Some of my own feelings were well summed up in this paragraph from Dan Hodges’ recent post:
“Don’t worry, Jeremy Corbyn won’t be our leader.” “Er … but you’ve just nominated him to be your leader.” “Yes, but we don’t mean it. It’s important his views get a platform though.” “Er … so you agree with some of his views?” “Oh no. We think they’re all mad.” “Er … so you think his views are mad and don’t want him to win even though you’ve nominated him?” “Yes.” “Er … so why have you done that then?” “Because we want to demonstrate to you and the rest of the country that we’re now a serious party of government.”
Owen Jones, by contrast, is keen on Corbyn, and has urged his followers to sign up as Labour supporters to give him their vote.
Corbyn is attracting ‘support’ from less expected quarters too. Over on Guido Fawkes theres a gleeful report about how some opponents of Labour are registering as supporters just in order to vote for Corbyn.
Finally – and more edifyingly – there’s an excellent piece by Fathom editor Alan Johnson in Left Foot Forward:
You are acutely aware that the transformation of European social democracy into a political force pursuing only a slightly kinder and a slightly gentler neoliberalism has caused the erosion of the emotional connection between the party and the working-class.
And you know that neoliberalism has eroded local democracy and the public realm, pushing aside actors other than those at the center, and then micro-managing Britain through a grim and relentless bureaucratising cult of quasi-government bodies.
On that basis you will secure the votes of many party members and trade unionists.
But you won’t get my vote.
You won’t get it because Labour’s best traditions also include anti-fascism and internationalism while your support – to me, inexplicable and shameful – for the fascistic and antisemitic forces of Hezbollah and Hamas flies in the face of those traditions. In particular, your full-throated cheer-leading for the vicious antisemitic Islamist Raed Salah is a deal-breaker.
It’s well worth reading in full – and the comments section is lively too.
