Dear All
You all know that people can be criticised for being factions,
but in a new twist the rebel Labour MPs who are ardently opposed to Jeremy
Corbyn have been criticising him for calling for unity.
As I previously blogged the Labour Party is in a strange
place at the moment, and given what is going on, will still be there for a
considerably time to come.
One bright note in the stormy sea is that there will be a
bit of unity kicking about the place on Wednesday 19 October, a Scottish
delegation will travel down to Batley on Spen to show support for Jox Cox, her
family and the people of Batley on Spen as they go to the polls to elect a new
MP.
This is an unusual by-election because of the circumstances
that led to it, Jox Cox, a rising Labour star was brutally murdered. It is
expected that there will be a high turnout of Labour members from all over the
UK.
The Scottish delegation will be led by Kezia Dugdale,
by-elections are generally quite good, they can be an opportunity to learn
about the wider party, meet people and get a sense of how campaigning is done
in other areas.
I enjoy by-elections because they are generally done as
specials and tend to have a special vibe, in fact as readers know; I stood in
the Govan By-election in 2013. I came 7th out of a field of 14
candidates.
So, what should the rebels have done when the leader called
for unity, well, they should realise that there is a wider picture beyond their
own personal agenda. The Labour Party is split, the fact this is public, severe
and deep will not help those who rebel or Jeremy Corbyn. In effect they whether
they like it or not are tied together by fate and circumstance.
So, they better learn to suck it up.
The options for the rebels are rather limited.
Jeremy Corbyn as the Labour leader emailed colleagues urging
them to unite and "move forward" to take on Theresa May’s Tories.
Standard practice after an election, however, as the leader
he has responsibilities and in some of his stances, he needs to do a re-think.
And he needs to do this now, an opinion poll gives the
Conservatives a substantial 17-point lead, and in Scotland, the dominance of
the SNP remains the major stumbling block. If anyone thinks that the bad news
would be less so under Owen Smith, they aren’t very observant when it comes to
politics.
Owen Smith would have buried the Labour Party, being slick
and using catchy phrases and buzzwords don’t cut it.
A misstep by Jeremy Corbyn just recent was the sacking of
chief whip Dame Rosie Winterton, one bright spark commented when Corbyn praised
her:
“Why did you sack her then?”
I wouldn’t have sacked Winterton unless she wasn’t capable
even if she didn’t hold all of my opinions or values, the ability to do the job
would be my first concern.
Another disgruntled Labour MP said:
"We're 17 points behind in the polls. I'm going to lose
my seat; most of the people in here are going to lose their seats. What's the
plan, Stan?"
Well, I would have replied in a comradely fashion, ‘the plan
is that you work your constituency and prove to the people that you are worth
keeping, do the grunt work in the trenches and build a team which is why you
were selected in the first place’.
A third backbencher made clear he was distinctly unimpressed
by the leader’s address, describing it as the “usual patronising crap".
It is a tough life at the bottom especially if you are on a
downward spiral and don’t understand that part of the way to reverse it is by
your own efforts. It was the MP who was elected to serve the people, not the
party, and that means graft!
One thing I would advise Corbyn to do is not to attend Socialist
Workers Party-backed rallies, he is the leader of the Labour Party, his duty is
to lead and advance that cause; the days of being a trendy lefty are over when
you assume leadership. In the past Jeremy Corbyn rebelled against the Labour
whip hundreds of times, but his position requires an overview and different way
of thinking.
At the present moment, the Labour Party has a polling figure
of 26-points, that figure is only one point higher than its lowest ICM rating
of 25 per cent, which it got in June 2008 and in August 2009.
Yesterday’s post I mentioned that campaigning at the ground level
was a ton of work and a hard slog, at the top of the party, they seem to be in
for a long hard slog if the PLP doesn’t get a grip, bite the bullet and give
Corbyn’s leadership time to make a decent go of it!
It takes years for a party to turn around when it gets in a
mess, and Labour doesn’t have years, perhaps the Batley on Spen is an ideal
opportunity for the rebels and the leadership to adopt a new approach.
If you can’t have unity you must by default have removal,
something the PLP need to wise up to.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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