Now what?

• 

• 

• 

So Keir Starmer has thrown Jeremy Corbyn out of the Labour party to the horror of all his many followers, both in the party and outside. Twitter was fizzing with the news yesterday as soon as it was announced and more than one person was wondering what would happen to the Labour party now.

I think we need reminding how many people joined the party in the first place because they were inspired by this man, who really does believe that the Labour party should represent the ‘many’ and not just the ‘few’ and stands for justice and fairness and is not in the least racially prejudice – which is more than you can say for our Prime Mendacitor.

In the last count reported on Twitter 400,000 people joined the Labour party simply because of Corbyn and the vision that he gave them. For although he was much maligned by the right wing of the Labour party and the bulk of the media, Jeremy could move the crowds and inspire hope and optimism amongst the listeners at his many enormous rallies, like no other man in the party, although Andy Burnham comes close.

Now they are questioning how on earth such a thing could be allowed to happen to him.

Margaret Hodge speaking on television yesterday, let the cat out of the bag. She was talking about the statement that Corbyn issued after the EHRC report had come out and she said ‘Jeremy Corbyn’s statement demonstrates that he is in permanent denial about the extent of the problem… He’s yesterday’s man… he is absolutely irrelevant… as we’re looking to the future.’ How’s that for triumphalism? And doesn’t she gloat?! No surprises there because she has hated him for a very long time and now she thinks her friend Starmer has got rid of him for ‘good and all’. But have they? I wonder.

Other people on Twitter had very different ideas and interpretations. Here is Mark Hebden quoting from the report and saying ‘Five hundred thousand cases of antisemitism had been investigated by the EHRC and TWO found to be in breach of the equality act.’ ‘Yeah,’ Mr Hebden mocks. ‘Labour was “riddled” with antisemitism in the last five years.’ And he goes on to say ‘now do the Tories.’

By that time people who had joined the Labour party because of Jeremy Corbyn, were handing in their notice, others like @Josie64 were saying ‘this is now the time to form a new party with Jeremy Corbyn as leader.’

And take a look at this.

As you’ll notice a new hashtag had been brought into play #WeAreCorbyn.

Maybe, as another writer said, ‘UK Labour have not stabbed Jeremy Corbyn in the back. They have committed suicide.’

Tony Benn saw this coming a long time ago and predicted it neatly. ‘If the Labour party could be bullied or persuaded to denounce its Marxists,’ he said. ‘The media – having tasted blood – would demand that it expel its socialists and form a harmless alternative to the Conservatives, which would be allowed to take office now and again when the Conservatives fell out of favour with the public. Thus British capitalism would be made safe.’

A prescient man our Tony Benn for isn’t this exactly what is happening now.

I think the next few days are going to be extremely interesting. I would love to think that we would have a new huge socialist party led by people like Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Andy Burnham. For these are people who are in politics not to feather their own nests and make obscene amounts of money for themselves and their friends, but to care for the huge majority or ordinary, hardworking, decent people. The ones Shelley was talking to when he advised us to ‘Rise like lions after slumber’ and reminded us that:

‘Ye are many, they are few.’