So about that new political party of the left then, dear reader… This is the story so far. It is almost funny, and Gilbert and Sullivan might have set it to music.
First of all, it’s a secret of course. (The Left love secrets, as do we all, my dears.) There has been a ‘Collective’ ruminating on a new party for several years, apparently, talking and going nowhere. Karie Murphy seemed to be bossing it, on vague behalf of Jeremy Corbyn. Then in July this year came Zarah Sultana’s shock announcement that she would co-lead a new party, with Jeremy Corbyn.
Then came silence, because behind the scenes there was a row. Where would the Left be without rows? And a purge – you have to have purges. Egos were bruised, and the controlling Collective felt its power had been usurped, so went off in a huff. The combative Murphy was blamed, but Corbyn insisted she be brought back into the fold. There followed another row, and this time Corbyn himself was the one to go off in a huff. So yet another working group was formed, including both Corbyn and Sultana, though Sultana’s supporters complain it’s stacked with Corbyn’s people and see this as a way of sidelining her. (Are you keeping up at the back there?) Somewhere lurking behind the arras are, as one would expect, the usual suspects: the Revolutionary Communist Party, the Socialist Party of England and Wales (SPEW), which is the old Militant and includes the Socialist Workers Party (the Trots). Add to that George Galloway, Tariq Ali and Uncle Dave Nellist and all. My dears, rats in a sack.
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So here they are with endless committees, all suspicious of each other and nobody having any idea who is in charge. And bear in mind, this chimera has no name, no objectives, no organisation, no membership, not even a statement of principles as the basis for membership. Nothing exists.
Yet quite bizarrely, out in the country, it seems local groups of this non-existent party have already formed – though god knows who formed them, to what purpose or what they talk about. Even if, People’s Front of Judea-like, they spend their time declaring motions – which they almost certainly will – to whom do they send them? And of course, being lefty organisations, these local groups are already rowing among themselves about how the non-existent party should be organised from bottom up and not top down. Whereas in reality of course, there is no party whatever.
Really, where on earth do they find them?
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But whisper it soft. Others begin to lurk, including Extinction Rebellion (XR). They claim to have financial backing and have begun to set up citizens’ assemblies and hold public meetings – one in Brixton was claimed at least to expect 500 people. Zarah Sultana was expected.
Can anything plausibly come of it? Pecksniff has previously declared that it is quite impossible unless some grown-ups step in. There is no doubting the profound and simmering frustration and unrest among the usually unpolitical majority across the country. If all this chaos happens to ignite a spark unconnected with the clowns of the far left, then things could still happen very quickly.
Surely, dear reader, all those noble causes on equality and ethics and the brotherhood of man deserve better than this? As a life-long leftie, it grieves your diarist to have nothing more uplifting to report. But if we are to emerge from this dark night, then we have to come to terms with the obvious fact that we will not be served by the existing Left, since it will already bear the seeds of its own destruction. It has to come from elsewhere.
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In the meantime, if not The Party That Dare Not Speak Its Name (because it’s still squabbling over what it should be), then who? Well, there is a glimmer of hope this week, with the launch of Mainstream Labour, calling themselves “radical realists” and positioned on the centre left, whose objectives are a return to becoming the party of its members. Prominent among them will be radical changes to our voting procedures and, we are assured, that pachyderm in the parlour, Europe.
The launch featured PR, but suspiciously made no mention of Europe. Your diarist is assured that this is imminent but there are “still some nuances that need ironing out”. Oh yeah? Well, given those involved, this sounds plausible. And in the absence of anything more uplifting, we may as well watch this space.
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The Labour Party has to elect itself a new deputy leader, which is all a bit awkward. Angela Rayner was already deputy party leader when she was appointed for party reasons as deputy prime minister (an invented role which has no standing under the constitution). But now she has gone, Sir Keir has appointed David Lammy as deputy PM, which means that whoever is elected as the party’s deputy will not fill that role.
But for the PM not to give a prominent role to this new figure would seem an insult to the party. Besides, readers will know Lyndon Johnson’s dictum about preferring the camel in the tent and pissing out, rather than outside pissing in. How much more comfortable then to resort to a good old (and shamelessly blatant) Labour fix. Prospective candidates were told they had just two days, until Thursday evening, in which to amass 80 signatories among MPs. The runners are now confirmed as Bridget Phillipson – already a member of the cabinet and a Starmer trusty – and Lucy Powell, who one rather imagines was also chosen by the whips as an opponent who knows her catechism and is an unlikely troublemaker.
A pity, then, that Mainstream doesn’t have somebody up there. It would have been a gesture of intent.
