How hasn't Corbyn Labour devalued its political and moral currency after 2019 ? Or is it worth the same after devaluation in your pocket ? Why did Labour lose to 'Boris the Charismatic' in the North ? Why does social class persist in being relevant by its irrelevance or at least its inconsistency in determining Labour vote patterns ? Why so unpredictable in the North especially ? Why did Labour rely on class conflict as the main weapon when it has clearly been blindsided by the Right anyway? Are Tory heartlands being extended Northwards whilst Labour has lost many seats to the 'New SNP' ? For whom does the Socialist spell toll when not the Green machine ? Why has blue-collar reverted to working-class conflict especially in the North when Greta Green can't avoid 'marrying-up' to a middle class ? But it's a residual class conflict when perception exaggerates and stereotypes 'liberal anti-climate change activists' who want to recycle leftist 21st century eco-economic transformation from their second residences in Cornwall resplendent in 'guilt ridden middle- classdom!!" Disillusionment by guilt does open the political pack wide open. '
What was Corbyn left with ? Has the Left lost everything and the pearl ? Greta's 'to the right of me urban blue-collar to the left of me, stuck in the middle (of nowhere) with you !!' His protectionist high line of principle actually had a default position of 'if you have to, do it ' mixed with ' if we don't make mistakes we can't fluff our negative politics line !' Scared of your own shadow or scared of the pack of hungry wolves at your door ? Or worst case scenario was that both were at play here
Here's another thing: Boris did not take a step back or boast of a flat cap in your face 'Southener's do the North' politician. At the next election his Northern constituents will tell him to put one on because he's already won their approval and they'll want his respect next. Did the election of 2019 reveal that environmental and psychological regional identity not class consciousness ruled this election in the North ? Well Boris now knows the difference, but it is not something that can work effectively for Labour because of it losing its social class 'political dance partner, and its vulnerability to conflicting 'single-issue' minority demands ! And how does he or his successor manage the new skill sets, new demographics that this election further developed from the 3 degrees...? My 3 degrees are Macmillan, Thatcher, and Blair who all shuffled the social stereotypes by upward mobility anti-class conflict social 'resolution not revolution'. But Blair offered policies that enabled social class leap-frogging' further than 'bog-standard middle-class gentrification' . I imagine Tories will be keen to develop the ethnic minority vote that it garnered in December 2019. It could venture into a connection between social and racial stereotyping of Boris as a snobbish, dumb-blond politician of Turkish origin over-connected with Eton and the opening-up of all patriotic Britishness that has emerged from the Brexit election. The ethnic minority vote is key to winning the Brexit implementation election in years to come, especially as it resonates with those who survived the Cold War and may feel affronted by EU migration from ex-Warsaw pact countries without there being the same dedication of those who built their home and raised their families since 1945 by the economic disruption and social turmoil of EU migration into Britain. Poor old Labour who haven't found a mechanism to anticipate and develop its own programme for aspiration and charismatic leadership yet. '
Clinging-on' to self-fulfilling need to defend against hardship used to be the bed-rock of Labour, but now we no longer live in a society destroyed by strikes , pickets, police lines drawn against the angry mob of Dickensian Britain, deprived of decency and respect ! Why? Heavy industry in Britain has been superceded by the digital revolution, where automation is increasing. Instead, we have a positive concept that is personified by Brexit voters from all social and economic backgrounds who don't get involved with 'confirmation bias' of social injustice' ambulence-chasers, when they can connect with the same NHS post 1945 spirit without Churchill as with the Brexit institutionalizing the 'end of the Cold War' without Corbyn. Great guy, humble and instinctively caring, but just not contemporary. All those who voted for the Tories must know that their efforts begin the new era of a Britain with new hope and ambition regardless of their backgound. They have answered the call to keep its NHS regardless of European as well its American critics. We get to revive our independence from both as well as having even more trade with both ! Our drape with the EU has been lowered because we won our freedom by our part in the destruction of the Iron Curtain of the Cold War ; we leave the EU with gratitude and thanks but our work in it is done ! We have everything we need regardless of any compromise in ink on a legal document that separates us from the EU.
Against all reasoning, however, Corbyn tried to accelerate ties with Labour's Socialist past and not moderate it ! It was risky and daring but he took on the social democratic European model and the orthodox Brexiteers too ! It horrified all internationally and led to a highly unusual tacit political coalition between pro-Eu Liberal democrats appalled by Corbyn's 'hubris', and Tory Brexiteers who would never let the hard Left 'piggy-back' the Brexit agenda.I know Corbyn tried to counter-act the growing nebulous fate of its working-class power base by ideological retrenching modeled on the 1945 government, and I respect him for its elegance, but those days are over ! The economy has updated and digitized. Thatcher did get rid of heavy industry public sector jobs that have been rendered obsolete today by automation, and so this has transformed perceptions of industry today, where communities no longer want the terrible conditions down the mines for their children and grandchildren ! These communities are no longer working-class communities but blue-collar and socially collectively mobile. Ironically the very thing so many went on strike in the 70's and 80's don't want their old jobs back and would go on strike to not get them back today for themselves and their families for generations of their communities !! All that remains are memories of the brazen empty consumerism or the 80's which was just as permissive as its opposite, the Wilson years of student hippydom etc It was just a necessary pendulemic series of winging it with swinging it ! The economy has trends and phases and so does politics. This phenomenon is often overlooked where when ' Flower power' was replaced by 'loadser power' , we forget to contextualise and get lost in the sub text. Why not look ahead whilst treading old ground under your feet not under your skin !?
Labour must be aware that if Boris does his thing well, that it could be in opposition for some time, and maybe Labour must entertain the idea of a more flexible longer term solution to not politically choke at the poll or the dispatch box. Beware the glare of being Labour leader after Corbyn. What if Boris works his magic and you're stuck in his shadow for more than 5 years? Does anyone want to be a stalking horse for their successor ? If it can't stem the flood of increasing class integration and its corollary of traditional working class voting Labour disintegrating, it will have to navigate its own unresolved anti-Blair fixations that it uses to filter its envy/anger a against Thatcherism that could at any time turn on Corbyn! Many of his own party of which Alistair Campbell is just one of many wanted to endorse anything but the 'remain-leaving' socialism not of the 1945 Labour government but of the 19th century. Is he right ? Or is he....
Did you think I was going to say 'wrong' or 'left' ? This gap fill tells its own story!