Purge the Labour party of the lefties

[Viviennemary]

Just seen on BBC news that Labour wants a purge of the left. Bring it on I say. It was unelectable under Corbyn and that idiotic Momentum lot. Why doesn't Diane Abbott just retire gracefully. But loòks like its all going to cause a big row with the Tories rubbing their hands in glee. Will they ever learn.

Corbyn was a few thousand votes away from being able to form a government in 2017 and that was against the backdrop of a hostile campaign by all the media, his own party and the entire establishment.

If you look at their policies at the time, they had broad support across all four countries.

@GentlemanJohnny No, it didn't. It resulted in Theresa May losing her majority.

2019 was lost on the second referendum. No-one, not even the sainted Keir Starmer would have won that election against Johnson.

As a natural conservative, with Labour set to come in, I’m not mad about this at all.

Can’t imagine you’d be delighted if you were a traditional Labour supporter…

Well if you didn’t think Corbyn is far left you are a lost case.

The thought of Diane Abbot pretending to have principles when she lectured everyone else on private education yet sent her own son private “because he’s black, it’s hard for him in a state school” just stinks. I’m centre left I’d say but the thought of all those left wingers who see people as constant victims and parade their luxury beliefs almost makes me turn to Reform! (Only joking). So if Labour concentrated on improving life here and ensuring things work and are done on time and in budget and building more houses, I’d be happy.

Maybe if the Tories had purged the far right rather than the centrists then wouldn't now be unelectable.

The far left is so far from actually understanding what working class people need and do, and from even trying to be equitable (look at the anti-semitism and sexism, and also the You Aren't Really Black stuff) that it is back on itself.

It has become a purity spiral.

Actually trying to make things better for people who struggle (including families with a child with SEN, children in foster care, anyone with more than one issue at a time - sure you're allowed to have a physical health issue but woe betide you also have money problems/a demanding but poorly paid job/small children/mental health problems), now that would be properly left wing.

This latest "purge of the left" began before Starmer lied his way to becoming leader. The right wing cabal in Labour were already diverting support & funding away from left candidates in the 2017 election.

Under Corbyn the Labour Party had the largest membership of any political party in Europe. Under Starmer, it's membership has collapsed, it's rules changed to limit debate, remove rights from party members and consistently moves further in implementing anti-democratic party rules.

There's a reason Starmer has been given a soft ride by the establishment, it's because he is one of them. If Labour were seen as a challenge to the establishment neoliberal consensus he'd have been slaughtered.

The current Labour Party can't even use the term "working-class", they use the phrase "working people".

@Viviennemary I'm with you. I personally want a social Democratic Party that wants strong social underpinning but also allows people who put the effort in to do well. As it happens I didn't have much of an issue with Corbyns manifesto, unfortunately I had a big issue with Corbyn and 'most' of his team on the ability to carry it out and on an international front with diplomacy I think he would be as useful as a fart in a space suit given the company he has kept . For me it was the people involved, not really the policies.

With regards to Abbott, I don't care if she went to Cambridge and was the first black MP etc- she has uttered some unbelievably awful stuff (see Ukraine) and is unsupportive and appears confused and unwell. I'm sorry if that is the case but I don't think she is up to it and I wouldn't want her representing the party on TV etc. it doesn't matter if she was to the far right of the party- I would still think the same.

I think that many to the left see Starmer as a Red Tory because he isn't making endless promises of upping this or that or paying out endlessly , because unlike the greens who can promise the earth knowing they won't have to follow through, it looks like Starmer will have to follow through and can only do so with what he has to play with - I'm glad if he tolerates zero unsupportive shit from the far left.

Purge? Isn’t Labour meant to be the party of the Left?

As for Corbyn, I’m still unsure of what people found so unpalatable about him, that we ended up with another term of this government. A government that is now spouting some of the very plans rejected in 2019.

I won’t be voting for Labour anyway.

I guess we’ll end up with the government we deserve again, and our struggles will continue.

@Dweetfidilove unfortunately as I said on my post below yours- I don't think it was so much the policies for some people as 'the team' - Also a great many people in some areas really bought into the Brexit bullshit , more money for NHSand lower prices etc.

