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Which was, remind me, something about being undermined by your own side and labeled unelectable from the start being a self fulfilling prophecy?
It's funny how the holding your nose and all pulling together only becomes valid for certain people ¯\(ツ)/¯
branwen-
I mean, sure, but you can say the same about Starmer - there's plenty on the left of the party who have been calling for him to step down since day one. Whisper it, but you might even see a few in this thread! Heavens.
And that's par for the course; factional enemies within the party are something that every leader has to deal with. Leaders get elected, then they get attacked from within (not for anything they've done, but for who they are), so they sideline their ideological enemies, and strengthen their allies. Corbyn played that game. So does Starmer. It's not unique.
Because the uncomfortable reality is, the electorate made up its own mind about Corbyn. You can apportion a little blame to Labour factionalism, and a little more to the right wing media, but the things that most damaged Corbyn in the eyes of the mainstream electorate were his own actions - his reaction to Skripal did more to harm his reputation than anything Wes Streeting did.
Is it fair? No. The game is stacked against the left. But that's no reason to withdraw altogether. And you may dislike Starmer's politics but he's been an effective leader for managing message, the media, his factional enemies, and his own party - despite also being "undermined by his own side and labeled unelectable from the start".
I'm not super happy with Starmer. I think he's ceded too much ground to the right, when he doesn't have to. But 2019 was a wakeup call to me. And I understand why he is tacking in the complete opposite direction. And it is working.
ReekBlefs
That's what Corbyn tried. There's a lesson there.