Stay united to the bitter end
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Gerrymandering parliamentary seats, bringing back grammar schools, threatening energy policy and even forcing out the chair of the BBC.
In her first few weeks as Prime Minister Theresa May is turning out to be a bull in a china shop.
She has so far been given a free pass by Labour. It was crucial to define her in the early days of her premiership.
Labour’s missed that opportunity, instead choosing to hold a pointless and divisive leadership election.
Next Saturday, Labour starts its conference and it’s a dead cert Jeremy Corbyn will be re-elected.
At least he’ll have two more democratic mandates than May.
So it’s crucial that Team Corbyn and the Parliamentary Labour Party who overwhelmingly voted against him come back together for party and country. The PLP have overwhelmingly backed plans proposed by Clive Betts MP to re-introduce elections to the Shadow Cabinet.
Back in the old days when we were in opposition I participated in Shadow Cabinet elections where MPs would vote among themselves who they’d like to see in the top team. The Labour leader then gave the elected members their portfolio and appointed the rest of his team.
When Labour got back into government in 1997, the elections ended for 13 years.
But when we lost in 2010, new leader Ed Miliband scrapped them, so he could pick the people he wanted. Ironically the PLP voted to axe them – now they want them back.
If I’m honest, they were popularity contests and some MPs spent too much time schmoozing their colleagues to get their votes. But that’s democracy.
I think on balance if it helps the Parliamentary Labour Party get back to working with whoever is elected leader, then fair enough. If we brought the elections back, we could have a Shadow Cabinet of elected and appointed members.
It would help as a first step to showing change and establishing an effective opposition to the Tories. And we saw a great glimpse of it this week.
Jeremy Corbyn was brilliant at Prime Minister’s Questions. He tore apart Theresa May’s divisive grammar school plan and rightly won the praise of many of the MPs who had in the past expressed no confidence in him.
It was a promising start for a reconciliation. After PMQs, I met with Corbyn. I wanted to know how he planned to reach out to the PLP and unite all parts of the party if he won. I was encouraged by his replies.
Little did I know that while we were chatting, people in his leadership campaign, which is run by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, were briefing the media with a “hit list” of rebel MPs and their abusive antiCorbyn quotes. His campaign was then forced to apologise, blaming it on a “junior press officer” who was subsequently “chastised”.
Whether that is true or not, many MPs believe that this team have been too eager to attack colleagues they don’t agree with. They should be looking to build bridges, not bloody well burn them.
Those voices talking about the revenge de-selection of MPs should shut up.
Likewise, MPs who opposed Corbyn will have to accept the leadership question is settled once and for all – we can’t have best of five.
That means ending their regular threat of not serving in a Corbyn Shadow Cabinet if he’s elected.
This bitterness and recrimination on both sides has to end. And end now. It is unprecedented to have had two leadership elections in a period of 12 months.
The winner will have to bring together all parts of the party – the PLP, trade unions, members and supporters – to form an effective opposition and get ready for next year’s elections.
The May government is there for the taking. Brexit is a ticking time bomb waiting to blow the Tories apart, just as it did under Major.
So my message to the party and the PLP is this. From next Saturday, we’re not Corbynistas or moderates, New Labour or Old Labour. We’re ALL Labour. Now let’s fight for Labour’s traditional values in a modern and fast-changing setting. I served tea and coffee on a Hull train after the woman running the buffet was swamped after hours of delay caused by power-line failure. Eventually all passengers disembarked on to buses to Hull. That’s why I back the RMT union against Southern. Southern propose reducing crew and getting drivers to do more. Passenger safety depends on competent train crews as I saw on my train when the driver had his hands full. On the funny side, someone complimented me on my tea-making skills. I joked the secret was using two bags!