What now for Labour Party ?

Grandad

I think we accept that the Unions/Momentum have the control over the Labour Party and the Parliamentary Labour Party MP's have had to accept that, they lost the argument and failed to eject Corbyn as Leader in their attempted coo some time back.

I think it is fair to say that we agree the voting of the new Leader is now in the hands of the membership and Unions /Momentum and the odds are stacked in the favour of those who backed Corbyn/McDonnell economics. They obviously want a new Leader who will continue to promote the far left vision of how they perceive the UK should become eg ' The Big State'.

My question is :-

There are times when the Membership/Momentum are at odds with the Unions, I will refer to the acrimony over the vote at the Labour Conference between the 2 factions over the ' Green New Deal'. There are I believe at times a disagreement between the Unions but Unite are inevitably the most powerful and is the spokesperson because of the clout it holds.

Do you think the Unions and Momentum will be able to forge the alliance required to gain the numbers over the membership who just maybe well gain in strength and mirror the resurgence when Corbyn became Leader and brought back those who favoured the old days of Militant Tendency but in reverse rejoin to recapture the center ground. Do you see that as a possibility given the time before the Leadership contest is over?

Do you think the Unions ' pulling the plug' on the Parliamentary Labour Party MP's who they deem Blairites/centre of Labour will be seen by the wider Labour Electorate outside of the Political machine/establishment as so bad / traitorous they could kill off the Labour Party as it is now for years if that is the action taken by the Unions?

Is it not a gamble that could happen and is it worth it to continue to pursue far left policies the Labour voters turned their back on in the 80's and 2017/2019?

Yehbutnobut, in my post @14:05 today I was not thinking in terms of direct support and financing of Labour MPs. I was thinking in terms of the support and financing of the party infrastructure that surrounds those MPs.

Many constituency Labour Parties make use of trade union buildings for their meetings etc, and even have the use of there IT systems to carry out the needs of a modern day highly active party.

The above does not come cheap, but the constituency Labour Parties get that all for free due to their very many decades links to the trades unions.

The above is true support by those unions which during the Blair era was not even responded to by way of relaxing any of the numerous anti-trade union bills brought in by the Thacher and Major administrations.

Even today we have the Rail Guards dispute which even the Health & Safety Executive has stated is a major safety issue. However, not one Labour MP outside of McDonald and Corbyn has publicly spoken out in support of the rail workers and the NUR.

So, is it then any wonder that many in the trade union movement would wish for the "plug to be pulled" on the Parliamentary Labour Party.

There wasn't much fundamentally wrong with McDonnell's economics. If you dig down, Johnson is promising something very similar. Labour didn't lose the election on economic issues.

Growstuff

Oh yes it did.

It was a huge part of why Labour was abandoned by it's heartland, the electorate gave it a drubbing.

It was throwing money around like confetti and don't bother mentioning the ruddy ' Grey Book' or it was accepted as fiscally accurate or even deflecting what the other parties Manifestos said.

Labour lost because it was too far to the left, the electorate did not like Corbyn nor did they believe it had a sound economic plan or were even fiscally competent.

If they did Labour would not have lost so many seats.

Why do you think a Labour lost for heavens sake.

POGS, Labour lost the General Election because of Brexit. Having a large leave supporting base in the North of England while having an equally large remain base among Labour supporters in the South of England was never going to be realistically bridgable.

That was very much the main reason Labour lost the General Election, all the rest is secondary to that. However, it is very important in regard to the future of the whole Labour movement now.

Well, Tony Blair says the reason they lost was down to Jeremy Corbyn. Just been on the News.

Yes the Blair of Zero Hours contracts, Gig Economy Working, the Iraq War, the British end of the Banking Crisis, while cosying up to those Bankers, wealthy tax-dodging non-doms and even Rupert Murdoch.

The Labour Movement will not be turning to the likes of Blair or anyone in his policy image, that I feel is sure.

Should Blair wish to see the right of the Parliamentary Labour Party get anywhere at all in the coming months he would do very well to stay right out of Labour affairs at this point in time.

