Dear Disappointed Blairites
It is with a heavy heart we find ourselves compelled to write to you again.
When we wrote our first letter it was with a certain degree of hope you had respect for democracy, and optimism you would eventually come to accept the decision of hundreds of thousands of true and honest Labour members and supporters. While some of you have been constructive rather than destructive, overall that hope is rapidly waning.
On an almost daily basis, we wake up to read yet another wave of anonymous briefings in the press – usually in the vein of, ‘oh woe is us, when can we rid ourselves of Corbyn and his crazy lefty team, what is the perfect timing?’ etc. Sometimes you put your names to these remarks. For instance, Tristram Hunt recently told a bunch of uni students Labour is in the shit. Classy. Today, a number of gloating articles are being circulated which state the selection of Jim McMahon for the Oldham West and Royton constituency, was a big poke in the eye for Corbyn. The fact he’s a popular local councillor didn’t even come into it apparently.
The bottom line is this. Labour will be unelectable until the PLP get behind Jeremy, and we don’t mean with a knife in their hand.
And that’s the nub of it isn’t it? You are not really worried about Jeremy being unelectable, as you repeatedly claim. You are more worried that he is. A General Election victory for Labour under Jeremy would be your worst nightmare. It wouldn’t just signal the turning of the page from the New Labour era – it would be the resounding slam of a door in your face. It’s one thing to have your philosophy and politics rejected by the party, but to have them rejected by the entire country, that’s a step too far for you. Hence the sabotage.
If you really did believe Jeremy to be unelectable, you’d stop with the briefing and the sniping, and offer him your support. You’d wait for time to prove you right. But that’s too risky isn’t it? You know Jeremy and his team might have cut through with the public if people believed the party was uniting behind him. By constantly telling the press your own leader is a crazy radical who needs to be ousted at the first available opportunity, you destroy any chance he has of winning.
But is that really such a clever strategy? Who do you think we’ll blame if we perform poorly in any of the upcoming elections? The man we chose to lead the party, or those who have spent the last few months turning their fire on the leader we chose, rather than the Tories who we are meant to oppose? We will give you one guess.
Maybe our disdain doesn’t worry you? Maybe you are hoping a coup will cause us to leave in a huff. Then you can sway enough remaining Labour members, with the help of your friends in the press, to vote in your preferred candidate? Or, maybe you’re hoping to make us so despondent about his chances due the implacably hostile PLP we just lose heart.
Well good luck with that because we are not going anywhere.
We are here for the long haul, till 2020 and beyond. Our heels are well and truly dug in.
If you try to overthrow Jeremy, we will vote for him again in numbers that will give you nightmares.
Best wishes
A movement that’s only growing stronger.
Petition calling on MPs to support Jeremy Corbyn
by Michelle (Chelley) Ryan @chelleryn99
Turning the Tide 
2016 or 2017, that is when we HAVE TO and when WE CAN collapse this evil Tory govt and in so doing deliver a PM who I have always respected into office
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Grass roots are fed up with what has been before and want change, if you are not secure or happy with that then choose another party to vote for and leave the Labour party. New Labour were good for the time, but has lost its appeal. Another four years of tory rule will secure a Labour victory at the next election, as long as the Labour party are seen to be strong, together, and credible, honesty would also go a long way as well. So be honest, if you do not believe in Jeramy, or the grass roots then go.
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Love it.
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I rejoined the Labour party after a 20 year absence, during which I felt the party turning gradually into something I no longer recognised. Supported, yes. Voted for, yes. But recognised? No. The Labour Party of which I was a member would never have introduced some of the policies I watched Blair bring in. My parents were hard-working labour activists all their lives; intelligent, professional people with fine principles and a strong moral code. They will be rotating in their graves if you can get Twitter in heaven and Danczuk’s tweets are allowed in.
The Labour party changed to make itself ”electable”, to win over that narrow band in the middle that vacillate between the two main parties, convinced that was the only way to win.
