Oh Jeremy Corbyn
What is there to say about the National Executive Committee’s decision to block Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate? At this point there was nothing else Starmer could do. His entire strategy has been to distance himself from the left as much as possible.
And can we fault him? The polls look good, and who knows how much damage the Tories could have inflicted on Labour if they were still seen as a somewhat corbynite party.
Personally, I don’t really care if Jeremy Corbyn is an member of parliament. He will be a great campaigner for social justice whether he is in Westminster or not, and he will be a great MP whether he has the Labour whip or not. What is disgusting is how the democratic rights of Islington North CLP have been ignored. Even more sickening is the arrogant responses that those on the right of the NEC have issued.
Still, the time for factionalism is over, and while it is right to criticise this authoritarian move by Starmer and the NEC, winning the General Election remains paramount.
Starmer has done a good job in appealing to centre-right voters, especially on social issues, and his client journalists will continue to woo soft-left liberals. His strategy seems to have been paying off - Labour are no longer accused of being a hard left or antisemitic party. Instead they are the party of business, social order and common sense.
Labour had to bar Corbyn, and if they deliver socialist policy once elected, it will have been worth it. I do believe that Keir is personally a socialist, but if he continues to empower the overtly anti-socialist bureaucrats within the party, he will not be able to deliver leftist reforms. Those bureaucrats played a significant role in bringing Corbyn down, and they won’t hesitate to do the same to Starmer if he strays too far left.
Remember, electoral success has never been their concern. The factional moderates have always been just as ideological as the Corbynistas. A good campaign in 2017 did not stop the Labour bureaucracy praying for a disaster result or diverting funds away from marginal seats. Likewise, a good election result in 2017 did not stop the smear campaign that followed.
