SPINNING IN HIS GRAVE
Leadership hopeful on party split
Jeremy Corbyn’s rival to lead Labour yesterday claimed socialist hero Keir Hardie would be spinning in his grave as the party fight each other instead of the Tories.
Owen Smith says Hardie, who helped found Labour, would be horrified that they are so far from winning power.
Smith believes only a new leader can unify a party riven by bitter division as MPs refuse to back Corbyn despite massive support among members.
Corbyn is fighting to remain leader after being challenged just 10 months after taking charge of the party.
But Smith, a Welsh MP whose Pontypridd constituency is next to the former Merthyr Tydfil seat that Hardie held for 15 years, said the firebrand Scot understood that Labour needed to win power to forge a fairer country.
Smith said: “Hardie would be horrified that the Labour Party, who were created to win representation and power in parliament, look so far from being able to do that.”
Hardie transformed UK politics by founding Labour but today he would be “horrified” by what the party have become, said the man who wants to replace Jeremy Corbyn.
Welsh MP Smith faces an uphill battle to beat Corbyn but believes a new leader is needed to bring unity and make the party a credible political force again.
His Pontypridd constituency is next to the former Merthyr Tydfil seat that Hardie held for 15 years.
And he counts fellow Welshman Nye Bevan, who founded the NHS, as another of his political heroes.
Smith said: “Hardie would be horrified that the Labour Party, who were created to win representation a nd p owe r in Parliament, look so far from being able to do that at the moment.
“There is a rightwing Tory Government at Westminster and many of our ideas that Hardie advocated more than 100 years ago are very relevant and necessary today.
“But we feel a long way from power and I think he would have been horrified at how Labour aren’t looked upon as a credible party of government at the moment.”
Asked if Hardie would be spinning in his grave, Smith said: “I think that’s right.
“Hardie would be mortified to see Labour at such a low ebb.”
Corbyn has the support of many party members but has lost the confidence of his MPs, who warn Labour face years in the political wilderness under him.
Smith, who is also to the left of the party, said: “Every Labour member wants this party to be a powerful opposition and a credible, radical government in waiting. But people are very divided about how we go forward. That’s why I asked Jeremy to tell us how he was going to bring Labour back together.
“Hardie was bri l l iant at forging connections across the Labour Party. He was there when the original coalition on of the Labour Party was created – a coalition between middle- classss and working-class people.
“The duty of the leader of the e Labour Party is to maintain that at coalition.
“If we’re not united, then it is very hard for us to win the trust st of the country.”
Hardie, born in Legbrannock,k, Lanarkshire, in 1856, overcame me humble beginnings to become one ne of the first working-class socialistist MPs and the first leader of the he Labour Party at Westminster.
First elected as MP for West Hamam South in 1892, he went on to represent Merthyr Tydfil from 1900900 until his untimely death at the agege of 59 in 1915.
Smith said: “I grew up surrounded nded by stories of great Labour menn and women including Nye Bevan andd Keir Hardie. I was eight or nine beforeefore I realised they weren’t family members.” mbers.”
Smith also said he would campaignaign for more devolution for Scotland.
He said: “One of the great thingss about Labour is that we fundamentally believe, as socialists, in pooling rewardsds and sharing risks right across the UK.K.
“But we also have to understandand the differences between the various parts of the UK. In the past, Labour failediled to appreciate that.
“Hardie was a brilliant exampleple of a British politician and a proud, patriotictriotic Scot who also understood the devolved, different nature of Britain. ain.
“He represented an English seatat and then a Welsh seat but was s always a proud Scot. I think he is a great example of how we can
I grew up hearing stories of Bevan and Hardie. I thought they were family members
take pride in our place of birth but also wanwant, as a socialist, for everybody across the wholew UK to get on in life.
“Labour L need to have a more federal structurestru within our party. We need to r recognise more the desire in ScotlandSco and Wales for greater devolutiondevo and we should be totally comfortablecom with that.”
AskedAs if he would campaign against ScottishScot independence in a second referendum,refer Smith said: “I would have to crosscros that bridge when we get to it.
“I hope Scotland doesn’t ever want to leaveleav the UK, but in order for that to happenhapp the Scottish people will need to feel tthat they have maximum autonomy and that they’re listened to and respected as p part of the UK.”
BornB in Morecambe in 1970, Smith grewgr up in Pontypridd, the seat he has representedre since 2010.
Smith joined the Labour Party at 16 andan studied history and French at SussexSu University before working for theth BBC for 10 years.
He H is married to primary school teachertea Liz and they have three children.
MoreM than 183,000 people paid £25 last weekwee to become registered Labour supporterssupp and have a vote in the leadershiplead election.
TheTh suspicion is that most of them did so to vote for Corbyn but Smith said: “I know at least one of them is mine because my mym mam joined in order to vote for me.
“I know I’m the underdog, but there’s lots of fight in this dog.
“Je Jeremy Corbyn has to understand that no oone person is bigger than the Labour Party.Part He’s just an MP who’s leader of our partypart right now. He’s not the messiah.”