Kinnock on Brexit, Trump, Labour... and his ‘cool’ son
Only a handful of people know what it is like to be the Leader of the Opposition and Neil Kinnock had to fight partisan warfare in his own party while trying to defeat the Conservatives at the ballot box.
He is no stranger to tough battles but he says he has never found it harder to be optimistic than after the events of 2016.
The former Islwyn MP may not expect to see another Labour Prime Minister in his lifetime but he insists giving up is not an option and whether discussing Brexit, the prospect of President Trump, or the fortunes of his own party he shows he has plenty of appetite for the fight. “individual communities and family life”.
He said: “It really goes down into every nook and cranny of our communities. And, of course, with the Government in utter confusion the prospects, I believe, are bleak. I hope I’m wrong.” ...not expecting to see another Labour Prime Minister in his lifetime The 74-year-old said: “As I’ve said publicly, unless things change a lot I probably won’t live to see it. That’s just recognising reality, both the reality of biology and the reality of politics.
“And in life you might as well face up to those things.” of people who have no means of sustenance other than the sale of their labour, and that’s nearly all of us. That’s where Labour’s absolute focus has got to be.” ...why Jeremy Corbyn was elected He said: “What happened was a mood developed in the Labour party – I saw it happening in the frequent meetings that I do across the Labour movement over five years – that Labour wasn’t sufficiently assertive, ferocious in its exposure of George Osborne and its argument for investment and recovery. So in 2015 when Jeremy Corbyn to his own surprise got on the ballot paper there were lots of people across the movement – not just new members – who said ‘He’s using the words we want to hear, let’s give him a chance’.
“And that’s where this phenomenon comes from. Unfortunately that’s not enough of itself to make us a credible potential Government and the opinion polls and some of the local election results are demonstrating that so some extra hard work has got to go into producing practical appealing policies and getting them accepted by the general public.” ...Labour’s new members A defining aspect of Mr Kinnock’s leadership was his battle with the hard left.
“A minority of those who have joined or rejoined the party are the same old sectarian parasites who know that they could never get voting support amongst the public for their view of the world,” he said. “And so they batten on to Labour, but they are a minority.
“Many more people who have joined or rejoined Labour have done so because they despise the injustices and the waste and the ruination of lives and hopes by current policies... Really, the job of democratic socialists is to persuade these people that if they want to see real progressive