UK Labour forced reshuffle/ leadership challenge thread

[Zaune]

They forgot that minority pedestalisation is itself a new-labourism; the traditional union base are not nearly so fond of politically correctness.

Well, good for them. I'd be overjoyed if we had a non-white or LGBT Labour Leader who got the job on their own merits but bollocks to giving them the job just so we can brag about how progressive we are.

[His Divine Shadow]

http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/1 ... ref=twtrec

Words like "unedifying" and "unpleasant" don’t even begin to describe the campaign that the British establishment have undertaken to destroy Jeremy Corbyn. Try "sinister" and "malevolent" and "venomous" instead. Yet, when you assess the nature of the forces which are lined up against him and then observe how his very name brings them to a point where they begin to boil and froth, then you know Mr Corbyn must be a good man.

As well as the entire Conservative Party at Westminster and the editors and leader-writers of Britain’s right-wing press, Mr Corbyn is reviled by corporate Britain’s executive class and held in barely concealed contempt by the BBC in London. You can almost smell their fear and you begin to understand that they are out to stop him at all costs. Under no circumstances can an authentic Socialist, red in tooth and claw, be allowed access to the levers of power in the UK. For then, who knows what he might bring down upon these his enemies; each of whom has a stake in the way that business is done in this country and thus has much to lose if Mr Corbyn were ever to gain the keys to 10 Downing Street.

Around two thirds of Westminster’s parliamentary Labour Party loathe him too and seem to vie with each other daily in the chamber in their little acts of petty vindictiveness. They all saw how much Hilary Benn was cheered by the forces of the Right when, after dinner, he courageously stepped forward that night to show his support for the bombing of Syrian women and children from his green leather seat in the heart of London. Perhaps they too might have a moment in the sun if their own little well-rehearsed insult could be picked up by the microphone. Later, they would also have a chance to brief the Mail and the Telegraph about how Mr Corbyn had lost the dressing-room. “By the way, that’s Austin with an ‘i’. Yes, and it’s Dudley North and I’ve been a member for 11 years; yes really.”

That vote was taken in the House of Commons late at night. Mr Corbyn has experience of those late-night votes. This is what he said not long after he was first elected to Parliament: “Late at night here it's quite disgusting, after the dinners are over and the division bell rings for 10pm, fleets of limousines draw up and out get large Tory MPs with even larger stomachs wearing dinner jackets, and they stride in to vote.”

Acquiescent Labour MPs didn’t sacrifice their law and teaching careers and spend all those hours at constituency meetings only to discover they would have to follow a proper Socialist. My God, the man would get them all hung and anyway, hadn’t Tony assured them all Socialism was dead? My God, this man Corbyn actually believes in all that stuff about fairness in the workplace and fighting inequality and making Big Business pay and not wanting to, you know, invade other countries while pretending that they are a threat to the security of the realm.

Why can’t Corbyn be just like the rest of us? After all, it said on the brochure that by keeping your head down, not rocking the boat too much and meeting the punters on the doorsteps once every five years you could have quite a nice life and a decent standard of living. Corbyn’s ruining all this. We want to be like Tonee and Gordon and Peter and David.

Ah yes; the real spiritual leaders of the anti-Corbyn MPs: Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson, Gordon Brown and David Miliband all revile him too. For they stand for everything Mr Corbyn probably detests. Mr Blair has built a multi-million pound property empire since he demitted office. Lord Mandelson, on the other hand, spent much of his time in office trying to scramble up the property ladder. Mr Brown is working for Pimco, one of the world’s biggest asset managers who advise very rich people how to protect their money. Mr Miliband gets a salary of several hundred thousand a year as the CEO of International Rescue, a humanitarian organisation that is obviously very successful at what it does.

You can’t even say Mr Corbyn is a loser; yet they all do. Every by-election on his watch has been won by Labour and four mayoral elections too. George Osborne, the man whom he held responsible for enslaving millions of families with austerity has been defeated, sacked by a new leader who has promised to introduce a fairer deal in the workplace. This is what Mr Corbyn has been all about since he became Labour leader and, as head of the opposition, he has enjoyed success.

The party coffers are now swilling with cash to fight future elections thanks to the huge increase in Labour Party memberships. Many of the new members are young people who have been energised by a politician who actually believes what he is saying, rather than one who makes endless compromises with the corporate interests who manipulate Parliament for their own ends. To them, the mother of all parliaments is a place for racketeers and exploiters and those who prostitute their influence in return for a few grand and who claim for milk and paper clips.

