Where now for the Labour Left

There is little doubt that over the past 3 years the left-wing of the Labour Party has become the dominant force in the Party. The evidence for this can be seen in the popular support (amongst party members)for Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership¹ , the fact that all the contested seats on the National Executive Committee were won by Corbyn supporters², and the moves by a number of Constituency Labour Parties to sanction sitting MPs from the right of the party³. In addition, the manifesto for the 2017 General Election received more votes than any previous manifesto apart from 1997⁴. From the top down every layer of the Party is now dominated by the left. With one exception: the Parliamentary Labour Party in Westminster. 

The Independent has allowed space for the right wing of Labour

These are, indeed, heady days to be on the left. But it is hard to feel that the left has control to read the national papers or to switch on TV news. As the dominance of the left has captured the party so the anti-left rhetoric of the right has totally dominated the news agenda. The impression to be gained from the mass media is that Labour far from resurgent is lurching from crisis to crisis. From the anti-semitism  debate to Brexit and through to party democracy, the narrative (which is still controlled by anti-leftists) is one of hostility to the very idea of a Labour Government led by Jeremy Corbyn.
The attempts to destabilise Labour have the appearance of being coordinated and it is perhaps no shock to find that the so-called Independent Group which includes devout Blairites Chuka Umunna And Luciana Berger in addition to former Conservatives such as Anna Soubry has received donations from former Labour donors and from Tony Blair himself. Naturally, this  group of non party aligned MPs have received not just a favourable press but one disproportionate to their numbers. 

Property tycoon Sir David Garrard, one of the TIG backers

Meanwhile, Labour’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson has launched a parliamentary group called the Future Britain Group, whose supporters include Peter Mandelson, David Blunkett, Neil and Glenys Kinnock and Yvette Cooper. They claim they are not a party within a party but this Blairite tribute act clearly intend to work to undermine the left in Parliament. Watson compared the group to the Campaign Group the left wing grouping of MPs of which Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell were members. This is somewhat disingenuous for, as Watson well knows, the Campaign Group was treated with contempt by successive party leaders and if you can find the front page headline describing them as the saviours of Labour I can assure you that you have fallen into an alternative reality.
Against this background it is hardly surprising that many on the left feel either demoralised or defensive. I have seen numerous tweets by people on the left recently pondering their future within the party and in some cases declaring their intention to leave. 

Twitter has seen some Labour 'members' declare their intention to leave

Although the vitriol aimed at Labour MPs mainly exists in the minds of journalists briefed by those same MPs, it is hardly surprising that some people will overstep the mark in defending the Corbyn project. That social media descends into personal abuse is not unique to the Labour Party or to politics, but it is Labour, the left generally and Jeremy Corbyn personally who are held to account by the mass media ensuring that ordinary voters are given the impression of a party that has been hijacked by a bunch of nasty, bullying sociopaths who resort to racist abuse in defence of their cult leader. The supposed moderates, all of whom voted for welfare cuts, all of whom supported the disastrous war in Iraq, all of whom supported the continued bombing of unarmed civilians in Syria, are presented as reasonable people who are being harangued and bullied by the extremist followers of Jeremy Corbyn.

Mail Online's Dominic Sandbrook accuses
Corbyn supporters of heaping abuse on Jess Phillips

