12th December 2019 was a devastating blow to the Labour Party. It shook the very foundations of the party led by Jeremy Corbyn who championed ultra-left politics. The defeat incurred by Labour was on a scale that broke its very soul. Jeremy Corbyn had no choice but to stand down and that has sparked the race to find the new leader.
Who leads Labour will no doubt decide whether Labour remains a force to reckon with in British politics or not? It will also determine whether it stands any chance of challenging the Tories at the next election. The consensus seems that the Labour at best can achieve some sort of parity with the Tories by the next election. Only that can give them hope of getting back into governance by 2029. Yes, 2029. Shocking to see that in print but that’s how far back Labour is currently.
Emily Thornberry, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Sir Keir Starmer are all hoping to be the chosen one to lead Labour to a new destiny of success. Rebecca Long-Bailey is seen as Jeremy Corbyn 2.0, whilst the others are probably more Labour centrist than out and out Blarites. The current two favourites at this point seem to be Rebecca Long-Bailey and Sir Keir Starmer. The debate now centres around whether Labour will persist with Corbynomics, or whether it has learnt the lesson of the General Election and will choose someone who might be a lot more palatable to the voting public? Whilst I accept all this debate on the candidates is important, I do fear that the fundamentals are being missed. So, let me share my concerns and why I feel no matter who leads Labour, the essential elements that will continue to haunt it, will still remain. Following are the concerns?
A. There is still no evidence that any of the leadership candidates will rid Labour of its antisemitism cancer. There has been much discussion, a lot of rhetoric and plenty of platitudes thrown around. However, the key question, ‘how will you throw out the racists from the party?’ has still not been answered by any of the candidates.
B. I feel the power and control of the ultra-left is still very strong. The public have rejected this type of politics. However, I have yet to find any of the candidates clearly express how they will rid the party of this militancy madness.
C. Appeasement and playing votebank politics. For example, it is clear in my view that Labour has sided very much with the Sunni Muslim voters. This group has the capacity to impact as many as 30 seats. However, their allegiance is with Pakistan which has appeared to force Labour to support the Pakistani narrative on Kashmir and come across as anti-India. None of the candidates have even attempted to address this volatile issue.
The challenge for Labour is to decide what it wants to be for the 21st Century. Either it’s a far-left protest party that will never be elected, or it has to become a true centrist party that will reject all forms of racism and appeasement politics. None of the leadership contestants seem to be ready to tackle the obvious issues. In the end all it will do is prolong the pain until it decides to split and allow each part to champion its ideology without reservation.
In my view, Labour is in need of a Kinnock moment. Someone who can stare the fanatic ideology in the face and call it out publicly. Whoever it is, won’t make it to Number 10, but they will pave way for a Blair 2.0. Is Labour intelligent enough to make the hard choice now, is the big question?
