Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Tories for Corbyn
It was inevitable really. The Guardian reports that Conservative party supporters have mounted a Twitter campaign to elect Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in order to damage the party’s future election chances.
The paper says that new rules mean that anybody can pay £3 to register as a Labour supporter and vote for the new leader. What could go wrong?
The campaign includes the adoption of the hashtag #ToriesForCorbyn, to call for people to vote for the candidate perceived to represent the left wing of the Labour party.
Corbyn's candidacy has certainly displeased some in Labour. The Guardian reports on a tweet by John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw, that Corbyn’s candidacy showed the party’s “desire never to win again”, while Ed Balls’ former head of communications, Alex Belardinelli, complained that the leadership race was being treated like a game.
In addition Dan Hodges in the Telegraph has argued Corbyn's candidacy will move the leadership debate leftwards at a time when the other candidates should be adopting a more realistic approach to Labour's future strategy and policy positions:
He says that one of the great myths of Labour’s victory in 1997 was that it was secured because Tony Blair constructed a “big tent” that was politically inclusive. In fact, that victory was secured because Blair – and Neil Kinnock before him – made a point of kicking the hard Left out of the tent. And then when they got them out of the tent they kept kicking them.
Is this another act of self-destruction by Labour on a par with the 1979-1983 period? We shall see.
The paper says that new rules mean that anybody can pay £3 to register as a Labour supporter and vote for the new leader. What could go wrong?
The campaign includes the adoption of the hashtag #ToriesForCorbyn, to call for people to vote for the candidate perceived to represent the left wing of the Labour party.
Corbyn's candidacy has certainly displeased some in Labour. The Guardian reports on a tweet by John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw, that Corbyn’s candidacy showed the party’s “desire never to win again”, while Ed Balls’ former head of communications, Alex Belardinelli, complained that the leadership race was being treated like a game.
In addition Dan Hodges in the Telegraph has argued Corbyn's candidacy will move the leadership debate leftwards at a time when the other candidates should be adopting a more realistic approach to Labour's future strategy and policy positions:
He says that one of the great myths of Labour’s victory in 1997 was that it was secured because Tony Blair constructed a “big tent” that was politically inclusive. In fact, that victory was secured because Blair – and Neil Kinnock before him – made a point of kicking the hard Left out of the tent. And then when they got them out of the tent they kept kicking them.
Is this another act of self-destruction by Labour on a par with the 1979-1983 period? We shall see.
