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General Erection 2019


Gus Mears

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I will do what I do every general election and vote Labour.

With my interest in politics at an all-time low, it’s at the point where my support for the party is like my support for a football team and I will just vote for them regardless of who is in charge or what their current policies are.

For those traditional labour voters still having doubts about Jeremy Corbyn I say this. If I can put up with eight months of Avram Grant in charge of Chelsea and still come out the other side a fan of the club, you can vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour and get these fucking awful Tory cunts out.

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It's ironic that the general opinion seems to be that Labour have collapsed and allowed the 'Tories to run roughshod over the nation, yet the blame is being put on the guy who's the closest thing to a proper Labour leader in decades, while the answer many are putting forward is returning to the very Labour politics that got them into this sorry position in the fucking first place.

Brilliantly put. The people who keep banging on about getting back to the centre seem to have ignored  why we are in this mess.

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Is it "traditional Labour voters" that doubt Corbyn, or is that just a cooked up narrative - genuine question?

The most recent poll I remember seeing of Labour members, saw a decline in confidence since the last election, though was still mostly positive. I don't think I've ever really seen anything broken down by demographic, though.

Extremely anecdotally, but much of what I've seen from family and friends is that the older Labour members who had been turned off by Blair and New Labour have gravitated back to the party under Corbyn, because they see him as a return to the Labour values of their youth. I agree with David that reverting to the New Labour playbook would only serve to further alienate the "heartlands" where received wisdom is they've turned their back on Labour because they felt neglected by them.

 

Jeremy Corbyn is at his best as a campaign politician, and I feel Boris Johnson may well be at his weakest as a campaign politician on a national scale, so it's going to be interesting to say the least.

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I think 2017 showed that a lot of areas which voted leave or had veered to UKIP in the 'traditional Labour' areas actually went back to Labour because of their home policies and that Brexit was happening and Corbyn was not campaigning to remain.

The issues is, Brexit still hasn't happened. Boris Johnson is running on a 1 issue agenda. Will those area that vote Labour traditionally in the North thus vote for Johnson or Farage as they see it as getting Brexit through?

But yes, a lot of what you would class as 'New Labour' are turned off by Corbyn because he represents a return to what they believe are hard left policies. They also want to remain in the EU. The Lib Dems are offering that, so he could lose those seats.

There is also still the perception that he's anti-Semitic. I've seen this come about again with lots of people saying they cannot vote Labour because of this. Whatever you think of those claims, its harming him again

The thing with Corbyn is he doesn't need to win a majority, Boris does. It's going to be a lot more interesting than people think. My fear is the Lib Dem/Labour vote splits, and Johnson wins a majority of 40

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Just now, BomberPat said:

Is it "traditional Labour voters" that doubt Corbyn, or is that just a cooked up narrative - genuine question?

For me that narrative is at best greatly exaggerated, and at worst a downright lie. The British media was it its happiest when we had two leading parties separated by the proverbial cigarette paper. Primarily centrist, pro-business, pro capitalism. The Conservatives of the era were to the right of centre in a very washed-out kind of way, while Labour were ever-so-slightly to the left. There wasn't really all that much between them in all honesty with the exception of someone who could command an audience in Tony Blair. It was much-loved by the establishment because it was "safe politics."

Some point to the fact that Labour won that election under Blair, and that's true, but to what cost? Labour effectively gave up much of its identity for the success it seen then, and they're paying the price for it now.

8 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Extremely anecdotally, but much of what I've seen from family and friends is that the older Labour members who had been turned off by Blair and New Labour have gravitated back to the party under Corbyn, because they see him as a return to the Labour values of their youth. I agree with David that reverting to the New Labour playbook would only serve to further alienate the "heartlands" where received wisdom is they've turned their back on Labour because they felt neglected by them.

As much as it pains me to say it, it's for this very reason that I think the Conservatives will likely win this election in December.

We may not like what the Conservative party is, but at least we know what it is. They've fully embraced that right-wing, "rule Britannia" element and for the first time in decades they are actually a real, blue-rosette right-wing Conservative party. Unashamedly nationalistic, pro-business, and pro-capitalism. Boris Johnson is exactly the right man, in the right place, at the right time. He's the walking, talking embodiment of what that party is. They're a self-serving group of absolute fuckwits, exactly like those who vote for them.

Where we're facing problems is with the opposition. Labour should be the opposite of what the Conservatives under Johnson are. 

What Labour are in danger of doing is making the same mistakes as before. They've got the same centrist voices urging the party to try and win over those centre/centre-right voters with a more moderate, soft-centre left manifesto, while completely ignoring the traditional Labour voters in other parts of the country.

It's ridiculous. Those of a legitimate centre-right/right persuasion are never voting Labour while the Conservatives are as defined and sure of their stance as they are. This isn't the wishy-washy Conservative party of John Major, this is as proper a dyed in the wool Tory party as we've seen in a while. Those who are of that ilk are voting Conservative regardless of how much Labour shed their left-wing policies.

Labour need to look to those lapsed voters who have either walked away from the ballot box altogether, or who have been convinced by the likes of UKIP, the Liberals, the SNP and even the Tories that Labour doesn't give a fuck about them.

Rather than take the lazy approach of trying to mould the party into whatever will get them most votes, most likely trying to appeal to everyone and convincing no one, all the while appearing confused and unelectable they need to solidify themselves as the opposite of the Conservatives and argue the corner of those policies to the public. 

Solid, socially responsible policies that take the Labour Party of the 1970's and bring it into the modern era. It can be done. Running a campaign on social equality, fairness, against racism and bigotry isn't some thing of the fucking past. Those policies are timeless, and they need to be sold to the people who have been sold on the idea that such an approach is somehow detrimental to them.

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9 hours ago, Guy Bifkin said:

For those traditional labour voters still having doubts about Jeremy Corbyn I say this. If I can put up with eight months of Avram Grant in charge of Chelsea and still come out the other side a fan of the club, you can vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour and get these fucking awful Tory cunts out.

Typical Corbyn antisemitism

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On 10/29/2019 at 8:11 PM, Grecian said:

I'm in the NE Somerset constituency. I will happily vote for anyone that is not Rees-Mogg. Sadly, he's still rather popular in these parts and as much as I'd love to see him get voted out (or horsewhipped), I'll be amazed if he's not re-elected. 

Although his share is depressingly high, it does seem that if there were some sort of pact among the progressives, he might be dethroned.

In my own case, it looks as though I'm going to have to hold my nose and vote Labour. I checked the stats for Green and Liberal Democrats, the two parties I'd be favouring under PR, and neither hit 2% last time, presumably because I and others were holding our noses then too.

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I've just been looking through my Facebook feed (I know), and the anti-Corbyn lot are out in full force. And this is a traditional Labour Stronghold. I honestly don't know what will happen up here. 

My local MP is John Heeley - a Labour Remainer. He's basically fucked because 69.8% of his constituency voted Leave. And LEAVE MEANS LEAVE SEND EM BACK. So the knuckle dragging racists will under no circumstances vote for him. Firstly, he should have exposed the Child Groomers. Sorry, the Asian Child Groomers. Secondly HE'S IGNORING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE for backing Remain. So he's basically fucked.

So the question is, who will we vote for? Many still remember Thatcher, so they won't vote Tory. But then half of them are "backing Boris" because he's "getting Brexit done". Lots want to vote for The Brexit Party. But that will surely take away from Tory votes. I'd wager that there is no Brexit Party candidate up here, as I'm pretty sure a deal will be done between Our Nige and Boris to ensure they aren't fighting over the same votes.

In conclusion, fuck knows.

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