Category: The Labour Party

The insidious and odorous Alan Johnson could not wait to put the knife into Corbyn

Alan Johnson could not wait to put the knife into Corbyn could he? No sooner had the Exit Poll been declared and he is there with his snide remarks and calls for a resignation. He really is a snide and insidious cuckoo. Well what do you expect from a person who hasn’t even got the guts to admit that he is actually a Tory anyway. Resentful of the fact that the Labour Party has actually become a true Labour Party again under Corbyn, Johnson sees fit to attempt to steer the Labour Party towards becoming a watered down version of the Tories again. Hopefully that will never happen again. Under the likes of Blair and Johnson the Labour Party simply frittered away it’s chances of doing any good or having a lasting and memorable legacy for the time it spent in office. It postured about claiming to be a socialist party whilst in truth it had more in common with the Conservatives. Johnson is a has been and needs to switch to the political party that he has most in common with now and that would be the Tories. Hopefully Labour will not loose sight of it’s key values as it did under the stewardship of the likes of Blair and Johnson. Even in defeat Labour should stick to it’s key principles and we should be thanking Jeremy Corbyn for doing that. Even if there were to be a change of leadership then the Labour Party should stick with it’s core principles and not be misled by the likes of a cuckoo like Johnson.

The Labour Party has not lost it’s way: the electorate has

This election was lost on Brexit and because of Brexit and nothing else. The principles and the policies that Labour put in front of the electorate were sound and different from their rivals as they needed to be. Its not that Labour has lost it’s way: the electorate has. Seats that would have been Labour’s traditionally have been persuaded to become Tory seats because of Brexit. Leadership and policies simply had no part to play in this election. 5 more years of Tory abuse and the possibility of a massive economic collapse might be what is needed to bring voters back to reality and to stop them seeing the Tories through rose tinted glasses. After such a point in time the electorate may actually come to realise that it is policy that matters and not personality nor Brexit. At such a point in time Labour’s policies may come to have relevance to the voters. What Labour must avoid is the mistakes of the likes of Blair and Johnson who simply changed to suit the voters in order to obtain power and sacrificed key principles and socialist credence in order to do that. Labour should stick with it’s manifesto and wait for the disillusionment of the voters and allow them to come and seek them out as the next viable alternative to the abuse of Tory power. Besides which what’s the point in fighting like with like as did Blair and Johnson? History has proved that Labour under Blair was inconsequential as is Johnson now. Keep your opinions to yourself or join a party more in line with your beliefs.

The Labour Party need to reinstate Clause IV

The Labour Party need to reinstate Clause IV of the Labour Party Constitution in order to bind members to a common purpose and understanding of what Socialism actually represents to the Labour Party. At the moment we have a situation of chaos where each member seems to have a different interpretation of socialism there seems to be a lack of common understanding. The very meaning and understanding of socialism is open to interpretation in today’s Labour Party. This is an ill advised system in my opinion. In the past members knew instinctively where the Labour Party’s values were and they knew what was meant when referring to socialism. After Blair this all changed and there is now mass confusion and this is reflected in the mass confusion regarding the overall direction of the Party. The idea that socialism is an system of economic principles and values has seemingly been rather too conveniently forgotten about, and when many members refer to socialism they are simply referring to notions of fairness relative to the other political parties. Simply being nice and fair and listening to the opinions of others is not socialism. It should not be forgotten that socialism is actually a set of economic principles designed to bring about a greater distribution of wealth in an economic system and is something that challenges the notions of Adam Smith’s ideas regarding Capitalism. Socialism counters the greed of a purely Capitalist System of Economics and it gives people a stake in society through the benefits of the State owning some part of the economic system in order to obtain capital for the investment for the good of all the country’s citizens. In particular the key industries it targets are those that are essential for the running of the country such as Energy Supply and Transport. These are the key industries which socialism targets to generate capital for re-investment in the country’s health provision (NHS), to reduce the burden of taxation on the individual and to support local essential services, police and council provisions etc.

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The Labour Party need to finance their plans without taxation rises

As was the case only yesterday regarding Labour’s plans to pay for Police officers, which so embarrassed  Diane Abbott the Shadow Home Secretary, the Labour need to be clear about where this money will come from. Tony Blair has consigned the Labour Party to awkward financial constraints by ditching a commitment to Clause IV of it’s constitution and indeed Tony Blair/Gordon Brown’s Governments can now be viewed as failures simply because they could not raise sufficient capital to implement plans to improve the social infrastructure because they were unable to raise the necessary capital without resorting to taxation rises. So now where does Corbyn plan to get his money from?

He needs to be clear on this if he is to mount a plausible challenge to Theresa May. People need to be re-assured that Labour can manage the economy and better than the Tories. Diane Abbott did very little to cultivate this notion amongst Voters with her poor planning.

My own thoughts would be that  Public Ownership of the Railways would be the first step to finding this Capital which is desperately needed to improve public services and the social infrastructure of Great Britain. This would be a step in right direction again for Corbyn’s Labour Party and a step away from the legacy of Tony Blair’s influence upon the Labour Movement.

Will Jeremy Corbyn survive an Election Defeat?

