I’m not in the UK, so there are probably years of nuance that I’m missing, but it felt like they forgot about actual labour voters immediately after the election.
Are progressives or real, avowed socialists so unelectable today that the Labour party has come to this?
I’m thinking back to my youth, when in honesty I didn’t pay nearly enough attention to politics, but my thought was that they need more Tony Benn or Ken Livingstone than Tony Blair - say whatever else you like about those guys, but I don’t remember them being apologetic for being who they were.
Are progressives or real, avowed socialists so unelectable today that the Labour party has come to this?
Yes.
my thought was that they need more Tony Benn or Ken Livingstone than Tony Blair
Blair undoubtedly did some awful things, and moved the party economically to the right. But also he was the only Labour PM to get elected for a generation. And he did it 3 times. So yeah, I’d say that real economic progressives have been unelectable for a long time. Hopefully that’s starting to change, but who knows.
Sure, but I’d argue that Corbyn was divisive enough that he drove more right wingers to vote. And we can argue his potential electability, but when it came down to it he was leader of a Labour party which failed to win an election.
It’s not that there isn’t a large progressive bloc in the UK, it’s that it’s just not big enough to win elections.
Starmer ran a progressive campaign in 2024 and backtracked on it, and prior to that at the 2019 General Election Jeremy Corbyn got more votes than Starmer did.
The problem is really:
The media is completely owned and controlled by the ruling class, who push far-right politics, because it benefits them.
The Labour Party has been completely co-opted by right-wing interests and now serves the ruling class rather than the working class.
The FPTP electoral system makes third parties far less likely to be able to win at elections.
Luckily for us, it seems the Greens have proven that Labour’s grasp on the duopoly isn’t quite as firm as they thought. I’m praying that Labour get completely wiped out at the next General Election and slip off into the quiet obscurity of history.
Luckily for us, it seems the Greens have proven that Labour’s grasp on the duopoly isn’t quite as firm as they thought. I’m praying that Labour get completely wiped out at the next General Election and slip off into the quiet obscurity of history.
It’s exciting isn’t it? If Starmer had any sense at all, he’d see the writing on the wall and introduce PR. Otherwise I think there’s a decent possibility that we’ll see a few high profile defections from Labour to Green and then electoral wipeout. At the moment I’d still expect Reform to win, but we can always hope.
Love that subtext.
I’m not in the UK, so there are probably years of nuance that I’m missing, but it felt like they forgot about actual labour voters immediately after the election.
Are progressives or real, avowed socialists so unelectable today that the Labour party has come to this?
I’m thinking back to my youth, when in honesty I didn’t pay nearly enough attention to politics, but my thought was that they need more Tony Benn or Ken Livingstone than Tony Blair - say whatever else you like about those guys, but I don’t remember them being apologetic for being who they were.
Yes.
Blair undoubtedly did some awful things, and moved the party economically to the right. But also he was the only Labour PM to get elected for a generation. And he did it 3 times. So yeah, I’d say that real economic progressives have been unelectable for a long time. Hopefully that’s starting to change, but who knows.
No. Corbyn got far votes than Starmer did. It’s just that the Tories hadn’t collapsed at that point.
Sure, but I’d argue that Corbyn was divisive enough that he drove more right wingers to vote. And we can argue his potential electability, but when it came down to it he was leader of a Labour party which failed to win an election.
It’s not that there isn’t a large progressive bloc in the UK, it’s that it’s just not big enough to win elections.
Starmer ran a progressive campaign in 2024 and backtracked on it, and prior to that at the 2019 General Election Jeremy Corbyn got more votes than Starmer did.
The problem is really:
Luckily for us, it seems the Greens have proven that Labour’s grasp on the duopoly isn’t quite as firm as they thought. I’m praying that Labour get completely wiped out at the next General Election and slip off into the quiet obscurity of history.
It’s exciting isn’t it? If Starmer had any sense at all, he’d see the writing on the wall and introduce PR. Otherwise I think there’s a decent possibility that we’ll see a few high profile defections from Labour to Green and then electoral wipeout. At the moment I’d still expect Reform to win, but we can always hope.