Jeremy Corbyn - Not Not Labour Party(?), not a Communist (BBC)

Reckon he's going to have many nights lying awake thinking that all this was not worth it in the end. Could have just stayed a obscure backbencher activist whose constituents were loyal to him. Could have walked after 2017 when he managed to make the most gains in seats for the party in a long time and bringing mainstream attention to left wing values. Instead he's been hanging on to power despite being smeared relentlessly. Character assasinations, own party MPs turning against him, hostile media and now a humiliating loss.

If it were me I'd be haunted for the rest of my days as like Michael Foot his name will be a synonym for failed leadership from here on in.

Thoughtful post. Corbyn just seemed too proud to walk in the end.
 
Reckon he's going to have many nights lying awake thinking that all this was not worth it in the end. Could have just stayed a obscure backbencher activist whose constituents were loyal to him. Could have walked after 2017 when he managed to make the most gains in seats for the party in a long time and bringing mainstream attention to left wing values. Instead he's been hanging on to power despite being smeared relentlessly. Character assasinations, own party MPs turning against him, hostile media and now a humiliating loss.

If it were me I'd be haunted for the rest of my days as like Michael Foot his name will be a synonym for failed leadership from here on in.
It’s probably worse than that, as he basically presented his whole ideology to the country, and was soundly told to feck off. To present a manifesto that (in his eyes) would appeal to the masses and give them a voice, and for it to be brutally rejected, must be heartbreaking.
 
It’s probably worse than that, as he basically presented his whole ideology to the country, and was soundly told to feck off. To present a manifesto that (in his eyes) would appeal to the masses and give them a voice, and for it to be brutally rejected, must be heartbreaking.
His policies according to polls were popular, the manifesto wasn't extreme at all. Combination of his leadership and brexit caused his loss.
 
It’s probably worse than that, as he basically presented his whole ideology to the country, and was soundly told to feck off. To present a manifesto that (in his eyes) would appeal to the masses and give them a voice, and for it to be brutally rejected, must be heartbreaking.

Very good point.

If he succeeded and got elected his agenda probably would have been emulated in other nations. Now it'll be seen as a warning. I can think of two US presidential candidates who might get hit by the fact a swing to the left against a blowhard right winger has got rejected.

I actually like Corbyn on a general basis. I think he's a decent guy. Voted for him. But it's hard to deny being on the fringes of the party for thirty years to becoming leader of the party is not the path to winning an election. Typically parties either find someone who is good on camera and a bit of a salesman, or someone who held a position on the front bench or committee therefore trained for the job. Corbyn was neither. He was just your typical constituency MP who was doing a good job to keep his seat for years and pursued some activism. No ambition for power until it fell in his lap in 2015. Then he couldn't let go.
 
His policies according to polls were popular, the manifesto wasn't extreme at all. Combination of his leadership and brexit caused his loss.
I think this is comforting and therefore should be treated with complete skepticism.
 
Corbyn needs to go, now. I don't really see what he thinks his role in shaping the party's future, when a new leader is elected it will be their job to design a platform to make the party electable again and anything Corbyn does or says now is totally irrelevent. Besides, it's not his place to lead the discussion about what the party should prioritise going forward, he's already proved himself incapable of leading the party or designing a platform that attracts broad support.
 
I think I've revised my opinion on Corbyn being this inherently benign character. He's shown spectacular arrogance since leading Labour to a humiliating defeat. There had been glimpses of this conceitedness in the past but his avuncular geniality always made me give him the benefit of the doubt.

He's Labour's David Moyes.
 
I think I've revised my opinion on Corbyn being this inherently benign character. He's shown spectacular arrogance since leading Labour to a humiliating defeat. There had been glimpses of this conceitedness in the past but his avuncular geniality always made me give him the benefit of the doubt.

He's Labour's David Moyes.
Yep, should have stepped down immediately when the results came out, he’s now painting himself in not so good colours.
 
I think I've revised my opinion on Corbyn being this inherently benign character. He's shown spectacular arrogance since leading Labour to a humiliating defeat. There had been glimpses of this conceitedness in the past but his avuncular geniality always made me give him the benefit of the doubt.

He's Labour's David Moyes.

I've been saying that for ages. His appearance makes people think he's a soft old man but he harbours a hatred and a desire to divide the country like I've never seen before in the UK.
 
I've been saying that for ages. His appearance makes people think he's a soft old man but he harbours a hatred and a desire to divide the country like I've never seen before in the UK.

