"Right-wing Labour MPs fear Corbyn is electable"

Submitted by Gemma_S on 25 August, 2016 - 4:28

The press and media are in full flow, backing the right-wing Labour MPs telling us Jeremy Corbyn is unelectable. And yet Corbyn’s core support in the Party turns out in thousands to cheer him on. Why is Corbyn so popular?

Labour is a growing force – thousands are joining - because Corbyn’s message appeals to a broad section of society, people who have been excluded from the system, people who feel disenfranchised. Corbyn seems to be speaking out for us.

We want an economy that works for all of us. We have agency work, Zero Hours contracts and low pay. We need a Labour government which will right these wrongs.

The Labour right say Corbyn can’t win.

Yes, they’ve said that before each by-election. But he won. Three out of four with big increases in Labour’s share of the vote.

Scotland’s a different matter, and is not Jeremy Corbyn’s fault. And I think Corbyn’s politics is the only politics that can begin to rebuild for Labour in Scotland.

In fact I don’t think the fear of the Labour right is really that he is unelectable. They actually fear he is electable. And they fear their cosy relations, with donors and the press will be under threat. They don’t agree with what a Labour government led by Corbyn will do.

So what should be done with those right-wing Labour MPs?

Some of these MPs have been in Parliament for years and years. They were happy to support legislation imposing elections on union leaders. That was done in the name of democratising the trade unions.

I don’t see why Labour MPs shouldn’t be subjected to the same idea. If they want to represent their local Party, the local Party should agree, every five years. If they don’t like that, they could run as independents.

Shouldn’t we try to deselect the Labour right MPs?

Labour needs a clear policy and strategy to change the country in the interests of the big majority. Then we need the MPs to sign up to it. The MPs then have a choice. If they don’t like Labour’s vision, then they can sign up to someone else’s vision.

How does the Parliamentary Labour Party need to change?

The PLP is dominated by barristers, solicitors, doctors. These people are from a very narrow, exclusive layer of society. We need more working-class MPs. We’ve lifted some of the barriers on disability, ethnicity – and that’s quite right – so it is amazing that we haven’t taken more steps to make sure there are more working-class Labour MPs.

Recently Tom Watson staged a witchhunt against Workers’ Liberty in the press. That witchhunt is continuing at local level. What do you think about this issue?

I’m often accused of being ‘Hard Left’. I readily admit to it – yes, I fight hard for those left behind by this society.

The expulsions of socialists are wrong. We shouldn’t be an exclusive party, but an inclusive one. We are a Party with lots of different strands and views. Labour was set up for working-class people from different political backgrounds. That’s a strength.

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