Conference season - as good as it looks?

We are about to start the Tory Party Conference and could it be better for our party? Labour on the up, a buoyant conference, membership rising and the Tories in disarray.

More examples of this today with Marr giving Theresa May a grilling, on many issues- tuition fees, universal credit, Brexit and the bungling Boris Johnson. A documentary later tonight on Boris and his quest to get to number 10 will also be a further distraction for the Tory Party.

They are a party hanging onto power, with the majority of their activists continuing to support Brexit, Universal credit and low taxes whilst a number of their MPs now seem more concerned about their constituents, the country (or maybe just holding onto their seats!)

It seems the next General Election is ours to lose - but is it that simple?

The answer I am afraid is no, like the Tories, we also have an issue with Brexit, most of our MPs, our councilors and members are unhappy with the direction of Brexit but it seems we do not have a clear path we wish to take - it is understandable as many Labour voters in particular outside London and the South East voted to leave the EU, but the bigger issue is that for many of us it seem that Corbyn and others are actually happy with us leaving - so much for being the voice of your constituents or members!

How the Brexit debate (or non-debate) was handled at conference is why many of us within the party are still concerned in the direction of the party. there is no doubt Corbyn is now showing more leadership than previously, the PLP is now acting in a more united way and our membership is still increasing and we are now seeing policies being formulated that we can all get behind. However you do not have to dig deep to find problems and issues that should concern all of us.

Brexit should have been debated at conference but in a way that so called 'new' Labour would have been proud of, it was blocked from being a key debate in Brighton - and that decision seems to have come from those close to the leader and Jon Lansman and Momentum were the key players in making sure it was not debated.

Disappointing that many of our newer members, who in the main will be pro staying in Europe were willing to block debate on this most important issue just to ensure that Jeremy did not have to face any difficult questions on his and the party stance on Europe. Corbyn then joined the vast majority of  Labour delegates in voting for a rule change that would make it clearer that we as a party would not allow antisemitism to be tolerated in our party, but then by the end of the conference we have Len McCluskie and Ken Loach insisting that there is no antisemitism in the party - if they are right, why did Jeremy get Shami Chakrabarti to write a report on something that does not exist. Jeremy himself could have helped by mentioning the problem we have with antisemitism and the abuse Laura Kuenssberg receives alongside the comments he made about the unacceptable level of abuse of Diane Abbott receives but for whatever reason he never used the opportunity in his speech to do so - a missed opportunity.

To me all the good policies and discussions that came out of Brighton were overshadowed by the way some of the left wanted to manipulate the proceedings to make the week a rally to show the popularity of Corbyn. It was unbelievable that at first none of our elected metro Mayors were going to get an opportunity to speak, they were not the only ones who were going to miss out as many shadow cabinet members would also not be able to speak. This was dressed up as this would be a conference where more time would be given for members to speak but then they found time for Dennis Skinner MP to speak, an MP who only weeks earlier had ignored Corbyn and the whips and voted WITH the Tories over Brexit.

As a former soldier and with the current situation in North Korea plus the deployment of British troops to Estonia, I for one would have liked to heard from the shadow defence secretary - bit it seemed that only those close to Jeremy would get a speaking part.

A number of very vocal  Corbyn supporters (like those of Trump) are quick to attack the mainstream media, shout "fake news" but what Brighton did show that in some cases it can be the left wing press, the likes of the 'Canary' that are shown to be spreading fake news. Jeremy has an opportunity to show real leadership by not just staying silent but openly criticise those who spread such false stories.

One of the biggest Corbyn supporters in the media is Aaron Bastani, who tweeted this weekend this unhelpful comment - "See lots of complaints about poor Labour councillors/councils, and how they aren't in line with Corbyn. I agree, so join party and change it"

This comment was quickly condemned by some Labour MPs, but we need Jeremy, Diane, John and Emily to act quickly, condemn this comment and distance themselves and the party from such views.

It is not all gloom and doom, the party is in a far better position that it was year ago, I may be annoyed that we avoided a Brexit debate but at least for a while our commitment to Trident and NATO is off the agenda. We have some star performers on the front bench but we are also carrying those not up to the job and we need to find a way of getting the likes of Cooper, Coaker, Jarvis and Greenwood back on the front bench taking the fight to the Tories.

We also have a party with a very large membership, many if not most have joined because of Jeremy, we now need to get them to take the next step in becoming activists, community champions and then elected representatives - I do not fear our new membership, my concern is those who are returning to the party from (in most cases) self inflicted exile, they seem to just want to push the party further to the left, to take control of each CLP and then force on us an almost Stalin style way of doing things.

I am sure that is not what most new members joined to see, this is not what ' The world transformed' was on about -some from the far left want to bully us out of the party, if that does not work then bore us - with endless motions and votes and if that does not work they will try and shame us for not being 100% behind 'our leader'. But in doing so, just as Militant did in the 80's they will push us further from power, they will just help save the Tory Party and in doing so condemning the people who need us most even more time to be spent under a Tory Government.

That action would be criminal and that is why I and many will stay in this great party, it is not about us or them it is about helping a party whose main purpose is (and should remain as so) to put a Labour Government in power - in that way we can the many and not just the few.

