Thread by @AyoCaesar

I think that a Labour government led by Corbyn is the strongest bulwark the UK has against a slide into ultra-nationalist politics.

I also think for that to be the case at the next election (which might be much sooner than anticipated), certain issues need addressing urgently.

The 2017 electoral coalition which robbed the Tories of their majority was made up of regionally and socially diverse cohorts of people, with a particular divergence of political views regarding Brexit. I’m just stating the obvious here.

In the intervening 2 years, Labour’s leadership have had to deal with factors which have made holding this coalition together exceptionally challenging: a hostile media, the polarisation of the Brexit issue, and the strength of the new left in the grassroots but not the PLP.

That stuff is, for the most part, outside of Corbyn + team’s control. It’s up to the left as a movement to be resilient and engaged, focused and mobilised, in order to mitigate against it.

But there’s lots which is in Corbyn’s control to change. I’ve heard from all too many people - young, BAME, working class and very political - who are part of Labour’s core vote, but feel deeply disappointed in what feels like the leadership’s absence on the national stage.

This isn’t reducible to Brexit. I genuinely think that the institutional stuff of whether we Leave or Remain in the EU is less important than what the meaning of Leave actually is.

It’s about the political consequences of the failure of the ‘compromise’ Leave option, and the reluctance to go big on moving away from that position.

It’s about the general sense that much of that 2017 coalition risks being left to wither on the vine as the top of the project is paralysed by fear of alienating any one part of it.

Quite frankly, this has meant that the Labour leadership has looked evasive and/or boring on the issues which it doesn’t feel automatically comfortable to decisively intervene in.

Like it or not, Boris Johnson's ability to inspire a sense of optimism (no matter how misplaced) in his base is the reason why he was selected as Tory Party leader.

And yesterday, at the #FckBoris demonstration, it was remarkable the extent to which Labour leadership isn't in the same position with its own core vote.

It was a protest of thousands of young, diverse, class conscious voters who feel angry and scared by Boris Johnson's premiership, and yet many people were saying that they felt that Labour are nowhere for them at the moment. That Corbyn simply isn't present enough.

Comradely criticism is the lifeblood of a healthy leftist movement, imo. And if those at the top of the Labour Party are serious about forming a government after the next General Election, it's imperative that they act on these criticisms from their own core vote with urgency.