“We do need […] to avoid falling into the trap of assuming that, simply because populist radical right parties have increased their support at the same time as social democratic parties have lost theirs, the change is due to working-class voters moving en masse from one to the other,” writes Tim Bale is professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.
Indeed, the latest research suggests that this is far from the case, with most of those flocking to the far right coming either from more mainstream rightwing parties or from the ranks of the serially disillusioned.
Keir Starmer says and does nothing to alienate centre right voters. We will not find out what he really thinks until after the next election at the earliest, but what we do know, and so does he, is that (1) the Labour Party has fought two recent elections on genuine leftwing policies, and lost them both, and (2) voters on his left flank have nowhere else to go, unlike voters in the middle.
There’s a green party in the UK, and unlike in the US, they actually have seats. And the reason labour lost with Corbyn is because his own party attacked him on imagined charges of anti-Semitism. When the party is led by a left wing figure, suddenly party unity doesn’t count any more.
That was only the final part of the non stop media smear campaign he faced from the second he took leadership of the party (“can’t let that socialist get anywhere near power” -Rupert Murdoch, probably)
Yeah, but the anti-Semitism smear was the most disgusting part of it. Labour with Corbyn suddenly had a ton of young energy infused into it, and they just killed that off entirely.
Oh, I don’t disagree, was just adding to your point, that there was a concentrated and deliberate effort to keep him “unelectable” as they kept calling him.
Oh yeah, we’re both agreeing, didn’t mean to sound like I disagreed with anything you said. Everyone in the media was pushing against Corbyn, even supposedly left publications like the guardian.
Wes Streeting orchestrated it from within labour, he is now shadow health sec and making noises about privatising the NHS.
Look how they massacred my boy! 😭
Doesn’t matter why Corbyn lost from the perspective of Starmer’s perceived right-wing leaning. My point was just that we don’t know whether he’s right-wing in his heart or left of Che Guevara, because he’ll keep his mouth shut. He does not say anything left sounding because that’s how you lose elections.
Btw, Blair has an extremely problematic legacy, but he’s achieved more for the working class than anyone in the last half century.