I am not on the Hard Left; you can ask them. I used to attend the Blue Labour conferences in Nottingham, and I think that those should still be held, complete with Jeremy Corbyn, who would come. Maurice Glasman and John Milbank wrote commendations of my second book, while others were contributed by Bryan Gould and David Stoddart. John also wrote the preface to my first book.
I am a member of the Fabian Society, and I am currently a candidate for its Executive Committee. Progress still sends me its magazine, so I must still be on the books. I am not a member of Momentum, although I would be if I were a member of the Labour Party. And I supported Andy Burnham for Leader until his infamous abstention, having supported Ed Miliband for Leader in 2010 and Jon Cruddas for Deputy Leader in 2007.
In 2015, I supported Tom Watson for Deputy Leader. I still do. He and Jeremy balance each other well, and Tom has clearly identified the Deputy Leadership as the sinecure of the traditional Right in the Corbyn Era and beyond. Therefore, he has anointed as his successor my old university mate, Jonathan Ashworth, who is out leading on the campaign trail this weekend.
Jon, I can assure you, is a man of the Labour Right, with a firm emphasis on both words. We used to tease him for being a Blairite, which was where the careerism was back in the day. But he never really was one. He and the next Leader, Angela Rayner, will balance each other very well indeed. That is already evident, and not by accident.
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