The announcement that Jeremy Corbyn has been re-elected as
Labour Party leader here in the UK reflects the profoundly depressing state
into which Western European politics has sunk. He professes to offer "a
new kind of politics." In reality he is offering the same left wing ideas
which were decisively rejected more than 30 years ago. Many people do indeed
want a new kind of politics. But I suspect they don't want his.
Corbyn is nothing more than an idealist, which would be great if he were not the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition charged with holding the government to account and seeking to form the next government. We know what he is against but less about what he stands for. Corbyn is opposed to the market capitalism espoused by the Conservatives and which so many people have railed against, and he taps into those who believe that the fiscal policy offered by George Osborne was brutal and regressive. Whilst it is perceived to have favoured the rich at the expense of the poorer elements of society far more than it actually did, it created the conditions for a political alternative to act as a counterbalance to try and heal some of the social divisions which it created. But nobody has a clue what sort of policies Corbyn actually advocates, and his leadership performance after one year in the job has been dreadful. Over the summer Labour MPs refused to back their leader following his dismal non-performance in the EU referendum and this was followed by the likes of Thomas Piketty, Simon Wren-Lewis and David Blanchflower, who all sat on Labour's economic advisory committee, distancing themselves from Corbyn’s team.
In Blanchflower's words "Corbyn doesn't seem to care about being a leader of an opposition party. He seems more interested in addressing crowds of supporters around the country. It doesn’t seem to matter to him – although it should – that three-quarters of his MPs, who doubt his leadership qualities, rightly passed an overwhelming vote of no confidence against him. He should have quit. He doesn’t have enough MPs who support him to be able to form a complete shadow cabinet. Incidentally, if there were even the slightest prospect that he could become prime minister, the bond and equity markets would eat him for lunch."
It strikes me as bizarre that 313,000 of the Labour Party’s 600,000 members have chosen a leader who will almost certainly be soundly beaten in any election. If party members really care about choosing someone who can achieve the things the party proclaims to stand for, they should at least choose a leader who has a fighting chance of winning the popular vote. When the majority of the party's MPs do not back their leader, they have no chance.
The UK’s domestic political shenanigans have not gone unnoticed abroad, and the German newspaper Die Welt notes that Labour's irrelevance is dangerous for Europe. At a time when the government is trying to negotiate an exit from the EU, the Labour Party is so self-absorbed that it is in no position to hold the government to account. When we live in a surreal world where arch-Brexiteer Boris Johnson is the foreign secretary and he is still not the biggest incompetent in the House of Commons, you know that something is sadly wrong with the state of British politics. That said, when Beppe Grillo, an Italian comedian, can turn his Five Star movement into a national political force, you realise that the malaise runs throughout European politics.
Tony Blair may be reviled as Labour leader but he knew very well that British elections are won by capturing the political centre. As he put it, the Labour Party needs to be “the face on the placard” rather than the protester holding it for a chance in government. People in the party today "don’t really want to be in power, they want to make the people in power respond to their concerns." Until that changes Labour will not be a serious political party, they will simply be seen as a protest movement. And in the current political climate, that is very dangerous for the health of our democracy.
Corbyn is nothing more than an idealist, which would be great if he were not the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition charged with holding the government to account and seeking to form the next government. We know what he is against but less about what he stands for. Corbyn is opposed to the market capitalism espoused by the Conservatives and which so many people have railed against, and he taps into those who believe that the fiscal policy offered by George Osborne was brutal and regressive. Whilst it is perceived to have favoured the rich at the expense of the poorer elements of society far more than it actually did, it created the conditions for a political alternative to act as a counterbalance to try and heal some of the social divisions which it created. But nobody has a clue what sort of policies Corbyn actually advocates, and his leadership performance after one year in the job has been dreadful. Over the summer Labour MPs refused to back their leader following his dismal non-performance in the EU referendum and this was followed by the likes of Thomas Piketty, Simon Wren-Lewis and David Blanchflower, who all sat on Labour's economic advisory committee, distancing themselves from Corbyn’s team.
In Blanchflower's words "Corbyn doesn't seem to care about being a leader of an opposition party. He seems more interested in addressing crowds of supporters around the country. It doesn’t seem to matter to him – although it should – that three-quarters of his MPs, who doubt his leadership qualities, rightly passed an overwhelming vote of no confidence against him. He should have quit. He doesn’t have enough MPs who support him to be able to form a complete shadow cabinet. Incidentally, if there were even the slightest prospect that he could become prime minister, the bond and equity markets would eat him for lunch."
It strikes me as bizarre that 313,000 of the Labour Party’s 600,000 members have chosen a leader who will almost certainly be soundly beaten in any election. If party members really care about choosing someone who can achieve the things the party proclaims to stand for, they should at least choose a leader who has a fighting chance of winning the popular vote. When the majority of the party's MPs do not back their leader, they have no chance.
The UK’s domestic political shenanigans have not gone unnoticed abroad, and the German newspaper Die Welt notes that Labour's irrelevance is dangerous for Europe. At a time when the government is trying to negotiate an exit from the EU, the Labour Party is so self-absorbed that it is in no position to hold the government to account. When we live in a surreal world where arch-Brexiteer Boris Johnson is the foreign secretary and he is still not the biggest incompetent in the House of Commons, you know that something is sadly wrong with the state of British politics. That said, when Beppe Grillo, an Italian comedian, can turn his Five Star movement into a national political force, you realise that the malaise runs throughout European politics.
Tony Blair may be reviled as Labour leader but he knew very well that British elections are won by capturing the political centre. As he put it, the Labour Party needs to be “the face on the placard” rather than the protester holding it for a chance in government. People in the party today "don’t really want to be in power, they want to make the people in power respond to their concerns." Until that changes Labour will not be a serious political party, they will simply be seen as a protest movement. And in the current political climate, that is very dangerous for the health of our democracy.
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