Letter from Britain: The Corbyn Earthquake

Sheila McGregor

to any political party since 1945, winning in unexpected places like Kensington, the mil- lionaires’ part of (apart from North Kensington of Grenfell infamy), as well as 6 seats in Scotland. Amongst the cabinet ministers to go were Ben Gummer, who wrote ‘the worst Tory manifesto ever’ and Housing Minister Gavin Barwell, author of the book ‘How to Win a Marginal Seat’. He was back three days later with a key coordinating role in Downing St. after furious Tory MPs claimed the scalps of ’s two closest ad- visors, and Fiona Hill. Or rather they took the fall for May’s manifesto ‘She’s a dead woman walking and the offer of ‘things can only get worse’, as John only question is how long she’s going to be Sergeant put it on the Sunday morning after on death row’. This was George Osborne’s the election. verdict speaking on the BBC, three days af- ter the UK General Election. The ‘she’ be- As Tories, former Labour Corbyn haters, ing Theresa May, the Tory Prime Minister, pundits and journalists, fell over themselves ‘in office but not in power’ as the Sunday to attack May and ‘congratulate’ Jeremy Telegraph put it, whilst Jeremy Corbyn, re- Corbyn for his campaign, it is worth looking laxed and confident, made clear that he was back to the situation prior to the election ready to govern and would present an alter- to measure the scale of the Tories’ defeat, native Queen’s speech. then look at the campaign that delivered the On the Friday morning, erstwhile ‘strong earthquake and finally assess the forces at and stable’ Theresa May headed to the work in British society. palace, following the quaint old custom of This was an election Theresa chose to asking the Queen for permission to form a call. Having vowed the year before she government. After all, she was leader of wouldn’t dream of calling an election, a the biggest party with the largest number of walking holiday in Wales appeared to have votes and could surely govern with a little changed her mind. In local council elections help from the DUP, that wondrous organ- a few months earlier, the Tories gained 563 isation of enlightenment on all social mat- seats, gaining control of 11 councils, UKIP ters such as abortion and gay marriage - just lost 145 seats, whilst the Labour Party lost don’t mention their shady links to terror- 382 seats and control of 7 councils. Pro- ism. And never mind the fact that seven jected onto a general election that would weeks previously, the Tories had an over- have given 349 (plus 18) seats to the Tories all majority with 331 seats in the House of and only 215 (minus 17) to Labour. The Commons, whilst now Theresa May looked a polls at the start of the election projected trifle weak and wobbly with only 314, having a 20 point lead, which would have given lost 17 seats, her overall majority and 8 cab- the Tories 424 seats to Labour’s 167; with inet ministers. Meanwhile Corbyn and the May herself having a lead of 56 points over Labour Party had achieved the biggest swing Jeremy Corbyn.