His continued stand in defiance of his toxicity to the wider electorate and the leftist cause in Britain is worrying. His inability to show genuine contrition for his mismanagement of the party and campaign can only reflect a deep-seated arrogance. The idea that he's going to hang around to anoint a new disciple to carry forward the crusade of Corbynism portends to a bleak future for the Labour party in this country.
 
I've been saying that for ages. His appearance makes people think he's a soft old man but he harbours a hatred and a desire to divide the country like I've never seen before in the UK.

Can you expand on this?
 
Can you expand on this?

Actually I am wrong. The last politician I remember like him was Nick Griffin.

Forget the anti semitism issue, although it's hardly a stretch to believe a man who openly supports Palestine might not view Israel too fondly. That's for another discussion.

My main reason for saying it is how he wanted to split the country into two, the rich v the poor. He wanted to turn wealth into an enemy and turn people against anybody successful, every speech and piece of the campaign contained references to it, 'us v them', 'the many v the few' etc. He wanted to drive a wedge down the middle of the country. Its incredibly divisive and I've not seen anybody so openly and actively trying to turn sections of the public against each other before.
 
His continued stand in defiance of his toxicity to the wider electorate and the leftist cause in Britain is worrying. His inability to show genuine contrition for his mismanagement of the party and campaign can only reflect a deep-seated arrogance. The idea that he's going to hang around to anoint a new disciple to carry forward the crusade of Corbynism portends to a bleak future for the Labour party in this country.


Yes, I think so too. The only person to win an election for Labour in my lifetime is Tony Blair. The circumstances of his rise to become leader were very unusual and timed to very specific moments which are unlikely ever to be recreated.

He got to define himself in the public's eye by avoiding the negative attacks which were aimed at John Smith who passed away leaving Blair untarnished. The Tories were also divided and too busy fighting among themselves.

Its depressing to think that Labour has no one the public knows well from a public recognition point of view, so the Tory press will define the next leader just as odiously as they always do and that will be how the public see them for the next four years. It doesn't look good for winning the next election.
 
So, he's still there eh?

Labour: Same as it ever was.

Its been a few days. The changes will come.
Its not easy for the PLP and other senior labour figureheads but as much as they want to avoid dramatic infighting ish headlines they will be working behind the scenes for Corbyn to go to start the process of getting a new leader sooner rather than later.
 
Yes, I think so too. The only person to win an election for Labour in my lifetime is Tony Blair. The circumstances of his rise to become leader were very unusual and timed to very specific moments which are unlikely ever to be recreated.

He got to define himself in the public's eye by avoiding the negative attacks which were aimed at John Smith who passed away leaving Blair untarnished. The Tories were also divided and too busy fighting among themselves.

Its depressing to think that Labour has no one the public knows well from a public recognition point of view, so the Tory press will define the next leader just as odiously as they always do and that will be how the public see them for the next four years. It doesn't look good for winning the next election.

It wasn’t really a specific set of circumstances unlikely to be recreated though was it?

The tories have been fighting amongst themselves as fervently as they ever have over the past three years and what did Momentum/Corbyn do? Stay at the helm, dither and refuse to capitalise. If you put a Blairite candidate as leader after everyone told hem Corbyn was unelectable as Prime Minister the Labour Party would have won in 2017, let alone 2019.
 
Its been a few days. The changes will come.
Its not easy for the PLP and other senior labour figureheads but as much as they want to avoid dramatic infighting ish headlines they will be working behind the scenes for Corbyn to go to start the process of getting a new leader sooner rather than later.

He should have the respect for the party to go immediately, instead of further clinging on.
 
He should have the respect for the party to go immediately, instead of further clinging on.

Agreed, he is annoyingly stubborn is many regards, he will weirdly see it as "principled" to hang on until next leader is elected but labour will get the ball rolling to get him out in due course, his position is untenable. I think the introspective time has a purpose especially for contesting candidates to get their acts together to mount well thought out leadership challenges but Corbyn is certainly toxic now and he should make way sooner rather than later.
 
Agreed, he is annoyingly stubborn is many regards, he will weirdly see it as "principled" to hang on until next leader is elected but labour will get the ball rolling to get him out in due course, his position is untenable. I think the introspective time has a purpose especially for contesting candidates to get their acts together to mount well thought out leadership challenges but Corbyn is certainly toxic now and he should make way sooner rather than later.

