Smelling salts are predictably required over at a neoconservative website which recently ran a post denouncing the Far Left backgrounds and connections of certain Guardian writers and of a few middle-ranking or downright obscure figures in the Labour Party and the trade unions. That site was founded by Harry Steel of Straight Left, and saw no need to mention the Stalinist and Trotskyist backgrounds of extremely high-placed and high-profile figures within Blairism such as ... well, pretty much all of them apart from Blair himself, who had and has no political background, no political views, and no interest in politics.
Anyway, the latest vexation is apparently that Rushanara Ali, the Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, is to attend a meeting in her constituency at which speakers will include various persons unacceptable to that website, self-evidently the arbiter of political respectability. Jim Fitzpatrick, the ultra-Blairite MP for neighbouring Poplar and Limehouse, has dutifully confirmed that he would never share a platform with "any of these people", such as Neil Jameson of London Citizens, to which Gordon Brown delivered a phenomenal speech in the run-up to the last General Election. With Neil, who has been a great help on a forthcoming project of mine, and with London Citizens come Lord Glasman and Blue Labour. And with Maurice and Blue Labour comes Ed Miliband. Horror, upon horror, upon horror.
The people who have destroyed the Labour Party have always hated it. They felt that they should be the main or only force on the Left. They could not get their heads around the moral, social, cultural and constitutional conservatism. Or the patriotism, which felt not the slightest need of any alternative focus, whether Soviet, Eurofederalist, American, Zionist, or anything else. Or the several profoundly religious streaks. Or the provincialism. Or the good showings frequently in many rural areas and invariably in quite a few. Or the preponderance of members of the old aristocracy and haute bourgeoisie. Or the habit of allowing the working classes to run things. Or the distaste for Marxism so pronounced that its adherents were regularly purged.
Instead, they wanted a party in which everyone's father was Ralph Miliband. They now have it, even if Ed Miliband's endorsement by Frank Field and by John Smith's widow was greatly to his credit, as is his association with Lord Glasman and other Blue Labour figures. As a result of what Labour would have remained if David Miliband had won, so few people have voted Labour that we now have a hung Parliament. Possibly leading to electoral reform. And certainly leading to the re-emergence of a party which delivers social justice, and peace. If we create that party.
In the meantime, I mean this a compliment when I ask exactly what political difference there is between Rushanara Ali and the moderate Left, pro-life anti-warrior whom she removed from Parliament? But, and I only ask, is she as good a speaker as George Galloway? Has she ever been anything like a milkman? And what is being done to ensure that Jim Fitzpatrick is replaced with someone a great deal more like her and, especially, her predecessor? 50 MPs have to go, even before we mention deselection or the fielding of a rival candidate. In the first case, obviously, Fitzpatrick's replacement would be Rushanara Ali, in an enlarged constituency. In the last, how about Neil Jameson? In the middle...
Who is to object? The London Labour machine? It is headed by someone who is campaigning for the re-election of Boris Johnson, as are several of its closest courtier journalists, who also campaigned for him last time. London Labour is not a party at all by the standards of, say, the North East. Let the most be made of its complete and utter shambles.
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You are definitely not re-joining Labour any time soon.
ReplyDelete"The people who have destroyed the Labour Party have always hated it...."
ReplyDeleteThat whole paragraph is one with which I absolutely agree. Sundry communists, weirdos, and just strange people, full of anger and hate and all armed with the full gamut of bourgeois and utilitarian contempt have done this country no end of harm. Good post, there.
I think most commentators have missed the main point here which is that Ms Ali is worried about losing her seat to Lutfur Rahman were he to stand as an independent which he is considering doing if he is not readmitted to the Labour Party.
ReplyDeleteWhat Rahman has been able to do is create a personal fiefdom where the various power brokers have been able to deliver blocks of votes to him in return for financial and political favours. Whilst he is in difficulty in delivering all of what has been promised he still retains the loyalty of most of the brokers.
Ms Ali has no such base withing the Bangladeshi community. She picked up the vote from the fall out of Respect and got a large number of white voters to support her simply because they hated Respect which was associated with Galloway, a loathed figure to East End whites.
On a 62% turnout she took 21, 784. A much depleted Lib Dem vote was 10,210 and Respect still managed 8,532. The last two votes were almost entirely Bangladeshi whereas a good precentage of hers was white.
The Respect and Lib Dem blocks are up for grabs and she realises that if those votes could be delivered to an independent she is vulnerable, hence the current to-ing and fro-ing.
Tower Hamlets must be seen in terms of south Asian political power broking and not in the way that things ar normally arranged. The SWP found that out to their cost with Respect.
Martin, very many thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe Mad Mullah of Brick Lane, power broking is normal politics any and everywhere, as you would know if you had ever done any. I love the idea that the East End was clean before the Bengalis arrived.
As for Rahman, he described himself as "a social democrat to the left of the Labour Leadership", which was not exactly saying very much at the time. Nevertheless, he voted for David Miliband. Just how right-wing does one have to be in order to satisfy you people?