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Jeremy Corbyn
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grufty jim
grufty jim
1978 posts

Edited Aug 16, 2015, 20:05
Re: Jeremy Corbyn
Aug 16, 2015, 20:02
thesweetcheat wrote:
Absolutely agree. We have four and half years of Tory govt to look forward to, an articulate opposition asking searching questions is what's needed right now.

If Labour elect an anti-austerity candidate, there will also be support from SNP, Plaid and Green MPs in some votes, not enough to overturn a Tory majority following the Party whip, but enough to do so on some free votes and certainly enough to really open a proper debate rather than upholding the hopeless right of centre consensus.


Agree totally with your first paragraph. Not so sure about the second. I still think a Corbyn leadership will see a flight of "new Labour" MPs away from the party. I certainly don't think the Parliamentary Labour Party will suddenly transform into 232 left-wing Corbyn followers.

I mean, as a group the Labour Party decided to abstain from the social welfare vote (on the grounds that "the country voted for it"... I wanted to grab each one of the abstainers by the lapels and shake them while shrieking "not the people who voted for you! The ones who elected you didn't vote for it! They very specifically opposed it! And that's why they voted for you... to oppose it!") Do you really think they will unite behind an unabashed leftist; behind someone who, when faced with the question "Are you a Marxist", doesn't scoff and act offended at the very idea, but takes the question seriously and provides a nuanced response?

I like Corbyn. A lot more than I thought I would when people first started talking about him as a serious contender. And while it may be a good thing in the long run; there's no doubt in my mind that Labour will lose more than a few MPs if he is elected. Perhaps not on day one... but by this time next year I'll be surprised if there are more than 180 Labour MPs.
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