Blairism and Corbynism have successively been synonymous with the same North London borough. Under Tony Blair, it was said all the time that the metropolitan liberal elite, or words to that effect, had stolen the Labour Party from the working classes in the traditional Labour heartlands, or words to that effect.
The same had also been said all the time under Harold Wilson, surrounded as he was by his fellow Oxonians. Under Clement Attlee, nobody seems to have thought that his heavily public school Cabinets were, on that basis, even worth remarking upon.
And at the very dawn of the Labour Party, the backgrounds and lifestyles of the likes of Sidney Webb, the author of the old Clause IV, were roundly mocked by political opponents whose own upper-middle-class credentials were equally impeccable.
The same had also been said all the time under Harold Wilson, surrounded as he was by his fellow Oxonians. Under Clement Attlee, nobody seems to have thought that his heavily public school Cabinets were, on that basis, even worth remarking upon.
And at the very dawn of the Labour Party, the backgrounds and lifestyles of the likes of Sidney Webb, the author of the old Clause IV, were roundly mocked by political opponents whose own upper-middle-class credentials were equally impeccable.
The feeling is starting to grow that the Labour Party has never been anything other than a vehicle for what would now be called the metropolitan liberal elite, with the unions there only to pay for it, and in the past to get out the vote for it, such as ensuring that the miners of Seaham returned Webb as their MP.
Certainly, all Labour Governments have treated the unions with contempt when it has suited them. Leaving aside how much of the Winter of Discontent ever really happened, something certainly did, and it did because, once the academic fashion has shifted to monetarism, then Denis Healey's attitude to the proles was that they could like it or lump it. More than 40 years later, here we are.
Having the solid support of 40 per cent of the working class, with another 15 per cent or so persuadable to varying degrees, has in fact only ever put Labour in the same position as the Conservatives, who have also always had the solid support of 40 per cent of the working class, with another 15 per cent or so persuadable to varying degrees.
But those need not be the only options. I will be standing for Parliament again here at North West Durham next time, so please give generously. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
Having the solid support of 40 per cent of the working class, with another 15 per cent or so persuadable to varying degrees, has in fact only ever put Labour in the same position as the Conservatives, who have also always had the solid support of 40 per cent of the working class, with another 15 per cent or so persuadable to varying degrees.
But those need not be the only options. I will be standing for Parliament again here at North West Durham next time, so please give generously. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
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