This is a cross-post from MoreMediaNonsense
So the much rumoured disaster has happened and Corbyn has been elected Labour leader. What will happen now ?
Well having listened to his acceptance speech I really wonder how long he will last. He managed to sound vacuous and paranoid at the same time with his platitudes interspersed with railing at the media. At one point it sounded like he was ordering them to leave his family alone (no Jeremy you don’t get to tell the press what to print yet).
On that, what was he going on about ? As far as I can see all of the coverage about his connexions has been about his dodgy political friends such as Sinn Fein, Hezbollah and almost every opponent of the West you can think of. This is his political family of course, is that what he meant ? The only other member of his family I’ve seen mentioned is Piers Corbyn the weatherman and I don’t think he’s been upset about the extra publicity he’s been getting.
In the Independent yesterday he said this about the criticisms of his political friends (or “personal attacks” as he terms them) :
He said they were a symptom of today’s “yah-boo politics” that were part of the reason why so many people are “totally turned off” politics in Britain as he called for a more positive approach in Parliament and on the airwaves.
Mr Corbyn told a packed-out crowd in Islington that one of the main reasons behind the consistently low turnout at elections in the UK was due to people being “totally turned off by a style of politics which seem to rely on the levels of clubhouse theatrical abuse we throw at each other in parliament and throw at each other across the airwaves.”
He added: “As nasty and unpleasant much of the stuff printed is and remains and is deeply hurtful to my wife, family and close friends, we’re not responding in any way; we don’t do that kind of politics.”
Yes Jeremy being called out on the loons and far-Left types you hang out with must be most upsetting but it isn’t an attack on your loved ones. In fact your responses to criticisms along these lines looks like a deliberate attempt to avoid legitimate questions.
Corbyn looked quite wound up when he was going on about the press, well I think we’re going to see him being a lot more upset in future. He said today he won’t be doing any interviews tomorrow (he was due to go on Andrew Marr am), is this a sign of things to come ? Its all very well putting on the noble unsullied tribune act when you’re surrounded by cheering crowds its a bit different when you’re getting tough questioning from journalists.
And what will happen at PMQ’s next Wednesday ? The Tories are going to be welcoming him like a Messiah with gales of hilarity while most of the PLP sit like mourning statues. It could well be a pitiful affair and difficult to watch, unless Cameron decides to go easy on him to avoid looking too nasty. Even then the rest of the Tories will be howling like hyenas.
Those of us of a Blairite persuasion are just going to have to see what happens. We are truly cursed to live in interesting times.
