The Labour Party cannot live in the past. It’s time to ditch the neoliberal drift of the Blair era, and return to the centre ground of social democracy.
Since the 1997 election the neoliberal consensus has been deemed ‘modern’ and social / human values and politics smeared as ‘retro’ – thus as time has passed ‘modernisation’ has meant a party that has moved steadily to the right of British politics.
This process has led Labour to electoral ruin in Scotland and across the nation, millions of supporters have deserted them for the Green Party, UKIP and apathy.
The corporate media and Blairite extremists (the loony right) within the Labour Party insist the only route for electoral success is to continue the process of ‘modernisation’ and move even further towards the conservatives.
When one listens to the speeches of Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendal it is hard to separate their rhetoric from that of the tories.
Happily the candidature of Jeremy Corbyn has illuminated where the real energy and zeitgeist of modern British politics is.
Jeremy has outlined a clear manifesto for moving the labour party towards the true political centre ground of social democracy, care for the environment and human values.
Look at this picture:
It’s just one of a series of huge crowds that have turned out to see Jeremy Corbyn outline his vision for the future – by contrast the only people who turn up for the retro ramblings of the other candidates are journalists and hangers on.
Despite a sustained and blanket media campaign against Corbyn it is his message which has electrified the Labour leadership election. Jeremy is so far ahead in the polls its hardly fair to call it a contest anymore, a poll of Guardian readers showed Corbyn on 51% with his nearest rival on 7%.
Labour membership is surging ahead and I haven’t experienced a buzz like this around politics in the UK for 30 years or more.
Yvette Cooper accused Corbyn of being:
“…a throwback to the past, not the change we need for our party or our country,” she said.
“We are a party of the future not a preservation society.”
but the truth is, Yvette and her ilk are the past, her rhetoric is hollow and meaningless because she has no real interest in changing anything.
Yvette is a relic of the neoliberal era, an eager servant of the right wing press – that is not a future anyone wants to vote for anymore.
I agree with Yvette about one thing – the Labour Party cannot be a preservation society, so why doesn’t she accept her extraordinary lack of popularity within the Labour movement and leave? Why should a clear obstacle towards a better future be preserved within a Labour Party she is clueless to understand?
Like Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Blairite ghouls have crawled out of their tombs to rubbish the new energy and vision that Corbyn’s campaign has created. Tony Blair, Neil Kinnock, Lord Mandelson, Alan Johnson , Frank Field – but we don’t need these people .
Its time for a clear out – the dinosaur neoliberal crowd need to pack their packs and depart for obscurity – the crowds turning out in support of Jeremy Corbyn have pointed the way towards the future.
Those crowds of people don’t want tired old reheats of Blue Labour, New Labour or Neoliberal Labour – they want a modern Labour party engaging with their contemporary concerns about climate change, housing, inequality, and our place in the world.
We can have a modern truly progressive Labour movement of social democracy – but first we must get rid of the dinosaurs of the past – we can start with Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall.
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We need to start talking about the NeoLiberal “Murdoch Tendency” which has hijacked the Labour Party.
I agree that appeasing the right wing MSM has to stop.However the Labour Party must remain a broad church to be successful at this stage.It is incumbent on those on the right of the party,to get behind J Corbin(if he wins),entering the debate from the right of the party is welcome providing the intent is positive ,this has not been the case in the leadership election so far
I applaud the sentiment but I think the time has come for the Blairites to ship out – there is being ‘a broad church’ and being apologists for the neoliberal consensus. I think a split would be healthier – let the right wingers go off and from the aspirational democrats or something.