It is not the Conservative and Unionist Party who lead these assaults on the man who almost became British Prime Minister but the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP)t. The present Labour leader, Kier Starmer, has expelled his former boss from the PLP in a most disgraceful fashion. Starmer was once a supporter of Corbyn – or he at least pretended to be – until he, Corbyn, lost the 2019 General Election by a huge margin. Starmer saw his long-awaited chance of replacing Jeremy Corbyn, despite him falsely and pretentiously supporting the man previously against the sharks of the PLP. Starmer has accused the former leader of being anti-Semitic, which he certainly is not, and under the false guise of cleansing the party of all allegations regarding anti-Semitism expelled Corbyn who now stands in his constituency of Islington as an Independent. The Labour PLP did not want Corbyn as their leader in the first place but lost out to the huge support he had, and still has, among the party membership as a whole.
Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader by a huge majority but the PLP were not satisfied with that, they wanted a re-run, which they got and lost by an even greater margin. They totally ignored the majority and party democracy until they got their own way after the 2019 election. If such actions had occurred in any other party Labour would have been shouting about democracy from the roof tops. When they do it in their own camp not an utterance within the PLP of discontent! They continue while often laughing at the humiliation heaped on the party under Corbyn’s leadership at the 2019 General Election, a defeat brought about in no small way by their own actions, to assassinate Corbyn’s character. They purposely attacked their party leader in public, an assault led by Margaret Hodge and other right-wingers within the PLP. Amid these attacks, constantly referencing 2019, they never mention the 2017 General Election when Jeremy Corbyn proved very popular and reduced Prime Minister, Theresa May’s, working majority from 17 to 4, forcing May’s resignation as she wept at what amounted in many ways to a defeat for the Tory Party.
Prior to the 2017 and after attempts to dislodge Corbyn as their leader many Labour MPs, including Stephen Kinnock the son of former leader, Neil Kinnock, were laughing at the thought of Corbyn becoming Prime Minister. He was not alone as the general opinion among the PLP was along the lines of; let’s get this farce out of the way and after we have been hammered, we can elect a new leader. Unfortunately for these treacherous bastards the hoped for and expected drubbing did not come. Corbyn proved very popular among the electorate, particularly the younger voters and Labour received 40% of the vote, their highest since 2001, only 2% behind the Conservative and Unionist Party. The Tory’s could only form a minority government having just lost their ‘working majority’ and May resigned. She was replaced by Boris ‘the clown’ Johnson who staggered on until 2019. This gave the Labour PLP ample time to really get the knives out for the man who almost became the Labour Prime Minister which would have meant many of these so-called MPs would have been deselected by their constituency parties. After the 2017 election the same Stephen Kinnock was filmed almost in tears at how well his hated socialist leader had done! The backstabbing of Jeremy Corbyn by the PLP made the attack on Julius Caesar led by Marcus Junius Brutus (44 BC) look like a walk in the park.
On Sunday 23rd June 2024 the Labour Shadow Education Secretary, Bridget Philipson was interviewed on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and was asked about the 2019 election. She replied to this part of a question with a flip back to Corbyn’s leadership. She blamed “poor leadership” for the 2019 defeat and a “poor leader, Jeremy Corbyn”. Not once did she mention the result of the 2017 election which painted a very different picture of the then Labour leader. Since that peak year the knives came out in ‘Brutus’ fashion for Jeremy Corbyn. The accusations of anti-Semitism grew simply because he, like many other politicians rightly so, criticised the Israeli Government policies towards the Palestinians. These attacks on Tel Aviv were no different to similar attacks on the Russian Leader, Vladamir Putin, in Moscow. The difference was, and is, allegations of anti-Semitism could not be fired at Putin’s accuser’s but can be at those of Benjamin Netanyahu! These allegations against Corbyn by the PLP were backed up and even magnified by the media – no surprise there – and began to stick in the eyes of many. It must be pointed out that many Jewish people and organisations stood up for Corbyn and themselves criticised the Israeli Government actions against the Palestinians. Not a word was mentioned either by the Labour PLP or the media about this Jewish support for the now former party leader.
