Christ this Labour leadership is interminable. The hard left’s attempt to drag it out as long as possible to fix it for their Continuity Corbyn candidates is like slowly pouring acid on an open wound. And they’ve failed, their candidates look more and more desperate and ridiculous as time has gone by. Unfortunately the supposed sensible candidates have also managed by and large to screw up persuading people not of the hard left that they are worthy of the job.
I rejoined Jewish Labour to get a vote, as have many people apparently, including my old boss, who asked me a while back “will they accept an atheist Muzzie, cos I’ll join if so?”
So who will I vote for? At this point I’m not even sure I want to vote at all to be honest. Does it deserve saving, this party that I was a member of all my adult life? I’m not convinced it’s a force for good any longer, rather than a career opportunity for some of the very worst people, and a home for cranks, racists and misogynists and those who can’t for the life of them think of any other way of doing politics. Then I think, well, there are some good people left, give them a chance. But I gave them a chance and with a very few exceptions they let us down, they stayed silent, they often campaigned for the cranks, racists and opportunists.
If I do decide to vote though, we can immediately rule out the Corbyn cranks.
Leadership vote
Rebecca Long Bailey
No thanks, the worst of all the candidates, possibly ever, apart from the Magic Grandad himself. Comically gave Corbyn 10/10 for delivering the worst Labour result since 1935 and fawned “I love him so” Get right in the bin with that sort of cultish behaviour, you’re not 14 ffs. She did absolutely nothing to challenge antisemitism, in fact she encouraged it by refusing to endorse the IHRA definition. She also thinks feminists should be expelled from the Labour party for supporting single sex spaces for women, including rape and domestic violence shelters. Sorry, but no, either you genuinely believe that women are beaten, raped, sold, murdered because of their sex or you don’t. If you don’t, you aren’t a feminist and you need some history and biology lessons. You can support the rights of trans people with genuine gender dysphoria while also supporting women’s rights to single sex spaces. I should add that she has the absolute worst people on her campaign team, people who have routinely abused people, calling them melts and nonces. What does that tell you about her judgement?
Lisa Nandy
I was honestly going to put Nandy as my 2nd preference for the leadership but recent fuck ups have reduced that possibility to zero. She is very good on antisemitism and not just in recent hustings, she has spoken out in the past too. I didn’t support her Brexit stance. Before anyone tells me I don’t understand Northern Towns, I’ve lived in one a lot longer than she has. I’m sure she thinks she has to do what her constituents want her to do, but for a national leader, that’s a dangerous game. It’s kind of irrelevant now though, as we are leaving, like it or not, and thanks to the Marrow Man it’s on Tory terms. What I can’t overlook is her dogged refusal to support women. Tired of hearing about the one constituent she knows who is trans and is having difficulty getting treatment. That isn’t a reason to change the law to take away women’s rights to safe spaces. Not only has she publicly declared that a man who raped a child 5 TIMES should be allowed to serve their sentence in a woman’s prison but she signed those appalling and misogynist pledges to expel women for defending their rights. She also seems to have very little understanding of the problems in the prison service and the lack of coherency on trans issues in prisons. Of course she has now tried to row back on this issue, not by saying “I was wrong” but by saying she thought about the misogynist expel women’s group pledges but signed anyway Seriously, what the hell?? How is that either coherent, feminist, or an acceptable level of judgement required in a leader?
Keir Starmer
Starmer is experienced, and intelligent, if somewhat dull. My problems with Starmer are simply that in his dogged pursuit of the fabled “unity” he doesn’t seem prepared to admit that Labour is infested with cranks and racists. Now, I know they’re all pitching their campaigns towards the unrepresentative membership but his repeated assertion that Corbyn is his friend and that he wants to bring all the factions together is worrying. It doesn’t give me any faith in his ability or inclination to rid the party of the hard left infiltrators and crank left that currently have control. He may want to unify with all factions but I have absolutely no intention of voting for a party that welcomes racists, let alone rejoining. At least he didn’t sign those godforsaken pledges. I guess if I vote, it will be reluctantly for him, and we will see if he makes a serious effort to repair the party and actually lead. Who he puts in the shadow cabinet is crucial, and if it contains rabid Corbynites, he will lose all credibility. I need to know he will fix this, and pandering to hard left activists isn’t good enough. We don’t need another Ed Miliband.
Vote: Starmer
Deputy leadership vote
Richard Burgon
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha NO
Dawn Butler
Now we come to Corbyn’s carer in Parliament Another arch Corbynite, who got her job via union patronage. She does seem to position herself where it’s most advantageous to her though, having nominated Corbyn for the leadership while supporting Andy Burnham, then reverting to one of Corbyn’s closest allies. Frankly, she’s isn’t very bright though is she? Just the other day she came up with the ridiculous idea that any MP who disagrees with the leadership should be suspended. Quite a pledge from someone who a) resigned from the shadow cabinet to vote against the whip on Article 50 and b) Supports a man who voted against the leader over 500 times. Hypocrisy or stupidity, you decide. Then there was the Barbie moment. Yes, Butler thinks we are all born completely sexless like Barbie. These are not people who should be making laws.
Angela Rayner
Don’t bother telling me Rayner isn’t a Corbynite candidate. She is a careerist, who has done and will continue to do whatever gets her where she wants to be. She supports Wrong Daily, in fact she shares a flat with her. She served Corbyn without a second thought. She called the antisemitism that has infested the party a smear. Anyway, I don’t trust anyone who owes their career to cosying up to the unions. Too many are happily puppets of the union leaderships, who, by dint of the apathy of union members, are too often dominated by the hard left. Ideally I want someone who has done something for the community, not just their own career, or the Labour party. She has made the occasional noise about being grateful for things the last Labour govt did, and I know the place she grew up so there’s no doubt she had a tough upbringing. I just don’t see her as an independent thinker and I genuinely have no idea why she has so much support from supposed moderates. You simply can’t ignore the fact she’s enthusiastically supported the Corbyn project and her record on antisemitism is dire, see the Finkelstein Affair and went on the BBC a year ago to deny Labour had a problem with antisemitism. For that alone she should not be elected.
Rosena Allin-Khan
I really ought to be able to vote for Allin-Khan, but her social media antics have put me off. The appearing in scrubs with stethoscope round her neck thing really grates, just as doctors ranting at people on Tube trains. Yes, yes, you work for the NHS, we get it. A lot of us do, but we don’t feel the need to wear scrubs in public to prove our dedication *rolls eyes really hard*. You’re not an A&E doctor, you’re an MP who does some shifts in A&E. Banging on about karaoke in Parliament, stop it, not everything is a joke. Of course she was quite serious about throwing women to the wolves by signing those misogynist pledges committing to expelling feminists. She won’t mind though, because she’s already told me not to vote for her in a Tweet “if you want to trash the great steps we’ve taken in recent years to become a truly anti-austerity party – don’t vote for me” There were no great steps about anything so ok I won’t.
Ian Murray
Oh look, an actual sensible person. The only Scottish Labour MP, he has promised zero tolerance for bullying, harassment and antisemitism and I actually believe him. The only one who hasn’t pandered to the hard left and has been honest about why Labour lost. Even better, he doesn’t think calling Tory voters bastards when you need them to vote for you is a terribly good idea. Of course this has led to the army of Corboids denouncing him as a Tory. So boringly predictable. He appears smart, and knows how to win against the nationalists. Gets my vote by dint of being a realist.
Vote: Murray