CLEMANTICS Spring 2018
“Can anything be more disgusting than to hear people called
'educated' making small jokes about eating ham, and showing themselves
empty of any real knowledge as to the relation of their own social and
religious life to the history of the people they think themselves witty
in insulting? [...] The best thing that can be said of it is, that it is
a sign of the intellectual narrowness—in plain English, the stupidity
which is still the average mark of our culture.”
George Eliot
Re-conSydered…
Well, my
old darlings… I have to begin with a declaration. I am currently a
member of the Labour Party. I say this to explain why, only last
week, I received a letter, addressed to me personally, from John
McDonnell – yes, that John
McDonnell!
Now, you
can imagine this came as something of a surprise given that I have
never met the man. But nevertheless my interest was piqued. Could he
be inviting me for lunch at The House, tea at Party HQ or, perhaps, a
ringside seat at Jezza’s next outing? Unfortunately the reality was
rather more prosaic, as he asked me
if I could see my way clear to giving him a few quid toward funding
the Party’s local election campaign! I thought to myself, “600,000
members and he’s still on the ear’ole. When will enough be
enough”?
More than
this, however, I have issues with the Party which I need to express
and the word I used earlier - ‘currently’ – begins to assume
more and more importance. So here follows my letter in response to
that which I received, personally remember, from John.
Dear
John,
Never
has an address (above) been more fitting, as this letter is in fact a
‘Dear John’, John.
No,
not because you asked for money, although with 600,000 Members I did
wonder when enough could be enough, and not even for the impudence of
addressing me by my first name when you don’t know me from Adam.
No, the reason this is a goodbye letter concerns the current state
and culture of the Labour Party.
A
prime example of the culture to which I refer is the current problem
of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
Since
the Sharmishta Chakrabarti report on antisemitism and the suspension
of Ken Livingstone nothing of any consequence has been done. This has
been compounded by the poor or failing eyesight of Mr Corbyn and Ms
Shawcroft, who both apparently could not see what was in front of
their eyes and whose knee-jerk reaction to a mural and a Facebook
post respectively was to defend what were clear anti-Semitic
statements. Then, when members of the Jewish community protested at
the complete lack of attention given to the problem, (and were given
active support by some members of the PLP and the House of Lords),
the protest was immediately spun by the hard left as an attempt to
smear ‘Jeremy’. Furthermore, some of those MP’s who attended
the protest against anti-Semitism were later threatened with
de-selection.
At
a later date, Momentum did acknowledge that anti-Semitism is a
problem in the Party but couldn’t resist adding that some people
were using the opportunity to undermine ‘Jeremy’!
Historically,
the Labour Party has prided itself on being a broad church. Now, it
is more of a long, narrow church such that any dissent from the new
orthodoxy is considered treasonous by the leader’s Praetorian
Guard, Momentum; to the extent that so called disloyal MP’s receive
a variety of threats and abuse as well as being threatened with
de-selection.
I
often wonder how Clement Attlee would fare in the ‘modern’ Labour
Party. Attlee, a man who fervently believed in the Socialist ideal,
but did not think that one size fits all. Attlee, a man often derided
for his low key demeanour but who pursued his leadership as a means
of uniting rather than dividing factions. Thus, as Prime Minister,
his Cabinet consisted of a cross section of the Party, from Ernest
Bevin, on the right, to Aneurin
Bevan, on the left.
The
Attlee leadership philosophy is one Mr Corbyn might do well to follow
wherein dissent/disagreement is tolerated and embraced. A view I
would think you, John, and Mr Corbyn might share given you both
dissented from Party policy on numerous occasions without the threat
of de-selection hanging over your heads.
Unfortunately,
I won’t be holding my breath especially given that Mr Corbyn is
effectively in thrall to Momentum. Nor in my opinion will that
organisation countenance allowing him to be inclusive for that would
t dilute the purity of the hard left ideology.
So
I come to the crux of my letter. I resign my membership of the Labour
Party with immediate effect. This of course also deals with the issue
of your request for a donation but importantly it sends an
existential message to yourself and Mr Corbyn.
So,
whilst my resignation won’t make much of a difference, rest assured
it will make some difference, and one which will reverberate until
such time as the Labour Party can once more claim to be the broad
church it, once, aspired to be.
Sincerely
Syd
PS
Hard copy in the post – not hard left of course.
Editorial note: A 'Dear John' is, in prison argot, a letter from a prisoner's girlfriend telling him that she has blown him out.
