Sadiq’s Owen Smith Email: My Response

Sadiq

Thank you for sending me your email in which you attempt to explain your changed position on the Leadership from adamantly neutral to pro-Smith.

I’m glad you acknowledge the hard work that was done on your behalf which helped deliver your resounding victory, much of which was carried out by Corbyn supporting Labour members. I’m pleased you also say you felt humbled by your win, as you should do.

You say you didn’t play a part in this summers turmoil. On the face of it, this would make sense as you are no longer an active member of the PLP since becoming mayor. However I wonder how detached you managed to remain from a PLP of which you were once such an active member. We all knew you were very much a part of the old way of doing things, and that being the case probably supported Smith over Corbyn. But that only made us respect your neutrality all the more. Now that respect has gone. You have been lumped in with all the other MPs who have a vested interest in Corbyn failing. MPs who have made such a hoohah of the fact he cannot win with a socialist agenda they appear to have locked themselves into proving he can’t, which means sabotaging his leadership.

I’ve listened with interest to the reasons you give for opposing Corbyn’s leadership in your TV interviews, and all you offer is the old tired mantra about Jeremy being unelectable. But Jeremy has not been given a chance to prove his electability (aside from 4 by-election wins, 4 significant mayoralty wins and finishing ahead of the Tories in the local elections after being 6 points behind in May’s General Election). The British people have been denied the opportunity of fully appreciating the policies that will be on offer under our renewed and refreshed Labour Party due to the repetitive negative briefing against Jeremy’s leadership since he won. You state it’s time we stopped fighting eachother and started fighting the Tories, yet Jeremy has never had the benefit of having a fully supportive party behind him fighting the Tories, which was a disgusting position for the PLP to take. The way they have put their own self interests, pride and arrogance ahead of the ordinary struggling people of this country has been a betrayal of the worst kind, and it’s one I and many others will never forget.

In fact you directly benefitted from the never ending threats and plots against Jeremy’s leadership. Many Corbyn supporting Labour members worked tirelessly on your campaign: yes, because they wanted to secure a Labour victory, and yes, because they were disgusted by Goldsmith’s dog whistle rhetoric, but also to secure Jeremy’s position as leader against a coup which your loss would have undoubtedly triggered. Now you reward them by spitting on them, albeit figuratively.

As a member of at least twelve pro-Corbyn Facebook groups the response to your endorsement of Smith has been unanimous. Let me share a few examples that best sum it up. “Plummeted in my estimation.” “Just another liar.” “Why has he entered into this? The job of mayor is to remain neutral and support the people of his city.” “I will remember that Khan isn’t to be trusted.”

Based on these and hundreds of reactions like it, your intervention won’t have changed many minds. But I’m sure you know that. This is about weakening Jeremy Corbyn’s position as leader after he wins, for its becoming increasingly clear you and your friends are planning to set up your own party within our party. Why? To ensure a Labour defeat at the next General Election of course. Anything to make sure Jeremy Corbyn never becomes prime minister. You won’t succeed however, for we are many and you are few and our determination outweighs yours a thousand fold. Working toward a better world for everyone tends to do that to people.

Regards

Chelley Ryan

P.S. I’d like to suggest a name for the new party within the party:  ‘Corporate Labour.’ The party that works hard to maintain a status quo that suits big business at the expense of the rest of us.