I am a socialist. I believe we are better off by all working together, that we DO live in a Society and we should all look out for each other and help each other. Bill Shankly, the legendary Liverpool manager summed it up best when he said.. "The socialism I believe in isn’t really politics. It is a way of living. It is humanity. I believe the only way to live and to be truly successful is by collective effort, with everyone working for each other, everyone helping each other, and everyone having a share of the rewards at the end of the day... it’s the way I see football and the way I see life." For the most part of my life I believed the best way to achieve socialism was to vote for the Labour Party. However, over the last few years it has become apparent to me that I couldn't have been more wrong. The party that gave us the NHS and the welfare state, the ambitious party that rebuilt the country after the war and gave us workers rights and protections that we now take for granted, that party no longer exists. Moreover, socialists in the Labour Party are no longer welcome, socialism is a dirty word and Neoliberalism rules. The person I hold responsible for this more than any other is Tony Blair.
Many people question why a lifelong Labour voter like myself hold such disdain for a Labour leader who lead the party to three election victories? To explain this then I have to explain my politics and the experiences (as I saw and remember them) that shaped my politics as I grew up. As a child of the seventies, growing up in the early eighties some of my earliest memories involved politics. I didn't understand at junior school why someone called Maggie Thatcher had stopped us from having milk, or why my dad would shout and throw things at the telly when the same Thatcher woman appeared. It wasn't until later in life that I learned he was the union rep at the brewery and that the reason he was in a bad mood and why we didn't have much and had to live on beans on toast for weeks was because he was on strike. My uncle was the local labour councillor. I remember he was always helping people, giving up his own time and energy to support others. There was a real community spirit around where I grew up, everybody knew each other and helped each other but this Thatcher woman kept appearing on the telly stating things like how the miners (I grew up in what was a mining village and many miners still lived there) were "the enemy within" and that "there was no such thing as society" - the complete opposite of everything I understood and was being brought up to believe.
It was pretty obvious to me even at a young age that Labour were "the goodies" and the Tories were "the baddies". The first election I can remember was 1983. The man on the telly said that Maggie Thatcher who pinched the milk was a goodie because of a war with Argentina. My dad shouted something at the telly again and I vaguely remember watching Saturday morning TV where she was explaining why she gave the order to blow a ship up that was sailing in the opposite direction. "Isn't that how you get rid of the baddies I thought?" By this point my mam had started shouting at the telly too, there was an old bloke on who had long white hair and the man on the telly kept telling us was a baddie because he'd written a long suicide note or something. "We're stuck with her" my mam would say - all because of the man who was meant to be a goodie but apparently was really a baddie that was up against the person I thought was a baddie but the tv told me was a goodie. I spent the weeks and days leading up to the election riding round on my bike shouting "Vote Labour" at everyone and sticking vote Labour stickers everywhere around the village. How could we possible lose I thought after everything I'd done? We did lose though. Badly. And Thatcher used her power to deindustrialise the North East and kick-in the unions. I didn't understand. Everyone where I lived hated her. Things seemed to go from bad to worse round our way, so there was excitement at the next election and I got my bike out again and leafletted and got into trouble for sticking stickers on peoples windows. We lost again. Apparently we had a goodie in charge this time because he was "a moderniser" but he wasn't good enough yet. My dad said something about how he was meant to be on the side of the goodies but hadn't supported the miners so was a bit of a baddie but wasn't on the baddies team so was therefore not a complete baddie. "We're stuck with her" said me mam.
By '92 I already knew what was coming but in all honesty I'd lost interest in politics. Thatcher had been replaced but the Tories did what the Tories do this time selling off Nationalised utilities like water, gas and electric but also British Rail. Apparently this win was down to the Sun "newspaper", I'd sussed them out a couple of years earlier. My main interests now were Indie Music, football and girls. The music I listened to really meant something and standing with me mates on the scoreboard watching Newcastle get beat every other week meant everything, the worse it got the more important it was for us to be there. And then everything changed, Keegan came back to Newcastle and my whole world changed, everything seemed brighter. I was in Sixth form by now and my interest in politics was back, Labour had a new leader with the great name "John Smith", my dad had stopped shouting at the telly and my mam said "we'll win next time". I'll never forget that Biology lesson when Lanky walked in and told us John Smith had died, I was gutted.
