Who Are The Baddies?

Who are the baddies in I, Daniel Blake? More to the point, what are they? Are they likely to be Tories? Hardly!

Until Jeremy Corbyn came along, people like that were the only ones left in the Labour Party in any numbers.

Therefore, there are now two Labour Parties. 

One is the party of Daniel Blake and of those who side with him.

The other is the party of his persecutors, the party that invented benefit sanctions, the party that devised the Work Capability Assessment that is now being discontinued by the Conservative Party.

One is the party that wants to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

The other is the party that not only refuses to vote for such a halt, but which, in the case of Stephen Kinnock, tweets that we are somehow morally obliged to supply those arms, siding so explicitly with Saudi Arabia in Yemen that one wonders why he did not vote with the Government.

One is the party that wants to enact the NHS Reinstatement Bill, which is the reason why even David Owen wants Jeremy Corbyn to become Prime Minister.

The other is the party that broke up and privatised the NHS in England, but nowhere else, in the first place.

One is the party that wants my friend Barnaby Marder to remove the failed racist rabble-rouser, Zac Goldsmith, from Parliament.

The other is the party that wants to leave it the Lib Dems, late of the Coalition, to remove the failed racist rabble-rouser, Zac Goldsmith, from Parliament, but which would not mind if they failed to do so.

One is the party that wants to save the beautiful South of England from fracking, HS2, and a third runway at Heathrow.

The other is the party that wants to despoil irreparably the beautiful South of England by means of fracking, HS2, and a third runway at Heathrow.

One is the party that respects the outcome of the EU referendum, even without necessarily expecting awfully much ever to come of it.

The other is the party that wants to re-run the EU referendum until the plebs give the right answer, and which is in the meantime prepared to give a free pass to the unprepared Prime Minister, to her buffoonish Foreign Secretary, to her honourable but over-promoted Brexit Secretary, and to her morally repugnant International Trade Secretary.

One is the party that is delighted that the EU referendum result has made the focus of political attention the areas that voted Leave while voting Labour, to the extent that even a Conservative Government will actively pay Nissan to employ people in Sunderland, with many more such examples doubtless on their way.

The other is the party that is horrified both at the Nissan deal, and at the notion that the slightest political attention ought to be paid to the areas that voted Leave while voting Labour, areas that that party routinely purports to represent in Parliament and in local government.

One is the party that will support Theresa May against many of her own side, and which will press her to deliver, on workers' and consumers' representation in corporate governance, on shareholders' control over executive pay, on restraining pay disparities within companies, on an investment-based Industrial Strategy and infrastructure programme, on greatly increased housebuilding, on action against tax avoidance, on banning tax-avoiding companies from public contracts, on capping energy prices, on banning or greatly restricting foreign takeovers, and on an inquiry into Orgreave.

The other is the party that will vote with the Conservative Hard Right against each and every one of those measures.

One is the party that has always wanted to take back the rail franchises into public ownership as and when they came up for renewal.

The other is the party that now pretends always to have been of that view, but which in reality used to scream abuse at those of us who dared to express it.

One is the party that fought tooth and nail against the Blair Government's assault on civil liberties, an assault that had begun under the previous Conservative Government, before any thought of Islamist terrorism.

The other is the party that still yearns for identity cards and for 90-day detention without charge, and which conspires with the Conservative hangers and floggers to give the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee to Yvette Cooper.

One is the party that always opposed the failed austerity programme of the sacked George Osborne.

The other is the party of the only people who still think that that programme was correct.

One is the party that has opposed every British military intervention of the last 20 years.

The other is the party of the only people who still defend each and every one of those interventions.

One is the party that stands outside Durham County Hall in protest at the bailing out of Durham County Cricket Club while all 2700 Teaching Assistants are to be sacked at Christmas and then reappointed on a 23 per cent pay cut.

The other is the party that wallows inside Durham County Hall or in a private box at the Riverside, bailing out Durham County Cricket Club while sacking all 2700 Teaching Assistants at Christmas in order to reappoint them on a 23 per cent pay cut.

One is the party of Jeremy Corbyn.

The other is the party of Neil Fleming.