Personally I think Starmer if affordable could actually present the identical 2019 manifesto again and now win- but people on the far left would still find stuff to moan about and call him a Red Tory etc .

Labour cannot be the party of the Left because that’s fiscally irresponsible, and a vote loser. It always has to move towards the centre to be electable with a kick the rich policy - VAT on school fees. Generally they know they have little room for manoeuvre and lots of commentators are saying this. They have signed up to the same fiscal rules as the Conservatives. So cuts or taxes. Borrowing is out. So no magic money for services. No one will see any detail on anything. Just the word “change”. It’s a bit like moving the deckchairs on the Titanic.

The “Left “ is interesting in that people align it with working class. Many working class are now former immigrants. The old working class in mines and shipyards has gone. There’s a big shift to middle class. Look at where Reform will be campaigning. Former industrial towns. Mill towns. Look at where there have been comments, or worse, about Jewish people. There’s a divide between intellectual left and the working class (or not working at all class) “left”. The working class who are actually working might not be very left at all. They might just vote Reform. We could be glad we don’t have PR!

@Crikeyalmighty He cannot due to signing up to fiscal constraints and OBR. So we all need to understand this. Look at our borrowing! It’s electoral suicide to promise the earth.

That's the point though. Labour won't support it because they get the best of both worlds. Ostracise the left (in power) but still get their votes to get power.

The left and the unions need to split from Labour.

The far left is a vote loser! Labour doesn’t want them dragging their vote down in marginal seats they want tk win. Fragment the Labour Party and its opposition and then oblivion!

Its not just Corbyn though. Ed Milliband and Kinnock got the same treatment. Unless you're well in the centre like Blair or Starmer you're treated as a leper.

That’s because they CANNOT win!! The Labour Party need to sing from the same hymn sheet to win. That’s centre left, nowhere else.

@TizerorFizz I 100% agree on all your points and anyone with a sense of what is actually doable rather than fantasy/student politics will realise it

To be honest for me (and I vote Lib Dem as live in an area with a good Lib Dem MP ) I just think having a government in with an 'intent' to move things back towards the centre will at least create a more optimistic feel-i don't know what some are frightened of- it's not as if this gvt have been amazing and doing great work across the board. All these things people don't like but say they would still vote Tory- have come about via 14 years of the Tory's - baffling to me- but hey ho, nowt so queer as folk

Starmer or Blair aren't centre left though. The Overton window has shifted so far right. They're firmly in the establishment centre.

Corbyn is hard left which is unpalatable to most I'd agree. Ed Milliband was centre left. Neil Kinnock was centre left. They still got the Corbyn treatment with the media. Raynor is centre left and looks how they've gone after her. And Starmer would never have appointed her, the members did.

The right are over represented in the Tory party if anything, but they still should have representation. The left aren't represented at all now but the Labour Party still need and expect their votes to win an election.

@User135644 I think they are centre left- it's the press and harder left busy stressing that they aren't and public finances mean that more 'lefty' spending as others might see it isn't really on the cards- we can't borrow cheaply- the Tory's have trashed our credit rating

Totally agree. She served it up with a nice dose of racism too (she seems to have form for that!), stating "West Indian mums will go to the wall for their children" - the subtext being that if you were a parent of any other race you were second-class parents.

Ed Miliband was no leader. And Kinnock was a twit. People didn't want them as PM so didn't vote for them. Unless Labour makes a massive blunder they're in. Diane Abbott should stand down for the sake if the party. But doesn't look like she will. They got rid of Corbyn in end. But it took far too long.

It wouldn't matter if Churchill himself arose from the dead and became Labour leader, the media would turn on him and declare he is unfit for office... probably with he has MH issues and drinks too much....

As they do with almost all Labour leaders and are doing with Starmer now.

Miliband wasn't too bad & Brown was sunk because he forgot to turn off his mic.
Any Labour MP who starts to become popular, they turn on, most recently Rayner with a series of unsubstantiated and completely untrue allegations, have they apologised for wasting Police time? nope.

Labour kicked Corbyn out very quickly but they walked into a minefield not dealing with Abbott far earlier.

@shittestusernameever I don't know if they're realising who the work class are