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?
Have you ever wondered why Jeremy Corbyn is so popular at the moment. I believe it is because many Labour Party supporters feel that a return to traditional values is long overdue. These people feel betrayed by Tony Blair & Gordon Brown because when the Labour Party last held power we did not get a Labour socialist government. Instead we got a watered down, wishy washy, poor excuse version of a Labour government which had been infiltrated and taken over by a bunch of right wing modernisers hell bent on taking the party to the right in order to appeal to middle class voters. Tony Blair instigated a massive betrayal of traditional Labour Party Values of a scale never seen before. However his biggest betrayal was certainly his intent to ride rough-shod over the importance of Clause IV to the Labour Party Movement and its constitution. In doing so Tony Blair showed no respect for Labour Party values because without Clause IV the Labour Party in government under Blair was destined to be just another version of the Tory Party with right wing ideals and the true destiny of a Labour Government to deliver a real socialist government was thwarted and its ambition stifled under his leadership. Tony Blair signed the Death Warrant and then ordered the Firing Squad for traditional Labour Party values. He saw himself as a moderniser and that’s how he liked to present himself but in reality he was the Executioner intent on destroying the Labour Party forever as if he had been enrolled specifically to complete the job that Margaret Thatcher attempted to do a decade before.
However in Jeremy Corbyn his supporters see a glimmer of hope in the darkest recess of Mordor: a link back to the traditional values of Labour before Tony Blair’s dark shadow was cast over the Party. As yet these promises of a better place for the Labour Party to reside have been just whispers yet to be clearly promised. Still his supporters still believe that Jeremy Corbyn may have the lamp to guide us in the darkness and the powers to defeat enemies lurking on the right.
Tony Blair was the Labour Party’s biggest Traitor
While Blair pursued power he single-handedly instigated the biggest betrayal of the working classes that has ever been witnessed by seeking to destroy Labour’s commitment to Clause IV of its constitution. Hailed as a ‘moderniser’ he should instead be decreed as the Labour’s Party’s biggest traitor.
Scrapping Clause IV was an act of a Treason intent on destroying Socialist Values
The scale of his betrayal is enormous and should not be overlooked. Tony Blair was the Labour Movements biggest traitor and he squandered power by leading a government with no real values, no real agenda to bring about equality and a government with a huge lack of vision and ambition. Tony Blair played the Tories at that own game but simply returned a watered down Conservative Party Government with no principles and no real Labour values at all. So after seeing Labour party squander power in such a profligate way is it really any wonder why supporters new and old are looking to an old stalwart of the old Labour Party values for some direction. Is it any wonder that Labour is now stuffed to the rafters with the same set of right wing modernisers that Blair attracted to the Party? Is it any wonder that there is now so much in-fighting going on? Is it any wonder that the Labour Party itself is in revolt? Left wing supporters see Corbyn as the antithesis of Blair. He is a person with traditional values and great integrity. He may be a symbolic link, a signpost, a ‘Tardis’ to get back to the Labour Party of old. However symbolic he may be his energy and commitment to bring the Labour Party back to its traditional roots and values may remain questionable because he simply does not like a fight and that is what he will get as the Blairites try to hold the Party in the middle ground. Mr Corbyn has mentioned an interest in getting back to some forms of public ownership but he has not set this in stone nor to date has he made his musings clear and set out his intended course. His procrastinations have led to speculations about his intentions and because there has been so little forthcoming about his intentions it has been viewed as indecisiveness and weakness. His ship has not yet sailed away from the harbour and no course has yet been plotted and because of this there has been a mutiny on board as the crew become restless and impatient waiting for the Captain to make a decision. If Mr Corbyn survives as leader he needs to swiftly outline and charter the course that the Labour Party needs to take and he needs to do this with conviction and clarity. Then he needs to actually set sail.
Is Corbyn up to the fight and has Owen Smith any left wing integrity?
Whether or not Jeremy Corbyn has the energy and stomach for the voyage ahead or whether he can deal with the mutineers and their all in fighting remains questionable. He is intrinsically a quiet politician with values and integrity but sometimes he is not so loudly spoken or authoritarian as he maybe should be. he may be more of a dreamer than a true voyager. At the moment a great many people are expecting that Mr Corbyn (or Captain Corbyn ) can lead the Labour party to some far off places. I myself am one of these people. Whether or not this happens remains to be seen.
