Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be ashamed of the Labour Party leadership

956 replies

20nil · 11/02/2017 21:43

Long term member, did not support Corbyn, but even I am surprised by quite how bad he's been.

Where is the opposition? I get that Brexit is difficult, but where is Labour on the collapse of the NHS, the explosion of homelessness, the decimation of local council funding and the ticking bomb that is school funding?

Why is it that we now look to the Lords, the Cof E and petitions to be the opposition?

Shocking state of affairs.

OP posts:
Elendon · 12/02/2017 09:44

I will not vote LibDem nor any other party on the left of centre. The LibDems are too power hungry and to be honest, got us into this mess.

I will vote Labour and continue to do so, but Corbyn isn't my choice.

JapaneseTea · 12/02/2017 09:47

Agreed. JC and his cronies seem to believe that being 'ideologically correct' is more important than being in power.

Which is so nice for their consciences but not for the people being fucked by the Tory policies.

He is doing nothing to help the people Labour is meant to stand for. Nothing on NHS, dangerous on Brexit, no idea on anything else and I am a long time labour member and supporter.

Maybe he's a sleeper and is bent on destroying Labour from within. Seems to be doing a good job in that case.

cowgirlsareforever · 12/02/2017 09:49

It's a pefect example of the arrogance of the political elite that they refuse to accept that ordinary people don't like Corbyn. Why can't people have the leader they want and more importantly deserve?

makeourfuture · 12/02/2017 09:49

The costings of the Tories, the ones used by the IFS for their recent analysis, show an awful future. If we go down this path it will be, especially for the bottom 50%, a nightmare existence.

makeourfuture · 12/02/2017 09:55

It is all ideology. The Tory ideology is that the wealthy are better people than the rest of us. It is moral garbage.

SeaWitchly · 12/02/2017 09:56

So cowgirls who would you suggest the people actually deserve?

And no, us Corbyn supporters don't believe he is the second coming. But he is the only presence on the political landscape who truly gives a shit about the ordinary people in the UK and his policies reflect that. Cameron didn't, Farage doesn't and May certainly doesn't.

walruswhiskers · 12/02/2017 09:57

At this time, we need a credible opposition more than at any time in my life (I'm 44). Brexit - even without external issues brewing in other countries- is massive for the economic stability of the nation and years of austerity has screwed public services beyond recognition. And May is taking us unchallenged into a potentially very uncomfortable future.

We need an opposition. Corbyn and his chums are not providing anything like this. For thus reason alone, he should go. Ridiculous, arrogant fool.

SeaWitchly · 12/02/2017 09:58

Okay Andrew, and who do you feel will be a better choice for Labour leader?
Who will the MSM not fuck over in order to convince the people that the Tories [the party of the powerful] are the only safe pair of hands in which to leave the NHS and the economy?

Original poster
20nil · 12/02/2017 10:07

Ruby and Christmas seem to miss some posters' points I think. A lot of us here are long standing members/supporters, not merely critical commentators. It's not a choice in my mind between Corbyn, May, Farage (how, as not actually standing?). I'm Labour through and through. That's why this is so desperately sad.

I will vote Labour because I believe in a just society, a strong NHS, internationalism etc ... the things Labour has traditionally stood for and what we still stand for. I'm not being tricked by 'media barons'. But while Corbyn might put out the right policies in a document (and, thanks, I know what he stands for on paper; that's the easy bit), he cannot make the case nationally, he is incoherent, cannot manage his party, not even the people who are loyal to him.

It is simply a fact that he is not carrying the country with him, neither remainers nor leavers. It's not a dictatorship. He must persuade people to vote for him and he can't. Blaming the press barons is just childish. Labour have always had to deal with a hostile press. Yes, it's shit and unfair, but a good leader has to be able to deal with it. Corbyn can't even manage his own loyalists. Whether or not he's a nice guy is irrelevant. If he really cares about the state of the country, he should be honest about his limitations.

OP posts:
Elendon · 12/02/2017 10:08

SeaWitchly refusing to answer questions you find uncomfortable says a lot.

Corbyn tweeted 'The real fight starts now', after the Article 50 debates in Parliament; and do you know what? I don't believe him. Fight? The man doesn't have it in him. And to tweet the 'real' fight? As if it was unreal before. Unbelievable for a leader of the opposition.