Mr Corbyn isn’t like that. When the scandal about the extent of MPs' expenses claims first broke he was found to be among the lowest claimants. He wants to re-nationalise the railways, a policy that chimes with a public that has grown weary of profiteering and inefficiency by the train companies. He is supported by many economists who have stated his theories and policies surrounding public sector investment and managing debt and money is a much more equitable matrix for economic recovery.

Yet, the public are being given no opportunity to assess and measure Mr Corbyn’s policies for themselves. Instead they are told he is dangerous and he can’t be taken seriously because he doesn’t wear pinstripe suits and doesn’t know how to be properly obeisant to Her Britannic Majesty. BBC London seems to reserve a special contempt for him.
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His critics regularly whine about how nasty it is inside the party and that Corbynistas have engendered an atmosphere of bullying and intimidation. It’s always unnamed sources and the tales are always told to the same contacts in the right-wing media. Yet some of these critics were around when Tony and Gordon spent their time in power squabbling with each other for possession of Number 10 while employing a gang of enforcers to slander and destroy opponents within the party. Instead of working for the people who elected them, they created two separate wings as monuments to their pride and vanity.

My God, I hope Mr Corbyn sees off this challenge to his leadership and that he makes all those people masquerading as Labour MPs walk the plank of re-selection. His enemies know only too well what he is about. And what he is about is ending the influence and corruption of the self-serving elite who have annexed Westminster. They all have good cause to fear this man.

[jwl]

Smith vs Corbyn debate on now.

[Crazedwraith]

Think Corbyn's just shot himself in the foot with this whole Train Debacle. Linka

In short, he posts a video of himself sitting on a train floor, deploring the state of the system and how it should be all renationalised. Except then Virgin points out he walked past a whole bunch of empty seats to do his bit and provides CCTV to prove it.

Oops.

[His Divine Shadow]

There are dissenting opinions
http://www.beyondtheheadlines.co.uk/201 ... am-packed/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/passe ... 05631.html

[Minischoles]

Yea there are three different versions coming out

- Corbyns version
- the people on the train
- Virgin

Given how poorly Virgin are doing, especially since the line they took over was run fantastically well by the government previously, they might just be a tad biased against Corbyn.

Not that Corbyn picked the right train line to complain about - get him on a Southern Rail line and he'll be lucky if the train actually turns up, let alone being given the privilege of boarding and sitting.

[His Divine Shadow]

Alan Moore for Corbyn:
http://momentumnorthants.org.uk/alan-moore-statement/

[Crazedwraith]

Have I just been missing all the news? Or has the leadership campaign been rather low-key? almost time for the vote, I think?

[Starglider]

Have I just been missing all the news? Or has the leadership campaign been rather low-key? almost time for the vote, I think?

It's been bitterly and vicously fought... on Facebook and esoteric left-wing blogs.

[Captain Seafort]

It's been bitterly and vicously fought... on Facebook and esoteric left-wing blogs.

With the occasional brick through a constituency office window.

[Crazedwraith]

More or less as expected, Corbyn was reelected with a big margin of votes than the first time.

Jeremy Corbyn has been re-elected as Labour leader, comfortably defeating his challenger Owen Smith.
He won 61.8% of the vote, a larger margin of victory than last year.
He vowed to bring Labour back together, saying "we have much more in common than divides us", insisting the party could win the next election as the "engine of progress" in the country.
More than half a million party members, trade unionists and registered supporters voted in the contest.
In a result announced on the eve of Labour's party conference in Liverpool, Mr Corbyn won 313,209 votes, compared with Mr Smith's 193,229.

Speaking to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg after his victory, Mr Corbyn said the debate about who led the party was "now over" and Labour needed to take its message on the economy, education and the NHS to the country.
Asked what steps he would take to reassure critical MPs, he said the return of shadow cabinet elections was "absolutely in the mix" although he declined to rule out the possible deselection of sitting MPs in the run-up to the next election.
"I think you will see a lot of changes over the next few weeks," he said.
"They (MPs) have no need to worry at all because it is all about democracy. We are all democratically accountable to our party and to our constituents. They have no need to worry at all. I am reaching out."

In his acceptance speech, Mr Corbyn said he was "honoured" to have been elected in a contest that followed months of tension with many Labour MPs and urged people to "respect the democratic choice that has been made".
Addressing supporters, Mr Corbyn said he and his opponents were part of the "same Labour family" and everyone needed to focus their energy "on exposing and defeating the Tories".
"We have much more in common than divides us," he said. "Let us wipe that slate clean from today and get on with the work that we have to do as a party," he said.