I do not wish to be too negative here but this election has probably come when the Labour Party are the worst prepared than they have ever been for a General Election Battle. Theresa May knows this well and has seized upon this as the moment to pounce. However this is not a reflection of Mr Corbyn’s leadership it is simply that the Labour Party is itself in turmoil. Corbyn although appearing strong has failed so far to take ownership of the Party or to steer it in the direction that the membership want. He has failed so far to live up to his left wing promise and is struggling to appease both the growing left and diminishing right in his Party. The Labour Party is struggling with an Identity Crisis and amidst this we now have a General Election to fight. However there may yet be a twist in the story and the election of Trump in the USA is a reminder that there are no certainties. Corbyn could still claim a victory of sorts if he diminishes Theresa May’s majority in the House of Commons and/or if he wins back the Scottish Labour Vote: so even in defeat he could theoretically win something in this battle. Would this be enough to help him retain leadership of the Labour Party well this remains to be seen and in any case who could really follow him?

Scotland gifted the General Election of 2015 to the Tories so will they do the same in 2017?

In the May 2015 General Election the Tories exploited the Scottish People’s desire to get independence for Scotland. In truth Cameron was dependent upon the hope that people would vote for the SNP as a protest vote or at least to split the vote and divide what were traditional loyalties of the Scottish People towards the Labour Movement. There is some truth though that Miliband offered nothing more that a wet version of the Labour Party during this period but this is only a small part of the equation. Alex Salmond in his quest to become ‘King of Scotland’ simply took his eye off the ball and failed to grasp that he was nothing more than a Tory Puppet being used to undermine Labour’s overall position in Scotland.

The 2017 General Election is not a vote for Devolution for Scotland: it’s about which political party governs the United Kingdom in the meantime

In truth the Labour Party need to do better in Scotland and the only way they can do is to give the Scottish people what they want: which is a referendum on Scottish Independence. This is to avoid this General Election in 2017 simply becoming an opportunity to get this referendum regarding their independence and a vote simply about regional politics/issues or devolution. The SNP are in reality a single issue Party so the Labour  Party need to blunt Sturgeon’s sword and steal the rug from under her and her Party by offering the Scottish people the very thing and only thing that the SNP can really offer. Once this is done and promised by Labour in a Manifesto Pledge then Scotland can  get to grips with the real political issues that face not only Scotland but the whole of the United Kingdom.

If this can be achieved by Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour Party then if there were to be a swing back to Labour in Scotland then even if Labour were to loose the General Election it may still be possible to increase Labour’s seats and thus reduce the Conservative’s majority in Parliament. This could be seen as a miscalculation by Theresa May and a significant loss if her majority were actually to be decreased in a General Election of her own calling. The Labour Party have a great deal to gain by stealing the show from the SNP in Scotland by playing Sturgeon at her own game. In the same way the Scots have to answer questions about why they have let the Tories in at the last General Election by taking their focus off what happens to the rest of the United Kingdom by simply focusing on their own needs in a General Election situation. General Election’s should not simply be about regional politics and attempting to get the most out of it for yourself and your locality: you need to see the bigger picture by establishing a Government that will bring about not just localised improvements but improvements across the whole of the United Kingdom, this is a given up until the day when devolution does actually occur. In the last election the focus on regional politics simply let the Tories in to have a greater share of the vote than they have historically held. This situation simply gifted the last election to the Tories and gave the a much stronger position in Parliament than they actually deserve. Scotland and the Labour Party need to get it right this time for the sake of the greater good in the United Kingdom.

Is Jeremy Corbyn being duplicitous by not seeking to defeat Brexit?

We will be looking at recent speeches in the Commons by Jeremy Corbyn and how his speeches seem to conflict with his plans to let Theresa May and her Tories have a free hand, unchallenged in processing their Brexit plans through Parliament. Is the Labour Party now colluding with the Tories to get a swift Brexit. Should not the Labour Party be opposing Theresa May and her government in their attempts to speed through what is essentially the product of a right wing and extreme right movement. Brexit is loosing momentum and support on a daily basis as it becomes clearer of what the consequences to the British Economy will be with the value of the Pound steadily dropping and the prospect of a hard Brexit looming. The Labour Party would be best served preaching good sense and be thinking what is best for Britain and the British Economy rather than attempting to gain electoral advantage by courting support from right wing voters.

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Does Jeremy Corbyn deserve all his Left Wing Support?

Since winning another Labour Party Leadership Challenge it may appear to some that Jeremy Corbyn is unassailable. He may even believe so himself. It appears that the promise of change and a possible swing to the left helped propel Jeremy Corbyn back into the leadership post. In my opinion this was because he came across as the most left wing of the candidates. He had a longer left wing legacy that the newcomers. However so far we have seen nothing that radical from Mr Corbyn and nothing really that justifies all the left wing support he received to secure him another term as the Leader of the Labour Party.

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Lets consign Tony Blair to the Anus of Labour Party History

Yes you have read it correctly it is not a spelling mistake. The Labour Party really needs to expel the effluent and flatulence of the Blair legacy. It needs to purge itself of this effluent and flatulence that it developed when it sat to the right, gorging itself, at the same privileged table that was also occupied by the Tories. The bloating that the Party received under Tony Blair’s leadership is still constraining and constipating the Party. It is now misshapen and bloated and un-recognizable as a Labour Party. It needs to expel as waste the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown years. Indeed Labour would have done better not to have held office under Blair and the conditions he set out for the Party, instead it would have done better to hang onto it’s principles and wait for the right moment in time when it could have assumed power unconditionally without the need to sell out on all it’s principles. What we have now is a Labour Party without a proper set of values and principles. This is a distorted Labour Party that does not even recognise itself in the mirror anymore and it is unsure to whom it appeals or who it represents. Traditional values are gone and it lacks any socialist soul anymore. Labour now needs desperately to find a set of values with a re-instatement of Clause IV as a part of its current constitution. It needs to regain it’s socialist soul and purge itself of the influence and history of Tony Blair.

Why is Jeremy Corbyn so important to Labour Party Supporters?

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