By NI supporters of Rebecca Long Bailey
We have to ask the question, why did the Labour Party Northern Ireland vote to nominate Emily Thornberry? At its nominating meeting on February 8th, the Labour Party in Northern Ireland voted to nominate the most right-wing candidate, Emily Thornberry, as its preferred choice in the party leadership election. It did so in the knowledge that it was likely a wasted vote.
After transfers, Emily Thornberry had 25 votes and Rebecca Long-Bailey 16. Prior to transfers there were more first preference votes against Thornberry than for her. Supporters of Emily Thornberry majored on the fact that they had received an e-mail before the meeting, in which she appeared to express her support for Labour standing candidates in Norther Ireland elections. None of her other policies was held up for scrutiny or commendation.
This is the first time that Thornberry has ever shown any interest in Labour NI and a number of members took the view that this belated Damascene conversion smacked of opportunistic desperation by a candidate who is having difficulty in scraping her way onto the final ballot paper.
Principled objections are set aside
The main argument in her favour was that LPNI members should set aside principled objections to Emily Thornberry’s record, abilities and policies and vote “strategically “ solely on the basis that she had come round to supporting running candidates in NI. One of the proposers of this “strategy” was able to have it both ways, as they had previously stated in the media that they would like to see Labour get rid of Jeremy Corbyn before the general election and replace him with, yes, you’ve guessed it, Emily Thornberry.
Another of her supporters stated: “We should vote today with the head not the heart on this issue“. But in reality, what was being proposed was that members should vote exclusively on the emotional basis of having obtained a high profile ally against the NI electoral ban. All other considerations were to be set aside, as if of no consequence.
Never mind considerations such as Thornberry’s potential to lead Labour to electoral success; never mind her extreme Remain stance that alienated so many working class voters in the North and Midlands; never mind her voting record and never mind her underwhelming performances at hustings; never mind what might be best for the Labour movement overall.
Metropolitan liberal elite
Emily Thornberry, who embodies the “metropolitan liberal elite”, has always had an inflated sense of her own leadership abilities and an propensity for lofty condescension which does not suggest that she could reach out to working class voters who have deserted Labour. This was exemplified by her infamous “white van man” tweet which caused her resignation from Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet. It was also apparent in her calling the Northern working class constituents of a fellow MP “stupid”. Is it any wonder that Thornberry has not managed to muster the support of a single trade union?
Most recently, Thornberry blurted out in a hustings speech, that she “hated the SNP”. When it was pointed out to her that Labour needed to win back SNP voters in Scotland, she issued a grovelling apology.
Unfortunately sufficient numbers of LPNI members bought into a provincialist and largely apolitical sales pitch for Thornberry, despite having heard a thorough analysis of why Rebecca Long-Bailey should be the region’s preferred candidate.
LPNI members and supporters should reflect on this outcome. Over decades a number of Labour MPs have expressed “support “ or “ sympathy “ for the case for Labour candidates in NI. In almost all instances this amounted to no more than a patronisingly tokenistic gesture that inevitably produced nothing of any substance.
SDLP – no grounds to be seen as a ‘sister party’
It is of course welcome that Thornberry has finally accepted the unfairness of Labour’s position on Northern Ireland, but the rest of her statement is deeply flawed. It is clear that she envisages LPNI entering into an electoral pact with the “sister party” – the SDLP – in “at least some seats”. This would have the effect of sectarianizing LPNI.
Besides, Thornberry seems ignorant of the fact that there remain no credible grounds for Labour regarding the SDLP as a “sister party”. The SDLP has entered into a political alliance with Fianna Fail and its South Belfast MP, Claire Hanna, recently canvassed for a Fine Gael candidate in the Republic’s recent general election campaign.
Emily Thornberry also linked the future development of LPNI as an electoral force to the fate of the Irish Labour Party. She says: “So if momentum in the Republic grows for Labour, then there’s a chance to capitalise on that in Northern Ireland and turn LPNI into a real fighting force”.
The obvious problem here is that there is little prospect of any such momentum for Irish Labour – so blighted is it by its pro-austerity coalition with Fine Gael in the years 2011-2016. Young, left-minded voters, in particular, avoid the Irish LP like the plague and have opted for Sinn Fein. In addition the Irish LP is not a credible party of labour in that it no longer has any trade union affiliations. That is no wonder.
Budgets in the Republic 2012-16, introduced in part by Labour’s Brendan Howlin, as Minister for Public Expenditure and supported by Labour, were described by the Economic and Social Research Institute as “regressive”.
It found: “ The Budget 2012 involved greater proportionate losses for those on low incomes: reductions of about 2 to 2½ per cent for those with the lowest incomes, as against losses of about ¾ of a per cent for those on the highest incomes”.
Deep-rooted opposition
LPNI should have the democratic right to develop electorally in the North, quite independent of the fortunes of the LP in the South. If Emily Thornberry was serious about supporting the democratic right of Labour members in Northern Ireland to stand as candidates in elections, she would not hedge the issue with such unrealistic conditions.
Any change in Labour’s long-standing and deep-rooted opposition to contesting elections in Northern Ireland will never be achieved on the basis of the patronage of individual MPs. It was the threat of legal action that compelled the Labour Party to open its membership to members in NI and only a similar threat will have any realistic chance of delivering an end to the electoral ban, which the Secretary of LPNI has described as “institutionalised racism”.
The policy of lobbying on the basis of appeal to reason and fair play has run out of road. So has chasing after party “grandees” such as Emily Thornberry who clearly has a minimal understanding of the democratic case for Labour representation in Northern Ireland.
February 10, 2020
