Our democracy has no place for the mob
Aweek has passed since the shock result of the general election in which the Conservative Party secured the most seats and almost 43 per cent of the vote, its highest share for 34 years. Ironically, it resulted in Theresa May losing her parliamentary majority; but under our constitution she is entitled to form a government and put a Queen’s Speech to parliament, as she will next Wednesday. This is the democratic process in action.
Our system sometimes produces uncertain outcomes in the Commons, as now. But it ensures that the governance of the nation is conducted in an orderly and peaceful way. Given our bloody history, it is one of the mainstays of the United Kingdom’s hard-won reputation for stability even in times of political upheaval.
Yet the hard Left leadership of the Labour Party does not believe in these democratic norms. John Mcdonnell, the shadow chancellor, has called for a mass protest to remove Mrs May from office. He has urged the trade unions to “mobilise” their members against the Conservatives. He wants the mob to dictate what Parliament should do.
Mr Mcdonnell is a long-time advocate of direct action to supplant the parliamentary process. He apparently considers the Conservatives to be illegitimate occupants of the seats of government even though they ended up with nearly one million more votes than Labour. His call to protest is a clear indication of the Stalinist inclinations of the gang that has taken over the Labour Party.
Just a year ago, the majority of moderate Labour MPS wanted Jeremy Corbyn and his band of Marxist sympathisers out but they have been cowed by his better-than-expected showing in the campaign. The fact is he lost a third election on the trot for the party and secured only four more seats than Gordon Brown, who no one suggested was anything other than a loser in 2010.
This absurd narrative that Labour really won the election is fuelling Mr Mcdonnell’s deeply dangerous call to Labour supporters to take to the streets. It should be opposed by all right-thinking people, and especially the bulk of Labour MPS. Not only is it profoundly undemocratic but it is an indication of what will happen to the moderates if they don’t stand up for themselves. Labour’s Momentum organisation will pick them off one by one, just as Tom Watson already has been with his removal as party chairman and his replacement by Ian Lavery, a former president of the National Union of Mineworkers.
Mr Corbyn and Mr Mcdonnell are able to make these inroads by dint of the Government’s weakness and especially the ebbing away of Mrs May’s authority. Her failure to secure an overall majority has had consequences that reverberate far beyond Westminster. It has not been easy to cling to power while at the same time preparing for the opening of Brexit talks and seeking a deal with the DUP to ensure her Government is not defeated at the first opportunity on the Queen’s Speech.
In addition, she has had to contend with two terrible terrorist attacks and the Kensington fire disaster. These tragedies have played directly into Mr Corbyn’s narrative of a nation divided between the haves and have-nots and of the dangers created by cuts in public spending. Since Mrs May was home secretary for six years, she is vulnerable to charges that the country’s security has been compromised by a reduction in police numbers. Now the dreadful death toll in the country’s richest borough is being seen as emblematic of the country’s polarisation.
More than that, it has exposed once more the different ways the two party leaders operate. When he attended the fire scene yesterday, Mr Corbyn demonstrated an ability to empathise with the victims and their families that does not come easily to the Prime Minister. Mrs May drew complaints from local people for talking only to members of the emergency services. There are echoes of the week after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, when the Queen faced criticism for failing to catch the public mood. This is unfair but it is what happens to a Prime Minister when her power drains away. Her best course of action now is to get Parliament back up and running where she can control events and not be buffeted by them. The Queen’s Speech will reaffirm that it is in the Commons and not on the streets that our democracy should be conducted.