Any Parliamentary democracy that has one party so dominant because the official Opposition is so weak and ineffectual risks turning into an elective dictatorship. This is because the voters have the Hobson’s Choice between a very strongly positioned governing party that is in the position that they can do as they damned well want and an Opposition party that is even worse. Such a situation is not in my view good for any democracy and one of the commenters on a Guido Fawkes thread on Labour’s dire membership level position, Bruce Everiss, has summed up just why Labour are in such a mess.
Mr Everiss made two comments which shows exactly why Labour is in such a mess.
Mr Everiss said in his first comment:
1) All the trot extremists bailing out.
2) All the Conservatives who joined to vote for Corbyn bailing out.
3) Max Headroom is an obvious no hoper, so why stick around?
4) Labour have deserted the working class.
5) Go woke, go broke.
6) Labour no longer even pretend to try to be an opposition party.
All of what Mr Everiss says about Labour points to them not being a sensible party or a particularly effective or well liked opposition any more.
His second comment about what Labour has become illustrates why many people who would previously have voted Labour in order to remove a jaded Tory government.
Mr Everiss added:
Labour has become the party for North London metrosexuals and Ropers.
And nobody else.
It’s difficult to disagree with that second comment. Whatever and whoever Labour is for it’s almost 100% certain that they are no longer for the British working classes.
Parliamentary democracies can only properly function when there is an effective opposition that is in a position to be seen by the voters as a potentially credible alternative government to the party in power. Labour are no longer able to fulfil that vital role in Parliament. Labour needs to either engage in root and branch reform, or we need a different and more credible opposition party in the House of Commons. Maybe the time has come for Labour to be replaced as the main opposition party to the Tories just as Labour in the early 20th century replaced the Liberals in that role?
Labour stopped being the party of the working class as soon as it was known that socialism doesn’t work and actually makes ordinary working people poorer. Selling themselves as champions of the poor while making sure that they stay poor is basically what they have done since then.
My view is that the rot started to set in with Labour in the 1970’s. As the 1968 generations radicals slowly wormed their way into the party and put their stamp on it the party ceased to be a party of the working class. There’s always been socialists in the party but their views were tempered by more sensible voices, the problem is from the early 70’s onwards the middle class left radicals continued to gain influence culminating in the ‘longest suicide note in history’ manifesto period under Foot’s leadership in the early 80’s. Foot was given a poison chalice in the form of the Labour leadership at that period.
Correct assessment. See Rudi Dutschke “The long march through the institutions of power”.
Very clear, when armed with hindsight.
The fact that George Galloway got 8000 votes in Batley shows that Labour’s Muslim base is a house built upon sand. This will convince Labour that they must appease political Islam even more thus further alienating their traditional working class voters. It is no coincidence that London, with its huge Muslim and metro left populations is the only region where Labour held it’s ground in December 2029.
Yes any temptation that Labour might have to engage in more Islamopandering in order to counter Galloway will lose them even more votes from among the normals.