Labour needs to draw the wagons round to fight the upcoming general election
Labour is a broad family and has a great selection of MPs. There is a negative clique within Labour who I have discussed before, ad nauseum, and I want to put that diminutive selection to one side. The majority of Labour MPs want to be Labour MPs and they want to see Labour winning at the next general election. The majority are not flying the red flag out of convenience. Labour has a breadth of talent that is currently being under-utilised because the aforementioned ‘clique’ poisoned the water.
However much commentators want to play down the impact of Labour’s poison chalice bearers, at some point, they need to get over it. Labour’s standing with public perception is as a direct result of the efforts of that cadre within Labour. If you don’t agree then you’re either wrong, disingenuous, or not the sharpest tool in the box. Whatever, you decide.
A General Election To Sharpen The Mind
As things stand, Labour are faced with the very real possibility that they will be fighting a general election in the very near future. If you say you support Labour then, if you’ll excuse my French, you need to get your head out your ass. Most in the media will not care and will happily keep their ass head warmer where it is. They don’t care about Labour or socialist policies, they either fancy a slightly less blue brand of Toryism or they just don’t care for Labour at all anyway.
As for Labour’s MPs, all of the PLP want the attacks and degeneration of Labour stopped. Most would accept the trade off of Jeremy Corbyn resigning if it meant the poisoned dumplings bimbled off and played on the motorway. Equally, they’d be as happy for Corbyn to carry on as leader if he could send the dumplings to go play on the motorway.
I don’t for one moment believe that the majority of Labour MPs are unaware of who has been historically causing Labour’s problems or that they wouldn’t all be happier to see the back of them. I think they rightly take the viewpoint that it is up to the leadership to sort out the party’s idiots and, if it won’t, then why not sacrifice the leadership.
It’s time to side with the cleaner unless you enjoy being shat on.
To not repeat history, you have to learn from it.
The PLP have to circle the wagons and lock out the ones doing the party the harm. Sure, it won’t stop those people from sending their little messages to their press contacts but they’ll do that anyway. The PLP feel it is the responsibility of the leadership to tackle these people but the PLP know what the leadership are up against and whom and what positions those people hold right now.
It’s simple, Labour are facing the very real prospect of an early general election and if Labour wants to avoid those within the party having a negative impact for a third time then they need to start working with the leadership to achieve that. That includes the deputy leader and general secretary. The plan to remove Corbyn before the next general election has failed, the life-cycle of the impending general election has not yet started and there is still time to turn Labour’s public perception around before it hits but the clock is ticking.
If Labour start their next general election campaign from the footing they have right now then we will most likely see another Tory led government formed as a result. Owen Jones is not incorrect about that but he keeps hanging it on the current leadership, exclusively on Corbyn. The responsibility for Labour’s current standing rests with those who have been undermining the party from within, facilitated by, let’s charitably call them, pragmatic persons. Those pragmatic persons need to decide what their priorities are. I hope they decide that their priorities are to get the Tories destructive fingers off of the neck of Britain.
Is there a way forward?
Labour has a great many MPs who are out of favour right now because they have been too busy pursuing internal Labour party politics. Figures who should be working to iron over the creases have been applying starch to them and Labour is suffering because of it. The solution of removing the leadership is no solution. Olive branches have been extended but factions have committed themselves to knocking those aside. Labour’s internal politics has soured the party.
There are shallow rollers, and there are deep rollers. You can’t breed two deep rollers… or their young, their offspring, will roll all the way down, hit, and die. Those operating out of the shadow of Blair and Mandelson are deep rollers, Barney. Let us hope the rest of Labour are not.
As ‘unfashionable’ as some of those MPs who are currently out of favour are, I still believe they are good MPs and offer Labour a great deal but not if they are prepared to continue sacrificing the party for a lost cause.
