Blairites attempt to oust Jeremy Corbyn, fail miserably.

[marmar]

It’s dizzying to keep up with the drama of British politics in the post-Brexit era as resignations and elections seem to never-endingly roll in. Hell, in a matter of weeks the United Kingdom has somehow already been saddled with a new conservative, and let’s not forget, unelected Prime Minister. Now the Brexiteers have had their day, including the downtrodden former London mayor Boris Johnson, and conservatives in both the Tory and Labour parties want to continue with neoliberal austerity as usual.

Unfortunately for them, however, one man has marvelously weathered the storm of betrayals and right-wing plots, and that man is none other than Jeremy Corbyn.

The Labour Party leader came under fire after the European Union Referendum and has been the center of what’s being called a “chicken coup” within his own party. After facing a no confidence vote, it became clear that while Corbyn still had overwhelming support from unions, grassroots movements and the Labour Party membership, his actual colleagues wanted him out.

The architects of the coup gave a number of reasons for their attempt to rid the party of Corbyn, ranging from what they deemed his lackluster support for the Remain campaign in the lead-up to the referendum to the belief that he couldn’t win a general election if one was called in the following months. On the left some suspected it could be due to the planned release of the Chilcot Report which would paint the Labour Party, Tony Blair and the MPs who voted for the Iraq War in a negative light, especially given that Corbyn planned to apologize for the war on behalf of his party.

So far, however, it seems his enemies did not count on the progressive leader’s resilience in the face of adversity. On Monday, MP Angela Eagle, who, among other things, voted for the Iraq War and was involved in the mass resignations in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, launched her campaign to contest Corbyn’s leadership. Yet, just as she did so, her own constituents decided to set up a no-confidence vote as many continue to publicly support the current leader of the party.

Then on Wednesday, after much debate over whether or not the Labour Party rules would allow Corbyn to be on the leadership contest ballot without obtaining the 51 nominations from within the party required for contenders, the National Executive Committee voted 18-14 to keep the leader on the ballot. ................(more)

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/jeremy_corbyn_wins_another_battle_war_against_labour_party_leader_20160713

[Warpy]

1. This blog post might make the decision a little clearer

Would you rather sit down for a pint with the beareded old loon droning on about his five year plan for tractor production or sit opposite Eagle scowling at you and just being nasty about everyone while quoting stats on affirmative action programmes? I honestly think I'd rather spend my time with the bearded old loon and I suspec t many ordinary voters would regard it something of a Hobson's choice but in the end agree with me.

And then what does Ms Eagle stand for? She was enthusaistic about Remain (Corbyn was not), very pro the illegal Iraq war (Corbyn was not) and cares deeply about metropolitan liberal issues such as sexuality and affirmative action for women. These may be important matters but they are not the prime concerns of what used to be termed the "core vote" and on Iraq/EU she is on a different side of the barricades to the core vote, Corbyn is not. Put bluntly, Eagle's chances of stopping Labour's core working class vote abandining it altogether are even more remote than those of Comrade Corbyn.

The gushing endorsement of the Blairite metropolitan elite for Ms Eagle tells you everything you need to know. She might just be the one person in Labour who would make it even less electable than Comrade Corbyn. Being well ahead of the game, I flagged this up some weeks ago and I am now genuinely torn. Should I remain on the barricades with my comrades to support Comrade Corbyn or should I consider a tactical switch to Ms Eagle?

http://www.tomwinnifrith.com/articles/9207/corbyn-vs-eagle-who-should-a-tory4corbyn-back-eagle-has-a-lot-of-plus-points

(Note: the typos are his)

[malaise]

2. All Blairites who voted for that illegal Iraq invasion and occupation

should be expelled from the party

[T_i_B]

3. They may leave of their own accord

The moderate wing of the Labour party has a lot of baggage from the Blair years, but at the present time Labour is a dysfunctional mess incapable of representing anyone. And what's worse is that we have a very bad government at the present time that need strong opposition.

There is a very strong risk of Labour splitting at the moment. Nobody is happy with the current state of affairs and you've got a leadership who can't work with their own MP's and the party at grassroots level at each others throats.

[T_i_B]

4. This article is complete bollocks

Jeremy Corbyn has not "marvelously weathered the storm of betrayals and right-wing plots". For one thing the leadership election is going to be an ongoing issue for a while, and it is very possible that he could lose as he has not performed well as labour leader. Even if he does win then the chances are that we could see another SDP style split, only larger and even more damaging than the "gang of four" running off to the Liberals was back in the 80's.

He's shown himself to be incapable of running Labour. He is not popular in the real world outside of his own following of creepy cultists. His performance in the EU referendum was very poor. And the reason why most of his shadow cabinet walked out on him was not due to his being too left wing but due to his mismanagement of the party.

[nationalize the fed]

5. Time for the Ballot Monkeys

Funniest show of last year. Absolutely Hilarious. Like Westminster.