There appear to be two viewpoints within Labour if one is an anti-Corbynite. The first goes that Jeremy is a stain on the nation and the party and that all effort must be put into wresting power away from him as quickly as possible. The alternative opinion being that ultimately the Tories are the enemy and that everyone must unite against them, regardless of Corbyn’s faults. I’m not in the Labour Party so it’s easy for me to empathise more readily with the former group; however, it is easy to see the logic the second crew are advancing. Therefore, those within Labour who hold to the first viewpoint need a logical rebuttal to the second.
The real problem with the latter solution for a lot of Labour people is one that they are reluctant to have a conversation about, even with themselves, so I’ll just state the truth: in order to comply with the “let’s all unite regardless of Jeremy” faction, you have to ultimately prefer that Jeremy Corbyn was prime minister over David Cameron. And the hard truth is, most anti-Corbynites would (very begrudgingly) take Cameron as PM over Corbyn any day.
I myself would prefer to have David Cameron over Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10, basically as a lesser of two evils. Cameron is rather uninspired, lacking vision and given to putting the country in perilous positions in order to try and keep the Conservative Party in one piece (see: referendum, European Union). But would I replace him with someone who seems like he’d genuinely struggle to take care of a single Scout troop never mind the entire nation and on top of that has a clear admiration for the leadership stylings of Enver Hoxha? The answer to that is a definitive no.
It reminds me of when I gave my second preference to Boris Johnson over Ken Livingstone in the last London mayoral election. I didn’t do it out of love for Boris by any means, but simply that he wasn’t someone who actively supported Chavism. Boris was, to me at the time, the lesser of two evils.
Saying you’d prefer David Cameron to be prime minister over Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t make you a Tory – it just makes you normal. I think it’s important for many to come to grips with this concept, since it is the only logical position to be in for Labour people if they aren’t going to rally around Jeremy: that, ultimately, Jeremy is worse than Cameron.
To paraphrase Renton in Trainspotting:
“Some hate the Tories. I don’t. They’re just wankers. It’s a shite state of affairs to be in, folks, and all the fresh air in the world won’t make any fucking difference.”
It may seem pedantic to some, but coming to terms with this is an important part of figuring out how the future of the centre-left pans out.
“Saying you’d prefer David Cameron to be prime minister over Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t make you a Tory – it just makes you normal.”
Is it me, or are Liberal Democrats getting less tolerant of those with different political views the more their own support ebbs away?
It all depends, as Professor Joad used to say, what you mean by normal. If it’s normal to prefer a PM who looks after his own above the majority population who are, at present, variously sinking under flood waters, dependent on food banks, homeless, unable to access safe medical services, disabled and made to attend futile interviews, working in zero contract jobs, deported on technicalities, losing their libraries, theatres, orchestras while paying through the nose for bankers greed and mistakes, you’re dead right. And let’s not forget the ‘normal’ chumminess with News International (aren’t we all glad Rebecca’s back) a grubby little war or two, refusal to take fair share of refugees, confusion over EU, jolly old fox hunting in Chipping Norton, calling paedophile victims conspiracy theorists etc, etc. I may have forgotten a few normal things here, but you must get my drift. Oh and instrumental, mechanical, capitalist business fodder education. Think that’s it for the moment apart from the growing deficit. I could go on, but I’m growing normally weary.