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Gary MacLennan wrote: 'The question I am asking myself when reading about Johnson and Balls and Cooper and co is whether there is anything even remotely like a Left impulse in the British Labour Party. I grew up reading about the Bevanite Left and came of age with the Bennites. There were redeeming features about both sets of Leftists. But this shower seems truly repulsive.' The left in the Labour Party has never been so weak. When the leadership contest took place last year, the only credible left-wing candidate, John McDonnell, couldn't even get enough people in the Parliamentary Labour Party to support him to get him on the ballot form. Such is the weakness of the left that the Blairite candidate for party leader, David Miliband, won the highest score amongst individual party members and (I think) members of parliament, and only lost (and only narrowly at that) because of votes from unions affiliated to the party. From what I've been told, many local party branches are pretty much moribund, with long-term members often dropping out of activity or out of membership altogether. Does Ed Miliband represent a shift to the left? A little, but this probably more than anything reflects union leaders disgruntled at the dismissive attitude of the Blairites towards them, despite the fact that union money keeps the party going. Ed Balls is no fool and apparently wanted the last Labour government to adopt a less harsh policy of state budget reduction, but he and most Labour notables oppose the Tories' austerity plans by saying that they would nonetheless cut public expenditure were they in office. It seems that most Labour town and city councils are implementing cuts in jobs and public services, saying that they have no choice. A friend of mine on Hackney Council (Labour-controlled, in East London) told me that only he and a couple of others are not voting for cuts. The union leaders will continue to bankroll Labour even as its councils lay off their members in the hundreds and thousands. Most if not all prominent Labour figures are keeping well away from any anti-cuts campaigns. Ed Miliband said that he sympathised with students demonstrating against education cut-backs and increased fees, but refused publicly to appear at demonstrations. Gary MacL: 'The other item that has captured the media's attention is the phone tapping scandal. Rupert Murdoch's *News of the World* seemingly was tapping the phones of most of Who's Who in Britain. The then editor Coulson has had to resign as Cameron's media advisor. Coulson is referred to as an 'Essex boy". I am not familiar with that expression... I would like to think that the phone tapping scandal could damage Murdoch or the government or someone. But scandals do not seem to do that. They seem primarily to reinforce apolitical cynicism rather than spur on collective action to remedy the fundamental problem.' An Essex Boy is short-hand for street-wise, rather lumpen and definitely dodgy men, often with criminal records or at least connections, very flashy in their behaviour, lots of gold chains, etc. I'm not sure if the old Australian term 'larrikin' is a parallel. Politically they tend to be very right-wing, as they become rich through their sharp dealing and quick wits. Upper-class types tend to look down on them as uncouth, but useful if they can arrange deals through their connections. They will always be sacrificed should they become an embarrassment or they are no longer useful. Coulson comes under the first category: but this could be a slip on David Cameron's part, as Murdoch could get his revenge easily enough, he must have masses of dirt on the Tories. What puzzles quite a few people here is the apparent inactivity of the police in the phone-tapping affair. They have masses of information, but only a couple of cases have been taken up. One theory is that the police use these unofficial taps for their own use; another is that Murdoch's press has juicy information on leading policemen. I don't know, we'll only learn if the whole thing blows up. It's often asked why Murdoch has so much power in a country in which he is not resident; it does seem that politicians and other notables are actually scared of him. And that's why I feel the phone-tapping scandal will fade away. I'll leave Ireland to someone who knows something about it. Paul F ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
