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luke
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: by the sea
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 Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 12:54 pm Post subject: Don't mention the war (or anything else) |
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| Quote: | Mark Steel: Don't mention the war (or anything else)
Even the election for deputy leader is pointless, as all the candidates agree about everything
Published: 16 May 2007
The Independent
That's a splendid achievement by the Labour Party to assemble such a bunch of candidates for the deputy leadership. Because nowhere else could you gather together six different people, and find they all support the war in Iraq and think Tony Blair is a marvellous bloke.
Poor John McDonnell, the anti-war MP, is even struggling to be a candidate for leader. So there's one person willing to stand who didn't support their most disastrous policy ever, and they say "Oh go away, you're not being realistic." Imagine if any other job interview went like this.
The panel would ask if, in your last job, you supported anything that led to widespread destruction, and if you hadn't they'd say: "Oh dear. Well, we're really looking for someone who maybe burned down their office because, hand on heart, they thought it was right to do so. I suppose we could accept someone who did it but then later bitterly regretted it, but to have not done it all, well, I'm afraid you really aren't suitable."
The irony is that if John stood to lead almost any organisation other than the one he's in, he'd do much better. Ornithology societies, the Scouts, Bristol City Supporters Club, the Women's Institute, any random group would probably accept that an amiable chap who's spent his life supporting the poorest and hard-done-by should be on the ballot paper. But the party set up for working people thinks: "Sod that, he'll be an embarrassment when he meets Rupert Murdoch and George Bush."
The Labour Party must be getting so distanced from the rest of the country that it believes the coverage of their departing leader. Which is why, when he excused his support for Bush with: "Hand on heart, I thought it was right," they all clapped. What for? Did they think he might say: "Here, I knew it would be a disaster even when I did it but I couldn't help it 'cos I'm a bit mental."
And anyone else could see through the supposedly spontaneous outpouring of love for Blair as he strolled up to the Labour Club. But party members must have honestly thought this was a collection of Geordies running on to the streets screaming: "Never mind the bookies, I'm gan doon Labour Club to pay me respects, like, but forst let me make up banner sayen: 'Thanks for maykin' ma life worth livin, 'cos it was reet shite till you arrived, like'."
The only other people who failed to spot this was a contrived media event, involving a handful of selected vetted guests, appeared to be the media itself. I expected the commentators to shriek: "Oh, and there's a litter of grateful kittens who've come out to wave him goodbye with 'We love Tony' tattooed on their paws. Well he certainly has always been very popular among kittens." John McDonnell, by slight contrast, is pictured on his campaign website on a picket line with strikers from Gate Gourmet, who were sacked from their low-paid jobs for not leaving their union. We're unlikely to see Gordon Brown in a similar pose, as he told the CBI we must "celebrate entrepreneurs", such as the ones who sacked the staff of Gate Gourmet presumably.
Labour is so enmeshed in the world of big business and media manipulation that they don't seem to understand people like John McDonnell at all. So when they're asked about him, they behave like these doctors in a science fiction film, when they come across an alien with no heart, saying: "It's extraordinary. He has no driving personal ambition to be famous or rich, no wish to go on holiday at the house of a Bee Gee, I can't work out how he stays alive."
Some of them seem worried that a proper leadership contest would make them look too Old Labour with the voters. Because if someone has a similar stance on the war as the head of the British army, the party that's just won the election in Scotland, the US Democratic Party and 70 per cent of the population, that would clearly be such an electoral liability that they shouldn't even be allowed to stand.
Many Labour members are terrified that any hint of disunity will make them unpopular, so it's best to get behind the new leader, no matter what he says or does. Because then the voters will say: "They may have cost hundreds of thousands of lives, but at least they all went along with it."
So even the election for deputy leader is pointless, as all the candidates agree about everything. Not one mentions the war, the decline in membership of 200,000, the record low turn-out, nothing. Instead Hazel Blears said: "The strength of Labour is when we're in touch with people's concerns." And Harriet Harman replied: "We must renew the party and rebuild the confidence and trust of the British people." Maybe Peter Hain will chip in with: "I think the British people are people." Then Alan Johnson will intercept: "Hmmmm, British people," until there's a hustings with all six yelling "people" and the loudest is the winner.
If John McDonnell does get on the ballot, then even if he doesn't win, (which must be a possibility), at least there'll be a debate, in which he could do well in the trade unions, even if the MPs are stitched up and the local branches are defunct.
Or maybe this is all a plan to help people sitting the citizenship tests that Gordon Brown is so keen on. When refugees who've fled Somalia or the Congo get taught about our system, they'll say: "Ah, so your unpopular warmonger leader retires and puts his deputy in charge without a vote - I'm feeling much more at home already." |
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Mandy
Joined: 07 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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| No wonder New Labour is "done for" |
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faceless
admin
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 1:07 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm moving this in the Galloway section Luke as it's not really international in any sense. |
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