Political Poison

I was tempted to write a ‘Brexitorial’ this time around. But I’ve already ranted at length on the idiocy of the British electorate over at Sleaze Diary. That said, I’m tired of all this defeatist talk from other people on the ‘Remain’ side about how we just have to accept Brexit now and accept this ‘democratic decision’. I really do object to this idiotic notion that to challenge a bad decision is somehow ‘undemocratic’. What absolute bollocks – if we follow that logic we’d only ever have one general election, wouldn’t we? The electorate would have made their decision, and that would be it, wouldn’t it? Holding another election would be disrespectful to the democratic process, surely? Obviously, no decision, democratically made or otherwise, can stand forever – circumstances change, the electorate itself changes over time. Everything changes, in fact. Moreover, just because a majority of people vote for something, doesn’t mean that it is right. Indeed, surely if a decision taken this way is manifestly stupid and wrong, likely to do long-term damage to the economy, then surely those of us who disagree have a duty to challenge it? It’s not as if it was a decisive vote to leave the EU: 52% to 48%. That donkey faced arsehole Farage even admitted before the poll that if it went the other way, with a narrow ‘Remain’ victory of 52%, then he and his moronic followers would take that as evidence that they should carry on with their campaign to leave the EU. Well, I’m one of the 48% who wants to continue to stay in the EU and I think that we should be free to pursue our campaign.

But whatever happens with respect to Brexit, there are tough times ahead – we’ve already had a taste of the kind of rough economic ride the UK will most likely have to endure, not to mention the disturbing rise in racism across the country. Moreover, the Tories are likely to lurch even further to the right, with the economic turmoil accompanying any Brexit giving them a pretext for yet more so-called ‘austerity’. Clearly, we’re going to need an effective, well led opposition, capable of articulating a credible alternative ideology. Unfortunately, what we have is a deeply divided Labour party led by an utterly ineffective sandal wearing beardie weirdie peace nick, whose policy initiatives, such as they are, never seem to rise above the level of student politics. Consequently, there as an absolute vacuum at the centre of the opposition – I have no idea what Labour under Corbyn is meant to stand for, other than sanctimonious hand-wringing and vague assertions about being ‘anti austerity’. We’re all against austerity, for fuck’s sake, but to just keep saying it, without any clear alternative economic policy is utterly pointless. Even worse, Corbyn and his acolytes clearly have no strategy whatsoever for getting Labour back into power.

Because that’s the key thing in politics: power. Without it, you can change nothing, help no one. And getting into government means making compromises and being realistic with your policies. It means having to appeal to more than just a hard core of left wing activists. It means tailoring your policies to match the aspirations of real working class people. It also means having to argue your case and persuade the electorate just why your policies will be beneficial to them. I know such ideas are anathema to the kind of people who surround Corbyn. For them, adhering to some woolly set of ‘principles’ is more important than doing what is necessary to win power – they may end up permanently in opposition, but at least their ideological virtue will remain intact. The only trouble with that is that you will never be able to actually help the people you are claiming to represent: the poor, the excluded, the underprivileged, the ordinary workers, will continue to be fucked up the arse by the Tories, whilst believing that ‘there is no alternative’. And as long as Corbyn and those who support and sustain retain influence in the Labour party, there really will be no realistic alternative for voters.

‘Momentum’ – let’s give them their preferred name, these so called ‘Corbynistas’ – are, to all intents and purposes, a party within the party, bypassing the normal party structures, and procedures, ignoring constituency parties and their meetings – except when they want to ‘punish’ MPs who dare to disagree with their ‘Messiah’ with threats of de-selection. Actually, not just threats of de-selection., but actual threats, of violence. Because you aren’t telling me that it isn’t these Corbyn supporters who weren’t behind the flurry of violent threats made against various of the Labour MPs who gave Corbyn a vote of no confidence recently. After all, I haven’t heard Momentum or any of Corbyn’s cronies condemning these threats. Which is odd, as they spend so much time boasting of their pacifist tendencies, condemning any MPs who supported the war in Iraq, or who voted for to bomb Syria. But that’s the interesting thing about the ‘Corbynistas’, the way they so quickly resort to invective, insults and threats, especially on social media, as soon as anyone criticises Corbyn.