16 The Labour camp was in disarray after So What Happened? two years of attempts to get rid of Cor- For some years now, we have been watch- byn. All the parliamentary Labour Party ing the collapse of the consensus on neo- seemed to have succeeded in achieving was liberalism, resulting in a political polarisa- a spectacular own goal; persuading voters tion throughout Europe, with the rise of that Corbyn was ‘unelectable’ and not fit to Syriza on the left and Golden Dawn on the be prime minister. Momentum, the organi- fascist right in Greece, Podemos in Spain sation that organised the campaign to sup- and the movement for Bernie Sanders in the port Corbyn, was wracked with division, and US. In Britain, the signs have also been obsessed with the infighting in the Labour there. The independence referendum in Party; seemingly moribund. Scotland in September 2014 was marked by a clear rejection of austerity politics and ac- tive engagement of young people, albeit ar- Small wonder May assumed she could ticulated by the SNP, a nationalist party. have a quick election; increase her majority The 2015 General Election seemed to and rid herself of pressures from Tory back- continue the policy of ‘business as usual’ benchers pushing for a ‘hard’ . It with a choice between Tory austerity and would have guaranteed her five years in of- Labour Party ‘austerity lite’, but the ener- fice until 2022, well past 2019, the due date getic explicitly socialist and anti austerity for leaving the EU. She intended to march campaign that saw Jeremy Corbyn elected into Labour’s working class heartlands and as Labour Party leader that same year, turn the Tory party into the party of work- showed that the tectonic plates were also ing people. Above all, May projected herself shifting across the UK. as the strong and stable leader, the ‘bloody The 2016 EU referendum campaign was difficult woman’, and the only politician fit dominated publicly by rightwing nationalist to lead the BREXIT negotiations, scheduled and racist ideas but it was also an expression to start 10 days after the General Election. of profound bitterness and hatred in working class communities left to rot by neo-liberal policies imposed by central government, but The result was the complete opposite: no often enacted by local Labour councils. The overall majority, an end to the consensus on Tories and pundits alike, including the bulk austerity, rehabilitation of the ideas of taxes of the Labour Party, as well as younger vot- on the rich, spending on public services, re- ers interpreted the referendum as a vote for a nationalisation of key industries, and a the hard BREXIT, harsh immigration controls, possibility of a society for the many not the and a tolerance of continued austerity. The few. Following the election there is now a spike in racial attacks immediately after the widespread consensus that May will not be referendum and the heightened racist atmo- able to conduct the BREXIT negotiations, sphere seemed to confirm this interpretation due to start on June 19th, and is unlikely of the vote. was very much to survive as leader of the party beyond the a minority voice amongst politicians, when next 6 months. On June 10th, the Labour she argued that the dispossessed had voted Party stood at 45% in the polls. This was a to leave Europe in an attempt to change the 5% increase since June 8th, with the Tories economic system ‘designed for the few over slipping to 39%. Jeremy Corbyn sees him- the many’. self and is seen by others, to be the prime In early 2017, the signs of opposition minister in waiting. How have the mighty to both austerity and racism were there. fallen. And just how chaotic does the Tory 200,000 people mobilised for a demonstra- party look now. tion in defense of the NHS called by the

17 Health Campaigns Together and the Peo- wealth to working people would be good for ple’s Assembly. Two weeks later, 30,000 Britain. On the EU, Corbyn kept repeat- marched against racism and islamophobia in ing that EU citizens would be automatically London, as well as thousands more in Glas- guaranteed their status in Britain, if he got gow and Cardiff. But still it felt as if Theresa elected. May and the Tories were sweeping all before But above all, Corbyn went out to meet them, driving home the destruction of the people, as many as possible. He spoke to National Health Service, cutting three bil- tens of thousands at over 90 rallies up and lion from the schools budget, while at the down the country, taking the message of same time proposing cuts in corporation tax. change and hope wherever he went. In The election was going to be all about Gateshead, a crowd of up to 10,000 scram- BREXIT and Theresa May as the ‘strong bled up the hill in the pouring rain to listen and stable leader’ compared with Jeremy to him speak. In Middlesborough, about 300 Corbyn who could not be trusted. May mainly working class women with their kids, proved so ‘strong and stable’ she never went emerged from a local estate to hear Corbyn. out to meet ordinary voters, all her appear- And because he went to meet people, he got ances were stage managed with Tory sup- a response from the thousands who had felt porters. She made a fatal decision not to ignored and unrepresented. One of his last turn up to a debate with Jeremy Corbyn, rallies in Glasgow on election day convinced causing herself to be branded as arrogant, people to turn out and vote for him, helping weak and afraid. And then there was the the Labour Party to win back six seats from Tory manifesto proclaiming an end to uni- the SNP. versal fuel payments for older people, an end The more people saw of Corbyn the more to the triple lock on pensions, and an end to they warmed to him and his message. Team free school meals in primary schools. Un- Corbyn had two years campaigning to get doubtedly, the icing on this poisonous cake him elected and retain him as leader. They was what was quickly dubbed the ‘dementia knew how to amplify the messages from the tax’; a proposal to use people’s homes to pay rallies on social media. Videos of all the ral- for their social care. And then there was the lies were made and posted on line so yet promise to have another vote on fox hunting. more local people could hear what Corbyn had to say on their patch. These reached The Corbyn campaign two million people. A film, ‘Daddy, why do you hate me?’ had a reach of seven mil- The contrast with the Corbyn campaign lion. A video of Corbyn interjection during could not have been starker. The Labour Theresa May’s Facebook Live Chat got four Party Manifesto, ‘For the many, not the few’ million views. Canvassing and phone banks was leaked several days before it was due were not only organised with extraordinary to be launched giving it unprecedented me- efficiency, people were encouraged to take dia coverage. Labour proposed to tax the part in the campaign, in whatever way they rich and increase corporation tax to prop- could. Use of email and messaging made it erly fund the NHS, schools, and abolish tu- easy for groups of friends to pitch up and ition fees. It guaranteed the triple lock on get involved. Nothing was left to chance. pensions, a minimum wage of £10 an hour Polling day mobilised 1,000s of volunteers to and free school meals. The proposals were turn out the vote in marginal seats up and fully costed, whilst the Tory manifesto was down the country. Teams of people, young not. Try as they could, the media could not and old, men, women, LGBT, Black and mi- rattle the confidence of Corbyn and other nority ethnic, of different faiths and none, Labour spokespeople that redistribution of came together to get over the Corbyn mes-

