• Hi Guest!

    The costs of running this forum are covered by Sea Lion Press. If you'd like to help support the company and the forum, visit patreon.com/sealionpress

Corbynism without Corbyn? A different labour left leader in 2015

Geordie

"One of popculture's most iconic men"
Published by SLP
Pronouns
he/him
As it says on the tin, really. Who else could have ridden the wave to the Labour Leadership in 2015. Doesn't necessarily have to be in the SCG, but that might be a good place to look.

I don't think Corbynism without Corbyn works once you've had Corbyn. Too much of the movement was tied up in the man. It's the "the Jeremy Corbyn we have at home" meme in real life. Which means it needs a Corbyn* in 2015, not a successor.

So, sups the questions are:
  1. Who else could do it and win?
  2. How might they fair, in comparison with Corbyn?
  3. Where might any divergences occur? Ireland, I/P, Brexit?
  4. Would the Bitterites play any nicer?
  5. Would the Leader have any more control over Labour party HQ?
  6. Would the Leader's office look less incompetent?
  7. How would they have dealt with the antisemitism in the party?
I appreciate that there's crossover between some of these, and plenty of unknowns.

For the who, McDonnell seems the obvious choice, but it's that only in hindsight? Abbott, as a black woman with a history of media gaffes and a bad case of number blindness in interviews, is surely out of luck with regards to winning the job. God help us, it might be Lavery, Saint and Martyr in an ATL. Or Comrade Chris, Conservative Coalition Partner (and Voldemort cosplayer). Colonel Clive?

Would it be a personal with somebody else? Would it be more successful? Would an *Owen Smith have posted them before 2016 was out?

Answers on a postcard.
 
Legend has it that the left would have gone with Meacher if they knew they were going to win…which is unfortunate given Meacher’s passing at the end of the year. @Mumby has used this scenario a few times; the possibilities are endless.

Part of why Corbyn made it on the ballot was his long tenure in Westminster affording him sympathy nominations. Someone more controversial like Johnny Mac obviously faces a greater obstacle.

Owen Jones famously wanted Nandy to run while others urged Keir Starmer to go for it. Making Starmer LOTO after only a year in Westminster is bound to be even more of a debacle than IOTL.

Jon Trickett seems to be the best bet for someone Corbyn-like without the baggage. He’d definitely have a decent chance of getting enough nominations. One major butterfly would be on issues related to antisemitism on account of Trickett’s ancestry.
 
If Labour does less shit in Scotland in 2015 then you could get Katy Clark leading that charge. Probably be more decisive than Corbyn, less prone to gaffes etc. Though she may have the McDonnell problem of actually having ideas and plans and seeming scary.

Also depending on the POD, Tess Kingham would fit that space incredibly well.
Jon Trickett seems to be the best bet for someone Corbyn-like without the baggage. He’d definitely have a decent chance of getting enough nominations. One major butterfly would be on issues related to antisemitism on account of Trickett’s ancestry.
I do agree Trickett does have a possibility, though his unabashed Euroscepticism means that Brexit will be fun, though I have the sense that he would commit to the ‘project’ aspect of the plan of democratising Labour and bringing it to the Left, compared to Corbyn.
 
If Labour does less shit in Scotland in 2015 then you could get Katy Clark leading that charge. Probably be more decisive than Corbyn, less prone to gaffes etc. Though she may have the McDonnell problem of actually having ideas and plans and seeming scary.

Yeah for all that Corbyn was the spooky lefty, he wasn't that interested in restructuring the party to support that. people who do have plan to that effect would probably be much scarier and fail to garner the pity nominations.

I do agree Trickett does have a possibility, though his unabashed Euroscepticism means that Brexit will be fun, though I have the sense that he would commit to the ‘project’ aspect of the plan of democratising Labour and bringing it to the Left, compared to Corbyn.

Honestly a strong "you voted for this, let's do our best" position might not be that harmful compared to the confused message on the subject of OTL.
 
Yeah for all that Corbyn was the spooky lefty, he wasn't that interested in restructuring the party to support that. people who do have plan to that effect would probably be much scarier and fail to garner the pity nominations.
True, though I think Katy Clark could have done it if she campaigned on a ‘Labour needs to do Better In Scotland and also we need a more Left Wing policy’ style agenda to her. If she could do a Abbott and get on the ballot then she could win the subsequent vote on OMOV grounds.

I think also Clark wouldn’t have the ‘Oh No, the Scary Marxist/Former Maoist with Big Ideas Wants The Job’ problem that McDonnell had.
 
True, though I think Katy Clark could have done it if she campaigned on a ‘Labour needs to do Better In Scotland and also we need a more Left Wing policy’ style agenda to her. If she could do a Abbott and get on the ballot then she could win the subsequent vote on OMOV grounds.

I think also Clark wouldn’t have the ‘Oh No, the Scary Marxist/Former Maoist with Big Ideas Wants The Job’ problem that McDonnell had.

Maybe, with a position of being one of the few still succeeding in Scotland, that would be an argument.

Agreed on McDonnell being a bit too scary, even if I'd be interested in exploring how he'd go about it.
 
Maybe, with a position of being one of the few still succeeding in Scotland, that would be an argument.
It would, also Clark was Pro-Remain which whilst making Labour’s Brexit ideas more awkward probably does mean that things are more clearer and we get less wobbling about on the matter.
Agreed on McDonnell being a bit too scary, even if I'd be interested in exploring how he'd go about it.
McDonnell’s best chances would always be a situation where the Left manage to get in and he manages to showcase his reinvention which he did during his Shadow Chancellorship.
 
Doesn't it take a pretty damn big shift for Katy Clark to hold on in 2015 in the first place? And if she's barely holding I'm unsure how keen she'd be to run.
 
Doesn't it take a pretty damn big shift for Katy Clark to hold on in 2015 in the first place? And if she's barely holding I'm unsure how keen she'd be to run.
True, it really shows you how decimated the SCG has become that the best choices require a substantial swing to stay around or have some kind of skeletons in there closest.

I will mention that the best choice is that Burnham runs, Owen Jones and Jon Trickett do there ‘Not The Labour Leadership Campaign’ thing which embarrasses the leadership and if Burnham loses in snap election or something, he’s replaced by Cat Smith or something.
 
Back
Top