Tony Blair was elected leader. I was worried at first as in those days I still took a lot of notice about what was said in the press and they were of the opinion he was weak. "Bambi" they called him. He looked the part though and his constituency was in the North East so he must be good. He said he was a Newcastle supporter and that he used to sit on the Gallowgate and watch Jackie Milburn which I knew was bullshit but made me like him more. He even played head tennis with Kevin Keegan. What a man! The night of the '97 election I watched from my halls of residence. The Sun had came out in support of Blair and although my instinct made me feel it didn't sit right by this point I didn't care. At University I was one of only a few people from a comprehensive and one of only a couple of Labour voters there, it was brilliant. What a night! All the Grammar school students were moping around depressed, I think secretly they knew they'd be okay. I rang my mam up and she told me how they'd stayed up all watching and clapping at they telly instead of shouting at it. "Things can only get better". Things did get better, slowly. Brexit wasn't even a thing, the country seemed to be outward looking and at last there was some investment in public services. I was coming to the end of my time at Uni and had made the decision that I wanted to stay and continue my education, which until this point had been fully paid for by the state. Then tuition fees were introduced - I thought it was totally unfair that the students coming in after me would have to pay thousands to experience what I had and I soon changed my mind about staying on and got myself a job instead. I didn't understand why a Labour government would this? If they had done it three years earlier I would never have gone to Uni in the first place! Work was good. I found a well paid job in the IT industry and although personally I was doing well I was getting frustrated with what was happening in politics. Why were hospitals being loaded with private finance? What were academy schools? When was the north going to be reindustrialised? When were the privatised utilities going to be renationalised for the benefit of everyone rather than for the benefit of the shareholders? Why had none of the trade union laws that Thatcher introduced not been abolished and why was the Neo-liberal Thatcherite approach that I fought so hard against as a youngster now at the forefront of the party that was supposed to oppose it? I wasn't angry, just disappointed as people say, I had so much hope for Blair and just felt let down. Still better than having the actual Tories in charge eh?
And then Iraq happened. I still can't get my head round it. How did the attack on the Twin Towers lead to the war in Iraq? I knew Sadam was a baddie (as my younger self would have put it) but I also knew it was nothing to do with him. I also knew when I was being lied to, the fact that the lie came from a Labour prime minister who I thought was going to change the world for the better, a man who I had put all my hopes on made me feel sick. I remember thinking this would make the word a less safer place, that terrorism would increase. I take no pride in being proven right. I didn't go to London and march against the war, apathy had now set in. My mind was made up, this isn't the Labour Party, I wouldn't vote Labour again. I did though. By the time of the next election I had changed career and I was back home, working as a teacher. I loved it - still do. I remember telling a colleague just how much I enjoyed teaching, I'll never forget what he said.. "Wait until the teacher hating Tories get in". He was right. I joined the Union and started to get active again. The Tories got in and by 2015 I was ready to vote Green for the first time, their socialist policies sat well with my views and I was completely turned off by Labour - what was the point? - they were just like the Tories but a lighter shade of blue. In the end I voted for them. Just. They lost again and before long I was witness to some of Blairs policies first hand when the school I worked for was converted to an academy. "Labour started it" said Michael Gove.