18 sage and then turn out the vote. All over the about Corbyn and the Labour Party man- country, young women played a key role in ifesto filtered through, in stark contrast to the campaign. The London phone bank was the ‘things can only get worse’ message from run by a 21 year old woman, whilst another May’s camp. 22 year old woman ran the Momentum press Nothing was left to chance. Volunteers operation. going out on the doorstep were given half Voter registration was part of the drive hour briefings before they went out, that to maximise the vote. Two million new included being provided with information voters registered from the announcement of about the concerns of local people they were the election to the cut-off of on 22nd May. about to canvas. An activist who spent The last 24 hours saw 600,000 register, two the afternoon in Kilburn on polling day de- thirds of them aged 18-24. Teams of volun- scribed walking up Kilburn High Road and teers toured colleges getting people to regis- seeing an Indian restaurant which she first ter using their mobile phones. The National mistook for the headquarters only to dis- Union of Students played an important role cover it was local Indian residents organis- in this initiative. Some of the positive re- ing to turn our their community. But there sults of this were seen on June 8th when were also a great number of young Mus- the Labour Party won Canterbury on a 72% lim women wearing the hijab and she her- turnout and claimed ’s scalp, the self was in a mixed group of different ages Lib-Dem deputy prime minister 2005-2010, and faiths. There were three waves of vol- in Sheffield Hallam. unteers throughout the day going out to check everyone had voted. She estimated But the army of volunteers that regis- there were up to 500 during the afternoon tered voters and then knocked them up on alone. Their efforts were rewarded by turn- polling day wasn’t the typical electoral army. ing Hampstead and Kilburn from a marginal These were volunteers trained in the art of seat for Labour’s Tulip Siddique into a solid questioning voters on the doorstep, probing vote. Up to a thousand volunteers in Croy- to find ways of communicating their mes- den Central, another marginal seat, helped sage of hope, of changing people’s minds. win it for Labour. One activist described the difference in Il- ford North, a marginal constituency held by Other campaigns also fed into the Mo- Wes Streeting, an arch opponent of Jeremy mentum/Labour campaign. At their Easter Corbyn. At the outset of the campaign annual conference the NUT, the National on the doorstep, many voters reflected back Union of Teachers, launched a campaign the views of the Labour Party parliamen- against May’s proposed £3 billion cuts pack- tary party, that Jeremy Corbyn was unfit to age. Local socialist activists, sensing the be prime minister. Wes Streeting and his grassroots anger, organised a 6,000 strong Labour Party circle would simply counter demonstration in Bristol last May, with local this by agreeing about Corbyn, but explain- working class parents distributing hundreds ing that this election was about electing the of leaflets. A similar campaign in East Lon- local MP. Meantime, the activists who had don, involving Head teachers, local parents been to training sessions with the Sanders’ and teachers mobilised 1,000 people for ‘The volunteers from the US, would counter such Big School Assembly’ in a local park on a views, perhaps using Corbyn’s principled Wednesday afternoon in late May. Other ac- stand on issues to illustrate his leadership tive branches of the NUT organised similar qualities, thus enabling potential voters to protests throughout the election campaign. think differently about him. The strategy At a national level, the union posted out of winning people over clearly gained trac- leaflets to union members to use in their lo- tion as the increasingly positive messages cal area. These leaflets explained the pro-

