Links in my previous post don’t appear to be working for some reason, so here they are again:
Andrew Marr: British politics is broken â?" the centre cannot hold
The rise of the far-Right in Europe is not a false alarm
Far-right surge in Austria signals end of centrist politics-as-usual | The far right | The Guardian
A dangerous moment in history: Can the political centre hold? - The Globe and Mail
Or bigotry, maybe … a la Gordon Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMTnvtZro7U
Both campaigns played on fears, I’m not sure what point you’re making.
Corbyn has now held more rallies to save himself as Labour Leader than he did in support of remaining in the EU. Utterly amazing ego and messiah complex.
Jeremy Corbyn Has Already Done More Rallies For His Leadership Campaign Than He Did For Remain | HuffPost UK Politics?
The point I was making was that I heard a lot of “well I’m not racist, therefore the Leave campaign isn’t driven by racism” (or more accurately xenophobia and general bigotry), which ignored all the rather blatant anti-foreigner and anti-Muslim rhetoric coming out of prominent members of the Leave camp. Yes, both sides “played on fears”, but the fears of the Remain campaign are proving more valid than the fears of the Leave campaign given the planned departures of businesses, the depressed pound, the losses to British universities in research money and student applications and the clear indication that the UK has no leverage to negotiate the promised fabulous business deals with the EU and the rest of the world. But I digress.
Back on topic, I have to say that I had hoped that by now someone vaguely competent and with a modicum of leadership ability might have stepped up to challenge Corbyn. Eagle’s campaign was desperately weak, and Smith is not exactly selling his qualifications to me (other than “I’m not Jeremy”, which is not a good enough reason to vote for him). Corbyn ought to be vulnerable but Labour is just flapping about ineffectually. Sad, as Mr Trump might say.
Yes, the energy with which he’s thrown himself into this stands in sharp contrast to his approach not only to Brexit but also to the job of opposing the government.
Smith’s whole pitch is “Corbyn-ish policies plus actual competence”. It wouldn’t win a general election, but it’s probably the best chance of appealing the the Labour membership. I think “electable” Labour is in danger of believing its own myth - most Corbyn supporters aren’t entryist Trots (although there are some); they’re just people who want to see a left-wing party taking the fight to the Tories. But it appears that there are quite a few who now see that Corbyn isn’t actually up to the job of taking the fight to anyone but his own party. Hence the “Corbyn but competent” approach.
My view is that while I don’t love Smith, I also don’t love the hole Corbyn is digging. I don’t expect any Labour leader to win the next election (but for a Tory Brexit implosion) but I think Corbyn is capable of leading them to defeat in England and Wales* so bad they couldn’t win the next two after that.
*Scotland is already gone, after all.