We all remember RLB's extraordinary launch article in Tribune. Now it's time to dive into her latest polemic in The Guardian which outlines the 'path to power'. She's straight in there. First para: 'The next Labour leadership team must not junk our values...' THREAD 1/17
2/17 When she says 'our' here, Wrong-Daily might mean the values of @UKLabour as a whole. Those of Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan and Blair. But we know the values she refers to are actually those of the retro hard-left clique that seized control of the party in 2015.
3/17 'We must plot our path to power...' This is an incredibly odd turn of phrase to use in a public appeal in a national newspaper. The language conjures up images of Machiavelli. Hardly a way to start building a rapport with wavering members, let alone the wider electorate.
4/17 'If we’re honest, we either wished leaving the European Union would happen quietly and then go away, or we actively tried to change people’s views on the referendum result.' If we're honest, the person who most hoped it would go away was your mate Jezza.
5/17 '...we should have used the aftermath of the referendum result to go around the country, holding public meeting after public meeting to stir up...' Let me stop you right there.
6/17 Ok. I guess I couldn't stop you. What was it you should you have stirred up? '...a movement for real change – pledging to take on the political establishment and raise up the people’s demands...' Populist BS alert. And the idea that @UKLabour speaks for the people is moot.
7/17 'For lasting, serious change to happen, people in this country must themselves take charge of politics through a democratic revolution...' What does this even mean? People are desperate for *politicians* to take charge of politics. @UKLabour has failed them.
8/17 'The people of this country can do it. We can take charge and build a very different future for ourselves, but only if we grasp our most powerful collective weapon: a government for and by the people.' This is a badly written speech, not a prospectus in a national newspaper.
9/17 'We need a popular movement to turn the British state against the privatisers, big polluters and tax dodgers that have taken hold of our political system.' She's not even disguising the populist claptrap now. If anything, it's actually worse than Jez and MaoDonnell. Worse!
10/17 (Pedantic point, but surely the 'privatisers' in Jezuit mythology are actually the neo-liberal governments? The ones that have sold off all our public services. But RLB is arguing that the *state* should be turned against them. Maybe badly written rather than sinister?)
11/17 'The Labour Party now has four years to reconnect with the people of our country, build a powerful movement to raise up their demands...' Movement blah people blah blah demands blah blah blah. Getting repetitive now, Becky.
12/17 'Politicians themselves will never upend the political system in the interests of the many, not the few, but our movement can help the people of Britain make that change.' This is interesting, if rather convoluted. Let's think about this one...
13/17 The message here is that politicians are inherently unable to achieve change, but the vanguardists (@PeoplesMomentum perhaps?) can lead the masses in the forthcoming revolution. As I write this, I'm checking the date on my PC. And yes, it's January 2020.
14/17 'Labour must continue to change, trust its members and be so much more than a group of politicians in parliament.' Continuation implies an *extension* of the leftist agenda already pursued by Corbyn. RLB will trust the members, even if the public don't.
15/17 '...we will develop and win support for policies that start a democratic revolution to take power out of the hands of unaccountable elites...' This is truly vacuous and rambling stuff. The appeal is to Berkeley in 1970 rather than Berkhamsted in 2020.
16/17 'The British state needs a seismic shock, to prise it open at all levels to the people...' Ah! Jez lost because he wasn't radical enough! If only he'd pushed things a little further and promised a seismic shock to the British state, eh?
17/17 'For the people to take charge, those that hoard power... will have to be forced out...' Where do we start? We've moved from Berkeley to the barricades. Exactly the kind of rhetoric guaranteed to turn off the swing voters @UKLabour needs to attract.
