Analysis

GE there to be won – or lost if MPs and campaigners stray from real issues and Labour’s vision

General election is about down-to-earth, bread-and-butter issues facing country blighted by almost a decade of Tory austerity. Any Labour supporter who strays onto any other topic is letting down movement and country
Policy and vision – Labour’s key to general election victory

With Labour set to support tomorrow’s general election bill – subject to a small number of safeguards for voters – an election is likely, though not certain, to take place before Christmas.

Labour will fight the election on the real issues facing the country and its vision for reversing the poverty, misery and slashed, sold-off public services, with a manifesto that will eclipse even the transformative policies of 2017.

On that ground, Labour wins.

Labour seats at risk if MPs and campaigners stray from real issues and Labour’s vision

Any – any – Labour MP or campaigner who makes the election about other issues will be failing both the movement and a country that desperately needs a Labour government.

No matter how senior.

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27 comments

  1. This is a battle on territory not of Labour’s choosing – quite deliberately so because the two factions of the ruling class, those represented on the one hand by Farage, the ERG, sections of small business and latterly by Bojo, and on the other hand by finance capital, the banks, big business and politicians like Hammond, Grieve, Swinson, Sturgeon, Blair, Campbell – and more recently (objectively) Thornberry and Starmer (and perhaps even McDonnell) are divided by their attitudes to the EU but united in their desire to prevent a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn on a left programme. Of course we should fight the election on a manifesto for socialism in Britain (though we haven’t seen it yet) and a continued commitment to respect the 2016 referendum result but Bojo is betting on Labour being sidelined whilst he makes the election into a a 2nd referendum – between him and the Lib Dems: frankly, if he succeeds, the bourgeoisie will be delighted, no matter who wins.

  2. Methinks
    When you have them by the balls then surely their hearts and minds sill follow,
    I’m assuming the manifesto is the glue that will keep us all together and no one could seriously contemplate letting Cummings glove puppet win
    There would be a special place in hell for those individuals, certainly they would be hounded out of public life by membership and supporters
    Stick to the day job and be part of history, we have a chance to finish the cheap and nasty Tory party

  3. This just wrong. No matter how well-intentioned it is wrong. I’m calling it.

    Secondly, that list of MPs is wrong. Some are at risk, some not. But they need to be able to play Brexit in a way that suits their seat.

    So unlike you, Steve. 😐

    Even in my inner London seat, the two wards of Abbey and Glyndon are likely to haemorrhage votes on the MP’s foolishly gung-ho remain stance. There are very few LibDem votes left to mop up, and still fewer Green ones.

  4. We now have the sorry picture of the Labour Party destroying itself from within when if the correct path had been taken from the start we would not now be in this mess.

    Our position from the outset, when Cameron proposed the referendum to save his Party, should have been simple. It was to assess whether Brexit would be beneficial or detrimental to the country. By any measure, it was obvious that with any form of Brexit the country would suffer. Having made that clear decision and knowing how the referendum had been rigged, we should have made the decision to continue campaigning to Remain. There have been many instances in the the past when the majority have been wrong. This was certainly one of those situations.

    Instead, we allowed two main factions to form to pull the Party away from the rest of us in a tug of war. On one hand we had the right wing/Zionists and on the other the deluded Lexiters. These two groups of wreckers have been fighting it out whilst the vast bulk of Socialists who care more about the country and the Party have looked on with incredulity whilst the two warring gangs tore strips off each other.

    It has now been left to the duplicitous Lib Dems and Labour cast-offs to make the running whilst we stand on the sidelines.

    And Skwawky, as you are a member of one of the factions, don’t dare tell me it’s people like me who have caused it!

    1. How dare you lump together Left wing leavers with right wing /Zionists.I have just today been suspended,with immediate effect, from the party for violating rule 2.1.8,the good old catch all,and it wasn’t a “lexiter” whose complaint made behind the usual “curtain”with no evidence quoted to me,it will be a right wing/Zionist scumbag.In spite of the many arguments I have had with those on the leave side,never once have I thought my membership was in danger.I have always felt it was from the Zionists,and their fellow travellers.I think an apology is in order from you.I immediately resigned from the party,I will not be subject to the kangaroo court of the “Witch Hunters”.

      1. John, that’s not what I said at all. I said there are wreckers at each end of the spectrum. Zionists plus right wingers on one end and deluded Lexiters at the other end. They are poles apart but both of them, for different reasons are damaging Labour’s electoral chances.

        Sorry to hear you have been suspended. You too are one of the many who have found that the witch hunt continues and there is no due process in the Labour Party.

      2. Good luck john Thatcher..and remember they can’t suspend what you think or what you do.And yes their really are some mean lowlifes in the Labour party who wish to curtail debate and freedom…solidarity comrade

  5. 3 critical moves that could swing the GE
    If Cummings glove puppet runs on anything other than a No Deal manifesto then Brexit party will destroy them
    If we waiver on conference policy, towards remain then Brexit party will destroy us
    Time to reclaim Scotland, make it crystal clear that Labour will support another independence referendum when public opinion shows a consistent demand for it of 60% plus,
    If there is such a demand Labour will bend over backwards to facilitate a smooth transition to maintain the closest possible relationship with Scotland that will cause the least economic damage,
    In the meantime there will be a devolution revolution with transfer of greater powers that cannot be reversed in the future by Tories,

  6. Doug. Whether or not Scotland wants to leave the Union is intimately bound to the Brexit issue and we could deal with both very easily. On the basis that it is very rarely wrong to do the right thing, it must be obvious to all but the wreckers that Brexit in any form is madness. Consequently, we should campaign for Remain, which would automatically keep Scotland on-side.