Ed Miliband (who I actually have a lot of the for) stood down and there was a leadership election. I was ready to vote for Andy Burnham. Elizabeth (my wife who on our first date told me she stood outside polling stations as a kid shouting "Maggie Maggie Maggie Out Out Out" - I knew she was right for me straight away) told me that she was going to vote for Jeremy Corbyn and that he was meeting Labour members at the Irish centre. I thought he had no chance - he was too "traditional" Labour - at the meeting it became clear he believed in the things I did, but most importantly he sat and listened to the people in the room. His would be a different type of leadership, he wouldn't be a top-down know it all leader but one that would listen to the party members and let policy decisions be made from the bottom up. He had my vote. He made me want to get active again. It wasn't just me, in the space of a few weeks thousands were queuing and climbing in though windows to hear him speak, a movement was growing. To my dismay it was around this point I found out that the Labour Party wasn't what I thought it was - I thought Blair was a Tory exception to the rule. How wrong could I have been? I remember the day Corbyn won the first of his elections, I was at a "Refugees welcome" march in Newcastle and the word got out just as it was going to a finish. I went into a pub to watch the news. The bulletin at the bottom read "Corbyn elected: Chukka Umunna resigns from shadow cabinet". A movement was building and the right of the Labour Party would do everything in their power to stop it. I was a regular at momentum meetings by now - where people of all backgrounds who just wanted to make the world a better place would meet and plan how to get active and support the cause. I and the other people there were (still are)portrayed as "entryists"(many were returning to Labour), Trotskyites and a hard left rabble. Nothing could be further form the truth. The truth didn't matter any more. And who was the man leading the charge against activists like myself? - Tony Blair. Blair made it clear that he would rather see a Tory government than a Labour one rooted in socialism and pulled all the strings he still had in the media and in the Labour Party to bring Corbyn down. I remember coming back from campaigning on a number of occasions, switch the telly on and find Blair, Campbell, Tom Watson or Murdochs new favourite Jess Phillips would be on undermining all the hard work I'd just put in. I shouted at the telly like my dad used to.
The Brexit vote happened. Seriously when did everybody become more bothered about a trade deal than the NHS or schools? I voted remain but was firmly of the view that the result should be accepted. 2017 happened and it turned out that May wasn't the strong leader that the press would have had us believe and Labours socialist policies were a lot more popular than the experts imagined. Hung parliament. We didn't win, it wasn't enough. We got close though, too close, it wouldn't be allowed to happen again. The lies started, Corbyn who dedicated his life to fighting racism was portrayed as a racist and even worse because of talks he had and meetings he had in the past with people of all sides of various conflicts - a terrorist sympathiser - and it stuck. When I was out campaigning I heard time and time again, " Brexit", "Corbyn is a terrorist", when I countered with concerns around the Tories selling off the NHS people would counter "well it was your lot that started it" or ," you did nothing for us" - that bit wasn't Corbyn it was Blair. The thing people need to get about Corbyn is the reason why he would have been a brilliant PM is the very reason many would never vote for him, he was never interested in power, he didn't want to stand to be leader and I genuinely believe he didn't actually want to be PM - he just wanted to help people. Not your ordinary politician then. People complain about how all politicians are the same, only in it for themselves and for money and power yet when someone comes along who is genuinely different to the others, they weren't interested.
It is important to point out that Corbyn was his own worst enemy. People think I am uncritical of him but thats not true.
-He didn't "look" like a leader - it never bothered me but it clearly bothered others
-He should have democratised the party further through mandatory reselection
-He was accused of "stalinist purges" - which never happened - he should have just done them
-He should have stood his ground on Brexit - caving into 'the peoples vote" was his biggest mistake
-He should have stood up to claims of him being antisemitic for being as ridiculous as they are
-He compromised too much
So we are now where we are and I hear again Labour must "return to the centre". I would argue we're already there. Theres nothing left wing about having nationalised bus services or free education. They have it in other countries and its what I grew up with until Thatcher and Blair took them away.
But we lost again. And Tony Blair will be okay, in fact he'll be happy. He should be in jail! And this is why I hate Tony Blair.
Update
Since the original post I have decided to cancel my membership of the Labour Party. I think I would struggle to hold my nose to vote for them yet alone go out and campaign for them (unless we had another excellent local candidate like Laura Pidcock). Not being the Tories and being less worse than them isn't enough.
It was pretty obvious to me even at a young age that Labour were "the goodies" and the Tories were "the baddies". The first election I can remember was 1983. The man on the telly said that Maggie Thatcher who pinched the milk was a goodie because of a war with Argentina. My dad shouted something at the telly again and I vaguely remember watching Saturday morning TV where she was explaining why she gave the order to blow a ship up that was sailing in the opposite direction. "Isn't that how you get rid of the baddies I thought?" By this point my mam had started shouting at the telly too, there was an old bloke on who had long white hair and the man on the telly kept telling us was a baddie because he'd written a long suicide note or something. "We're stuck with her" my mam would say - all because of the man who was meant to be a goodie but apparently was really a baddie that was up against the person I thought was a baddie but the tv told me was a goodie. I spent the weeks and days leading up to the election riding round on my bike shouting "Vote Labour" at everyone and sticking vote Labour stickers everywhere around the village. How could we possible lose I thought after everything I'd done? We did lose though. Badly. And Thatcher used her power to deindustrialise the North East and kick-in the unions. I didn't understand. Everyone where I lived hated her. Things seemed to go from bad to worse round our way, so there was excitement at the next election and I got my bike out again and leafletted and got into trouble for sticking stickers on peoples windows. We lost again. Apparently we had a goodie in charge this time because he was "a moderniser" but he wasn't good enough yet. My dad said something about how he was meant to be on the side of the goodies but hadn't supported the miners so was a bit of a baddie but wasn't on the baddies team so was therefore not a complete baddie. "We're stuck with her" said me mam.
