The new socialism

“Socialism for the 21st century.” That, said Martin Kettle in The Guardian, was Jeremy Corbyn’s pitch to the electorate in his conference speech last week. For decades it’s been an article of faith for Labour leaders that elections could only be won from the centre – where most of the voters are. But Corbyn has abandoned this entirely, producing a “wish list of policies” that fly in the face of conventional political wisdom. Seven out of ten Labour seats voted for Brexit, said the Daily Mail, “with most listing unrestricted migration at the top of their concerns”. Corbyn doesn’t care: he made it clear that he has no intention of lowering migrant numbers. Meanwhile, he promised to “dip into a bottomless bucket of fantasy money” to fund a plethora of policies: £500bn for a National Investment Bank, and “heaven knows how much more for nationalising the railways, student grants, housing, expanding welfare and increasing the living wage”. In Corbyn’s “la-la land”, there is “no limit to the cash at his disposal”.

In the 1990s and 2000s, it was certainly true that left-wing parties could only win from the centre, said Wolfgang Münchau in the FT. But is it true now? Politics has been “redefined” by the 2008 financial crisis. The centre-left looks weak across Europe. Alternatives are required. And “from an economic point of view, there is nothing extreme in the argument for large investment programmes”, after years of austerity. If the Conservatives mess up Brexit – which they might well do – the next general election could become “an open race”. Labour MPS have to make a decision, said Philip Collins in The Times. Their leadership challenge has been defeated. Their only plan for “getting back the party” seems to involve hoping that the hundreds of thousands of new Corbynite members will “go away”. This isn’t going to happen. MPS should be embracing the new membership – which is largely young and idealistic, if a little naive. “If any recovery is conceivable, here is where it starts.”

Fine, said Rod Liddle in The Sunday Times. But in the meantime the latest poll “showed Labour on a remarkable 26%, 1.6 points below that achieved by the redoubtable Michael Foot in the 1983 election – the lowest of low points in Labour’s history”. And most Labour MPS remain at odds with their leader, said Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian. The conference confirmed that immigration has emerged as “the defining dividing line” in the party. In one corner are the “realists”, such as Andy Burnham, Rachel Reeves and Chuka Umunna, who see the “angst” over migration in their constituencies, and think that controls must be introduced. In the other are those, like Corbyn, who think that migrants are unjustly maligned, and that the real issue is providing sufficient funding to soften the impact of the new arrivals on public services. Corbyn’s position is “noble”. But in his speech, he also promised to listen to Labour voters. And if he does, “he may not like what he hears”.