As news of Labour’s most crushing defeat since 1935 filtered through, most of the country could be found breathing a sigh of relief in the knowledge that Jeremy Corbyn would not be given the keys to No.10. In contrast, many of London’s poorest residents could be forgiven for burying their heads in their hands at the harsh reality of another five years of a Conservative government. As inequality continues to divide and define the borough, the people of Hackney need a Labour government more than ever – and the party has let them down, as it has done time and time again.
Given that it is now widely known what the majority of the British public thinks of Jeremy Corbyn, it would make sense for the party to select a more palatable leader – especially considering that they’ll have to wait until 2024 to take on Boris Johnson again, an eternity in political time.
But such a course of action would be far too sensible for the Labour activists in charge of the Hackney North and Shoreditch and Hackney South and Stoke Newington Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs). Instead, both Hackney CLPs overwhelmingly backed Rebecca Long-Bailey. After she received over half of first choice votes, a second round of voting was unnecessary.
According to Heather Mendick, who was secretary for the Hackney North and Shoreditch at the time of the 2019 election, Long-Bailey offers the party the best chance of getting back into government. “Members locally were heartbroken by the general election defeat in December and are determined to ensure Labour win next time,” she said. “We believe Rebecca is the strongest candidate to do that.”
Unfortunately for Mendick, Long-Bailey is the strongest Labour candidate – for the Conservative Party. Back in December, the public rewarded the engineers of the most chaotic five years in modern British political history with a whopping 80-seat majority. Why? Because, among other things, Jeremy Corbyn made the Conservative leadership look decisive and oversaw the descent of a proudly internationalist party into one infested with institutional anti-Semitism. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that nominating a continuity candidate who rated Corbyn’s leadership as 10/10 might not be the best idea if Labour have any intention to return to power.
Why does Mendick believe that Long-Bailey would not suffer the same fate as Corbyn?
“[She can win] because of her plan to win back the trust of Brexit voters, her work on the Green Industrial Revolution, her commitments to opposing austerity and to building the trade union movement, her desire to democratise the Labour Party so that members have a stronger role, and her media and parliamentary skills,” she said.
Mendick’s claims do not stand up to scrutiny – these claims do not add up. Winning back the trust of Brexit voters lost by Corbyn is not the key to a Labour majority – after all, Corbyn never had one to lose. It is also ludicrous to suggest that plans to democratise the Labour party will influence the general public. As for Long-Bailey’s “media and parliamentary skills,” the Salford and Eccles MP looked wooden when debating alongside the reassuring Keir Starmer and the feisty Lisa Nandy.
History is also not kind to those who suggest that Long-Bailey could win a majority at the polls. Tony Blair, now portrayed as a ‘Tory-lite villain’ by the Corbynites, is the only Labour leader since 1974 to have won an election. Blair appealed to the centre, something the likes of more traditional left-wingers Michael Foot and even Ed Miliband failed to do.
The problem for Hackney residents in need of a Labour government is that their local party representatives clearly don’t share such ambitions. By nominating Long-Bailey, the CLPs have clearly prioritised solving internal ideological disagreements over protecting some of the most vulnerable British citizens. It takes both privilege and chutzpah to ignore the needs of Hackney residents in favour of intra-party purging. Until Labour realises it needs to win power to make a difference, the poorest community members will continue to suffer.