    1. You cannot ignore half the country and expect to win a GE,
      The ‘Peoples Vote’ has imploded for perfectly good reasons, it’s not democratic,
      Until we honour result then sometime in the future you get to campaign to rejoin,
      That’s democracy folks, least worst option

      1. Doug, it’s not a question of ignoring them, it’s a question of campaigning to show them they were conned by Farage and Cummings.

      2. “You cannot ignore half the country and expect to win a GE”

        Doug – Have you recognised the irony of what you’ve just written? Currently, it is the Remain half of the country that has been ignored by both government and opposition.

        And, I won’t wrap it up, the notion that another vote is ‘undemocratic’ is just plain loopy, moronic nonsense. That Brexiteers peddle it is a symptom of the wider addled nonsense that they support in place of intelligent argument.

      3. , it’s a question of campaigning to show them they were conned by Farage and Cummings.

        Kindly refrain from telling me my reason(s) why I voted leave. You have NO fucking idea (On anything)

        People have their own reasons for wanting out. farange and cummings were a small part of people’s decision(s) and not the entire reason.

        You don’t have to be a cummings or farange acolyte to vote the same way as they did.

        Example

        You vehemently dislike LFI, and watson’s one of them. But you happily allowed watson to act like andemocratic twunt to get you your 2nd ref with remain option. (That’s as well as ignoring a democratic referendum result by the way)

        See your hypocrisy? (A rhetorical question – I’d be better off trying to teach a bathplug to do alegbra in mandarin ffs)

  7. “Any – any – Labour MP or campaigner who makes the election about other issues will be failing both the movement and a country that desperately needs a Labour government”

    …and when the electorate doesn’t choose to go along with your ‘cunning plan’ and has the temerity to bring up the main issue of our time?

    To quote Lloyd Russell-Moyle
    “Brexit is a billionaire con. Why would anyone in Labour support it?”

  8. Started day with Ian McNicol on Sky and finished with Owrn Smith on Newsnight,
    Fundamental mistake, are we not capable of at least putting up spokespeople that we can rely on

    1. Apparently not. Maybe this is a clue as to why Jeremy decided to re-organize his office.

    2. Doug, the Parties often don’t put up spokespeople, the broadcasters invite them.

      1. Jack T, I’m sure you’re right that broadcasters invite those they want – and Labour would need to be united to sanction MP’s who speak to the media out of turn.
        The appearance of an undisciplined pantomime suits the dregs of New Labour perfectly, given the c**ts prefer Johnson or Swinson to Corbyn.
        It’d probably take a night of the long knives to fix everything at a stroke – we’re socialists not Blairites, Fascists or Tories though so we only have democracy to work with – I suppose…?

  9. 99% of people we speak to will be earning less than £80k, so in or out of the EU they’re better off with Labour.
    Hand out the manifesto 200+ and explain how unimportant brexit is when Labour’s offering nothing less than a green jobs renaissance.
    Point out that the new jobs will go as much as possible to where old jobs were lost – the North & the Midlands, not London and the South East.

    Point out that automation, export of jobs to the far East, free movement of labour and “inward investment” only increased company profits marginally – by a tiny amount compared to the massive gains they’ll make from putting everybody else out of work as AI’s abilities grow – but that only happens if they’re in charge.
    Point out that if the Tories are in government when AI happens we lose everything including all semblance or pretence of democracy.
    The argument will be that those who don’t create the future don’t have the right to choose it. It might be imposed or even, with precise timing, done “democratically” – the 52% still in work vote to disenfranchise the “lazy & unproductive” 48% they resent. Then the 52% can safely be fired and disenfranchised too.

    Election all about brexit? Not hardly.
    BlowJob’s gone from “I will” to “We must” in a few weeks.
    “Pretty pleeeze” before christmas – taking bets now 🙂

  10. Two things are for sure :

    1. Brexit *will* contaminate any election.

    2. Ritual incantations like this Skwawkbox effort – denying the above -will do nothing to aid a win. Doorstep campaigning will – if it brings lost votes back onside and stops suggesting that Brexit is other than a damaging Tory ploy.

    1. RH, of course brexit will contaminate any election and Skwawkbox didn’t claim otherwise. Neither did I for what little that matters.
      That’s no reason not to emphasise the other important issues that are being ignored because the two sides are mired in the intellectual quicksand of brexit. Fighting each other just gets people stuck harder so something else is needed – in quicksand it’s a blast of air to break the suction, here it can only be fresh thinking.
      There is no fresh thinking on brexit.
      Everything has already been thunk and already been said ad fucking nauseam.
      When there’s no possibility of agreement between friends they
      CHANGE THE FUCKING SUBJECT.

      I actually see brexit as more like intellectual treacle or molasses than quicksand – but the air blast analogy wouldn’t work and we’d be fucked and I’m trying to be optimistic for once.

      1. No fundamental disagreement. Just a disparity in the degree of optimism if an election gets forced before Christmas.

      2. Oh, I’m not saying I’m optimistic about a prexmas or even a prexit election – just saying we need to talk to people about the stuff that’s most important – stuff about which nobody but Left Labour has an inkling of a hint of a clue.

  11. Drop the in out argument or suffer at leisure after an election defeat.We have an election campaign to fight and win,or the Corbyn socialist revival will be buried for ever… Last chance Comrades.!

    1. Joseph, whether we like it or not, we cannot brush the most imortant event of our time under the carpet. This potential vandalism of our constitution is the question I’m most often asked about on the doorstep.

  12. Even Tories sometimes get it right :

    “Phillip Hammond has said Boris Johnson’s general election plan is an attempt to fundamentally shift the party to the right.”

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