On September 12, 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party and that should have been the end of the story but it was not.
Even before he won, with a huge mandate, enemies within the Labour Party were trying to stop his leadership campaign in its tracks. With friends like some of them who needs enemies? But he won and there was a flurry of shadow cabinet resignations as inflated egos tootled off to the backbenches of the Labour Party in the House of Commons. They did not resign their well paid jobs, with all the associated perks, but took to the ranks in some cases began to spread their poison. This led to an orchestrated coup with the main players opting to humiliate Jeremy Corbyn by any means available. Resignation letters followed at a fast and furious pace, pinned to Twitter timelines for maximum impact. Those of us who had been watching from day one were not surprised. It was rather shocking though to see Corbyn isolated in the House of Commons as some Labour MPs sat behind him and chanted resign and "sit down man you are a disgrace." Months of social media interactions that may as well have been by Tory MPs had hinted at what was now unfolding. It was the Labour Party at its most petulant. Jeremy Corbyn is not just any party leader. He is a man of harmony but when parliamentary enemies attacked he stepped up to the mark and some. While Labour Party plotters enjoyed a summer of relaxation Jeremy took a "road trip" mostly by train around the UK. Corbyn spoke at packed rallies in cities and towns across the UK. He was and is an inspiration. He undertook a schedule that would have floored many younger men and he did so with good grace and time for others. When he addressed a packed rally in the Northern City of Kingston-Upon-Hull the sun shone and those who turned up to listen were not disappointed. Imagine if the Labour Party had accepted Corbyn as party leader in September 2015 and worked together toward election success. But even as Corbyn worked his socks off addressing rallies in Leeds, Cornwall, Brighton, Hull, York, Liverpool and more enemies in the party were undermining his leadership. Leaked stories by anonymous sources dominated news headlines as the mainstream media eagerly grabbed what was on offer and spun the story to within an inch of its life. Unlike Mr Corbyn plotters work to various agendas which rarely include ordinary working and middle class voters struggling to make ends meet. The Labour Party has an identity crisis but Mr Corbyn can restore old new Labour to true Labour values if his MPs will let him. 2016 could have been a successful year for the Labour Party but it was not. In order to try and remove Corbyn there was a challenge but no challenger. Finally, when pushed Angela Eagle launched a challenge but she was quickly pushed back as Owen Smith stepped into the fray. His dismal attempt at relaunching old new Labour failed miserably. As soon as it was clear he would not win people were purged from the Labour Party for various reasons; from real abuse to pure nonsense. Plotters in the party were determined Corbyn would not win. They made themselves and the party look ridiculous and unelectable in the eyes of many and for nothing. Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected leader with 62% of the vote. But once again the story does not end here. Some people will never accept Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader and too many of them are IN the party. Can the Labour Party get back to business or will 2017 be squandered too? |
All things CorbynLatest news, views and more Archives
September 2021
Categories
All
|