Perhaps Mr Corbyn’s weakness lies in his idealism and pacifist viewpoints. He is a quiet reserved kind of fighter known more for his resilience rather than for his brawling. Mr Corbyn is supported for his left wing values but maybe he avoids a fight too much but a head on punch up is what may be inevitable in the end to get a real left wing politician in place. This leader must be strong enough to purge the party of the moderate right wing supporters that Tony Blair attracted to the party. We need a leader who can steer the Labour Party away from its Blairisms. We need a leader committed to support the re-instatement of Clause IV of the Labour Party Constitution. It is inevitable that supporters to the left and the right will collide here there will be a collision but there is enough support for this move back to old labour values as the support for Mr Corbyn amongst party members new and old demonstrates. The internal party members need to catch up and support this or ship out and find another ship to sail in. Mr Corbyn has mentioned a interest in bringing back Clause IV at least in part but so far he has done nothing. He cannot be just one voice in a wilderness he needs to steer the Labour Movement to a position where this is a fundamental policy not an ideal or Utopian dream. It needs to be a part of all he stands for and a firm reality and ambition. I feel his reticence towards the promotion and propagation of a proper commitment to Clause IV and the public ownership of utilities and railways shows some procrastination and a lack of leadership on this topic. It’s as though he has been avoiding this inevitable conflict and in-fighting but it now appears events have overrun him anyway. This conflict, this revolt and in-fighting was always going to be inevitable as Labour Party needs to be purged from the top downwards of the Labour Supporters, the right wing moderates, who had been attracted to join the party during the Tony Blair years.
So can Owen Smith be trusted to bring about a left wing Labour Party?
Should we also question Owen Smith’s political integrity and left-wing credentials?
How much Mr Owen Smith really believes in Clause IV is questionable at the moment he has mentioned re-writing it but as it currently stands his statement has many interpretations and Mr Smith needs to be specific about whether or not he would bring utilities and railways back into public ownership or not. Without a proper commitment to Clause IV any government or Labour Party without a proper commitment to steer back in Clause IV could not claim to be a left wing nor a socialist party, this applies irrespective of whether or not the party is led by Mr Corbyn or Mr Smith. I have personally written to Mr Owen Smith to outline his specific agenda about Clause IV but to date I have had no reply. I have written to Mr Corbyn as well to see where he now stands on Clause IV and whether or he was prepared to re-affirm his commitment to Clause IV as a part of his agenda and vision for a future Labour Party fit for a fight with the Conservatives: who are already attempting to steal ground from the left led by Theresa May. So far neither Mr Corbyn or Mr Smith have replied: so can either of them be relied upon to usher in a true socialist / left-wing administration? Can either of them be relied upon to deliver a strong left wing challenge to the Tories?
Jeremy Corbyn maybe has the integrity and links back to the Labour of old; his attraction and strange charisma has something akin to a ‘Doctor Who’ or ‘Gandalf’ with a secret, long forgotten, mysterious knowledge and sorcerer’s powers, but his taste for a fight and his ability to impose his will upon the Party still remain questionable. Mr Owen Smith on the other-hand unquestionably has the passion and the taste for a fight but maybe he lacks any true left-wing integrity. His commitment to public ownership remains a significant question to which an answer has not yet been forthcoming: without a positive statement about where he stands in relation to Clause IV and public ownership in particular he will remain nothing more than a Tony Blair type pretender. Without this I feel he will remain powerless to defeat the level of support Mr Corbyn currently enjoys amongst those who dare to dream
Why is Clause IV so important to the Labour Party Movement?
Clause IV is so important to the Labour Party Movement that without it it is nothing with no raison d’ etre. Clause IV is so fundamental to the Labour Movement. Clause IV alone gives the Labour Party its socialist identity, it ensures a means of fairness for all, it gives people at stake in society and ensures that the means of production works for all and not just the few. My article entitled ‘Can Theresa May deliver a ‘fairer Britain’?’ explains some of the issues related to Clause IV and explains in detail and with examples about why Clause IV is so fundamental to the Labour Party. To make changes in society governments need capital and public ownership can generate this capital.
The Blair/Brown great Betrayal of Labour Party Values
Unfortunately the Blair / Brown administration showed great contempt for Clause IV and were willing to ditch it in an attempt to get into power. This was the great betrayal of all that the Labour Party had stood for in the past and should stand for in the future. The Labour Party had in effect been taken over by the middle classes. you have only to look at Mr Blair’s background to realise that his claim to have ‘Red blood’ should have been doubted. This was a total sell out of Labour Party values and that meant that when Labour actually came to power it had no resemblance at all to any form of socialism. It was Labour in name only. This Government was ineffectual and weak and was really only a watered-down version of the Conservatives. Tony Blair squandered the opportunity to make a real difference with a true Labour Administration with true Labour Party principles. The Tony Blair and Gordon Brown legacy whilst in office was a raft of uninspiring legislation that hardly challenged at all the work of the previous Conservative Administrations and in many instances actually seemed to endorse them. Was it any wonder that people like myself were left so uninspired by the politics of the Labour Party during those long tedious years. I could not even bring myself to join the Labour Party Movement during those years such was my disgust at what Labour Party had become. I believe this to be the case amongst many who have recently seen just a glimmer; yes only a faint glimmer of hope from the candle in the hand of Mr Corbyn held up in the darkness like a small beacon calling back the faithful. Party members and voters are flocking to this small beacon of hope inspired enough to want to wrestle the Party back from the brink of oblivion. Perhaps Mr Corbyn can lead us back towards the promised land of old Labour values and guide us out from the underneath the dark shadow of Tony Blair’s treason.. We have been hoping that he can be this leader and fulfil this promise but it all remains to be seen.