I also am rather saddened by the way they appear pleased to have weeded out hundreds, if not thousands of 'Green Party supporters'. My suspicion is that a fair proportion of Green voters are actually Labour supporters who weren't happy with the way the party had gone and wanted to return to the fold. My suspicion is the majority of voters are not 100% committed to a single party, even if they don't float as much as I do.
Despite the fact that I may well have been excluded, as someone who is more often a right-leaning Lib Dem (cousin Nick insists, even now), I would be delighted if Jeremy Corbyn wins the election to become Labour leader. This is not, like a dyed-in-the-wool Tory because I want Labour to become unelectable. Instead it's for the same reason that I wanted Scotland to vote Yes in the independence referendum.
As far as I can see, British politics has become far too cosy. This is why detestable parties like UKIP have done so well. Because, despite the idiocy of a public school educated, ex-city trader claiming to be anti-establishment, the fact is that pretty well all of British politics has become too staid and establishment-like in nature. It needs a shakeup. I believe that an independent Scotland would have done that - and I believe that Jeremy Corbyn leading Labour is our next best hope of doing so. It might not be good for the Labour party, but it would be good for the country long term. (Short term it would probably mean another Conservative win in 2020, but short-termism is the bane of politics.)
Finally we would see real challenges to the government. Real alternatives. Many of them, I admit, would not be widely palatable. I gather the only Corbyn policy that has wide public support is re-nationalising the railways. And some of Corbyn's views are positively nutty (like women-only railway carriages), while others appear to verge on anti-semitism. But that's not the point. He will certainly shake things up. And we really, really need that in politics. Bring it on, Jeremy!
If I had a vote in this election, which I don't, I'd also have voted for Jeremy Corbyn. Like you, I would not have done so to make Labour unelectable, even though, as I guess you have suspected, my political views veer somewhat to the right of yours. Although some of Mr Corbyn's policies are good ones, I expect that's by accident, as most of the rest are (in my opinion) … well, les good. As a Jew, I do not think Mr Corbyn is antisemitic, though I do worry about some of the company he keeps. No, the reason I would have voted for Mr Corbyn is that he is the only candidate who appears to speak his mind, as opposed to sanitised soundbites fed to him by focus groups. He thus has the same rugged-individualist appeal as, say, Boris Johnson, or Ken Livingstone.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of disrupting the current cosy system, not at any cost like UKIP as you say. Useful thoughtful post.
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