Forget about Jezza. Momentum’s mob could save the Tories
THE Prime Minister is heading for disaster in May’s local elections. Psephological horse- whisperer Sir John Curtice has warned that the Tories could lose half the boroughs they control in London alone. But for some Ministers, this could be the moment that saves the Conservative Party.
‘Obviously no one wants to lose councils,’ one explained to me, ‘but if we wake up with Momentum controlling half of London, that would be something we could exploit. We’d have several Petri dishes to point to and say, “Want to know what Labour would be like in Government? There you go.” ’
Since the General Election, Corbynite activists have been riding high. On Friday it was announced that a ‘Labour Glastonbury’ will be held in Finsbury Park to recapture that magical Spirit of ’17. Their anthem of ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn’ will again drift across the sultry North London summer air.
But Tory strategists who have been in headlong retreat from the Absolute Boy’s zombie army have finally decided to stand and fight. Indeed, they have come to believe Momentum’s voracious hordes represent an opportunity, rather than a threat.
Partly this is from their analysis of their own disastrous Election campaign. Downing Street now believes that by choosing to attack Corbyn they were effectively punching a ghost. Talk of past associations with the IRA or Hamas was too abstract for voters focusing on bread-and-butter issues such as hospitals, schools and shrinking pay.
But were Momentum to seize swathes of Labour’s local authority base, that would bring the Corbynite threat alive. ‘Failing to renew Trident goes over most people’s heads,’ one Tory strategist told me. ‘But fail to get the bins emptied on time and they notice. And they get very, very angry about it.’
Placing t he spotlight on ‘Momentum’s Labour’ rather than ‘Corbyn’s Labour’ is also designed to tap into something Tory MPs are detecting on the doorstep – a sense their ‘nasty party tag’ is slowly transferring to their opponents.
Contrary to popular perception, the intimidation and harassment meted out by the Corbynites last June was not confined t o social media. Posters were torn down. Constituency offices were defaced with graffiti. Verbal abuse was commonplace.
‘ This is Britain,’ one Tory backbencher told me. ‘People are cynical about politics but they have a very clear idea of how they expect Elections to be conducted. And there’s a growing sense there’s a nasty streak running through the modern Labour Party.’
That’s because t here i s. Last week’s resignation of respected Haringey Council leader Claire Kober – hounded out after a campaign that included overt sexism and anti- Semitism – was merely the latest example of Momentum’s political bloodlust.
That’s why on Tuesday, Theresa May will use a celebration of the 100th anniversary of votes for women to highlight the abuse female politicians receive. It will be pitched as a general appeal for a return to democratic civil norms. But be in no doubt – her target is Corbyn’s White Walkers.
Of course, it’s one thing to have a strategy, quite another to implement it. New Tory chairman Brandon Lewis is said to have been shocked at the state of the operation he i nherited from Patrick McLoughlin. Of particular concern is the once-vaunted Tory press machine, which is ‘not fit for purpose’, according to one Cabinet Minister.
Then there are the Conservatives’ own internal membership problems, which seemed to have peaked with the ‘Tatler Tory’ affair, but have burst back into life this weekend with the suspension of leading youth activist Stephen Canning. And the local elections look set to be contested against a backdrop of continuing Tory infighting on Europe, and the Prime Minister’s lack of vision or direction.
But there is one big upside to the Conservative master plan. There is very little Corbyn can do to counter it.
Momentum have become his Frankenstein’s monster. He created them, but he can no longer control them. Drunk on their perceived success last June, they are in no mood to entertain entreaties for compromise or moderation.
Th e Momentum zealots truly believe their Marxist nirvana is in sight. ‘ Today Haringey, tomorrow the world’ has become their mantra.
AND nobody – not Labour moderates, not ordinary voters, not even the Dear Leader himself, will be allowed to stand in their way.
The dominoes are already falling. First it was Claire Kober. Twenty-four hours later it emerged that Jon Clempner, Labour council leader in Harlow, had also been purged by Momentum activists who branded him a neo-Nazi.
Now there are reports that they have set their sights on Lambeth, where Labour leader Lib Peck has provoked their wrath by investing £300 million in a council-run private housing company for development of new homes in the borough.
Of course this may be too late to help Mrs May. Her grip on power becomes more precarious by the hour. But the irony is that Momentum, the Tories’ most fanatical enemy, could also prove to be their saviour.