Brexit

Jun 30, 2016 13:53:29 GMT @baemax said:

Jun 30, 2016 12:53:39 GMT Phantom of London said:

I accept the idea that Corbyn is a decent and principled person, but he has proven himself a spineless and ineffectual leader and needs to step aside for someone who is willing to tackle anti-Semitism and who is more able to unite the party than cause it to eat itself from the inside out until we have no viable opposition party. I joined the Labour party to vote for Corbyn as leader, and I hate that the party is so busy in-fighting that it would rather spend years arguing about and discrediting and no-confidencing its own leaders than doing its job, but it really needs to unite, now more than ever, and with Corbyn at the head, it's just not going to happen.

Damn you, Baemax! Just spent an hour writing this (991 words and counting), then you say it in a paragraph. Well, thanks a lot for your conciseness and insight. Going to post this in a huff now. (By which I mean, nicely said, agree with you, to hell with your brevity though).

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a party led by a decent and principled person. I will fight for that. But are ALL other Labour MPs indecent and undisciplined? The issue is he’s not a leader. I think he should be a front-bench politician. I think he should be making his voice heard loudly and often. I just don’t think the place for him to make that voice heard is as leader.

Like Baemax, I’m a Labour member, and I voted Corbyn (second choice – voted for Liz Kendall first, 4%, should probably stop voting given my record). So, I was, to quote Harold Pinter in his open letter to Blair circa 1997, chuffed to my bollocks when he got in (I’d love to know what Pinter would have made of all this). Now... I still admire him as a politician, but the awful truth we have to face is, however much I can admire him as a person and a politician, he was not a leader during the referendum. For weeks I told everyone that he was playing the long game cannily, waiting as the Tories to turned it into an in-fight so he could swoop in and win it for its politics, not its infighting. Then... He didn’t. And that’s why I’m having to face hard truths about what my £3 is doing to politics, and why I’m thinking very carefully about who I can support in the next election. If his competitors are solely Blairite centrists, he’ll get my vote again, but if there’s a Kendall (slightly less left but equally pro-social equality and far more convincing politically), that’s where my vote’s going. Or I may well abstain.

I still believe that the right-wing press have gotten Corbyn wrong, as per his reputation. I still believe he’s electable to the majority of the public, I still believe he’s a necessary political force, I still admire him for his strong left stances, I still think he’s been given short shrift from press, I still think that if his cabinet supported him the country would – but none of that counteracts that seeing him in a leadership role has made me question his leadership. Even Gordon Brown (a better leader than he was ever allowed to be, and a more convincing politician away from the big role) was a leader during the two referenda, speechifying to the people, collaborating as necessary, face seen, points made. During this one, Corbyn was a back-bench politician at best. I heard more from four-per-cent-Liz-Kendall about staying in than I did from fifty-eight-per-cent-Jeremy-Corbyn.

Much like the EU referendum itself, we’re asked to sum up a hundred political stances into a yes/no, and my vote in the next Labour leadership debate will likely not go to Corbyn; but that’s not a betrayal of him nor me turning my back on him, I simply think that wherever he deserves to stand in the Labour cabinet, it’s not at the front. I think I may write to Labour and let them know it's not as simple as a stab in Corbyn's back, I still believe in him and want him to be a major part of the party, but when I choose a different leader it's due to his lack of leadership skills and that alone, and Labour needs his political ideology and positive forces. I’m a good navigator but I can’t drive, so my position in the car needs to be in the front seat, offering directions, whilst someone with the capacity to drives. That should be Corbyn’s job.

It’s easy to forget that when this now-war-criminal came in in 1997, Blair seemed a decent, principled, anti-establishment wunderkind. Things could only get better under him. Admittedly he was very centre-left, but still he brought youth, energy, anti-Major, anti-London, anti-Westminster fire to proceedings. 67-year-old-wunderkind Corbyn has done that too – but his inability to preach his politics broader than the converted, to stand up against the establishment, to unite people and party, his lack of leadership during his time of leadership is destroying the party I love. It’s turning people to Tim Farron (who’s held himself up as a more principled LEADER than Corbyn, merely a more principled person). What we need is not Angela Eagle, a Blairite, nor Corbyn, a man with problematic baggage and unleaderly stances. BRING BACK LIZ What we need is for some relative back-bencher (dare I say, a Jo Cox) to stand up, to bring a different energy, an equally staunch leftism but the leadership skills of a Blair, of a Wilson, of an Atlee. In a time where the Tories and their austerity is actually in breach of the UN’s human rights act, countering them should be easy. Corbyn can't, a Blairite shouldn't. Someone at the back needs to step forwards.

Incidentally, one school of thought says that’s Farron. Perhaps. Perhaps Labour voters should defect to the Lib Dems, just for the moment. Perhaps we need a Denmark-esque system of permanent coalitions between minority parties, collaborating to bring their political opinions to a compromise (at least, that’s how it seemed on Borgen). Perhaps Corbyn, as with Borgen’s Sidse Babbett Knudsenn, will start his own party, convince all his minority, take up a minor role in a majorly important government, then quit the show and make a movie about bondage and butterflies.

That’s it. We need Birgitte Nyborg. Bring back Borgen.

P.S. This petition is doing the rounds, and I think I can say this relatively apolitically – I’d urge all of you to sign it. It regards an independent office monitoring the legitimacy of political campaigns. I think we can all agree this referendum’s been a terrifying indictment of how mistruths can lead to results and it’s not melodramatic to say our very lives are at risk of people willing to fudge the facts to progress their careers. It’s neither left nor right, neither Leave nor Remain, I think something like this is necessary for any future referenda, and if you agree that this entire farrago (it’s not a farce – a farce is perfectly timed, impeccably prepared and ingeniously choreographed, where this is a fart) has been too untruthful, please please please please please sign. www.change.org/p/restore-truthful-politics-create-an-independent-office-to-monitor-political-campaigns?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=609257&alert_id=NlfZbuulHI_4mnNUk0YkHneQ8HNfIHmlXc2pfzTeXnfD0y3%2Ft9uCeE%3D