To actually be really cross with Labour for letting this happen?

[RunBackwards]

How did they manage to be so bad at the last two elections that places like Mansfied ended up Tory?

In a previous life Militant Tendency in Liverpool destroyed an earlier Labour leader.

Absolutely OP. I get fed up with people moaning at the voters who voted the Tories in when the only alternative was Corbyn. And I think even most of the labourites would agree that voting Corbyn was never an option. I remember an incident on TV where he was walking alongside Boris, and he refused to engage with him and turned his face away in stoney silence. Not for the first time when pictured with a high profile figure in the media. Childish doesn’t come close to describing his behaviour. As prime minister there would be many occasions when he would need to meet and engage with politicians whose views he doesn’t agree with, and this behaviour was totally unacceptable. The man was a twat.

Labour and LibDems had the perfect opportunity to put party politics aside at the last GE and work together to keep this toxic government out. The current electoral system is flawed - they know it and failed to work together in the interests of the UK.

But in reality, the only people who are really to blame for our current predicament are those who voted for the Tories in their droves, despite all the warning signs being there from the start. Who the fuck votes for a known liar and law breaker and expects a truthful and law abiding government?

It’s not that difficult to understand why Labour lost voters Corbyn was out of his depth which we witnessed over and over again especially in Parliament

But nobody made them vote Tory.

Fucking numpties. No sympathy.

Not all voted Tory

I was Labour Party member for many years

I along with many labour supporters felt politically lost during the years of Corbyn leadership (in name...) I don’t and many others didn’t vote Tory in the elections

@ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN

**How can you have a party leader in an election that is dominated by Brexit that wants to remain neutral what fucking idiot came up with that idea and thought that will win voters over hmm

Keir Starmer...

I am so angry about this. Corbyn supporters and those who facilitated the continuation of his leadership are to blame for us getting this government.
The people of this country will not elect a labour government unless they feel very safe with it. There's a centralist electorate which instinctively trusts Tory more than Labour. Everything points to this. There's only one way to get a Labour government and Blair knew it.

KA wasn’t leading the party during the election

We are all well aware KS votes remain we all know Corbyn voted to leave

@ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN

As Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary from October 2016 until he became leader, Starmer was the key figure in steering the party to its 2019 election stance of backing a second referendum.

KS not KA

I know what his role was

He wasn’t leading the part JC was and remained neutral during the political debates during the Election as he very much wanted to during the referendum

That doesn’t inspire confidence in voters people want to vote for a leader who knows what they are doing who has a goal. It was no secret how split the shadow were in the election

Maybe I missed it, but I'm a bit cross that since the "Labour leaks" back in April that discussed Labour members sabotaging their own chances, and and apparently calls from unions for Starmer to investigate this, there hasn't been much out about it.

So YANBU, as it looked like some parts of the Labour party not only "let" is happen, they actively worked towards Labour losing.

@Stillgoings

I don't blame labour. I think labour are unelectable and it isn't because of Ed Milliband, or Jeremy Corbyn or Kier Starmmer. I think they have formidable opponents who discredit and undermine them via right wing press, TV and social media.

I agree.

Labour were just unelectable to the floating voter.
It always seems to be in times of trouble Tory's win and muddle through till things improve, Tory's get the blaim for the world being in a bad way, people are upset at being taxed, things improve so Labour wave a spend spend budget and get in.

I would blame the media for starting a witch-hunt against Corbin and demonising perfectly sensible policies to serve their own needs.

I would blame the rise of fake news and social media sites for not clamping down on it enough.

I blame the Conservatives for creating such a toxic us-against-them attitude, and again the media for the demonisation of the working classes.

I will never understand people voting against their own needs, my staunchly Labour constituency has voted Conservative twice in a row. We are one of the most economically deprived areas in the country. I have no idea what makes people think the Conservatives and not Labour have their best interests at heart. But I don’t blame Labour. I don’t think they could have done anything to gain the support of the media.

