Free to dream, I’d be left of Jeremy Corbyn. But we can’t gamble the future on him. says Polly Toynbee.
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| Polly Toynbee |
Polly Toynbee comes down firmly on the
side of Yvette Cooper. During her justification for reaching this
decision, paradoxically sprinkled with praise for Corbyn and many of
his programmes, Toynbee, perhaps inadvertently, reveals why the
Jeremy Corbyn campaign is striking such a high note with party
members, both new and old, and perhaps more importantly, with the
public.
One of the criticisms in the media and
on television, frequently levelled against Corbyn and those who
support him is that Labour could not win an election under his
leadership, and consequently those voting in the ballot should
support one of the other candidates and as Toynbee would prefer,
Yvette Cooper. In support of this advice, Toynbee uses the now,
hackneyed phrase “you have to win power to get
anywhere at all. Once in power, with the levers of persuasion, you
can take people further than you dare tread in opposition”.
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| Liz Kendall,Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham |
The words which epitomize everything that is wrong the Labour party
now and over the last decades, and why Labour party membership has
been declining steadily for many years. These are the words, now
committed to print by an eminent journalist in a reputable newspaper,
which emphatically states that the Labour party the holds the belief
that it is acceptable to lie, cheat and deceive the people of this
country with hypocritical promises of anything and everything in
exchange for their votes in a General election. After that of course,
the new Labour government could forget any promise, pledge or
undertaking given before polling day, and pursue its own agenda,
regardless of public opinion. It is this belief that has soured the
concept of politics and has given credibility to the public
perception that “They are all the same once they get elected”.
It is this rejection of the “electability” argument that has
propelled Jeremy Corbyn into the position of leading the contest for
leadership of the party. He has consistently argued during this
campaign and during his time as a backbench MP, that elections must
be about policy not personalities, about truth and honesty, about
rejection of the “status quo” and the bankrupt culture of the
“Westminster bubble”. It is these values, ambitions and
qualities that are striking such a chord with Labour party members
who have remained with the party for many years and the thousands of
new members who are joining or rejoining the party.
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| Jeremy Corbyn |
The choice facing those voting in the leadership election is a simple
one. A choice between the “status quo” of tired old “Tory-Lite
policies wrapped up with what ever hypocrisy may be necessary in
order to win a General election at any cost. If that is your
preference, you may select, Burnham, Kendall or join Polly Toynbee in
the Cooper camp.
However should you feel that policy is more important than
personality, or that truth and openness are qualities to be
encouraged rather than ridiculed, Jeremy Corbyn is the only candidate
meeting these values.
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