Recognising that the election had been "partisan", he condemned online abuse of Labour MPs and supporters which he said "demeaned and corroded" the party.
Mr Smith, who had previously ruled out returning to the front bench, said he respected the result and the onus was on Mr Corbyn to "heal divisions and unite our movement".
"Jeremy has won the contest," he said. "He now has to win the country and he will have my support in trying to do so."
The result in focus
Mr Corbyn was first elected Labour leader in September 2015, when he beat three other candidates and got 59.5% of the vote.
Turnout was higher this time around, with 77.6% of the 654,006 eligible party members, trade union members and registered supporters - 506,438 in total - confirmed as taking part.
Mr Corbyn won comfortably in each of the three categories - winning the support of 59% of party members, 70% of registered supporters and 60% of affiliated supporters.
Party members - Jeremy Corbyn (168,216); Owen Smith (116,960)
Registered supporters - Corbyn (84,918); Smith (36,599)
Affiliated supporters - Corbyn (60,075); Smith (39,670)
Despite winning the leadership in a vote of the wider membership and registered supporters last year Mr Corbyn, who spent three decades as part of a marginalised leftwing group of Labour MPs in Parliament, has never had the support of more than about 20% of Labour's MPs.
And the contest came about after more than 170 MPs supported a motion of no confidence in their leader - that confidence vote came after dozens quit his shadow cabinet and other frontbench roles.
There has been speculation that a number of critical Labour MPs, including some who resigned from Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet in June over his leadership in the wake of the EU referendum, could return in an attempt to heal the divisions over the party's future direction.
'Unity and stability'
The result was welcomed by leading trade unions while Momentum - the campaign group spawned by Mr Corbyn's victory last year - hailed it as a "fantastic win".
Shadow health secretary Diane Abbott, a key ally of the leader, said opponents of Mr Corbyn had "thrown everything but the kitchen sink" at him.
"It was a hard campaign but the membership came out for Jeremy because they realised he had not been given a chance and had been treated unfairly," she said.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said it was up to Mr Corbyn's critics to decide whether they wanted to serve under him, insisting he wanted "unity and stability" and there was a "way we can accommodate everybody".
Labour MP Chuku Umunna said the "leadership issue was settled" and Mr Corbyn, through his re-election, was the party's "candidate to be prime minister".
Former leader Ed Miliband said it was "time to unite and focus on the country".
But Labour MP Louise Ellman said Mr Corbyn must appeal to more than his "cheering fans" and the public at large weren't "impressed with him and that needs to change".
"It no good being surrounded by people who already agree with you. That is not enough."
Rival parties react
The Conservatives said Mr Corbyn's re-election would not end the "bitter power struggle" within the opposition.
"172 Labour MPs don't think Jeremy Corbyn can lead the Labour Party - so how can he lead the country?" said party chairman Patrick McLoughlin.
The Lib Dems said Mr Corbyn was an "ineffectual leader" who had failed to stand up for the national interest during the EU referendum.
The Green Party was more conciliatory, offering the leader their congratulations.
"We look forward to working with Jeremy to oppose the Conservatives and to bring about a progressive government at the next election," said co-leader Caroline Lucas.
But UKIP leader Diane James tweeted: "The millions of Labour voters who want to see immigration cut and Brexit delivered are welcome in UKIP."

[Vendetta]

I'm sure we can look forward to another 12-18 months of the PLP sniping and attempting to undermine their own leader in order to prove the point that he can't win elections before they try this again.

[Crazedwraith]

I'm sure we can look forward to another 12-18 months of the PLP sniping and attempting to undermine their own leader in order to prove the point that he can't win elections before they try this again.

Pretty much. They do have a point though: Corbyn can't unite the party if they steadfastly refused to be united behind him,

More seriously, though I applaud him wanting to provide a real alternative to the Tories. I doubt he can actually win the next election. Especially with the boundary changes that are coming in.

[Vendetta]

Pretty much. They do have a point though: Corbyn can't unite the party if they steadfastly refused to be united behind him,

Oh yeah, I mean he's acting as if he's in opposition or something by opposing Tory policies whereas they don't like the idea of being in opposition so they think you shouldn't do it and should eg. not vote against Tory benefit cuts on principle.

The PLP fell into some cultlike pursuit of "electability" and it made them shit at anything else, they couldn't challenge the Tories on austerity despite basically every economist saying it was harmful to the economy, and more than anything that cost them two elections (because it was the big talking point and Labour had five years of basically bland acceptance, and when Milliband fucked off they were so lost and confused under an interim leader they forgot to stand by what should have been a core principle of the party.

More seriously, though I applaud him wanting to provide a real alternative to the Tories. I doubt he can actually win the next election. Especially with the boundary changes that are coming in.

Oh yeah, the Tories have gerrymandered us into a one party system for a decade or so, so it's all irrelevant anyway.