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Today I did my usual trawl of the twittersphere (Richard Seymour, Aaron Bastani, red labour and Eoin). Own Jones has dropped out, temporarily one assumes. I then worked though the Guardian News and the most interesting of the links. I had been intending to write something about how Operation Despair appeared to be having an impact. I have no way of contacting Aaron Bastani, but I did want to pass him a message to dig in and not concede an inch to the barrage of criticism he is experiencing. I was intending to be a little cross with Owen Jones on similar grounds. It is obvious that Corbyn is no charismatic. At least he does not come across like that. However his enemies - Tom Watson, Hilary Benn, Angela Eagle and Owen Smith are not exactly made of star material either. Smith is a particularly obnoxious character with his dog whistling against Eagle because she is a gay woman. Smith has pronounced himself "normal" because he has a wife and children. But the charisma thing is totally irrelevant. We need to resist the impulse to aestheticize politics and to insist on the primacy of policy based on truth and morality. that is where Corbyn is strongest. However a breakdown of the voting in the Trident nuclear submarine debate showed this -*around 140 of his MPs – including leadership challengers Angela Eagle and Owen Smith – voted in favour of renewing Trident, with many highlighting Labour’s historic position in support of a continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent. Forty-seven Labour MPs joined Corbyn in voting against Trident, while another 41 were absent or abstained.* That means that Corbyn's support inside the Parliamentary Party is potentially as high as 40% at present or double what it was when the no confidence vote was passed. The latest news is even more encouraging. Corbyn's lead over Smith and Eagle is massive. The coup against Corbyn seems to have two clear stages. There was the provocation by Hilary Benn that led to his sacking and a round of staged resignations from Shadow Cabinet*. that stage was led by the Blairite faction. *This also stalled and the coup earned the nick of "chicken coup". Eventually Angela Eagle emerged as this faction's candidate *.* The second stage of the coup has been led by Tom Watson, the deputy Leader. Owen Smith is his candidate. Watson has also fought dirty* -* disenfranchising thousands of party members, suspending meetings,threatening Corbyn supporters in the unions and briefing the press against Corbyn. That the coup has had two stages is a tribute to Corbyn*'s* courage and tenacity*. *The election takes place in September and even though he has a big lead it would be wrong to be complacent. But campaigning is what he does well, and the contest is being fought on the need to end austerity politics - not the arena where the Blairites are comfortable. comradely Gary _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
