anniebach If you've watched The Summer that Changed Everything, you will have seen the look of amazement and disappointment on Stephen Kinnock's face during the election when it became clear that the humiliating demise of Corbyn (which of course would have had a profound effect on the Labour Party) as confidently predicted by Kinnock and some of his colleagues, and of course the media, was not happening. It was interesting to see that his wife had to instruct him, word for word, as to how to handle the subsequent inevitable media interviews - emphasizing that he must not mention Corbyn at all. Luckily for him, his vote went up - as did the vote of many other anti-Corbyn MPs - on the back, in my opinion, of a hopeful and positive campaign that challenged the soul-destroying austerity mantra of the right. Also because of the fantastic online campaign that effectively gave voice to many of the issues that have been causing great distress to people in this country. These volunteers also put in enormous amounts of time and effort in telephone and door-to-door canvassing, the majority of it initiated and organised by Momentum.
One of the criticisms of the Labour Party used to be that it was complacent about its core vote and unwilling to substantially oppose Tory policies re, for instance, privatisation, financial and other regulation, etc., for fear of upsetting the rich and powerful and their media friends. Another was that it made little effort to inspire and recruit new members and encourage their participation - and, crucially, that it was organisationally inept.
The Conservative Party used to be quite good at recruiting and retaining members, often through a more social/networking approach than a political one. However, their membership is now waning and consists largely of older people.
If the Conservative Party could pull together an organisation like Momentum, they would be delighted. The few attempts they have made have descended into chaos as contributors made such aggressive and racist comments that the site had to be shut down. The Labour Party has benefitted from new, intelligent, organised and tech-savvy members - many of them young but I don't think that has yet been designated a crime - and their input should, in my view, be welcomed.