By '92 I already knew what was coming but in all honesty I'd lost interest in politics. Thatcher had been replaced but the Tories did what the Tories do this time selling off Nationalised utilities like water, gas and electric but also British Rail. Apparently this win was down to the Sun "newspaper", I'd sussed them out a couple of years earlier. My main interests now were Indie Music, football and girls. The music I listened to really meant something and standing with me mates on the scoreboard watching Newcastle get beat every other week meant everything, the worse it got the more important it was for us to be there. And then everything changed, Keegan came back to Newcastle and my whole world changed, everything seemed brighter. I was in Sixth form by now and my interest in politics was back, Labour had a new leader with the great name "John Smith", my dad had stopped shouting at the telly and my mam said "we'll win next time". I'll never forget that Biology lesson when Lanky walked in and told us John Smith had died, I was gutted.
Tony Blair was elected leader. I was worried at first as in those days I still took a lot of notice about what was said in the press and they were of the opinion he was weak. "Bambi" they called him. He looked the part though and his constituency was in the North East so he must be good. He said he was a Newcastle supporter and that he used to sit on the Gallowgate and watch Jackie Milburn which I knew was bullshit but made me like him more. He even played head tennis with Kevin Keegan. What a man! The night of the '97 election I watched from my halls of residence. The Sun had came out in support of Blair and although my instinct made me feel it didn't sit right by this point I didn't care. At University I was one of only a few people from a comprehensive and one of only a couple of Labour voters there, it was brilliant. What a night! All the Grammar school students were moping around depressed, I think secretly they knew they'd be okay. I rang my mam up and she told me how they'd stayed up all watching and clapping at they telly instead of shouting at it. "Things can only get better". Things did get better, slowly. Brexit wasn't even a thing, the country seemed to be outward looking and at last there was some investment in public services. I was coming to the end of my time at Uni and had made the decision that I wanted to stay and continue my education, which until this point had been fully paid for by the state. Then tuition fees were introduced - I thought it was totally unfair that the students coming in after me would have to pay thousands to experience what I had and I soon changed my mind about staying on and got myself a job instead. I didn't understand why a Labour government would this? If they had done it three years earlier I would never have gone to Uni in the first place! Work was good. I found a well paid job in the IT industry and although personally I was doing well I was getting frustrated with what was happening in politics. Why were hospitals being loaded with private finance? What were academy schools? When was the north going to be reindustrialised? When were the privatised utilities going to be renationalised for the benefit of everyone rather than for the benefit of the shareholders? Why had none of the trade union laws that Thatcher introduced not been abolished and why was the Neo-liberal Thatcherite approach that I fought so hard against as a youngster now at the forefront of the party that was supposed to oppose it? I wasn't angry, just disappointed as people say, I had so much hope for Blair and just felt let down. Still better than having the actual Tories in charge eh?
And then Iraq happened. I still can't get my head round it. How did the attack on the Twin Towers lead to the war in Iraq? I knew Sadam was a baddie (as my younger self would have put it) but I also knew it was nothing to do with him. I also knew when I was being lied to, the fact that the lie came from a Labour prime minister who I thought was going to change the world for the better, a man who I had put all my hopes on made me feel sick. I remember thinking this would make the word a less safer place, that terrorism would increase. I take no pride in being proven right. I didn't go to London and march against the war, apathy had now set in. My mind was made up, this isn't the Labour Party, I wouldn't vote Labour again. I did though. By the time of the next election I had changed career and I was back home, working as a teacher. I loved it - still do. I remember telling a colleague just how much I enjoyed teaching, I'll never forget what he said.. "Wait until the teacher hating Tories get in". He was right. I joined the Union and started to get active again. The Tories got in and by 2015 I was ready to vote Green for the first time, their socialist policies sat well with my views and I was completely turned off by Labour - what was the point? - they were just like the Tories but a lighter shade of blue. In the end I voted for them. Just. They lost again and before long I was witness to some of Blairs policies first hand when the school I worked for was converted to an academy. "Labour started it" said Michael Gove.