Elendon · 12/02/2017 10:10

I will continue to support Labour and pay my subs because there are good, honest politicians there who can make a difference.

eurochick · 12/02/2017 10:12

I'm not a labour voter but also despair at Corbyn. We need a strong opposition at the moment to deal with the current Tory government's lurch to the right. Someone needs to be asking the hard questions and highlighting the difficult issues to voters. The current Labour Party is not doing that.

I have no idea who I would vote for if there was an election tomorrow. The Tories are too far to the right. I don't know what the fuck labour is. The Lib Dems seem to be in obscurity. I'm pretty Centrist politically and I have no idea who represents my views at the moment.

cowgirlsareforever · 12/02/2017 10:12

Andy Burnham would have been better.

augustbody · 12/02/2017 10:12

Stop wringing your hands about how JC isn't quite perfect in this or that respect and consider that he is going to attempt something different for the country. Something much better than the conservatives are offering - they are always only interested in money and making the rich richer. Something with more conviction and credibility than the Lib dems can offer.

How is he going to attempt anything? What does he offer? The fact that his supporters have to post links to his policies on here says it all. We should all be aware of exactly what his vision is, because he should be out there every day, annialhating the Tories on bloody everything. But he isn't? He is the very definition of 'meh'.

It's like he doesn't give a fuck about actually helping people as long as he gets to stick to his hallowed 'principles'. That is not a leader in my eyes.

Original poster
20nil · 12/02/2017 10:13

Cowgirl, that's a really interesting point.

Finding someone who can appeal to a swathe of voters is always going to be tough, especially as the Tories enjoy the chronically undeserved reputation as good managers of the economy. But like it or not, that's what Labour must find right now. Insisting on the unpopular JC will only prolong the agony of Tory rule.

OP posts:
Original poster
20nil · 12/02/2017 10:17

No, not Burnham. Too tied up with the Brown-Blair era and a real opportunist IMHO. But he's gone in any case into regional politics.

OP posts:
makeourfuture · 12/02/2017 10:19

What is of interest is that this referendum debacle was completly of Conservative origin, and yet people still look at Labour. Because you don't like Jeremy Corbyn. Amazing.

Elendon · 12/02/2017 10:24

I voted for Cooper and then Burnham. Perhaps Labour isn't ready to have a female leader because a lot of supporters in the local constituency party didn't like Harriet Harman.

Labour seems to me to be just as misogynistic as other mainstream English parties.

cowgirlsareforever · 12/02/2017 10:26

Bollocks to Burnham being too tied up to Blair/Brown. That's lazy thinking and propaganda from Corbynistas. Burnham has done wonders for his constituency and is 100x a better leader than Corbyn. Burnham isn't perfect as he is a career politician but he would have better than this prick.

Elendon · 12/02/2017 10:27

This isn't about the referendum, though that is part of it. It's about Corbyn's ability to lead the Labour Party. Make

The debacle was of a Tory making, agreed, but not enough got out to vote for Miliband who specifically said he would not bring a referendum to the table. Putting the blame on the referendum solely at the feet of the Tory Party is simplistic at best.

HardcoreLadyType · 12/02/2017 10:28

Harriet Harman was on Womens' Hour the other day saying how much she regretted not standing.

I think we might be looking at a very different world, if she had.

Original poster
20nil · 12/02/2017 10:28

No one said that make our. At least I didn't. It was mainly down to Cameron, the fuckwit.

I was a remainer, and have some sympathy for left wing leavers' views. But I would have had more time for JC if he'd been honest about his own views. Fence sitting was bad for everyone and he does have to accept some responsibility for the vote.

OP posts:
SeaWitchly · 12/02/2017 10:29

Elendon, what questions have I avoided and how does this 'say a lot?' Hmm

It is not my job to convince you to vote for JC or the Labour Party. But I personally feel he is the best chance we have for a political party which is working for the common good and ordinary people - those who use the NHS, may be stuck on zero hours contracts, etc.

Stripyhoglets · 12/02/2017 10:31

I'm hanging on I there with my membership to have a cite in the next leadership election. But I'm expecting the tories to have truly funked the county over even more than they have already before labour are even seen as electable again. And that needs JC to go. And he won't go until the next election defeat..

SeaWitchly · 12/02/2017 10:31

And sorry but yes the Tories and Cameron are to blame for the referendum.