Saying Corbyn is toxic, while Blair himself is even more toxic to very many in todays Labour movement.

Blair won 3 consecutive elections. Corbyn lost 2.

Anniebach, Blair did not head a Labour socialist government, he ran a Tory light government such as the Labour Movement will never contemplate the likes of having again.

Thank you Grandad1943. I'd rather support an opposition party with solid principals than a corrupt government. For me, it isn't Labour at any length. Which is WHY I admired Jeremy.

Grandad

May I ask was your reply to my post of 17.17 or 1809 or covered both.

POGS, I thought I covered both, apologies if I appear to have not.

grandsd43 so we may never see the Labour Party win three consecutive elections again.

The country chose a Tory light government from 1997 to 2010, !

I would rather see a Labour Party that is electable, that the majority of people in this country vote for. What's the point of an opposition party with solid principles if it can't stop a government with a huge majority wreaking havoc on public services, the poor and vulnerable.
My experience of working in deprived areas during the early years of the Blair government was positive. People no longer felt they didn't matter, they were enthusiastic about the family centres, libraries, midwives, health visitors, generic social work representatives in their new community schools.
Yes I know about Iraq, unforgivable.
Years of tory neglect left hospitals/schools seriously neglected. I recognise the criticism of funding.
I' d rather be working with those families in the 90's when we had support services for children and families, drug/alcohol treatments, (almost) enough police/nurses etc.
I genuinely don't get the need for purity rather than a more centre left government that actually meets the needs of our society and is acceptable to the majority of society

Anniebach, the country chose Zero Hours contracts, Gig Economy Working, the Iraq War, the British end of the Banking Crisis, while their government was cosying up to those Bankers, wealthy tax-dodging non-doms and even Rupert Murdoch.

I will accept that large numbers of Labour suporter did not realise it was that the were voting for at that time.

Well said Iam

grandsd43 you keep repeating the same untruth .

Zero hours contracts and the gig economy were not brought in by the Blair government

You accuse voters of not knowing what they were voting for
from 1997 to 2010 .

The far left nonsense yet again

I do think some of you are over-reaching yourselves. The new LP leader will be chosen by the Labour Party. It really doesn't matter, when it comes to this particular ballot, what you think.

Labour’s membership has risen by an estimated 50,000 since the start of the election, and it spiked by 24,000 since polling day. It is these people who will decide.

Thank you GracesGranMK3. Great post.

GG and Gagajo

Maybe the increase in membership is to try to steer the Labour Party away from the Corbyn /Momentum faction back to the centre/centre left. In other words hoping for a reversal of power away from the far left members who joined when Corbyn became Leader and Momentum formed and took control of the Labour Party.

As I asked grandad :-

" Do you think the Unions and Momentum will be able to forge the alliance required to gain the numbers over the membership who just maybe well gain in strength and mirror the resurgence when Corbyn became Leader and brought back those who favoured the old days of Militant Tendency but in reverse rejoin to recapture the center ground. Do you see that as a possibility given the time before the Leadership contest is over?

They could of course be from the far left hoping for Labour to get a new Leader in Corbyns image, who knows.

Very good post Iam. It's so sad that services have basically ceased to exist.

, membership increased 24,000 since polling day, so an increase when Corbyn lost

We were asked our opinions on a thread on a grandparents' forum and no, we are not voting and I doubt that very many posters are members of the Labour Party.
However, I don't think we are overreaching ourselves in expressing an opinion, even those who may never vote Labour.

The British public will decide come a general election.
The Labour Party members may vote on a new leader by a narrow margin but it doesn't mean that person will be popular enough to lead the party to victory.
So yes, our opinion may matter in the long-term.

Good post Iam64

Yes, membership may have risen in the hope that a more electable leader may be found who will choose a good team and formulate achievable policies.

Maybe the increase in membership is to try to steer the Labour Party away from the Corbyn /Momentum faction back to the centre/centre left. In other words hoping for a reversal of power away from the far left members who joined when Corbyn became Leader and Momentum formed and took control of the Labour Party.

Maybe that is what will happen. I don't think my post said anything about what those new members and the existing ones would or should chose.