If you’ve never heard of Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Ten Pledges’, you could be forgiven – but they’re at the heart of Labour’s electoral chances.
Unlike the usual political double-speak, they are clear, concise and written in ordinary, everyday English:
What’s more, they genuinely speak to the core concerns of the vast majority of the UK’s people. Communicating them, clearly and effectively, to the population-at-large would have a massive impact on the credibility of Labour as a party of government, while at the same time harnessing the undisputed desire of British people for something different, distinctive and authentic as an antidote to the message-managed, slick, insincere ‘more of the same’ politics we’ve grown used to – and sick of.
The ten pledges, unlike the notorious and ill-conceived ‘Ed Stone’ unveiled by Miliband’s Labour during the 2015 election campaign, are conspicuously down to earth, grounded and real.
They’re also conspicuous by their complete absence from Labour’s official website – and its Twitter feed – although they receive a solitary, passing mention on Labour’s Facebook page. As long as you scroll down many screens-worth of posts to 5 Nov.
The image above is taken from the website run by Corbyn’s own campaign team, jeremyforlabour.com – which receives no funding from the Labour party. Yet on the official party website and Twitter feed, nothing.
Similarly, the pledges are never mentioned by the seemingly endless procession of right-wing Labour MPs, who are rolled out by the media in preference to Corbyn’s supporters in the parliamentary party so that they can claim ‘balance’ without giving Corbyn a voice in the mainstream media.
Worryingly, this ties in with reports the SKWAWKBOX is receiving – on which more will follow shortly – that indicate deputy leader Tom Watson’s ‘Project Anaconda’ is alive and well.
Watson’s plan, as revealed by leaked emails, is to kill Corbyn’s leadership in the same way a constrictor kills its prey – by squeezing ever tighter in a ‘ratchet’ motion that only moves one way, missing no opportunity to constrict and treating every concession as a platform to go further:
Whoever handles Labour’s Twitter feed could, ridiculously, find time for inane #teamglitterballs tweets during the former Shadow Chancellor’s run on the BBC’s ‘Strictly’ show – who was using that platform to undermine the party to even the worst of the right-wing press and has continued to do so on TV and in print at every opportunity.
But the party’s most important electoral proposition? Apparently that’s a bit too far down the to-do list.
This approach is a strong indication that, in a complete reversal of their publicly-stated position, it’s the party’s right-wing – and the party ‘machine’ it pervades – cares nothing about electability and everything for control of the party at any cost.
Balls and Watson no longer have any place in the Labour party and should be expelled immediately for bringing it into clear disrepute – not to mention complete contempt for its democratic processes and the wishes of the vast majority of its members.
In the opinion of this blog, the same goes for whomever has been running the party’s website and social media and any so-called ‘moderates’ who refuse, as they love to put it, to be ‘on message’.
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