All the best people have been expelled from the Labour Party. And now, so has Alastair Campbell. Frankly, I doubt that he has voted Labour in 10 years. At least under Jeremy Corbyn, and probably also under Ed Miliband or even Gordon Brown, those rushing to defend Campbell have also voted Labour only when voting for themselves, or for their close relatives, or for their very close friends.
Campbell and his supporters might now join the Conservative Party, thereby acquiring the right to vote for the next Prime Minister. Those pointing out that there was no General Election when Gordon Brown or Theresa May took over should ask themselves how much good that did either of them in the end.
Moreover, their parties had overall majorities in the House of Commons at the time, and each of them had effectively been the unanimous choice of the party's MPs, since no one else had picked up enough support to force a contest. Neither of those things will apply in this case.
Most Labour MPs never wanted Jeremy Corbyn as Leader, and they still do not, whereas the members did and they still do. But he will never become Prime Minister without having led Labour at least to the status of the largest party in the Commons. The voters will have the last word.
By contrast, why should the Queen honour the choice of the tiny Conservative Party membership, over and above that of most Conservative MPs, no more than a handful of whom favour any one of the ever-increasing array of Leadership candidates, and most of whom are strongly opposed to Boris Johnson?
In any case, the really significant Leadership Election this summer is elsewhere, for the de facto Leadership of Remain populism, which is what the Liberal Democrat vote last week can objectively be called. Change UK said that they were not populists, and how very right they have turned out to have been. But anyone who has ever campaigned either alongside or against the Lib Dems knows that that is exactly what they are.
They have identified a large popular base that believes both in Remain for its own sake, and in what it perceives to be represented by Remain. To lead that bloc is a role as important as those which are correspondingly filled, also beyond their party responsibilities, by Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage respectively. Such are the three partially overlapping tendencies that really matter in British politics today.
Their failure to pick up a seat in the North East, with enough votes to have won one anywhere else, might cause the Lib Dems to stop and consider the panacea effects, or otherwise, of Proportional Representation. When their Holy Grail, the Single Transferable Vote, was introduced for Scottish local elections, then their number of council seats in Scotland went down.
Moreover, their parties had overall majorities in the House of Commons at the time, and each of them had effectively been the unanimous choice of the party's MPs, since no one else had picked up enough support to force a contest. Neither of those things will apply in this case.
Most Labour MPs never wanted Jeremy Corbyn as Leader, and they still do not, whereas the members did and they still do. But he will never become Prime Minister without having led Labour at least to the status of the largest party in the Commons. The voters will have the last word.
By contrast, why should the Queen honour the choice of the tiny Conservative Party membership, over and above that of most Conservative MPs, no more than a handful of whom favour any one of the ever-increasing array of Leadership candidates, and most of whom are strongly opposed to Boris Johnson?
In any case, the really significant Leadership Election this summer is elsewhere, for the de facto Leadership of Remain populism, which is what the Liberal Democrat vote last week can objectively be called. Change UK said that they were not populists, and how very right they have turned out to have been. But anyone who has ever campaigned either alongside or against the Lib Dems knows that that is exactly what they are.
They have identified a large popular base that believes both in Remain for its own sake, and in what it perceives to be represented by Remain. To lead that bloc is a role as important as those which are correspondingly filled, also beyond their party responsibilities, by Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage respectively. Such are the three partially overlapping tendencies that really matter in British politics today.
Their failure to pick up a seat in the North East, with enough votes to have won one anywhere else, might cause the Lib Dems to stop and consider the panacea effects, or otherwise, of Proportional Representation. When their Holy Grail, the Single Transferable Vote, was introduced for Scottish local elections, then their number of council seats in Scotland went down.
Even under First Past the Post, though, another hung Parliament is coming, and we need our people to hold the balance of power in it. It has become a local commonplace that I am on 30-30-30 with Labour and the Conservatives here at North West Durham, so that any one of us could be the First Past the Post. I will stand for this seat, if I can raise the £10,000 necessary to mount a serious campaign. Please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment