Despite failing to win in last month’s general election,
it is an undeniable fact that Jeremy Corbyn’s position at the top of the Labour
Party has never been as safe as it is right now. A magnificent result – made
possible thanks to a positive and forward-thinking campaign that inspired and
enthused – saw Labour win their highest proportion of the vote since the Tony
Blair-led landslide of 2001, decimating Theresa May’s already wafer-thin
parliamentary majority in the process.
The victory feels like a defeat for the Conservatives,
who are demoralised and badly bruised as they find themselves ravaged by
infighting. It wasn’t meant to be like this, though, as May’s decision to call
a snap election initially looked to be a stroke of genius. With Corbyn unable
to command the respect of most of his MPs as he languished over 20 percentage
points behind in the opinion polls, a clear and comfortable win for the prime
minister looked to be on the cards. It would have handed her a mandate to push
on with an ambitious (albeit poorly devised) domestic strategy whilst
simultaneously realising the “red, white and blue” Brexit on which she
campaigned so heavily.
In the end, it was not to be. A lacklustre, negative and totally
uninspiring campaign resulted in a miserable night for May, and it is now the
Conservatives, not Labour, who are on the ropes. With the prime minister only
remaining in the job because of a lack of suitable replacements and Corbyn’s
approval ratings continuing to rise, the time has come for Labour to push on
and strengthen their position as a government-in-waiting. And that requires
unity.
Corbyn’s impressive election result means that any
question of replacing him as party leader has been thrown out of the window.
With the exception of one or two dissenters (most notably Chris Leslie, who
continues to snipe from the sidelines), formerly sceptical moderate MPs have
lined up to praise their boss on his excellent achievement, with several
indicating that they would be willing to serve in the shadow cabinet once
again. Corbyn was right to stick predominately with the line-up that helped
deliver last month’s result when he embarked on a slight reshuffle of his top
team, but his decision to reintroduce previous sceptics in the form of Gloria
de Piero and Owen Smith was a sensible move. He extended an olive branch to
“moderate” MPs in the aftermath of the election and was right to do so, as
Labour can’t afford to project an image of a weak and divided party at such a
crucial moment.
With the Conservatives struggling in the polls as senior
party figures anonymously spread dirt on one another in the media, the time has
come for Labour politicians to put aside their differences and work together to
continue putting pressure on the government. Corbyn’s vision, previously
criticised by those in the centre of the party, has been vindicated by last
month’s election result, and it is now the job of those former critics to rally
behind their leader and continue building on the work that has been done since
September 2015.
However, that is not to say that they should be entirely
submissive to the wishes of Corbyn and his allies. The Labour Party has always
been a broad church comprised of several different, but nonetheless connected,
ideologies and views, and for it to remain a relevant and strong political
force it must stay that way. There is no excuse for threats to “get on board”
being levelled at MPs by those on the left of the party, and a return of the
debate surrounding mandatory reselection is not at all helpful. In the same
way, Corbyn-sceptic moderates must now realise that the public has no appetite
for the weak, quasi-neoliberal, austerity-driven message that flopped so badly
two years ago and arguably hasn’t enthused voters since 2001. Voters are crying
out for change, and Corbyn has successfully managed to tap into that feeling of
anger and frustration.
It is time for all wings of Labour to unite behind a
positive and inclusive message, one that challenges seven years of
Conservative-led austerity and continues to build on the gains made under
Corbyn. For whilst there is still much work to be done to achieve power once
again, last month’s election showed that all of the momentum is currently with
an ascendant Labour Party.
Ben Cullimore | @bencullimore
With the Conservatives in disarray, Labour must unite | Ben Cullimore
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