According to these Momentum clowns, any of us who oppose or criticise Corbyn are ‘Blairites’, presumably hoping that applying such a label will tar us all with the brush of being warmongering neoloberals. Utterly pathetic. Oh, and while I’m about it, for fuck’s sake stop flagellating the Labour party over Iraq. The sad fact is that the wider electorate really don’t see it as a relevant issue – if they did, then Blair and Labour would never have been re-elected in 2005. Which observation must mean, I suppose, that I must be a warmongering apologist for Blair. Sadly for Corbyn and company, the world isn’t as simplistically black-and-white as they’d like to believe: I opposed the war in Iraq, I was a fierce critic of Blair (not just over Iraq, incidentally, just read some of the stories I put put here during the New Labour years), I’ve always been considerably to the left of New Labour on economic issues. But I’m also a realist and preferred having a Labour government, even a New Labour government, to a Tory government. Because no, they weren’t indistinguishable, something which should be obvious by now, after six years of the Tories – just look at the devastation they’ve wreaked upon our public services. I can recognise that you can’t judge governments on single issues, not even wars and that even a right-wing Labour government does more good along the way than any Tory government will.

But we’re doomed to endless Tory rule if Corbyn and his followers don’t fuck off out of the Labour party. Of course, his supporters will tell you that he is a vote winner, citing for by election victories and Labour mayors being elected in Bristol and London during his tenure. Sure, but those are four victories in safe Labour seats, where the candidates will tell you that they one in spite of Corbyn, rather than because of him. Indeed, at least one did his best to keep Corbyn away from his campaign, as did Sadiq Khan in his successful bid to become London mayor. Ah, but he has a mandate from the party membership, they will say, so it is those right-wing bastard MPs who are out of touch. Except that you can’t effectively lead a party when you don’t have the confidence of its elected representatives who, incidentally, represent some 9.3 million Labour voters. So I think that can truthfully claim to be more representative of Labour’s wider base of support than Corbyn. But hell, what do I know? I’m just one of those middle class out-of-touch right-wingers holding the party back, aren’t I?

Except that I’m not – not only did I oppose the invasion of Iraq, the bombing of Libya, attacks on our human rights, but I also support Keynesian economics, the welfare state, increased human rights and, into the bargain, I was born in a council house, had a shop steward and sometime party activist for a father and have spent most of my working life in public service. By contrast, the party members who propelled Corbyn to the leadership are themselves a bunch of middle class nouveau ‘socialist’ entryists who are no more representative of the ‘working classes’ than Tony Blair. I’ve met their kind before – when I was a student they were the types who joined the Student Socialist Workers’ Party. Smug middle class political dilettantes rebelling against their well off parents, with a penchant for referencing Karl Marx, but not liking it when you quoted him correctly at them. Interestingly, none of them actually studied politics or history, which probably explained their lack of understanding of the reality of politics and the class system. I know they and Momentum are the same thing: all those rallies of ‘Labour supporters’ Corbyn keeps addressing seem to be filled with people waving Socialist Workers’ flags and placards. The fact is that these people are political poison who will kill the Labour party if they go unchallenged.

It should be no surprise that they are so enamoured of Corbyn – he’s one of them himself. He’s certainly not working class, he’s just another middle class dilettante playing at radicalism. The bottom line, though, is that he is a terrible leader – his woeful performance for the ‘Remain’ campaign underlined this. No, he isn’t responsible for losing the EU referendum, but his lack of leadership certainly hampered the ‘Remain’ campaign. His much vaunted ‘new approach’ to politics, using ‘reasoned argument’ to confrontation is all very laudable, but the truth of the matter is that politics isn’t just about reason. Logic doesn’t win elections. Passion is key electoral success. Without it, you can never hope to ‘sell; your vision to the electorate. And Corbyn doesn’t have passion. The fact is that I’m no lover of much of the part’s right – I have no time for self-serving oafs like John Mann or elitist snobs like Tristram Hunt. But Corbyn isn’t the answer either. So the sooner he and Momentum fuck off, the sooner we can find someone who can lead the party. I want my party back!

Hell, I’ve ranted on far longer than usual, but this is a crucial issue! So, until next time, keep it sleazy!

Doc Sleaze