Prior to the 2017 and after attempts to dislodge Corbyn as their leader many Labour MPs, including Stephen Kinnock the son of former leader, Neil Kinnock, were laughing at the thought of Corbyn becoming Prime Minister. He was not alone as the general opinion among the PLP was along the lines of; let’s get this farce out of the way and after we have been hammered, we can elect a new leader. Unfortunately for these treacherous bastards the hoped for and expected drubbing did not come. Corbyn proved very popular among the electorate, particularly the younger voters and Labour received 40% of the vote, their highest since 2001, only 2% behind the Conservative and Unionist Party. The Tory’s could only form a minority government having just lost their ‘working majority’ and May resigned. She was replaced by Boris ‘the clown’ Johnson who staggered on until 2019. This gave the Labour PLP ample time to really get the knives out for the man who almost became the Labour Prime Minister which would have meant many of these so-called MPs would have been deselected by their constituency parties. After the 2017 election the same Stephen Kinnock was filmed almost in tears at how well his hated socialist leader had done! The backstabbing of Jeremy Corbyn by the PLP made the attack on Julius Caesar led by Marcus Junius Brutus (44 BC) look like a walk in the park.
On Sunday 23rd June 2024 the Labour Shadow Education Secretary, Bridget Philipson was interviewed on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and was asked about the 2019 election. She replied to this part of a question with a flip back to Corbyn’s leadership. She blamed “poor leadership” for the 2019 defeat and a “poor leader, Jeremy Corbyn”. Not once did she mention the result of the 2017 election which painted a very different picture of the then Labour leader. Since that peak year the knives came out in ‘Brutus’ fashion for Jeremy Corbyn. The accusations of anti-Semitism grew simply because he, like many other politicians rightly so, criticised the Israeli Government policies towards the Palestinians. These attacks on Tel Aviv were no different to similar attacks on the Russian Leader, Vladamir Putin, in Moscow. The difference was, and is, allegations of anti-Semitism could not be fired at Putin’s accuser’s but can be at those of Benjamin Netanyahu! These allegations against Corbyn by the PLP were backed up and even magnified by the media – no surprise there – and began to stick in the eyes of many. It must be pointed out that many Jewish people and organisations stood up for Corbyn and themselves criticised the Israeli Government actions against the Palestinians. Not a word was mentioned either by the Labour PLP or the media about this Jewish support for the now former party leader.
Corbyn resigned after the 2019 election, the man who had come so close only two years previous and, even though he lost the 2017 General Election led the party into that ill-fated 2019 contest staying on as leader because 2017 bad been so close. Corbyn never stood a chance, his own PLP made damn sure there would be no repeat of 2017 even if it meant another five years in opposition.
On 4th July there will be a General Election in the UK. Jeremy Corbyn, now expelled from the PLP, will run in Islington as an Independent candidate. I for one hope he wins the seat. The present Labour leader, Keir Starmer, looks likely to become the next Prime Minister. This means instead of the official Conservative Party being in office another version with a small c will become the government. Keir Starmer will be Prime Minister unless the polls are all wrong by a country mile but look at the opposition! Rishi Sunak, the incumbent PM, has all but thrown the towel in after his, albeit short disastrous term of office in Number 10. The neo-fascist Nigel Farage is heading the Reform UK party and hopes to become the official party of opposition. If Starmer, fraudulent as he may be, cannot beat such opposition he should return to being a barrister. There will be no PLP knives out for Starmer as he continues to turn the Labour Party into a cheap version of the Conservative and Unionist Party. Keir Starmer, the man who wears a red overcoat to hide his Royal Blue jacket underneath!
On 4th July there will be a General Election in the UK. Jeremy Corbyn, now expelled from the PLP, will run in Islington as an Independent candidate. I for one hope he wins the seat. The present Labour leader, Keir Starmer, looks likely to become the next Prime Minister. This means instead of the official Conservative Party being in office another version with a small c will become the government. Keir Starmer will be Prime Minister unless the polls are all wrong by a country mile but look at the opposition! Rishi Sunak, the incumbent PM, has all but thrown the towel in after his, albeit short disastrous term of office in Number 10. The neo-fascist Nigel Farage is heading the Reform UK party and hopes to become the official party of opposition. If Starmer, fraudulent as he may be, cannot beat such opposition he should return to being a barrister. There will be no PLP knives out for Starmer as he continues to turn the Labour Party into a cheap version of the Conservative and Unionist Party. Keir Starmer, the man who wears a red overcoat to hide his Royal Blue jacket underneath!
As for the Labour rank and file, particularly Momentum who were in most cases Corbynistas, what about them? What about internal democracy inside the British Labour Party betrayed along with Jeremy Corbyn? Well, these things happen is the feeling I get as the party rarely mentions its best electoral result under Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 since the days of Tony (Tory) Blair. The best percentage of the vote result since 2001 and not a word of credit by the traitors. We should not expect any! Imagine back in 2017 if the PLP had used as much energy supporting their leader instead of trying to trip him up at every opportunity what the outcome of that election might have been? Instead Corbyn and Momentum along with a few left-wing MPs fought the election not only against the Tories but against their own PLP. A fucking disgrace of the highest magnitude!
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| Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist. |
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