Thread by @forwardnotback

On internal @UKLabour politics: Whenever Labour starts to improve in the polls, start leading the political agenda and voters start noticing us and are prepared to at least listen to our ideas, one thing always happens, our internal factions up the volume of their criticism

Whether we are in government, running the a council or improving our ratings in opposition it always happens
Red on Red is the main attraction for too many in @UKLabour
It is possible to criticise without doing the tories work for them

I was once told this happens because some hate the responsibility of government or running things, it is an inbuilt anti-authority thing
I used to believe that but now I’m not so sure, I think it is probably more to do with liking the party label but not it’s political views

Liking the history but not really liking the reality of the here and now, perhaps it is based on the worst of students politics for many, hankering after and not letting go of memories of their younger self having fun but not changing the world

And of course what fun it is to tell the next generation of activists a romanticised version of our political past, dressing up painful and often bloody defeats as being victories and presenting the rare triumphs as acts of betrayal

I guess it is part of politics/life to be attracted to exciting storytellers, hearing about the struggles, how we nearly won, the part of the story that is never told is what those ‘nearly victories’ meant for ordinary people, that is glossed over as the storyteller moves on

So as we move closer (hopefully) to being the party of government remember you should never want to be that older person in 20 years time romanticising about another defeat or nearly victory