Introspection can be done without him. Any introspection with him will be tainted, get rid of him and McDonnell
 
I've been saying that for ages. His appearance makes people think he's a soft old man but he harbours a hatred and a desire to divide the country like I've never seen before in the UK.
I do dislike the man, not least for his dishonesty, but as far as wanting to divide the country goes he doesn't even come close to Thatcher. Corbyn's just a tosser, she was genuine evil.
 
Where have all his acolytes and apologisers gone now we can roundly say ‘I told you so’? They’re conveniently quiet
 
Not at all, they're over in the election thread saying the working classes are stupid and easily deceived by the nasty media.

Ah right. Same thing one of my friends is doing, no acknowledgement of the real issue whatsoever.
 
Its been a few days. The changes will come.
Its not easy for the PLP and other senior labour figureheads but as much as they want to avoid dramatic infighting ish headlines they will be working behind the scenes for Corbyn to go to start the process of getting a new leader sooner rather than later.

I'm aware of the process.

But that's just it isn't it? Process, time, introspection. I don't care about people and their doorstep anecdotes nor the moral high ground, Labour have lost the confidence in people. And to think they are going to get that back by doing the same fecking thing over and over is outstandingly myopic.

The Labour bubble is so unbelievably thick, even Boris Johnson sledgehammering it into oblivion hasn't dented it, it seems. BBC/brexit/doorstep challenges/racist/stupidity/centre being dead/weather/etc there's plenty to hide behind and all of those have been wheeled out all while people acting like Labour should stay the same. It's a complete lack of self awareness.
 
It wasn’t really a specific set of circumstances unlikely to be recreated though was it?

The tories have been fighting amongst themselves as fervently as they ever have over the past three years and what did Momentum/Corbyn do? Stay at the helm, dither and refuse to capitalise. If you put a Blairite candidate as leader after everyone told hem Corbyn was unelectable as Prime Minister the Labour Party would have won in 2017, let alone 2019.

How many times has the leader of the opposition died in office.
 
Not at all, they're over in the election thread saying the working classes are stupid and easily deceived by the nasty media.

My personal favourite is it's now fine to accept you are in a bubble, an echo chamber, yet still can't have the self awareness to think about why that might be an issue debating what should change.

The Labour excuse bingo card has well and truly been stamped too.
 
He should have the respect for the party to go immediately, instead of further clinging on.

An immediate leadership contest would probably be a bad thing, tbf. A period of introspection and analysis is needed first lest they make another terrible appointment.
 
An immediate leadership contest would probably be a bad thing, tbf. A period of introspection and analysis is needed first lest they make another terrible appointment.
Yep. They'd do well to spend the next year or two doing a bit of soul-searching, while closely monitoring the public's take on how the Tories are going about handling the Brexit withdrawal.
 
How about NO immediate leadership contest? How about Corbyn does the right thing for once and the party push the narrative that they are going to have a nightwatchmen whilst they do the soul searching?

At least then people would see that they are actually trying to sort their mess out. All Corbyn being in power is doing is further proving people right that they can't be trusted. (and I mean that in their minds before someone does the usual...)


At the moment everyone, and I mean everyone I've talked to in real life have said the same thing. Typical he hasn't gone yet. Anecdotal maybe, but these are people I managed to convince to vote Labour in the first place, people who already say never again. It's a real problem and a Labour party once again showing to be stuck in their ways is just not a good look at all.
 
Thing about a caretaker is that it's usually been the deputy leader, of which Labour currently has none. So picking one becomes inherently political.

By the sounds of it the PLP are considering unilaterally choosing a parliamentary leader.
 
How about NO immediate leadership contest? How about Corbyn does the right thing for once and the party push the narrative that they are going to have a nightwatchmen whilst they do the soul searching?

At least then people would see that they are actually trying to sort their mess out. All Corbyn being in power is doing is further proving people right that they can't be trusted. (and I mean that in their minds before someone does the usual...)


At the moment everyone, and I mean everyone I've talked to in real life have said the same thing. Typical he hasn't gone yet. Anecdotal maybe, but these are people I managed to convince to vote Labour in the first place, people who already say never again. It's a real problem and a Labour party once again showing to be stuck in their ways is just not a good look at all.

Why do you think they won’t make the change swiftly?
 
Thing about a caretaker is that it's usually been the deputy leader, of which Labour currently has none. So picking one becomes inherently political.

By the sounds of it the PLP are considering unilaterally choosing a parliamentary leader.

Would be the wisest move, personally think Thornberry should take on that role for now.

The big issue is Corbyn has no credibility to challenge Boris on anything so staying just lets Boris have a free ride. I expect he'll go next week they're just buying some time for things to form but we'll see.