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It has always been your diarist’s view that the Reform vote is soft, and we have anecdotal evidence this week. Greens whisper that during door knockings for the council by election in Newmarket they encounter the counter-intuitive response: “I’m voting Reform. But it could be you!” Unlikely? Only if one assumes the punters voter logically, which is risible. They often vote on a whim, or in this case in desperation to find anybody other than the usual lot. That means Reform, but it could mean Green.
Will new leader Zack Polanski’s ‘eco-populism’ work? There remain doubts as to whether all the enthusiasm accompanying his election will translate into a more robust presentation to the voters, rather than having party members talking to themselves again. But as the new kid on the block, he has an opportunity to make an impact.
Pecksniff has seen polling figures which seem to suggest that may be working in the east, though the sample is too small to be reliable. However, membership figures have increased from 60,000 to 70,000.
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A new poll from the British Election Study shows a grimly eschatological overview of the Conservative Party’s chances. They stand at about 20% at best in most opinion polls, but an analysis of voting intentions by age group shows that they only reach that point among voters of 65 and above. Only about 13% of those aged 40 would think of voting Tory, and much below that and the party’s support is in single figures.
What are they doing about it? Everything suggests they are determinedly continuing to do what has led to the imminent death of perhaps the world’s oldest political party.
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We have become such a vulgar race, where once the world admired us for our effortless style. Last week’s Reform annual conference was frequently gruesome. At times it resembled the bar scene from Star Wars. We shan’t dwell on the event unduly – to most readers, an evening of yodelling at Dennington village hall would have vastly greater appeal than attendance at that event. But it was noticeable that there were a number of empty seats, even during the Farage speech.
Listen to Pecksniff… Reform can only win if we let them.
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Every week, Pecksniff’s avid intelligencers bombard him with countless tales of Reform’s sophistries, hypocrisies and incompetence. But to include them all would exclude anything more wholesome. It is also a sordid task having to list them in every diary, so the policy has become to try not to dedicate the week to their shortcomings. Instead, they are squeezed into a single entry: so here goes.
Nigel Farage has earnings of almost a million pounds over the past year, almost all of course from ignoring his Clacton constituents. He has then set up a company through which he can feed his earnings so as to reduce the tax he pays. He has also arguably misled the public over buying the house he claims is actually his partner’s, also to save tax. It is in the Clacton constituency, true, though not in the town, which is frightfully vulgar. It is in Frinton-on-Sea, which is so posh that until recently they didn’t even allow pubs.
Former Clacton MP Douglas Carswell, who began as a Tory then jumped ship to become a colleague of Nigel Farage in Reform’s forerunner Ukip, has declared whimsically: “From Epping to the sea, let’s make England Abdul free”.
Last week Pecksniff reported that the apparently pro-free speech Reform denied banning hacks it doesn’t like from its conference, and in one case from reporting on a local council, when clearly they were. This week we learn from the Independent that journalists have been threatened with being refused access to the party unless they change the way it is reported.
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But one Reform story must stand alone. It involves their Councillor Sam Journet, who represents St Martin’sward on Basildon Council. On Monday he was arrested by police at the council offices and placed in handcuffs, on suspicion of “stalking, harassment and a public order offence”. The council has confirmed that an unnamed councillor has been arrested after he had “repeatedly disregarded” restrictions limiting access to some parts of the premises.
Once again we see Reform’s problem. Without our making any further comment on this case, the more power the party accrues, the more clearly the voters can see how their members use it.
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Your diarist was alarmed this week at passing the offices of the Ipswich Labour Party to find it festooned with a string of English flags – what has become the current emblem of Reform and the far right, of course.
It is only fair to point out that this office is nothing to do with Jack Abbott, the town’s MP, whose office is elsewhere. But anyway the matter is not as dramatic as it may appear, though it must remain an embarrassment. The party’s offices are on the first floor, and are leased from the social club which occupies the ground floor. It is they who put up the flags, and the party has no say in the matter. It is suggested – rather hopefully – that they may have been put up to celebrate the women’s rugby world cup, a staple of your average working man’s sporting enthusiasm, no doubt. Though it is perhaps lent credence by the flags being adorned with the name ‘Carlsberg’.
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Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) was the only one of our MPs to hold a government post, until last weekend’s reshuffle. He was the agriculture minister; he is no longer.
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Our intelligencers with their ears to the keyhole and a Dr Doolittle way with carrier pigeons this week were Celina Błędowska,Yasmin Gregory, Karl Whiteman, James Porter, Helen Forte, Jess Knopp, Mary Marshall and Malcolm Lynn.
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