I have been involved with “the left” since the early 1980’s, and have stood shoulder to shoulder with literally hundreds of left wing individuals, and now follow a couple of thousand, predominantly left, accounts on Twitter. I really don’t recognise the caricature of the left presented by the media and prominent Labour anti-leftists. On the whole, people on the left are polite, unassuming and caring of others. I have never witnessed bullying by anybody on the left and I have often been amazed by how calm my colleagues are in the face of the bureaucratic manoeuvring of the anti-left-who, to be fair to them, tend to have a firm grasp on the arcane rule book. 
But, I am not going to claim that most people on the right are bullies either. In fact in most CLP’s people across the Labour spectrum rub along together, getting on with the business of trying to achieve a Labour Government, or Labour council. Of course we argue, that is politics, but I can’t remember anybody being racially or physically abused. And, whilst there were certainly pockets of misogyny back in the day, that seems to have all but  disappeared now. 
So, what is going on and how do we take back the narrative? As I have discussed before there is clearly a hard core of Labour MPs who refuse to accept that Jeremy Corbyn has the democratic mandate and support of the majority of members. From the day he was elected they have let it be known that they do not want Corbyn as leader and believe that, as MPs, they should have the right to dictate party policy. Logically, this seems absurd. Jeremy Corbyn was entitled to stand for the leadership and won not once but twice. He has every right to be the leader of the party. So, why can’t these dissenters simply accept that this is how democracy works and get on with their jobs?
Many of those who are most vociferous against the Corbyn leadership became MP’s in 1997 and throughout the Blair years. Many of them were ministers or officials during the period 1997-2010. It is easy to understand how they may not be happy at their sudden downgrading in the party hierarchy. But, I believe the differences go deeper than a natural pique about being usurped, they go to the core of the left project. Many of our MPs do not believe in the policies which are so popular with the membership and with Labour voters. People such as Stephen Kinnock and Lucy Powell sincerely believe that left-wing policies are unpopular and fully expected the electorate to reject them at the last election. 

Anna McMorrin was quick to describe a
motion of no confidence in Rosie Duffield
as bullying.

There are people in the PLP who are far from being Corbyn supporters but are prepared to support the policies. But, and this is the rub, they are doing so with no genuine enthusiasm. This includes new MPs such as Rosie Duffield and Anna McMorrin who, whilst not openly hostile to the leadership, have joined in with allegations of anti-semitism and bullying by the membership. Moreover, many MPs, chosen by those on the right of the party, did not campaign on the manifesto, and were apologetic about the leadership. What this means is that there were few natural supporters for Jeremy Corbyn following the 2017 General Election, and although some, including Margaret Beckett, have been won over, the PLP is still overwhelmingly anti-Corbyn. Indeed, probably the only thing that most MP's, regardless of party affiliation, can agree on is that they do not want the next Prime Minister to be Jeremy Corbyn.
Realising that there was no point in another leadership election following the humiliating defeat of Owen Smith, a group of those MPs have instead turned on the membership who they regard as entryists stealing their party from under their noses. Allegations of bullying and intimidation have become commonplace and new claims of anti-semitism seem to appear with alarming regularity. For those on the left to see life-long anti-racist campaigners such as Marc Wadworth, Peter Willsman and recently Chris Williamson accused of antisemitism has been a bitter pill to swallow. The attacks on the competence of Labour’s General Secretary Jennie Formby, coordinated by Tom Watson and Margaret Hodge have angered many grassroots members who wonder why Corbyn is not doing more to support his allies. Indeed, Chris Williamson’s biggest crime was to claim that Labour was being too defensive in the face of the allegations of anti-semitism. A point with which many lay members agreed.
These attacks, supported by an ever hostile media only too happy to deflect from the very real crisis engulfing the Government over Brexit, have unnerved many on Labour’s left. Members are now trying to appease the allegations of anti-semitism by circulating a letter conceding that Labour had failed to adequately address the issue. At the same time many on the left have supported the so-called Peoples Vote campaign and allowed the impression that Labour did not have a coherent Brexit policy to become common currency. These are understandable reactions by ordinary members whose main desire is to defeat the Tories. The problem is that the more ground conceded, the more will be taken. At times like these holding your nerve is the only viable option to prevent the entire project being diluted.
Leaving the party is not the way to ensure a left-wing Government who might implement policies many of us have desired for years. It makes the election of that government less not more likely. The anti-leftists are trying everything to drive a wedge between the leadership and the membership. The more members who drift away, the better, as far as they are concerned. That is why whatever people may feel about Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of the anti-semitism furore or his stance on Brexit it is essential we don’t lose faith. 
If you have a commitment to ending poverty and homelessness and systematic injustice then right now the only place to be is in the Labour Party. The chances are that the daily torrent of abuse against people for the simple crime of championing equality and wealth redistribution will increase as we get closer to power. It is important that the left does not abandon this project or turn on one another. The election of a Labour Government will not be the end of the story, but the turning of a page in a continuing narrative. Only by staying inside the party and using our collective voting power can we bring to power a party that is committed to a radical rebalancing of relations in the UK. Only by using our votes to select candidates that share our values and aspirations can we be certain that our Government, once elected, will not be undermined from within.