Defection threats are real, says MP
RECENTLY I sat in a beer garden in Rochdale enjoying the last few rays of summer and assisting at a Help for Heroes fundraising barbecue. The place was absolutely heaving.
High turnouts are commonplace at such events because of the enormous pride in the Armed Forces in our part of the world. But on sunny afternoons like this, when young children to grandparents come together in a show of respect, I never fail to be moved by a powerful sense of community spirit and patriotism.
Being there as a Labour MP is important to me because I believe events like these reflect Labour values and it is where our party should be firmly rooted.
But I’m beginning to wonder if those roots are withering and our party is losing touch with fundamental values that shape our English identity.
I’m not the only Labour MP to have these concerns. Jon Cruddas has spoken of how the party must fashion ‘a new patriotism’, and Tristram Hunt has warned it needs to rediscover its emotional and cultural ties to the shared sense of English identity.
The alarm bells have been ringing for some time, and while many see economic credibility as the biggest hurdle to get over for Labour to return to government, a lack of national pride poses a far bigger problem.
And far from addressing this, Jeremy Corbyn seems to be making matters worse. In his first week as leader he’s refused to sing the National Anthem, had to be dragged kicking and screaming to commit to wearing a red poppy on Remembrance Day, appointed an IRA sympathiser to the second most important job in Opposition, and was unable to say whether he’d kneel before the Queen when he joins the Privy Council.
On top of all this, a video has gone viral showing him arguing to drastically reduce our Armed Forces.
‘He seems happier meeting Hamas than our Queen,’ one constituent told me.
And the fact that it comes at a time when the head of MI5 has warned that terrorism is now the most serious threat Britain faces in security terms, means Labour looks on the wrong side of the argument.
Many of my colleagues know this and there’s a growing worry that Labour must shake itself out of its hard Left, North London, trendy causes torpor before it’s too late.
We can’t carry on like this: Labour has to get its finger on the national pulse and understand the values that hold our communities together. If we don’t, Corbyn will quickly become a Tory recruiting sergeant. And talk of Labour MPs defecting to the Tories may even amount to something – although anyone betting on me is wasting their money.
We’ve been here before. In 1932 George Lansbury was elected leader at a time when Labour was in the doldrums. A pacifist, he revitalised the grassroots.
But some of his views were at odds with many in the trade union movement. In 1933, for example, he said: ‘I would close every recruiting station, disband the Army and disband the RAF. I would abolish the dreadful equipment of war and say to the world, “Do your worst.”’
He remains the only Labour leader ever to be directly removed. Lansbury was succeeded by Clement Attlee who said Labour would not impress the nation with ‘futile Leftwingism’ and got on with the business of winning elections.
There’s an obvious lesson for Corbyn and Labour: if you march out of step with Britain’s core values you’re heading for oblivion and you won’t lift a single child out of poverty or deliver a programme for social justice.