19 posed cuts and called for a ‘Vote for Edu- Tory cuts rather than use their powers to tax cation’. In many areas, local campaigns in the rich. defense of the NHS and education, housing There were clearly places where the campaigns and Keep Racism out of the Elec- ‘class’ message needed more time to get tion, came together with stalls in town cen- through. In Copeland, the constituency tres, organised local hustings, and thus mo- which covers Sellafield, 62% had voted bilised the vote against the Tories. The com- ‘Leave’ in the referendum, the highest Leave mitment to proper funding for public ser- vote in Cumbria. The former Labour MP, vices undoubtedly helped increase the vote Jamie Read, a staunch supporter of nuclear amongst people who were not normally nat- power who had resigned as shadow Health ural supporters of Labour; as well as winning minister on Corbyn’s election in September back others, who were perhaps thinking of 2015, because of Corbyn’s stance on nuclear voting Tory because of BREXIT. power. Read famously described him as ‘reckless, juvenile and narcissistic’. He re- Some commentators have explained the signed his seat to take up a post at Sell- turn out for Corbyn as the ‘revenge of afield in early 2017. The Tories won the the young’ Remainers. If not that, then bye-election and increased their vote on June it was the bribe of getting rid of student 8th. Only a party which combined a com- fees ‘wot did it’. Unquestionably, there mitment to securing workers’ jobs with ar- was a BREXIT effect. One activist cam- guments against nuclear power would gain paigning in Hampstead came across Tories traction against the poisonous position of who were contemplating voting Labour for the former MP and the local trade union. a ‘softer’ BREXIT and some Labour Party voters were considering voting for May as Similar local factors seemed to be at they considered her most likely to deliver work in Mansfield, a Labour seat since 1923 on BREXIT. But it would be a big mis- that went Tory. Well paid local miners’ take to simply try to map last year’s ref- jobs have been replaced by low paid ones at erendum results and UKIP voters onto this Sports Direct. It had also been home to the year’s election. This was the assumption UDM, the scab breakaway union during the made by Theresa May, leading her to trum- Great miners’ strike in 1984-5. The Leave pet that she was going to turn the Tory party vote was 71%, whilst the local MP, Alan into the natural party of the working class. Meale, was a prominent Remainer. He, how- She forgot two things, if she ever understood ever, was another Blairite hostile to Corbyn, them: that the referendum result had not and deeply involved in the parliamentary ex- simply been a nationalist and racist vote but penses’ scandal in 2009 when he claimed a ‘cry of the oppressed‘against the condi- £13,000 in gardening expenses. Although tions of their lives. Secondly, a campaign the Financial Times reported the beginnings that projects real solutions to those condi- of a swing to Labour in the last few days of tions can cut through any racism and na- the campaign, it was not enough to split the tionalism in abandoned class communities, UKIP vote as happened in other areas. Here by providing a vision and hope for a different it went almost entirely to the Tories. kind of life. Corbyn’s manifesto put working There is a similar story in Stoke on Trent class people and their needs at the centre of South, an area of low pay, where the Leave the campaign in a way no one had seen since vote was 69.4%. Flello, co-founder of a firm before Tony Blair’s time. This election was of tax and financial advisors, was the first about class and not about BREXIT. One to call on Corbyn to resign in June 2016. spin off was (unexpectedly) winning back six Bizarrely, he opposed employment rights for working class constituencies from the SNP in temporary and agency workers and blamed Scotland, where the government implements traffic congestion in London on cycle lanes.

