Socialists can’t ‘have their cake and eat it’ with moderate voters

AJ Harris
AJ Harris
Sep 9, 2018 · 3 min read

This week Chukka Umunna, perhaps the most high-profile Labour MP with a centre-left political stance, publicly called for Jeremy Corbyn to ‘call off the dogs’ and end a perceived hounding of centre-left MPs out of the party. This was in response to a number of organised no confidence votes passing against similar-minded MPs with different ideological outlooks to the Labour leader.

The response from Corbyn’s no.2 John McDonnell was that an organised witch hunt against moderate Labour MPs did not exist, and this was supported by prominent socialist commentators who stated that Labour Party members were well within their rights to kick their representatives to the curb if they no longer stood for them.

Which is fine. It is of course true that an MP’s job is to represent its constituents, not doing so is a clear disqualifier from doing the job they have been entrusted with well.

But the message that is being relayed throughout the Party is that if you aren’t aligned with Jeremy Corbyn and his brand of left wing politics then there is currently no place for you to shape the direction of Labour. So where does that leave moderate Labour voters? Using the same logic that justifies the no confidence votes against moderate MPs, the natural conclusion is that moderate voters will have turn away from Labour if they want to support candidates that represent them at the next General Election. This is particularly relevant because this desire for a centrist purge of Labour has come at the same time as the conversation of a breakaway centrist party become more audible.

A new centrist party that splits the Labour voter base would be a nightmare scenario for Corbyn and his supporters, which is why so many of them have been vocal in deriding the concept as being incapable of getting off the ground. A “Blairite tribute act” is how Owen Jones recently described notions of an alternative centrist party; a pretty unsubtle attempt to undermine the project from the start by sullying it with the name of Britain’s most universally despised politician (though not for the economic policies that a new centrist party might look to adopt).

But this stance of the Corbyn camp is riddled with hypocrisy. On the one hand, at the top the broad church that Labour once stood for is being intentionally dismantled in favour of a militant one-track socialist agenda; on the other, traditional supporters that propelled the last Labour Government into Downing Street but don’t share those socialist views are being pressured into falling in line behind Corbyn, instead of exploring an alternative option.

The truth is either Jeremy Corbyn, Momentum, and the new wave of young socialists have enough support across the country to win the next General Election under their own steam, or they don’t. But they can’t have it both ways; demanding loyalty from traditional centre-left Labour voters whilst at the same time demonising and isolating the politicians that most closely represent their views.

Ultimately, the traditions of Labour suggest that a compromise will be reached to appease the moderates and keep everyone on the left under one banner. But these don’t feel like traditional times.

Socialist commentators are quick to get their backs up when the Corbyn movement is labelled cultish, because it’s seen as reducing the mass mobilisation of the party to a brainless ‘jump on the bandwagon’ exercise. Engaging more people in politics, particularly the young, is something that should be commended and the Jeremy Corbyn team including Momentum need to be given great credit for doing that.

However, one common trait of a cult is that loyalty to the group’s leader is stronger than the loyalty to the group’s ideology; and it appears as though the time is approaching when Labour will have to decide whether the Party’s political philosophy is bigger than its leader, or whether it’s all in with the brand of hard left socialism of Corbyn personifies.

If the latter prevails and the purge of centre-left MPs from the party continues then the consequence is clear; Labour should not count on the votes of its moderate voters come the General Election, whether a new centrist party exists or not. Moderate voters supporting socialist policies out of blind loyalty is a “have your cake and eat it” scenario is not only unlikely, it goes against the sense fair representation in politics that Corbyn purports to support.