There has been little so entertaining this week as reading the bemused response to the Oldham by-election result in the mainstream media. All those ‘Corbyn must go’ stories had to binned and a whole raft of explanations dreamt up to explain why it didn’t go to script.
Just for the record, Labour’s candidate Jim McMahon secured a 10,722-vote majority over UKIP's John Bickley, and a 62% vote share that was higher than at the general election. Yes, that’s right, a 7.5% increase in the share of the vote.
Of course Labour had a good local candidate, as we should, and of course the campaign played to those strengths. However, this victory was on the back of a well funded UKIP campaign that talked about little else than Jeremy Corbyn – during a week when he was being vilified for his stance on bombing Syria. A campaign that played to some stereotypes about white working class voters, which I thought were very effectively dealt with in this article by Harris Beider.
Yesterday morning I came very close to cancelling my Guardian membership. This fine newspaper’s news coverage of Jeremy since his leadership victory has been very poor, sometimes almost as bad as the Tory tabloids. But its news piece on the result was a new low – nothing positive about Jeremy, it was all down to other factors. It showed all the signs of the panic rewrite I mentioned above.
I was also opposed to the decision to bomb Syria. I wouldn’t have explained my reasons in quite the same way as Jeremy because I have no problem in principle with military action. I just don’t think it would work and Cameron’s case for war is very weak, not least his fanciful 75,000 ground troops claim. I accept that we do on occasion have to meet evil with force as our socialist forefathers did in the Spanish Civil War. But even so, I thought Hilary Benn’s attempt to claim this is a war against fascism, was very weak.
Sadly, I had to turn to the Daily Mail for a credible analysis, one that I suspect played equally strongly with the voters of Oldham. Peter Oborne, no fan of Jeremy’s, said:
“Whether or not you like Mr Corbyn (and I profoundly disagree with many of his policies), there is no denying that he emerged from the arguments over Syria as a man of moral courage, integrity and principle. Indeed, how interesting that after months of denigrating Corbyn, the Blairite tendency — together with those excitable inhabitants of the Westminster bubble — have been made to look silly in their prediction that Labour would lose the Oldham by-election. In the real world, it seems the voters have more time for the Labour leader than the metropolitan commentariat.”
The ‘Blairite Tendency’, as Oborne puts it, can be guaranteed to pop up whenever a rent a quote is required to attack the Labour Leader. Even some of those who lost their seats in the General Election, show little sign of any humility or taking responsibility for their contribution to that defeat. I rather enjoyed this blogger’s theory that certain members of the PLP have narcissist tendencies.
Today we have Carolyn Flint attacking Momentum in the Independent. Sorry, but I must have missed her criticism of Progress – a real party within a party, with minimal internal democracy and millionaire funding. Jeremy has rightly condemned abuse, but not all the stories turned out to be true, such as the mythical protest outside Stella Creasy's house. What actually happened is explained in this post at Left Futures.
And for those MPs who think they can launch a coup in the summer, Tom Quinn’s explanation of the party mechanics should be required reading. As I have frequently pointed out, the Labour Party rules are poorly drafted, but it is hard to find fault with this interpretation on Labour List.
That’s not to say I am uncritical of Jeremy’s leadership. In particular, some of the messaging has been ill disciplined. The conversational style is fine in small groups, but addressing the mass media requires clear lines that are tested carefully so that they are less easily misinterpreted.
At least in Scotland we have a leadership that has recognised the benefits of a different approach to politics. Kez Dugdale wears her ideology light and is by no means a natural supporter of Jeremy’s. None the less, her measured, team building approach has accommodated the change rather than confronting it. Today's interview in the Guardian is an honest reflection on her own and Scottish Labour’s position that I think most people will respect.
So, it may be wishful thinking, but let’s at least hope that the Oldham result will give those narcissistic MPs some food for thought. Time for a bit more campaigning with the party than against it. I can but wish!
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