That does not sit well with me. I wanted a party that kept to its principles and worked to convince the electorate of the value of those principles and the importance of having policies which do not prioritise the needs of the wealthy at the expense of the poor, the sick, the disabled and the hardworking poorly paid millions who can’t make ends meet.
And that’s why I came back. For the first time in decades, we really have that opportunity. Jeremy Corbyn has an overwhelming mandate from the rank and file membership of this party. To the red tories out there, know this; if you continue to try to circumvent the democratic process that elected him, you will not be forgiven. Go and make friends with the LibDems – because that’s doubtless where you will run and hide.
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Reblogged this on Socialist Fight and commented:
Excellent polemical letter. The class struggle wage large.
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Thanks for reblogging
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Well written Michelle.
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Without Jeremy Corbyn there would be no hope left at all in this increasingly ugly country. To have to witness the grim, childish, backstabbing onslaught of a decent man by Labour Party MPs who appear to be so selfishly motivated that they are blind to their destructiveness is almost too much to take. Those of us who were appalled by the constant mauling of Ed Miliband publicly have no appetite to see a decent man being so relentlessly pilloried again. You will never persuade many of us that your part in this is for some greater good that you imagine is achievable. You are not only succeeding in making it even more difficult for Jeremy Corbyn to unite the Labour Party but are being extremely effective at destroying the credibility of the Labour Party forever. Your treachery is blatant and neither history nor those of us that are desperate to rid the uk of this Tory government will thank you. You attack Corbyn and you attack thousands of decent ordinary people who cannot afford to have more of the same.
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An excellent piece, Michelle.
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Well said. I was behind the Blairites in government – they accomplished a great deal in their 13 years, Iraq aside. But that moment has passed. We now have the most vicious bunch of lying and callous self-seeking government ministers seen in a long long time. Jeremy Corbyn – I now realise – is the only antidote to them, and if some Labour people cannot see this, they should just move aside, as Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper had the good grace to do.
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well said Chelley
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It does not matter where I go, who I talk to, Jeremy Corbyn inspires hope.
He has support, because people see a once in a generation, maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity, to effect genuine political change.
These people are not supporters of Labour, but they are supporters of Jeremy Corbyn.
Those low-life members of the Labour Establishment need to be reminded on a regular basis, Jeremy Corbyn has our support, they do not.
Those MPs who are briefing the media, need to be deselected. I do not like the word purge, but is is time Labour had a clean out. We need people who are going to act for ordinary people, for local communities, put them first, not greedy developers, bankers, big business.
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Reblogged this on Keithpp's Blog.
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Jeremy Corbyn was elected to the Labour leadership, by a vast coalition of the party’s members, registered supporters, and affiliated members. He won the votes of all 3 groups by enormous margins, and was given an even bigger mandate to lead the Labour party than Tony Blair. He did so on a political platform of pacifism, democratic socialism, and opposition to austerity.
It’s a source of continuing annoyance to me that some members of the PLP (I’m looking squarely at you Mr Danzuck) seem to see it fit to go out of their way to stab Jeremy Corbyn in the back at every turn, and at every opportunity. Doing so while branding yourselves “moderates” is just a sickening piece of jingoism. You aren’t moderate, you represent the extreme fringes of the right, and are interested in doing nothing but ensuring that those of us on the left have our voices silenced permanently.
Destabilising the party because you’re unhappy with the direction that the members want to take it in is not an act of improving electability, it’s an act of sedition, and it’s going to destroy any chance to have the party win an election.
If you truly care about the party, accept the direction the party’s members want to take it in, or if the new direction isn’t right wing enough for you, defect to the tories.
At the moment in time, the constant sedition from those on the fringes of the right of the party is doing a lot of damage to Labour’s electability, and as a fully paying member the behaviour of the parliamentary party disgusts me. Stop trying to undermine the leadership and members, and learn to do politics the way people want it done.
The new Labour party is a party for lovers, not traitors. And if you don’t like that, I’d politely request you take your business elsewhere.
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Brilliantly put!
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Reblogged this on markcatlin3695's Blog.
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Reblogged this on perfectlyfadeddelusions.
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