Emeritus Prof Christopher MayFeb 28

As this weekend's post-mortems of the Gorton & Denton by-election get under way its worth making the key point that I'm sure will be made anyway:

Its not so much that Labour voters have abandoned the Labour Party, but more the Labour Party has been abandoning its Left voters for years;

the lesson of Thursday is taking the Leftish for granted only works when there is no Left alternative.

If Thursday changed anything, it made that much, much clearer!

#GortonAndDenton #politics #Greens #Labour

Show threadKenny ParkFeb 28

@ChrisMayLA6 The people who voted Green were the same people Tony Blair told to "get a heart transplant" or the surge of Labour members when Corbyn was leader (he of twice getting more GE votes than Starmer).

The Greens aren't "splitting the Left". They're just… Left.

Show threadSarah W
@KennyPark @ChrisMayLA6
Exactly. Labour should have taken notice of that huge surge in membership when people were excited about Corbyn.
Did Starmer never ask himself why?
Feb 28 at 9:10amWeb
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher MayFeb 28

@Sarahw @KennyPark

I think the Starmer clique saw them as the 'wrong sort of member'

Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPEFeb 28
@ChrisMayLA6 @Sarahw @KennyPark Selling leadership votes for £3 always seemed rather odd to me.
Show threadJenFeb 28
@TimWardCam @ChrisMayLA6 @Sarahw @KennyPark or alternatively, it was a gateway into party politics for people who couldn't justify the full price on their meagre disposable income, but wanted to tip their toe into the water.

I wonder how many of them would have become full paying members if Corbyn had been given a fair shot at things?
Show threadDan HattonFeb 28

@ChrisMayLA6 @TimWardCam @KennyPark @Sarahw

Compared with the more traditional practice of selling leadership votes for £25?

Show threadPassengerFeb 28

@Sarahw @KennyPark @ChrisMayLA6

They did ask, there were leaked panicked internal Labour emails about it.

"If Corbyn wins a general election due to all the new Labour voters, then it will be very difficult for us to retain control of the party" was the takeaway mood of those emails. "Us" here means the Blairites, the professional party staffers recruited directly out of university politics and think tanks.

As ever, the Iron Law of Institutions holds: people inside an institution will tend to be willing to sacrifice the institution's overall good in order to ensure their factional control over that institution.

Show threadSarah WFeb 28

@passenger @KennyPark @ChrisMayLA6
Yes, Corbyn was stitched up not just by the media, but also by his own party.
Far too radical to actually be allowed to govern, even for his own party.

But now Starmer seems to emulate Reform rather than offering an alternative.

Show threadJimmyB (he/him)Feb 28

@Sarahw @KennyPark @passenger @ChrisMayLA6 among the many deep shames of the Labour Party is the outstanding fact that many of them - led by Blair - explicitly preferred Boris to JC, and actively campaigned on that basis. I remember watching Jess P on a breakfast show before the JC election where he narrowly lost, thoroughly undermining him. On national TV.

It was extraordinary. And here we are

Show threadSarah WFeb 28
@JimmyB @KennyPark @passenger @ChrisMayLA6
The whole business unmasked the fact that while we vote governments in, the real power is elsewhere.
We do not live in democracy.
Show threadCockneyLaurieFeb 28

@JimmyB @Sarahw @KennyPark @passenger @ChrisMayLA6

Well Blair was always known as "Tory Plan B"

New Labour was NEVER of the Left

Show threadWalrus 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Feb 28
@passenger @Sarahw @KennyPark @ChrisMayLA6