That phrase occurs in two emails from old friends today.
One of them is something in the Conservative Party, and berates me for lack of ambition. Behind the scenes, people are already trying to talk that party into running local, working-class, black men as its parliamentary candidates in the thirty blackest seats with white women Labour MPs. Despite the enormous swing required, the scalp that they want most of all is that of Queen Stella. Everywhere, their priority is local electability rather than ideological purity.
The other was something of a player on what was then the Corbynite Left, but quietly shared my reservations about the Brexit betrayal, about the IHRA Definition, about gender self-identification, about Greenery, about the continuing preference for identity politics over class politics, and about the failure to put Modern Monetary Theory, the Jobs Guarantee and the Universal Basic Income front and centre.
Apparently, it has already occurred to those who still move in such circles that there are scarcely any Conservative Party members in the 50 or so constituencies that Labour won even in 2019 but which are well on course to turn blue in 2024. Those tiny cliques of older, well-heeled, largely apolitical ladies have no culture of choosing their MPs by choosing their candidates, and will give their nominations to any sufficiently plausible young men who asked for them.
Good news, then, for the many young men, often in precisely those areas, who were at least initially attached to the Corbynite Left, but who disliked the Brexit betrayal, the IHRA Definition, gender self-identification, Greenery, the continuing preference for identity politics over class politics, and the failure to put Modern Monetary Theory, the Jobs Guarantee and the Universal Basic Income front and centre. After all, the aim will be to win over people who had voted for Corbyn both times. And the twinsets and pearls are unlikely to ask about such matters, anyway. It is all very much in hand, apparently.
Who knows what will come of either of these? I doubt that they will respectively translate into 30 Black Wall seats and into 50 Red Wall seats. But something could well come of each of them. So I am just waiting to hear back from each of my interlocutors, to see whether they would be happy for me to put them in touch with each other.
You know, I was supposed to have retired from politics.
One of them is something in the Conservative Party, and berates me for lack of ambition. Behind the scenes, people are already trying to talk that party into running local, working-class, black men as its parliamentary candidates in the thirty blackest seats with white women Labour MPs. Despite the enormous swing required, the scalp that they want most of all is that of Queen Stella. Everywhere, their priority is local electability rather than ideological purity.
The other was something of a player on what was then the Corbynite Left, but quietly shared my reservations about the Brexit betrayal, about the IHRA Definition, about gender self-identification, about Greenery, about the continuing preference for identity politics over class politics, and about the failure to put Modern Monetary Theory, the Jobs Guarantee and the Universal Basic Income front and centre.
Apparently, it has already occurred to those who still move in such circles that there are scarcely any Conservative Party members in the 50 or so constituencies that Labour won even in 2019 but which are well on course to turn blue in 2024. Those tiny cliques of older, well-heeled, largely apolitical ladies have no culture of choosing their MPs by choosing their candidates, and will give their nominations to any sufficiently plausible young men who asked for them.
Good news, then, for the many young men, often in precisely those areas, who were at least initially attached to the Corbynite Left, but who disliked the Brexit betrayal, the IHRA Definition, gender self-identification, Greenery, the continuing preference for identity politics over class politics, and the failure to put Modern Monetary Theory, the Jobs Guarantee and the Universal Basic Income front and centre. After all, the aim will be to win over people who had voted for Corbyn both times. And the twinsets and pearls are unlikely to ask about such matters, anyway. It is all very much in hand, apparently.
Who knows what will come of either of these? I doubt that they will respectively translate into 30 Black Wall seats and into 50 Red Wall seats. But something could well come of each of them. So I am just waiting to hear back from each of my interlocutors, to see whether they would be happy for me to put them in touch with each other.
You know, I was supposed to have retired from politics.
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