Corbyn’s victory is fascinating for several reasons.
First, haven’t we already been down this road before and wasn’t Corbyn even a part of it? When the hard left within Labour tried a coup in the 80s, did it not mean civil war within the party and decades of being marginalised by the electorate? Did Kinnock not spend most of his time on party in-fighting and trying to heal wounds and bitter division, rather than dealing with being a real member of the opposition in Parliament? That in itself created the undisputed necessity to move to the middle ground initiated slowly under Kinnock and Smith, paving the way for Blair. Whatever anyone thinks of Blair in hindsight, the fact is Labour were going nowhere fast without him. 1997 was all about New Labour – not ‘old’ Labour.
Second, is it not a fact that only 15 of Labour’s current 232 MP’s backed Corbyn? If so, that creates a significant schism within the party between its elected representatives and a party base swollen by recent supporters, many of whom have no recollection of 1980s Labour and its trials and tribulations. Doesn’t it only take 46 signatures to trigger another leadership contest?...
Corbyn has a huge job on his hands dealing with this alone, never mind pursuing a number of policies which may not be too palatable to many current Labour MP’s. With the emergence of a group calling itself “The Resistance”, already backed by Labour’s single largest private funder, his attempts to finalise the Shadow Cabinet is already showing splits. His ability to lead from the top will be tried. He is, however, the most rebellious MP in the party and one without any experience of senior office, despite his long tenure. I'm not sure the leadership qualities are proven by facts.
Corbyn will either moderate many of his own policies and accommodate more of the central politics of Labour, or he will marginalise and split the party further. We’ve already seen the effects of the hard left on Labour…under Wilson to Callaghan and the whole period of bitter in-fighting and radicalisation epitomised by Tony Benn and Denis Healey. The only reason why Labour ever won successive elections more recently was because both Smith and his protégée Blair managed to keep the party going off the rails.
Interestingly, Corbyn, unlike Galloway, managed rather easily not to stray too far from the prescribed party path. In other words, he was smart enough not to cross the line under Blair and Brown. Therefore, Corbyn has shown understanding that the party is bigger than the man. Will that be lost now that he has the whip?
Corbyn and his supporters would do well to keep this in mind. Between now and next spring, Labour might just well decide that Corbyn serves a better purpose back in the background.