Corbyn

I am fuming with Labour. They alienated pretty much their entire electorate because of Purity Politics, told people who had always voted Labour that they were 'bigots' or terrible people because they had beliefs that might be slightly outside of a very narrow set of views and guess what, people said 'do you know what, fuck you then, you are not interested in me, I'm going elsewhere'.

And now we are stuck with this absolute shower of cunts for the foreseeable.

The Labour Party should be ashamed of themselves, they have let the people they are are supposed to exist for down so badly.

Yep, the media pretty much decides who wins elections these days. Rupert friggin Murdoch has got a lot to answer for. People believe all the lies printed and don't do their own research. It's actually quite worrying.

Ben Bradley (the Mansfield MP of the OP) was a Remainer until he saw that Mansfield was staunch Leave. So he campaigned on the Leave vote when he got elected in 2017.

He has flip flopped on so many policies and ideologies it's clear to see thst he just says the things that he thinks are the most populist and that will get him the most support.

I don't know why people fall for it.

He supported Hunt in the tory leadership campaign and shared some very anti-Boris posts. Until Hunt was out of the race, and then suddenly Johnson was the bees-knees.

He has utter disdain for his constituents mainly, but he says what he thinks they will support.he largely got this one wrong but it will blow over.

@Mintjulia

mrspeacock. Don't say that.

Labour has to accept that the British public is essentially moderate and Momentum or the like will never change that.

But offer me a Labour party that boots out all the anti-Semites, stops sneering at northerners, and is genuinely inclusive and honest, and people will be back in their droves.

Labour knew Corbyn was not popular with the general public but refused to accept their view. If you want the support of the majority, you have to listen to the majority.

You need to see the scale of the electoral map to see the challenge Labour, as the leading party on the left, faces. The swathe of blue, the key areas of loss, the proliferation of safe seats.

If you add up all the main parties, they don't come close to the current Tory majority.

More people vote conservative. There are people who won't vote Labour because it does not exactly suit their particular iteration. This just helps the Tories.

Labour cannot win without Scotland given the current parameters. It just can't. And look what's happened there.

The left is divided - its vote is split. And the Tories are sitting comfortably. Even with a complete coalition of the left parties it is still a huge challenge. We are a two party system, and this is the reality.

I can't think if a single party that are fit for power in this country.

I think most people want hard work to pay and working to allow them to have a decent quality of life, no matter what the job. It's absolutely outrageous that increasingly, the poor in this country are the low paid workers.

Affordable rent and living costs.
Decent wages.
A well functioning healthcare system.

I think those things are probably amongst the top of most peoples list.

@LockdownLump

And don’t give me that crap about it being because Labour are misogynists or racists while simultaneously voting for the bloody Conservatives

How DARE you imply I voted Conservative!!! I'd die before I voted for them!!!

I actually voted Labour because anything is better than the vile tories, but I am allowed to make an informed decision whereby I don't feel they represent my best interests.

You have a superiority complex deathgrip. You think you're right and everyone else is dumb because they think differently to you.

Labour is the fucking best of a bad bunch. Which isn't brilliant.

Of course I would vote Labour to get the scum tories out, but to imply that it's 'crap' to say that Labour is a misogynistic party, when all signs point to it, well, you need to take them blinkers off.

Exactly.

Even the Parliamentary Labour Party thought Corbyn was unelectable! He was, and this was transparent two years out before the election, that's why they tried so hard to get rid of him. It's not about his policies, it's him as a person. The media are influential but also will swing if they think someone is electable (see Tony Blair, if you remember the early years).

Labour had decent leaders in Gordon Brown & Ed Miliband but still the nation voted in Cameron and the tories.

The printed media will always try an destroy any Labour leader, they'll do the same with Starmer and in 2025 they'll be posts on here blaming Labour for having misogynistic, racist, terrorist supporting, anti semitic policies that allowed Gove to become PM.

The Tories have been in power for the majority of the post war period but its Labour's fault??? No it fucking well isn't! it's our fault for voting tory and then wondering why we have huge child poverty, a shite health service, crappy , housing, roads, railways and schools.