Labour Party: Factional struggle Starmer/Corbyn

 

The fact that Jeremy Corbyn is no longer Labour Party Leader doesn't the problem of factions within the Labour Party go away. Curiously enough, the problem becamse a lot worse with the creation of the London Assembly, Devolution and the existence of City Mayors.

Keir Starmer was a star member of Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet up to the point when an investigation into Anti-Semitism within the Labour Party started. 

Keir Starmer, married to a Rabbi's daugher and with children raised in the Jewish tradition became the obvious contender to conter Anti-Semitism within the Labour Party and it was also pretty obvious that Jeremy Corbyn who had invested much of his political career supporting the Palestinian movement was a self-made target.

Sadiq Khan thought that becoming Mayor of London would give him the public exposure necessary to rise within the ranks of the Labour Party, but his association with Muslims involved in terrorism doesn't help. Andy Burham as Mayor of Greater Manchester is presently involved in a struggle battling with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and has relatively a higher profile, adding to the fact that he is not part of London's circles. Andy Burham can claim has he is more relevant because he cannot possibly be associated with London's Labor Party nor with developments involving Anti-Semitism.

The Kinnock brand was damaged when the heir of Neil Kinnock was chastised for having criticized the policies of Israel in Palestine and this happens at a time when the Labour Party leadership is trying to distance itself of any possible charges involving Anti-Semitism or bias against Israel.

Putting aside personalities, divisions within the Labour Party have not gone away and cannot be attributed merely to personality feuds and under Lockdown the chances of organising a popular resistance movement are very limited. This means that this is a window of opportunity for Keir Starmer to counter divisions that could bring him down before the next General Election. Having said that, the fact that Keir Starmer is going after the man that he very publicly supported does not fare well for the Labour Party.

Being accused by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is no minor issue: The charges are:

- Political interference in Anti-Semitism complaints

- Failure to provide adequate training to those handling anti-Semitism complaints

- harassment, including the use of anti-Semitic tropes and suggesting that complaints of anti-Semitism were fake of smears

If the office of Jeremey Corbyn was involved, there is no way to separate Jeremy Corbyn from the charges being made. The first stage was to depose Jeremy Corbyn. The second stage is to put Jeremy Corbyn on notice. We could end up hearing about expulsion from the Labour Party, but this could prove to be a step too far. Jeremy Corbyn was supported by Labour Party activists against the will of the Parliament Labour Party that was wacked in the recent General Election where heartland Labour seats were lost to the Conservative Party. If factional differences lead to a break up of the Labour Party, any hopes of electoral success will go up in smoke.

Keir Starmer himself is under siege. Andy Burham has not been involved in the struggle between Keir Starmer and Jeremy Corbyn. Therefore, Andy Burnham appears to be the obvious challenger.

In politics, the issue is to have candidates that can perform

In politics, the issue is to have candidates that can perform

A politician is a salesman that sells ideas and strive to meet up expectations. Voters look at the salesman. Is he a credible salesman? They listen to what that the salesman says and ponder about how likely the salesman is to deliver what he promises to deliver. They might like or dislike what is on offer. If they dislike what is on offer, they might go against it and if they like what is on offer they might even disregard their first impression about the salesman (or salewoman).

The Liberal Democrats had been all over the place and in the spate of a few years have had more leaders that there were General Elections. Correct me if I forget all the names. After Paddy Ashdown came Charles Kennedy, Sir Menzies Campbell, Vince Cable, Nick Clegg, Tim Farron, Sir Vince Cable, Jo Swinson, Baroness Sal Brighton, Sir Ed Davey, and Mark Pack? For the duration of one Parliament they were in power in coalition with the Conservatives under David Cameron.

The Liberal Democrats - with a few exceptions - defined themselves as pro-EU. After the 2016 Referendum, the made themselves one of the stumbling blocks in the quest for Brexit. They desperately pursued the possibility of a Second Referendum with the hope of keeping Britain in the European Union. When that failed to cristalize, they went for a General Election that they strongly believed would give them what they wanted but from the start the struggle to reach an agreement with other political forces to overcome party political differences. They divided the Remain Camp because they couldn't possibly reach an agreement with Jeremy Corbyn. The fact that several Labour MPs and several Conservative MPs decided to join them was not an incentive to reach such agreement. She went as a far as saying that she would go against Article 50 and de-facto keep Britain in the European Union despite the outcome of the 2016 Referendum on EU Membership. This last act signalled the beginning of the end for Jo Swinson's leadership. The British Electorate could possibly stomach the idea of a Second Referendum. They couldn't possibly support somebody that talked about getting rid of the Article 50 straight away.

The issue for Scottish voters - Jo Swinson was at the time a Scottish MP - was to decide between an SNP that openly stood for Remain and also for Scottish Independence and a Liberal Democrat MP that stood for Remain but against Scottish Independence. The political fate of Jo Swinson was sealed. She lost her seat and as a direct consequence of losing her seat she could not continue as Lib Dem leader.

Voters didn't like the saleswoman, didn't believe that the saleswoman could deliver what she was offering and many even didn't like what she was offering. In the process, every single Labour MP and every single Conservative MP that defected to Lib Dems lost their seats. Even the possibility of a hang Parliament eluded them. 

The agony for both Lib Dems and Labour is self-evident. For Labour, as some Labour representatives have publicly stated, the aim is to restore public faith. The party is a divided as before. It is difficult to find a unity candidate. London set itself apart from the rest of the Labour movement when Labour voters outside London decided that the only possible choice was to support the Conservative Party.

To say that the Labour Party has a mountain to climb would be a historic understatement. As long as whoever replaces Jeremy Corbyn is seen as a representative of the Jeremy Corbyn lobby, the Labour Party will struggle to recover.

Now, all eyes look towards the 2020 May Elections and in particular towards the London Mayoral Election in which an opponent of Jeremy Corbyn - Sadiq Khan - is likely to win a second mandate. Given the absence of candidates visibly able to unseat Sadiq Khan, the London Mayoral Election could serve to unite a very divided Labour Party.

Do you see Sadiq Khan as potential Labour Party leader? Nobody mentions Andy Burnham - present Mayor of Greater Manchester. Former Member of Parliament and former Cabinet Minister and a likeable individual far detached from Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and one of the centre-left politicians born in Liverpool - a northerner. If the Labour Party has any hope of bringing back traditional labour voters into the fold, choosing a man from Liverpool with proven political record would not be a bad choice. Sadiq Kahn would appeal to London. Andy Burham would appeal to the country as a whole. 

Whoever is chosen now as leader could end up being the leader of a party forever in opposition but if the struggle ends up being a war between London and the rest of the country the Labour Party will have to decide between being a political party for London or being a political party for Britain.