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Tom Baldwin fears "surge in support for Corbyn’s straight-talking manner and anti-austerity brand of politics".

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/28/ed-miliband-jeremy-corbyn-labour-leadership#comments




Ed Miliband not to blame for Jeremy Corbyn's rise, says former aide





Tom Baldwin
Tom Baldwin


Just when we thought that the Guardian was running out of ideas for trashing Corbyn and those in the party who support him, Rowena Mason, has dragged out Tom Baldwin (Tom who?) to add his “weight” to the "Don't vote for Corbyn" campaign. In another existence, Rowena Mason was probably the other soothsayer sitting on the steps of the senate in ancient Rome repeating the message, "The ides of March are come! All in well in the House of Caesar!”
The Guardian has dragged out the thoughts and quotations of Tom Baldwin as if they represent the beam of enlightenment which will finally ensure that their preference in the contest, Yvette Cooper, will be the next leader of the Labour party. However, an examination of what Baldwin is reported as saying reveal contradictions and distortions which are selected, presumably to support the Guardian
editorial slant.
Baldwin reveals his Blairite leanings with the comment that, “Labour must begin by reaching people outside the party and bringing them in – just as Blair did 20 years ago”. A policy of promising all things to all people in exchange for their votes, which, in turn, led to declining membership of the Labour party and a fall in support at subsequent elections resulting in two successive defeats, as well as the growth of the electorate's disillusionment with politics and the “Westminster bubble” status quo as well as the Labour party.
The comment that the Labour party is “justifiably suspicious at the prospect of being led by someone who rebelled against the last government more than any other MP” is a remarkable piece of double talk which Mason implies as some sort of criticism of Corbyn's integrity and principle.
The Parliamentary Labour party, including Cooper, Kendall and Burnham, supported ConDem coalition policies of cuts in benefits, welfare, trade union legislation and other measures and even abstained on the Welfare reform bill in a recent Commons vote. Before that, the PLP as a government, has supported measures which have resulted in creeping privatisation of services against the interests of ordinary people and has even taken this country into an illegal war based on a fairy tale. The fact that Jeremy Corbyn voted against the PLP on these issues should be commended not criticised.
Tom Baldwin completes this intervention with a comment in respect of the leadership election reforms introduced by Miliband (Minor) and enthusiastically endorsed by the Labour party and those candidate and supporters who now criticise the process at every opportunity, presumably because they do not like the distinct possibility that Corbyn may actually win. The new system of 1 member 1 vote, was ironically, a system proposed by Constituency parties back in the 1970's but which was resoundingly rejected by the PLP and other right wing elements in favour of the “Electoral College”.
The headline “Ed Miliband not to blame for Jeremy Corbyn's rise, says former aide” does not really prepare the reader for what the article actually contains, but that is not unusual for the Guardian, particularly over the last few weeks during this leadership election contest.


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