Invited to your own funeral – can we save the Labour Party?

Last night we heard the results for the election of constituency representatives to the NEC. Not a great night for the moderates with the ‘Left’ slate winning all six seats. It does not mean the fight for the party is over but it makes it more likely that Corbyn will remain leader – but for how long?

Yesterday I shared a conversation on twitter and  afterwards I felt almost helpless and very sad that we have got to this point – I feel let down by the PLP, not because they passed a no confidence vote in Corbyn but because some of them lent votes to Corbyn to get him into the last leadership competition.

Facts – not sure why I bother with facts as most of the Corbyn support (some of who I class as friends) seem to have decided to almost have a cult like view of Jeremy Corbyn – he can do no wrong in their eyes and they always seem to have an excuse at hand for his many mistakes.

But some facts – as I see them:

The PLP and in some cases – Cllrs and CLPs had moved away from the membership – and now they are even further away from the views of a much larger (and in most cases) and new membership.

So it is understandable that many of the membership have little faith in the PLP –the trouble is for the Labour Party, in my view the MPs views are closer to Labour voters than our new membership, we have become a middle class party, with a membership who in most cases have had little to do with the people who need a Labour Government most. Here in Ipswich, the ward which has seen the largest increase in membership is St Margaret’s – a ward that is held by the Lib Dems with the Tories in second place, whilst in wards that would be seen as working class and safe Labour seats (depending on the state of UKIP after their own leadership battle) we have seen very few new members.

Bur Corbyn supporters can see nothing wrong in Corbyn – and they seem in many cases oblivious to the fact that behind Corbyn, McDonnell and others (through Momentum) are pushing the party further left and makes us un-electable.

Why did Corbyn not put as much effort into the Euro referendum campaign as he is into his own leadership battle – he should have held a rally for us staying in the EU, IN Hull, Liverpool and Cardiff but he seemed to only be involved in the campaign because he was being forced to?

This week he had an opportunity to attack the Tories over the Cameron recommendations for new members of the House of Lords – this should have been something Corbyn relished as he has been a long time critic of the upper house, but instead we had the sad sight of a (far left) Labour leader, spending his time lobbying Number 10 to get his own nomination for the Lords accepted.

We also have the constant attacks on the media – msm, as Corbynistas prefer to call it- mainstream media – but yet again seeming to ignore the fact that Corbyn sidekick, Milne is on loan from the Guardian (msm) and that Diane Abbott was happy to spend the last 4 years sat on a sofa with Portillo on the BBC Politics Show (msm).

I expect another leadership challenge in 2017 and possibly 2018 and 2019 – what have MP’s to lose? Many will lose their seats if Corbyn stays as leader and some may not even get a chance to stand again once Momentum start to force de-selection of MPs who are not politically pure.

I will continue to fight to get rid of Corbyn – and please do not lecture me on loyalty – how can anyone be loyal to a leader who voted against the Labour Party over 500 times.

I just hope that my friends and others who support Corbyn wake up to the fact that he is not a leader and never will be and that whilst he stays in power, others from the 'Far Left' will use his position to make sure the Party moves further left – and further away from those who need us most.

The real fight will start after we have elected a new Labour Leader

My ballot papers arrived though the letter box last week but I still haven't filled them in yet.

Like many Labour members, I am still undecided, and as we are told on many occasions, our second preference vote is also very important. Plus we have votes for the NEC and policy forum. So the next few days I have to make my mind up and send the papers in.

But for me I wish it was already over, I had hoped for more from the leadership campaign, I wanted it to inspire more Young members and also for it to be used as a tool to get out and meet the public. Some people have been inspired and the party has seen a rise in it's membership as many have joined to be able to vote in the election. We have had hustings, debates and the candidates have bombarded us with leaflets, e mails, texts and phone calls but I believe we would have gained more in the long run if each candidate had gone out and knocked on doors with members rather than speed from one constituency to another, often visiting over 5 a day, just to meet members rather than the general public

Then to make our job even harder we have Tony Blair and Mandelson with their books! Now I do believe we should be proud of what Tony and Gordon achieved and the two of them along with Campbell and Mandleson have helped make a party that is now far more electable than it was in the 80's, but Blair and Brown have had their time and I now want a new leader now so he can form his strong team and start taking the attack to the Tories and Lib Dems and then activists can get out talking to the public rather than trying to encourage other Labour members to vote for their preferred candidate.

So who am I going to vote for?

Well I believe all of them less Abbott would make better Prime Ministers than Cameron (or Clegg) but I am thinking I should vote for the one who is most electable, the one who non Labour members would most vote for. You may say where are your principles? Why don't I choose the candidate whose policies are the closest to mine. But I do believe that we must choose the man who will ensure that we only have 4 more years of this Tory gang. They have already started to destroy the Education system and in 10 years, the NHS, the Armed Forces, all would be unrecognisable and even worse probably destroyed beyond repair.

So my vote will go to David Miliband, but my second preference? Still have not got a clue, so keep sending those texts and phoning me up because David may have my first choice but the rest of my votes are still up for grabs (Ms Abbott save your money)

So what I am looking forward to is October when we will have a new, young, strong leader with a strong shadow cabinet, then the real fightback and the real work will start.