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The only thing I'd disagree with here is the idea that we need to wait until after the election. Making progressive arguments in public is actually good for Labour
Labour infighting basically killed off Corbyn. That is 2 elections and 7 years where we could have had someone other than the Tories in power.
If the Tories win again they will stuff the HoL, redraw constituency boundaries, shore up FPTP, disenfranchise voters, attack the BBC and empower right wing media, continue to engineer public frustration with the NHS and human rights, restrict the right to protest, restrict the right to strike, continue to restrict access to mental health services, legal aid, and so on.
The more infighting there is on the left and the further left Starmer goes the more likely it is that the Tories get in. Is the infighting really worth the risk of letting the Tories back in? The answer to me is "fuck no". Is it not sufficient to just accept a Blairite Labour that will repair the NHS and improve things for people who are poor/disabled/mentally ill/sick/refugees etc.?
frankenbike-
Big tent politics is basically the natural outcome of a 2 party FPTP electoral system.
The right tends to further to the right and the left needs to shift to the center to stand an actual chance of winning an election.
The tories fucked it up for a long time and the country will pay a hefty price but it also means labour needs to shift to more centrist policies than a chunk of their voter base is happy with. It’s a lose lose situation really. Still happy to see the back of the tories either way.
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Is the infighting really worth the risk of letting the Tories back in? The answer to me is "fuck no".
Me too, so what I'm arguing for is less factional infighting, because most of it is not actually grounded in policy, theory, or economics. To make a public case for more progressive policy should make it more electorally viable—I accept that this will take time, is difficult given the Westminster and media consensus, and the logic of first past the post. Ming vase theory, ahoy.
Is it not sufficient to just accept a Blairite Labour that will repair the NHS and improve things for people who are poor/disabled/mentally ill/sick/refugees etc.?
Yes and no. There are many areas where I think Labour's policy prescription will improve things marginally, but won't really be able to undo the damage, let alone be enough to deal with the challenges of the next decade or so. We're stuck in the polemics of the 2000s and 2010s, with arguably worse economic policy norms, so there's a long way to go. Some new consensus has to be formed to deal with that.
jaw
slippers
Absolutely! The only thing I'd disagree with here is the idea that we need to wait until after the election. Making progressive arguments in public is actually good for Labour, even if they're not quite meeting the threshold currently, because it shows how far away the Conservatives truly are.