The Times is no friend of the Labour Party these days, but this editorial by Oliver Kamm makes a number of telling criticisms of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership which is becoming more ludicrous by the day.
Going into the recent Labour Party conference, the new shadow chancellor John McDonnell announced that he would balance the nation's books just like the Conservatives, albeit by pursuing a different set of priorities on tax and spending.
But all of a sudden John McDonnell has boxing changed his mind forcing Labour to defend itself against the charge of being 'deficit deniers' who can't be trusted to run the economy.
As for John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor must surely realise that he cannot be taken seriously if his policies chop and change, just like the country's weather.
The real Labour party must refuse to work with Corbyn
No leader has been so derided that he needs a salvage operation
By Oliver Kamm - The Times
‘The General Will is always right,” wrote Rousseau, “but the judgment which guides it is not always enlightened.” It’s the classic justification of collectivism.
Momentum, a new pressure group within the Labour party, may not express it as snappily but has the same premise. Espousing “mass mobilisation . . . to demonstrate on a micro level how collective action can transform our society”, the group seeks to guide the masses into recognising where their interests lie.
Momentum has been formed out of the leadership campaign for Jeremy Corbyn. This would be extraordinary even aside from its melange of menacing cliché. Labour has always had factions and has sometimes had ineffective leadership. But it’s never before had a leader so derided by MPs that he has to set up his own salvage operation.
Like the Trotskyists of a generation ago, Momentum is an entrist organisation that’s parasitic on the Labour host. This time, though, the far left has managed to gain control of the party structures and is intent on making life tough for Labour MPs.
Gallows humour among Labour moderates in the 1980s held that the party was an equal-opportunity employer: anyone could be a parliamentary candidate regardless of race, sex or ability. That principle evidently now applies to the post of leader too (apart from the bit about race or sex, obviously).
Some argue that Mr Corbyn should be given room to fail before MPs manoeuvre against him. Well, time’s up: Mr Corbyn is a month into the job and has shown total incapacity. His grasp of policy is feeble and his views — on Nato or economic management — are far outside Labour’s traditions. Asked probing questions he loses his temper or strides mutely away. He managed to survive one session of prime minister’s questions by reading out other people’s emails rather than having to think on his feet. At party conference he capped this by reading aloud his own stage directions.
This is a disaster for Labour and a blow to public debate. Mr Corbyn shows scant evidence of ever having talked to people who disagree with him. If he can’t win the respect of his own hand-picked front bench, how will he gain the trust of the voters? The parliamentary party knows its fate if this goes on. Let’s get the agony over with. Labour MPs have no responsible option but to declare they will not co-operate with a hapless, hopeless leader and his militant minions.