Ed Miliband (who I actually have a lot of the for) stood down and there was a leadership election. I was ready to vote for Andy Burnham. Elizabeth (my wife who on our first date told me she stood outside polling stations as a kid shouting "Maggie Maggie Maggie Out Out Out" - I knew she was right for me straight away) told me that she was going to vote for Jeremy Corbyn and that he was meeting Labour members at the Irish centre. I thought he had no chance - he was too "traditional" Labour - at the meeting it became clear he believed in the things I did, but most importantly he sat and listened to the people in the room. His would be a different type of leadership, he wouldn't be a top-down know it all leader but one that would listen to the party members and let policy decisions be made from the bottom up. He had my vote. He made me want to get active again. It wasn't just me, in the space of a few weeks thousands were queuing and climbing in though windows to hear him speak, a movement was growing. To my dismay it was around this point I found out that the Labour Party wasn't what I thought it was - I thought Blair was a Tory exception to the rule. How wrong could I have been? I remember the day Corbyn won the first of his elections, I was at a "Refugees welcome" march in Newcastle and the word got out just as it was going to a finish. I went into a pub to watch the news. The bulletin at the bottom read "Corbyn elected: Chukka Umunna resigns from shadow cabinet". A movement was building and the right of the Labour Party would do everything in their power to stop it. I was a regular at momentum meetings by now - where people of all backgrounds who just wanted to make the world a better place would meet and plan how to get active and support the cause. I and the other people there were (still are)portrayed as "entryists"(many were returning to Labour), Trotskyites and a hard left rabble. Nothing could be further form the truth. The truth didn't matter any more. And who was the man leading the charge against activists like myself? - Tony Blair. Blair made it clear that he would rather see a Tory government than a Labour one rooted in socialism and pulled all the strings he still had in the media and in the Labour Party to bring Corbyn down. I remember coming back from campaigning on a number of occasions, switch the telly on and find Blair, Campbell, Tom Watson or Murdochs new favourite Jess Phillips would be on undermining all the hard work I'd just put in. I shouted at the telly like my dad used to.
The Brexit vote happened. Seriously when did everybody become more bothered about a trade deal than the NHS or schools? I voted remain but was firmly of the view that the result should be accepted. 2017 happened and it turned out that May wasn't the strong leader that the press would have had us believe and Labours socialist policies were a lot more popular than the experts imagined. Hung parliament. We didn't win, it wasn't enough. We got close though, too close, it wouldn't be allowed to happen again. The lies started, Corbyn who dedicated his life to fighting racism was portrayed as a racist and even worse because of talks he had and meetings he had in the past with people of all sides of various conflicts - a terrorist sympathiser - and it stuck. When I was out campaigning I heard time and time again, " Brexit", "Corbyn is a terrorist", when I countered with concerns around the Tories selling off the NHS people would counter "well it was your lot that started it" or ," you did nothing for us" - that bit wasn't Corbyn it was Blair. The thing people need to get about Corbyn is the reason why he would have been a brilliant PM is the very reason many would never vote for him, he was never interested in power, he didn't want to stand to be leader and I genuinely believe he didn't actually want to be PM - he just wanted to help people. Not your ordinary politician then. People complain about how all politicians are the same, only in it for themselves and for money and power yet when someone comes along who is genuinely different to the others, they weren't interested.
It is important to point out that Corbyn was his own worst enemy. People think I am uncritical of him but thats not true.
-He didn't "look" like a leader - it never bothered me but it clearly bothered others
-He should have democratised the party further through mandatory reselection
-He was accused of "stalinist purges" - which never happened - he should have just done them
-He should have stood his ground on Brexit - caving into 'the peoples vote" was his biggest mistake
-He should have stood up to claims of him being antisemitic for being as ridiculous as they are
-He compromised too much
So we are now where we are and I hear again Labour must "return to the centre". I would argue we're already there. Theres nothing left wing about having nationalised bus services or free education. They have it in other countries and its what I grew up with until Thatcher and Blair took them away.
