The attempted coup against Jeremy Corbyn will fail despite the vote of no confidence by 172 Labour members of parliament against 40 in his support.
The reason why they will fail in removing Corbyn as leader was highlighted by the recently released report into the Iraq war by Sir John Chilcot. This disastrous and unpopular war was forced onto the British people by Tony Blair as the then Labour prime Minister. The vast majority of those who voted for war are among the 172. Corbyn and his supporters did not support the war and their opposition has been justified by history.
Jeremy Corby was the national chairperson of the Stop the War Coalition in the UK when he was elected leader nine months ago by 60% of all Labour Party members and registered supporters.
When Corbyn was nominated as a candidate for leader, hundreds of thousands of ordinary working people took the opportunity offered by the new rules to join the party or register and vote for the only candidate who wasn’t a Blairite clone.
The working class simply said we have had enough, we want our party back, it has been hijacked by middle-class poseurs who have no right to claim to represent working people.
Corbyn and his supporters were as astonished as the rest of the country at that outcome.
But they have been fighting for decades to uphold socialist principles and to protect the party from the cancerous growth that had taken over its parliamentary wing and imposed policies of austerity and war when in government. It is inconceivable that he would throw in the towel because the parliamentary wing has “no confidence”.
As he has argued, the party elected me, and only as a result of losing an election would he stop exercising his rights as the leader.
This new challenge to Corbyn’s leadership followed the vote for an exit from the European Union, despite the fact that Corbyn had in fact argued to stay and 75% of party members supported that position. Given that it is actually the right wing of the party which is most pro-European and Hillary Benn headed the stay campaign for Labour, it seems odd to try and blame Corbyn.
It doesn’t matter what excuse was used for the coup because an attempt to overthrow Corbyn was inevitable. It was talked about before he was even elected.
Many of the 172 fear that they may be deselected by local constituencies as the “Corbanistas” gain influence through the party. Mandatory reselection before each election was dropped by Blair when he was leader. But if a local group want a new MP they can demand one.
They will never be in a stronger position to try and remove him as leader. Maybe they hoped that the no-confidence move would trigger a broader drop in support for Corbyn from party members or the public. The opposite appears to be happening. Hundreds of thousand more people are joining or registering to vote – overwhelmingly in support of Corbyn. Mass meetings have been held up and down the country. Most importantly the major unions have remained united in their support as well.
I am picking the right wing will realise they can never again win a leadership election in the party as it is presently constituted. That will probably mean the 170 MP’s move to form their own parliamentary group claiming to represent the “New Labour Party” or whatever they may call it. They will then split all the local branches and try and take as much of the party with them as they can.
If that happens Corbyn and his supporters need to stay strong and simply move to select candidates in all the electorates inhabited by the scabs and traitors. A Corbyn-led left-wing party has a chance to radically shake up British politics for a generation to come.
The Conservative Party was elected with only one in four of the population voting for them. The Blairite Labour leaders lost millions of votes each election as the traditional supporters of the party were driven out of politics and gave up hope.
A genuine Labour Party that was able to inspire these millions to give voice to their concerns would be a wonder to behold.
“But one [question} I got today really did puzzle me. They said: are you coping with the pressure that’s on you? I said: ‘There’s no pressure on me. None whatsoever.’ The real pressure, the real pressure – real pressure – is when you don’t have enough money to feed your kids, when you don’t have a roof over your head, when you are wondering if you are going to be cared for.”
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/09/no-pressure-on-me-jeremy-corbyn-tells-miners-gala-as-labour-mps-de-invited?CMP=share_btn_fb
My 35 year old daughter lives in Yorkshire. She tells me she, and her friends are all very pro Jezza.
Why do I get the feeling that Corbyn will get the “Cunliffe Treatment” by his opponants??
As long as the rank and file support him (and they do in spades), he’s essentially bullet-proof. The dissenters risk a mutiny if they continue in their attempts to undermine and sabotage him. They’ll have to leave politics and get a proper job — imagine the horror!
One of my favourite British MPs Dennis Skinner voted for Corbyn and that’s good enough for me.
“The working class simply said we have had enough, we want our party back, it has been hijacked by middle-class poseurs who have no right to claim to represent working people.”
So right Mike, and we say this to NZ Labour also.
We don’t want National-lite thanks!!!!!
Corbyn is real. I would even go as far to say he is a real man. People finally, want actual human beings to stand infront of them and speak clearly and honestly because, astoundingly enough, human beings are what we are. This reality is what eludes monetarists, neocons, neo liberal and any other form of dogmatist. It will always elude the professional power seeker. The essence of what it is to be human does not fit into any mold. In spite of the immense global population it is yet possible that originality and genius might spring out of any gutter.
Right again cleangreen – no National lite and no TPP.
Yeah. And no Free Slave Agreement with the world’s largest dictatorship… oh! that’s right, National-lite already signed it. Kiss No Zealand goodbye, TPPA or no…
The Third Way Blairites and centrists are running scared in the UK, the last thing they want is any real change ie Corbyn, here is a very good piece to give you some extra context to the background the current coup.
