As Labour defies all the pundits Brighton Kemptown is gained with a 10,000 majority
The Pundits predicted the largest
Tory majority since 1983 if not before.
Labour’s Right, the Zionists and Progress, did their best to distance
themselves from Jeremy Corbyn.
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| 7 weeks ago when the polls predicted a massive Tory majority I stood out and said Labour could win and that a hung parliament was most likely |
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| five days ago, this blog was alone in suggesting a Labour victory despite the polls showing an increasing Tory majority |
Results like Canterbury, which
Labour hasn’t held since 1918, are even more fantastic.
The interview of the night was
with John Woodcock, who had said at the beginning of the election campaign that
under no circumstances could he support Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister. Tonight he was speechless.
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| Expenses champion Joan Ryan, Labour Friends of Israel Chair, demonstrated that her first loyalty was to Israel not the Labour Party |
Less than a week ago, the
Blairite Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, Joan Ryan MP, had demonstrated her
loyalty to Labour by stating that
Theresa May was guaranteed to win a majority. Ryan’s only claim to fame in Parliament,
apart from backing Apartheid Israel is having won a hard fought campaign in
2007 to claim the most expenses of any MP.
Unfortunately she was the runner up in 2008. When booted out by her constituents in 2010
she spent time doctoring and deleting any mention of expenses from her
Wikipedia entry.
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| The vilest tabloid campaign rebounded |
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| Vile and viler - the Tory tabloids were so bad that only a complete idiot would be taken in |
Peter Kyle, the allegedly Labour
MP for Hove was clear
throughout his campaign that people should vote for him despite Jeremy
Corbyn.
This result is above all a defeat
for the Labour Right and Tom Watson et al. It is a major defeat for the Labour
Right which pursued a policy of austerity lite.
Liz Kendall, Blair and uncle Tom Cobley believed Labour should cowtow to
the ‘aspiring’ middle class.
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| Peter Kyle, the Progress MP for Hove, was another Israel supporter who tried to stab Jeremy Corbyn in the back |
What is remarkable about this
victory and it is a victory is that in the wake of the vilest attack by the
gutter Tory press, Corbyn came out enhanced.
Why?
There is no doubt that in being
bold and radical Corbyn appealed to working class people, not least in the
North. Despite the predictions of the
pundits Corbyn appealed to maybe 50% of UKIP voters and in some constituencies
even more. The other major factor was
the appeal to young and student voters.
There is no doubt that the youth vote came out overwhelmingly for Corbyn. The stale and jaundiced campaign of ‘strong
and stable’ Theresa May backfired spectacularly. This night was the revenge of the youth.
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| Lloyd Russell-Moyle gains Brighton Kemptown with a nearly 10,000 majority |
Only this blog
predicted,
7 weeks ago that a hung parliament. I
wrote:
‘It
was Harold Wilson who said that a week is a long time in politics. Seven
weeks is a political eternity. Theresa May has taken a gamble that her
21% lead will hold. It is a gamble that she may yet come to regret.
There is only one direction that her
lead can go and that is down. Once her lead falls then a snowball effect
can take over. What is essential is that Labour marks out the key areas
on which it is going to base its appeal. The danger is that Corbyn is going
to continue with his ‘strategy’ of appeasing the Right and appealing to all
good men and women. If so that will be a recipe for disaster.
No election is
guaranteed to be without its surprises. Theresa May is a cautious
conservative. She is literally the product of her background, a
conservative vicar’s daughter. Reactionary, parochial and small-minded,
she is a bigot for all seasons. What doesn’t help is that she is both
wooden and unoriginal. The danger is that Corbyn tries to emulate her.
The key question is
whether or not Corbyn can rise to the occasion. Over the past 18 months
his performance has been little short of dire. There is point in
pretending otherwise. The question is whether he will rise to the
occasion as he showed glimpses of doing during the leadership election last
summer.’
Five days ago I repeated
this message.
‘It would be
a mistake for people to be over confident at the fact that the Tories made
major slip-ups over things like the Dementia Tax, taking food of children’s
tables etc. It is clear that the Tories and the Mainstream Media (BBC et
al.) are going hell for leather over the question of Corbyn’s devotion to the
State, be it Ireland, Terrorism or Trident.
The essence
of what I wrote was correct. The Tory lead has shrunk. My
fears that Corbyn might backtrack have not come to pass in the economic
sphere. Labour’s manifesto was unexpectedly radical. But in one
particular area, the State and Security, Corbyn has retreated from all the
things be has believed in in the past.’
What the
Left must not do is to appease or
capitulate to the Right. On the contrary
we should be extending what was a radical manifesto to raise things like
workers control of industry, diversification of the arms industry into useful
production. On housing we should be even
more explicit. Rent controls, not right
to evict tenants on whim. Indeed the end
of private landlordism should be on the agenda.
The other
thing that the Corbyn left must do is to capture the Labour Party machine. Ian McNicol and the apparatchiks must be
given their marching orders. No longer
must relics of Blairites tear up the democracy of the Labour Party. Fake leftists like Anne Black should be removed
from the National Executive. The bogus ‘anti-Semitism’
campaign must be ended. This idea that
we beat ourselves up over a mythical ‘Jewish’ vote (itself an anti-Semitic concept)
because Labour must not be seen to oppose the racist, apartheid State of Israel
must end. All the suspensions must also
be ended forthwith. Ken Livingstone,
Jackie Walker, Mel Melvin (the Womens Officer of Brighton Kemptown), Riad al
Taher and of course myself should be reinstated immediately and if the representatives of the Israeli state
in the Labour Party, the Jeremy Newmarks of the Jewish Labour Movement, don’t
like it then they should depart.
What we also
saw tonight was the utter failure of the Liberal-Democrats to make any
impression despite their position on Brexit.
I would suggest that their failure was not to get traction over Europe but
the memory of their broken promises and treachery as part of the coalition with
the Tories. This was symbolised in the
defeat of Nick Clegg and the near defeat of Tim Farron, their current leader,
who won his own Westmorland seat by only 777 votes.
If the SNP hadn’t make the stupid
decision to campaign for a second referendum, ignoring the clear result two
years ago, then they would not have suffered the heavy defeat, over 1/3 of
their seats in Scotland. If the SNP hadn’t
lost about 10 seats to the Tories, then a Labour government would have been
much more likely.
However although Theresa May may
be able to cobble together a government with the support of the racist
sectarians of the Democratic Unionist Party, a fitting representative of the
worst of Northern Ireland politics, her own position is untenable. Any government that the Tories form will be
inherently unstable. Another General
Election is likely within a year.
Theresa May is not likely to last very long. Jeremy Corbyn’s position is now almost
unassailable. The whole question of
Brexit is up for grabs. Despite the
humiliating defeat of the Lib-Dems, a hard Brexit is now dead.
Unfortunately I didn’t put any
money on my bets 7 weeks ago. I left it
to the beginning of this week. However
it will provide a good meal out and some spare change!
Tony Greenstein
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