Wed 20 Feb 2019, 10:41 AM | Posted by editor
LETTER BY Mark Langabeer, Newton Abbot CLP (personal capacity)
The split by seven right-wing Labour MPs has been given wall-to-wall coverage by the mainstream media. The timing was designed to cause maximum damage to Labour. In my opinion, it will fail in its objective.
Their criticisms range from the slur that Labour is “institutionally anti-Semitic” to the idea that Labour is facilitating Brexit. However, they let the cat out of the bag about their real motives when by referring to Labour’s supposed “impossible demands” and an alleged take-over by the “hard left”.
As Owen Jones pointed out, public ownership of rail and public utilities, a £10 an hour minimum wage, the scrapping of tuition fees and ending austerity all have widespread support among voters. If this is the programme of the “hard left”, then the majority of the public must also be hard left.
Following the split, it appears that many of the parliamentary Labour Party are, perversely, attempting to blame the leadership for the split. They are trying to blackmail Corbyn by threatening further splits. These are the same people who accuse Labour of accepting a culture of bullying.
In my view, it’s no accident that these right-wingers offer nothing in the way of programme or policies. In truth, the splitters are Tories, in all but name and this will be revealed with the passage of time. They will become a mere foot note in history. In a nutshell, class traitors.
