Gizzajob

In an Oxfam shop the other day I came across a book for a fiver Broken Heartlands: A journey through Labour’s lost England by the Financial Times journalist Sebastian Payne (Macmillan, 2021). It caught my attention since it included a chapter on a neighbouring constituency to mine, Wakefield. Like my constituency it had basically been in Labour hands since the 1930s but was eventually lost (along with a lot of industry) by the time it had installed a loyal and ambitious Labour MP. Thus I found it fascinating to hear what a previously ousted (in 2015) Wakefield MP had to say about that, before the seat was regained and lost again in 2019 and now regained again. These words are prophetic:’I don’t think Jeremy did the cause any favours, he went to EU rallies without mentioning the European Union. He was lost in his own self-righteousness. The whole kind of movement and the momentum around his own personal political project, which I think, in retrospect, is probably not the same political project of the Labour Party’s historic mission, which is to get people elected to Parliament. I think Jeremy kind of lost sight of that.’ (p.150) Payne writes ‘Creagh has left party politics for good: after the election she has pursued a career as a communications consultant and is a visiting professor at Cranfield School of Management.’ I guess at this point Payne may not have noticed that Mary Creagh (for it is she) had her sleeves rolled up, on which was written in capital letters AMBITION. For she was back as an MP for a Coventry seat in 2024 and is now one of Starmer’s ministerial minions, with a CBE to boot. I am full of admiration for defeated MPs who have the talent to get back in at the earliest opportunity, even if for a seat in a completely different part of the country. But hey, that’s just envy.
 
Anyway, later on Mary says in admiration of Starmer’s leadership: ‘The task of putting it back together is very laborious, very time consuming, and hugely emotionally draining. There have been some big wins, he has detoxified our party, he is clearly a person of the very highest integrity, with a complete and utter commitment to public service. But I’d say that Labour has yet to develop a compelling narrative on the economy, and in particular the post-Brexit economy and a narrative on Britain’s place in the world. And both are very, very deep, enormous tasks and it will require a huge amount of skill and political savvy to do those redefinitions..’ (ibid)
 
To which I would respond Starmer’s ‘own personal political project . . .  Is probably not the same political project of the Labour Party’s historic mission.’ And as for the phrase ‘the very highest integrity’ goes . . . .  
 
It’s always worth remembering that Starmer won fewer votes in 2024 than Corbyn did in 2019. If the explanation for that is as many have argued, that it was the result of a well-organised, targeted, orchestrated and disciplined campaign then one wonders why such a campaign had not been organised in 2019. Jeremy certainly deserves some of the blame for that, but the organisation cannot escape its share. It currently seems probable that there will be very little left to salvage next time round. I look forward Sebastian Payne’s sequel in a few years’ time.