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/07/07/super-rich-labour-donor-offering-coup-plotters-millions-quit-party/
This is also why we must keep a very close eye on our Labour, which is still riddled with these despicable Third Way leeches.
Corbyn may win, but it will create a split in the party and Corbyn will front the far left of the ‘new, new Labour’ and the ‘normal’ Labour MP’s will become the main opposition party of whatever they will call the split party. You may all adore the Marxist terrorist hugging Corbyn but he will be the death of Labour as it is now and he will be the Hone/Minto of left politics in UK soon, a side line shouter that has no chance of being on the Govt Benches and always in opposition.
Hmmm, someone sounds a bit worried about a resurgent Left and the demise of the neo-liberal fad…
“Marxist terrorist hugging Corbyn”
Your red-baiting sounds a bit desperate.
Can you show us where Corbyn’s policies are Marxist?
No, you can’t. Not one policy.
I wish a Marxist was expelling the capitalist ideologues from the UK Labour Party, but Corbyn’s policies are firmly social democratic.
Corbyn is the historical centre of the Labour Party. Does that scare you?
Once again you are a confused soul I’m (never) Right. Corbyn aspires to Keynesian economics while you stick with poor old discredited Milton Friedman. Why don’t you lift yourself out of the Victorian era and get modern?
Keynes wrote his thesis on the Great Depression. It was brilliant in it’s day but that was the 1930’s.
What we have seen from the current government since the 2008 GFC is a mild form of Keynesian policy – increasing government debt to fund large infrastructure projects and thereby keep the economy going and people employed.
The financialization of the economy and the collapse in real wages, and therefore the ability of consumers to actually buy all the goods and services financialized corporations are selling. Sound familiar? This is what’s happening now, and it’s also what caused the Great Depression, and was in turn caused by the liberal economic ideology that was raised from the grave in the 80s (which is why we use the somewhat tortured phrase “neo-liberalism” to describe it).
Just as it was then, and for the same reasons, Keynsianism (“neo-keynianism”?) is a perfectly sensible solution is your goal is to save capitalism from itself. I can’t see the point in doing so, when it just means we’ll end up back in the same place in a few generations time. Why not admit that capitalism is a failure and set about replacing it with a fully democratic political-economic system that actually works? We have the technology…
That’s not hat Kaynes said at all. He said SAVE!!! not BORROW!!!
Pfft. First year students like you should shut your trap
Sorry,. Andrew, but your analysis is an “F” for Fail.
Key’s government cut taxes twice (2009 and 2010) and then proceeded to borrow from off-shore “to fund large infrastructure projects and thereby keep the economy going and people employed”.
In effect, we’re using other peoples’ savings to stuff tax-cuts into the pockets of New zealand’s wealthiest or highest paid.
If that is sound economics, I await the same response from you when (or if) Labour ever carries out the same irresponsible fiscal policies.
No wonder our credit-rating was down-graded in 2011 by Fitch, Moodys, and Standard & Poors; http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/sp-downgrade-new-zealands-rating-aa-ne-101757
And in January, we were again down-graded from “Positive” to “Stable”; http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/sp-downgrade-new-zealands-rating-aa-ne-101757
Not exactly a stirling endorsement of National’s fiscal management, is it?
you might be right Mike , because in all honesty women should not be in charge of anything (unless under male supervision) Who wants a lady P.M. in the U.K.?
Dave, your mother called. She sez go to you room and don’t come out until you’ve apologised to her and 2.25 million women in this country.
I can see why we stuck to the old colonial flag. Colonial in mindset; stop the Britainification of NZ politics.
I hope Corbyn sticks to his guns! David was shafted here but maybe he should have taken his fight to the internet.
I still don’t trust Labour!
And I wish Minto well in his tilt at the Christchurch mayoralty! Chrischurch needs him!
The Australian Business Insider has a great article about how the latest machinations of the anti-Corbyn brigade in the UK Labour Party are going to blow up in their faces. The scheme to charge all members who joined since January 2016 £25 to vote in this latest leadership election is being circumvented by the Unite union, which is encouraging new members to join them so they can vote as affiliates without paying the £25.
If that weren’t making things difficult enough for the Blairites, another candidate from the right, Owen Smith, has thrown his hat into the leadership contest which will further split the anti-Corbyn vote.
Conservatives in the UK are particularly pleased with the current Labour circus .
The plan by Young Conservatives to pay the 3 quid to get Labour party membership and then vote in Corbyn has worked spectacularly.
Beyond their wildest dreams!
#toriesforcorbyn
Still trying to get youngsters to vote for you eh?
What’s wrong. Not heep enough?
The ‘Young Conservatives’ were disbanded in 1998 by William Hague when he launched ‘Conservative Future’. Their membership is in thought to be in the low 1000s. To put that in perspective the recent sign ups to the UK Labour party has been in the 100s of thousands. A few thousand ‘Young Conservatives’ didn’t have any significant affect on the leadership vote.
This piece by Craig Murray nails the mindset of the career UK Labour apparatchik:
That Far Left Entryist Takeover of the Labour Party
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