Jeremy Corbyn Is At The Center Of A Political And Media Whirlwind ...

Mick Hall lauds the arrival of Jeremy Corbyn at the top of the British Labour Party. Mick Hall is a Marxist blogger @ Organized Rage.


Jeremy Corbyn is at the center of a political and media whirlwind and has faced it down, cometh the hour cometh the man.
    
Jeremy Corbyn has been a stalwart of the UK left for over four decades, unlike some Labour MPs he has never acted in a sectarian way nor shied away from working alongside comrades with different political affiliations. A solid left winger, a fine constituency MP, and as Roy Hattersley wrote "he's the type of man were you to join him on a long train journey, would insist on sharing his sandwiches with you."

But never once did I believe he would one day be the leader of the LP, let alone a future prime minister. I regarded him and his close friend and comrade John McDonnell as the quiet men of the UK left. One from a middle class family, the other solidly working class, but no one stays in politics as long as these two without having great stamina and strong political beliefs, and a great desire to change the nation for the better. They're both the antithesis of fiery left wing agitators like Arthur Scargill and George Galloway and all the better for that.

Unlike far to many on the left they both firmly believe given the chance they could govern better than the Thatcherite Tories or Blairite neo liberals. This belief appears to have been formed after the experiences of John McDonnell at the GLC where he became Ken Livingstone's deputy and chair of Finance, responsible for the Greater London Council's massive budget.

In an interview with Ronan Bennett for The Guardian newspaper, John McDonnell described his role during his time as the Chair of Finance, at the GLC: "I saw my job as translating policies into concrete realities on the ground."
 
He further discussed his performance by indicating:

I was a fairly hard-nosed administrator. We set in train policies for which we were attacked from all sides but are now accepted as mainstream: large-scale investment in public services; raising the issue of Ireland and arguing for a dialogue for peace; equal opportunities; police accountability. We set up a women's committee, an ethnic minorities committee.
 
Confident in his socialist beliefs which have changed very little down the years, McDonnell with his experience at the GLC was a perfect fit as shadow chancellor. With a vicious tsunami of neo liberal criticism coming his way, Corbyn needs a safe pair of hands shadowing Osborne's Treasury, The more so as the ending of austerity will be top of the list for the incoming LP government in 2020.

Whether Corbyn or McDonnell, both concluded it's pointless campaigning against injustice and inequality if you are unable to offer up a viable alternative. The main difference between Jeremy's campaign and those of the other three leadership contenders, was he laid out clear policies for the future, while the others relied mainly on PR generated sound bites.

This worked well in the past when everyone played the PR game, but when one of the candidates refused to, it highlighted the weakness of such a strategy and the shallowness of those who continued in the old NL mould.

Let hope we will now see far less of the neo liberal, all enthusiastic, interested, sympathetic, head to one side, hand-wringy, I feel your pain worthy politicians, and far more of the genuine articles. After decades of Tony "I felt the hand of history" Blair and his successors, people have become tired of it, having learnt to spot a fraud hence the popularity of Corbyn.* They understand these neo liberals, whether NL, Lib Dem, or Tory have been spoon fed their script beforehand by their advisors, and it's no longer impressive let alone believable.

The mainstream media

To point out the mainstream media have behaved disgracefully during the leadership contest and continue to, would be an understatement, but totally pointless as it's what they do when owned by a few media moguls and crime families like the Murdoch's. Even with Corbyn's victory they continued to pillar him pointlessly, and its their own impotence which is fuelling much of the media rage. During the leadership contest they've been proven to be ineffective, despite the media resources at their disposal and their lies and smears they failed to lay a finger on Jeremy, let alone a knock out blow. They ranted and raged and in desperation turned their pages over to a totally discredited Tony Blair, not once, not twice, but three times to pour out his spinless neo liberal bile. Rather than gaining traction they help shovel even more votes for Corbyn into the ballot box.

The MSM is more out of touch with reality that it's been for decades, stuffed full with journalists and columnists whose main contacts are amongst the ruling elites within the Westminster bubble. As far as most are concerned, the nation outside the M25 ring might as well be another planet so little do they understand it. Instead of talking to ordinary men and women throughout the land they rely on opinion pollsters to tell them which party or individual is up or down within the putrid neo liberal pool.

There narrow minded shallowness is exposed daily, instead of getting writers on board who come from all classes and are prepared to go out and feel the pulse of Labour and Tory Britain, the Guardian hired neo liberal Tory Rafael Behr and the Telegraph neo liberal NL lout Dan Hodges to tell their readers what they should think. Is it any wonder no one is listening, I doubt either man has a main contact beyond the westminister bubble.

As to David Cameron's end of the world armageddon Tweet after the LP elected Corbyn, in which the PM claimed a Labour government threatens every family’s security makes him sound silly and should make folk question his judgment.**

With Corbyn's election as LP leader the working class and the best elements of the middle classes at long last have gained a Tribune in a position of real power within the parliamentary arena and the naton at large.

Interesting times lay ahead, but with unity and solidity his election can be the catalyst which turns this country around from being a swamp of inequality and class privilege into a nation one feels proud to live in.

 * Tony Blair epitomised this PR speak when he said: “A day like today is not a day for soundbites, we can leave those at home, but I feel the hand of history upon our shoulder with respect to this, I really do.”

 ** read Gary Younge's article on this here

See Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet.

The Guardian reported In total, 16 out of 31 ministers (52%) on Corbyn’s frontbench team are women. This compares with 33% in David Cameron’s current cabinet and 47% in the shadow cabinet that Harriet Harman was leading until last week.



RolePersonGenderAgeRebels*In government cabinet?
LeaderJeremy CorbynM6615.20%Y
ChancellorJohn McDonnellM6413.00%Y
Home secretaryAndy BurnhamM450.70%Y
Foreign secretaryHilary BennM610.30%Y
JusticeCharles FalconerM63N/A lordY
DefenceMaria EagleF540.50%Y
Work and pensionsOwen SmithM450.10%Y
HealthHeidi AlexanderF400.50%Y
Leader of HoCChris BryantM530.70%Y
International DevelopmentDiane AbbottF616.10%Y
Leader of House of LordsAngela SmithF54N/A lordY
Business, first secretary of stateAngela EagleF540.60%Y
Northern IrelandVernon CoakerM620.30%Y
EducationLucy PowellF400.30%Y
TransportLilian GreenwoodF490.10%Y
Environment, food and rural affairsKerry McCarthyF500.40%Y
Communities and local governmentJon TrickettM651.70%Y
WalesNia GriffithF580.30%Y
CultureMichael DugherM400.00%Y
ScotlandIan MurrayM390.30%Y
Energy and climate changeLisa NandyF360.00%Y
Women and equalitiesKate GreenF550.30%Y
Cabinet OfficeTom WatsonM480.70%N
Chief sec. to treasurySeema MalhotraF430.30%N
Chief whipRosie WintertonF570.40%N
Young people and voter registrationGloria De PieroF420.00%N
Mental healthLuciana BergerF340.00%N
Lords chief whipSteve BassamM62N/A lordN
Attorney generalCatherine McKinnellF390.20%N
Minister without portfolioJonathan AshworthM360.10%N
Housing and planningJohn HealeyM550.50%N
 

3 comments:

  1. He is undoubtably a brave man too Mick, for knobbing that Abbott woman if nothing else.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeremy Corbyn forms his first Shadow Cabinet

    The reason why "Jezza" is getting hounded in press is "they" are afraid of him.

    ReplyDelete
  3. They are ot afraid of him at all. They are having a whale of a time and they haven't even started yet. Corbyn is tearing the Labour Party apart.

    ReplyDelete