20 Middlesborough South and Cleveland wards private wealth at the expense of pub- East voted 65% for Leave. The local Blairite lic squalor. Small wonder the Labour Party MP, Tom Blenkinsop, resigned at the start won Kensington, albeit with a margin of 20 of the election, saying he could not campaign votes. It also makes the defeat of Gavin for Labour under Corbyn. His constituency Barwell, (in Croyden Central) former Tory went Tory with a majority of 1,020 votes. Housing Minister, all the sweeter. Fortunately, similar antics by Blairite Alan Many assumed that the two terrorist in- Johnson who denounced Corbyn as ‘useless, cidents in Manchester and London, espe- incompetent and incapable’ did not lead to cially with the gratuitous loss of life at a defeat in Hull West and Hessle where the concert mainly for young teenage girls in Leave vote was 68 Manchester, would swing the election back Clearly in constituencies like these, to May and the Tory law and order party. where many people feel abandoned to their The incredible display of Manchester unity fate, the Labour Party has a way to go to showed that people did not want to be overcome the legacy of austerity, Blairism, divided. Equally, Corbyn’s clarity about and local right wing MPs. John McDonnell connecting Britain’s wars abroad with the is probably right to argue that another two breeding of terrorism at home struck a chord weeks of positive campaigning could have and broke the usual political consensus on both stemmed some of these losses and led to extremist Islamism being the root of terror- greater Labour Party gains. As it is, Hartle- ism. The response after the London attack, pool thought to be at risk of going to the by putting the spotlight on the 20,000 cut Tories because the Leave vote was over 69% in numbers, highlighted May’s former saw an increased Labour vote. The Corbyn responsibilities as Home Secretary and the rally in nearby Gateshead had an impact, impact of public sector cuts. This argument helping to put public sector cuts at the cen- is, however, double edged because of the way tre of the debate, rather than BREXIT. it plays to the ‘security’ agenda. In Ipswich, with a Leave vote of 58%, al- Corbyn’s victory in increasing the num- most the entire former UKIP vote went to ber of Labour seats and securing, the biggest the Labour Party, turning it into a Labour swing of any party since 1945, has been gain. Likewise, Portsmouth South, which about reasserting the needs of working class also voted to leave the EU, went Labour with people. It has also silenced, however tem- a massive swing of 21.75%. porarily, the right wing MPs who only a year The uneven way in which the UKIP votes ago were so desperate to get rid of him. That split between Tory and Labour confounded is enough cause to celebrate after decades Tory expectations of easy gains and the of the mantra of neo-liberalism with added stronger the Corbyn effect, the bigger the austerity since the bankers’ crash of 2008. swing to Labour. Nevertheless, a couple of words of caution The recent tragic fire in Grenfell House are in order. The manifesto was a solid left which, at the time of writing, has claimed a reformist social democratic programme and minimum of 30 lives (a figure that is certain not a revolutionary document. Concessions to rise, probably by a lot), illustrates how were made along the way. Before the gen- neglected working class communities exist eral election, Corbyn gave up his opposition cheek by jowl with some of London’s most to the Trident nuclear deterrent in response sought after real estate. This shows how to pressure from the likes of Len McCluskey, cuts, privatisation of housing, and cut backs leader of the largest union, UNITE. This did in property regulations, cost lives. It is a not stop Copeland, where the Sellafield Nu- horrific illustration of the consequences of clear Plant is, from going Tory. a ‘bonfire of regulations’, of the drive to- During the campaign itself Corbyn reem-

21 phasised his commitment to giving EU cit- be forced to retreat over some of the issues izens security of residence, but made clear in the Tory manifesto. Unexpected events he would no longer defend free movement of like the Grenfell Tower disaster can galvanise people; worse still, during the leadership de- people into fighting back. bate, he appeared to blame migrants for low It seems it will only be a matter of time pay. Such concessions on issues of principle before Corbyn is elected prime minister and for anti-racists do not bode well. has to form a government. Then it won’t Currently, the Tory Party, despite the just be the media barons who throw the visceral anger at the damage wrought by worst at him, he will face the direct pres- May’s miscalculations, is once more rallying sures of big business, the banks and the behind her. We should remember that the stock exchange with the security forces wait- show of unity after the shock BREXIT vote ing in the wings. The fate of Tsipras and lasted less than a year. May is in an in- Syriza in Greece, who were forced to impose comparably weaker position as she attempts ever harsher penalties on the Greek working to buy time for her government with a deal class, stands as a warning to those who be- with the DUP. lieve that an election victory is sufficient to She may well be prepared to play with break the power of capital. It can be a first the Northern Ireland peace process, but step, a very welcome first step, and help sow there is huge opposition to the bigotry of the panic in the ranks of the ruling class, but so- DUP. Opposition over health and education cialists have to prepare to go much further. cuts will continue to grow, as will anger over Building the resistance in the here and now housing, pay and many other issues. People and fighting to get rid of May and her Tory will feel emboldened to fight; knowing May’s friends can be part of that. government to be weak and most likely will

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