First thoughts on Jezza's win

It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
(Eugene V. Debs: US Politician)

Well, the deed is done and Jeremy Corbyn has been elected as leader of the Labour party. A friend said that I must be excited that he has and I am. But any excitement is moderated by a realistic expectation of a very rough ride from here on in and, I'll admit it, some trepidation about how Jezza will adapt to his new role. Being a long standing rebellious back bencher might not be the best training for being a responsible Party Leader.  

Jezza's elevation has given encouragement to those of us on the left who want to see Labour end its miserable cohabitation with neo-conservatism and privatisation. Since the ascent of Blair, Labour has sought power by adopting the rhetoric and politics of the right. Consequently, when it gained power it disappointed many because there was little or nothing to distinguish it from the bogeymen it claimed to be protecting us from. And it got worse. As the party’s rightward drift continued, it turned into the very bogeymen that Labour was founded to fight against. For the Blairites, the party’s socialist past is precisely that - passed and in the past.

But as many have pointed out, winning the leadership was the easy bit. The really difficult task has only just begun. And it’s starting with a party whose foundations are becoming increasingly unstable. The Parliamentary Party has received the news of Corbyn’s victory with as much joy as a papal blessing in an Orange lodge. Already significant numbers of the previous shadow cabinet and Labour’s front bench have refused to serve in Jezza's line-up. They’re the sort of politicians who believe that it’s not them who are wrong, it’s the voters and if they had their way they’d elect a new electorate. But they are a powerful force set against any possibility of serious change within Labour. Can the party survive with such divisions?

The divisions within Labour contrast with a media which is almost universally hostile. The UK press has absolutely no intention of giving Corbyn a fair hearing. He’s going to be monstered and misrepresented by mealy mouthed mendacious mediocrities, who’ll claim that their columns represent balanced reporting. Because, as we all know, the media are scrupulously fair and only an anti-democratic wannabe dictator would think of criticising the spawn of Rupert Murdoch and the Barclay twins. Jeremy’s voice will be drowned out whilst those of his critics will be given free rein. Faced with all this, it's going to be incredibly difficult for Labour to make substantial inroads into a voting population which will find itself subject to a vigorous fear campaign. It’s going to be relentless and unforgiving. The mildest of proposals will be hysterically blown out of proportion and stripped of context. And it won’t stop. The stakes are too high.

The British establishment could survive the loss of Scotland. Losing Scotland would be a massive blow to their prestige, to their entitlement, to their pockets, but the establishment would still reign over all except the rebellious Scots who refused to be crushed. But the British establishment can’t survive the success of the Corbyn project: he threatens the end to their privilege and preference. That’s precisely why they will conspire to ensure that he fails. Renationalising key industries threatens the bank balances of the rich, scrapping Trident threatens the power hungry dreams of the establishment. 

Already the Tories are talking in the language of threats to national security. Because in their world, national security is the same as the security of the very rich and the very powerful. The security of the poor and the marginalised is of no account. When the government refers to the main opposition party in such terms, when it describes the opposition in apocalyptic terms as an enemy of the state, we should all be concerned. Interesting times ahead, eh? Just think how boring it would have been if one of the others had won!