Thread by @docrussjackson

We all want to get rid of the Tories.

@UKLabour has selfishly & imho mindlessly rejected essential electoral reform to our antiquated FPTP electoral system.

Given this, & like it or not, Labour (almost certainly in coalition) is the only realistic alternative to the Tories.

But I'm not alone in struggling to contain my criticism of Labour's direction of travel, & of Starmer's leadership so far: reneging on promises made in his leadership campaign - especially his promise to try to unify the party - is a high-risk strategy.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

It's clear he's being advised almost exclusively by people who despise Labour MPs, members & supporters perceived to be "hard left" - a crass stereotype. They see us as a problem to be demonised, scapegoated & eradicated, rather than passionate resources who can help Labour win.

The leaked @UKLabour Party dossier made this raging hatred crystal clear. And to just ignore it & hope it goes away, is imho another BIG mistake: all therapists know that you either confront your demons & traumas, or you await the return of the repressed.

independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

I want to recount some of what Corbyn's @UKLabour was up against from senior officials within the Party, & which Starmer has unwisely chosen to ignore. Imho, Starmer either confronts this & works MUCH harder to unite the Party, or else the tensions will continue to damage Labour.

A 2017 election night chat log shows that 45 minutes after the exit poll, a senior official said the result was the “opposite to what I had been working towards for the last couple of years”, describing themselves & their allies as “silent & grey-faced” & in need of counselling.

The senior officials keenly watched polls during the election campaign & hoped that the party that employed them would fare badly. When one YouGov poll showed the party up during the campaign, one said: “I actually felt quite sick when I saw that YouGov poll last night.”

A Snr official said a young activist had “mental health issues”, to which another official said: “I hope [redacted] dies in a fire.” A third said: “That’s a very bad wish. But if he does I wouldn’t piss on him to put him out.” The second adds: “Wish there was a petrol can emoji.”

Some senior staff also joked about “hanging & burning” Jeremy Corbyn, & suggested that another staff member who cheered a speech by the party leader “should be shot”.

A senior official described another from the left of the party as “pube head” & a “smelly cow”.

During the 2015 & 2016 leadership contests a large number of staffers at Labour HQ appear to have worked to exclude those they regarded as “trots” from voting in the election – believing that they would vote for Jeremy Corbyn.

Staffers trawled social media to find reasons to exclude voters from leadership contests, work which was referred to on numerous occasions by staff as variations of “trot busting”, “bashing trots” & “trot spotting”. One staffer described themselves as the “trot smasher in chief”.

Another said during the 2015 leadership election that the “priority right now is trot hunting”. In 2015 two officials discussed the fact that they were “playing trot or not” while “the real work is piling up”. A senior official described this work as “saving the Labour party”.

In one 2015 exchange, a member of staff said: “Brace yourself. [Shadow chancellor John] McDonnell just called for corporation tax to go up.” Another replied: “You’re kidding me. I can’t quite believe it.”

Andy Burnham commented on part of the report: “Seems right to me. Always felt like the party machine opposed my pro-public #NHS & social care policies between 2010 & 2015. Not sure I had even-handed treatment from them in either the 2010 or 2015 leadership elections.”

In one 2015 WhatsApp conversation, one senior official expressed the opinion that despite being “s***”, Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith was “better than most of our shadow cabinet” – at a time when Labour's front bench contained MPs from a relatively broad cross-section of the party.

Why drag this up now? Starmer has distanced himself from Corbyn. Fine. I get that. But I believe that Starmer must now urgently adopt a strategy which does much more to recognise, address & try to heal the harmful divisions, rather than ignore them, & risk making them even worse.