But we lost again. And Tony Blair will be okay, in fact he'll be happy. He should be in jail! And this is why I hate Tony Blair.
Update
Since the original post I have decided to cancel my membership of the Labour Party. I think I would struggle to hold my nose to vote for them yet alone go out and campaign for them (unless we had another excellent local candidate like Laura Pidcock). Not being the Tories and being less worse than them isn't enough.
After the election Corbyn (rightly) stood down and a leadership election happened where I was completely uninspired by all of the candidates. I voted for Rebecca Long-Bailey because I thought she was the best of a bad bunch, she wasn't leadership material but at least her politics seemed right - the press and the right of the Labour Party described her as "The continuity Corbyn candidate" and despite arguing for the last couple of years that it was time for a woman to lead Labour and that the problem "wasn't the message but the messenger" did everything they could to stop her. Keir Starmer was always going to win. The thing that annoyed me most was that before the leadership election even happened the PLP prevented my preferred candidate, Clive Lewis from standing. For me Lewis is one of the few MPs in Labour with a personality and a bit of charisma, moreover he was the only one talking about the type of ambitious green socialist program that is going to be needed to turn the country around. He is also a former soldier so the press would struggle to throw the anti-nationalist rubbish they threw at Corbyn. The problem with Lewis was that he was also determined to build on the success's of Corbyn and reform the Labour Party itself through mandatory re-selection - hence why the PLP made sure he never made it on to the ballot in the first place - he would have been popular.
And then the "Labour Leaks" happened. To summarise (as you would not have heard anything about this in the media.) It transpires the Labour party itself was actually conspiring to prevent Jeremy Corbyn from becoming prime minister in 2017. They literally threw the election. A leaked report which was to be sent to the EHRC following an investigation into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party had actually found;
-There was a purge of Corbyn supporting members
-Those at the very top of Labour had diverted resources and money away from target seats to safe seats held by right wingers and "Blairites" like Tom Watson
-They were undermining the election effort at every turn
-They even locked the leadership out of the Headquarters on elections day
-The general secretary had sat on complaints of anti-Semitism from the Ed Miliband era and used them to attack Corbyn
-One senior Labour Press officer said that some MPs who nominated him for leader deserved “to be taken out and shot.”
read more about it here
Starmer's response has been worse than I expected. He is worse than I expected. Those responsible for the sabotage identified in the leaks have not been suspended, an independent investigation (whitewash) has been promised. Starmer of course was one of those that resigned during the first attempted coup to oust Corbyn and was the chief architect of the disastrous 2019 Brexit policy. Now he and the people responsible are in charge, it's almost as if the "peoples vote" campaign was nothing of the sort and was actually designed to lose the general election. Sir Ikea Starmer as I like to call him as he is so wooden has stated since his appointment that he didn't like having to "sell himself" to the Labour membership - good luck with the selling yourself to the British population at the next election then. Two weeks into his tenure he appointed Wes Streeting and Jess Phillips to the shadow cabinet which was the final straw for me. These wreckers should not be anywhere near the Labour Party never mind working in these positions. (If you are right wing why are young the Labour Party? This idea of a broad church is nonsense.) The "blue tick brigade" on twitter and the media are of course delighted with his work. "This is what opposition looks like" they cheer as Labour tumble in the polls (especially in Scotland - lost by Blair many years ago) and as he praises again the Governments disastrous handling of the COVID-19 crisis and promises not to "oppose for the sake of opposing".
In the week that I write this it has been revealed that unlike Corbyn who grew the membership and relied on small donations from millions, Starmer's backers are hedge fund managers and millionaires. Some have described him as Blairs successor. I disagree he is like Kinnock Mk2. It's who comes next that we need to worry about. Who will that be? My money is on either a return by Blair himself or his favourite "the wonder boy" David Miliband himself - the man who couldn't win an election with two people called Miliband in it. They say Labour won't win another election until they have a leader who is essentially a Tory painted red - to which I reply then what is the point? Our country, the media and The Labour Party are broken.