TORY VOTERS ARE NO LONGER BEING LED UP THE GARDEN PATH SO EASILY

‘For a very long time, Tory electoral success has been based on a time- honoured trick: persuading the social middle that it has nothing in common with the bottom and indeed kicking poor people around just to reinforce the point… Now many who habitually voted Tory, seem to sense that they are being left behind.’

John Harris, The Guardian

P.S. ‘The events of the last few weeks have done profound damage to the reputation of the of the Conservative Party.’

Gavin Barwell, Chief of Staff to Theresa May, Observer,  2 October 2022.

DÉJÀ VU

‘2011 – the employee bonuses paid out by Goldman Sachs in 2009 were equal to the combined earnings of the world’s 224 million poorest people. The response of the LibDems/Tories was austerity… I have an appalling sense of déjà vu.’

John Battle, former Labour MP and Department of Trade and Industry Minister 1997-99, letter in The Guardian.

SIR KEIR AND DAVID EVANS SLAM THE DOOR SHUT ON FORDE

The Forde Report detailed the factionalism and hostility in the Party, especially at a senior level. Forde makes the plea ‘we believe there is a clear need for individuals to see and treat each other better, regardless of their political views.’ Sadly, the plea has been ignored. The uncomradely behaviour of many in the Parliamentary Labour Party and the factional behaviour of David Evans and his officials means the current intolerant, anti-left  hostility emanating from HQ is as bad, if not worse than, it ever was. This is Forde’s conclusion: ‘We have yet to see evidence that the effects of factionalism have been eliminated from Party recruitment, management and promotion processes.’ Forde Report, page 114.

WHAT LABOUR PARTY FACTIONALISM HAS COME TO MEAN: ONE RULE FOR THE LEFT, ANOTHER FOR THE RIGHT

‘Party members on the left have been suspended/expelled for tweeting/re-tweeting positive things about the Green’s Caroline Lucas and the Plaid Cymru leader. Recently on the occasion of Mike Gapes’ 70th Birthday, Ilford North MP, Wes Streeting, tweeted that Gapes is ‘Ilford’s Finest’ (Note, in the 2019 General Election, Gapes stood for the Change UK Party in Ilford South against Sam Tarry)’.

Labour Briefing (Co-op)

THE ‘NEW COLD WAR’

‘Many in the West, who have been drumming up a “new cold war” with China, take every instance of Beijing’s abuses as proof of a “China threat”, and justification for expanding the national security state. The new cold warriors are not so different from their counterparts a generation ago, who preached that marketisation and free trade would usher in political liberalisation. Both narratives stem from an unabashed belief in the supremacy of their own system. Shifting blame to a faceless foreign “other” is a convenient diversion from raging crises at home.’

Yangyang Cheng, research scholar at Yale Law School, The Guardian.