only party which seriously campaigned for a Remain vote and with a positive message of all the benefits of EU membership (we even ran more events than the Labour party….)
– Tim Farron has already committed the party to fighting the next General Election with a policy of remaining in the EU (if we haven’t left) or rejoining the EU if we have.
– 10,000 (and counting) new members have joined the Liberal Democrats since last Friday. There is room for more!
He was democratically elected. So were all the MPs whose support he has lost.
The choice is now whether to be a party of protest or a party of government, Surely you must see that…
Someone should stand against him.
That is the simple, orderly, dignified way to seek to change the leader.
Your spit flecked invective is none of those things. It reads as if you’d been drinking all evening and then wrote it at 2 in the morning.
What the Coup plotters have done is self indulgent in my opinion. Anyone who knows anything about Corbyn knows he won’t resign – trying to force his resignation is what all this is about because they fear, rightly, that if he is on the ballot he will win.
So their action is both futile and immensly damaging for the Party. If they can’t even read the likely reaction of someone they know and can’t win an election in the Party how are they ever going to win a General Election?
Not a labour voter, however I think this could go either way. Corbyn stays, labour splits, the Left vote splits 3 ways and Tories unopposed for a generation or more. Corbyn gone, any centre left candidate looks like Adam Smith in comparison. A month ago Eagle looked too left to me, now in comparison to McDonnell, Corbyn and the way this group are clinging to power she looks Angela Merkel. Trust me I am your average apolitical voter, the events of the last week have made me think. As a non labour voter but a Brit I will say we need a strong Labour Party, a realistic alternative government to keep us all honest. With Corbyn this can’t happen. For the good of the country, please see sense and elect someone capable of leading the country,
– Tim Farron has already committed the party to fighting the next General Election with a policy of remaining in the EU (if we haven’t left) or rejoining the EU if we have.
Tim Farron now appears to be more realistic than that and is shifting towards campaigning to re-join the EU after we have gone. (Now take a look at the EU – if you were out of it, would you want to join?)
Hear bloody hear.
Corbyn is an incompetent little goblin.
Funny how the damage caused by a coup attempt is the fault of the democratically elected leader rather than the coup plotters. Robert must have done his PR training under Pinochet.
I really object to the abusive tone of this article. As a Labour voter all my life, and a member of the party who stands up for Labour all the time, even putting forward the positive aspects of the Blair/Brown regime in comparison to the Tories or the Lib Dems (while also seeing their flaws and the wrong-headed direction of travel) it is really offensive to be labelled with this ‘hard left’ pejorative.
I am Labour through and through, going back at least as far as my Great-Grandad’s non-conformism in the early part of the last century. Yet the jumped up middle class journalist/financier wing of the party seems to think I don’t belong.
I am not ‘hard left’, I am simply a democratic socialist, like every Labour leader prior to Tony Blair and the vast majority of Labour supporters and voters. Labour must oppose neoliberalism and stand up for the ordinary people or it is nothing.
Wake up Blairites: without me and people like me you will have no Labour Party.
I did not vote for Corbyn, but would do so now, as the plotters are so awful. ~They are anonymous, hiding their choice of alternative leader, ignore the efforts Corbyn made in the referendum campaign [how many meetings?], as they try to scapegoat him. Real villains are Alan Johnson, who was a useless Labour Campaign chair, and Gisela Stuart, who chairing of Vote Leave made it respectable for Labour voters to vote out.
Chris whitehead, confused are you saying if Gisela wasn’t a labour leaver, labour leavers would have said, it’s disrespectful (to whom) for me to vote leave, I desperately want to have the respect of labour remainders,so I’m going to vote remain, or did labour leavers ,vote leave ,as they think it’s best for the country, anyway?