-Removed-You think Starmer is Corbyn mark2?
It cannot be left wing politics that’s putting them off because the current Labour Party doesn’t have any.
I think it’s a combination of there being more important things than politics going on in peoples lives and labour not really having a definable alternative to the undefinable politics of Boris and the Tories. If the Tories keep the red wall on board labour have no base.
-Removed-I'm not really surprised by this. It's important to have a strong opposition, but Labour is a mess.
London-bubble Labour activists have spent years hurling insults and abuse at their own voter base for deciding that the EU is overrated and unnecessary, getting ever further away from the issues that actually matter to people (while taking many positions that most people outside the bubble find annoying) and then assuming that people will vote for Keir Starmer in 2021 because Margaret Thatcher closed the pits 40 years ago. Working-class Northerners are always Labour, even if we openly despise their positions on almost everything and hold them in contempt...
Being taken for granted definitely gets under people's skin - it's not surprising that many decided to try the Tories.
You actually have to offer something coherent. What is Labour? Is it Corbyn? Is it Blair? Is it actually reconciled to Brexit (led by an Islington Remainer who tried to overturn Brexit), and does it represent what ordinary people actually want? (Nope) After a torturous few years, people want a government that operates on common sense and just does things.
On Hartlepool: After taking a clubbing in 2019, one would think that the Labour leadership wouldn't ensure that a remainer who lost his seat in 2019 wasn't parachuted into one of the most heavily leave seats in the country. How could that have gone wrong? Forgive the sarcasm, but there comes a point when one can only get exasperated.
Contrast this with a Tory party that:
1. Is liberal but not woke
2. The most centrist Tory government in memory (the whole "Boris Johnson is a right-wing extremist" was always baseless) - broad appeal
3. Finished Brexit soon after the last election
4. Made mistakes initially but has since done a good job on vaccines and lockdowns
5. Not taken the bait and continued to say "Our EU friends and partners" no matter how badly the EU behaves or how hard they keep bashing the self-destruct button
6. The furlough scheme
7. Is not jingoistic, but is not self-hating (which is NOT popular among the Labour base!)
8. Is relatively united and coherent - the same cannot be said for Labour. The civil war between Momentum and the Blairites is still there
9. Has a leader that seems relatable, and has a personality - Keir is another bland, soulless politician
The economy is enjoying a roaring comeback and things are going well. And people forget that historically, Labour isn't very good at winning elections at the best of times (Blair was an exception). Labour needs a major makeover if they don't want another decade or more of Tory rule, because that's the way it's going at this rate.
-Removed-“ Like him or not the Johnson is is a leader and a doer and he doesn’t take crap. His prorogation of Parliament was (in hindsight) a stroke of genius. I was open-mouthed at his apparent “stupidity” as it was never going to fly....but what he was doing was sending a clear message to the electorate “I will do whatever it takes to get brexit done”. ”
And I’m sure the Tories and their supporters will constantly bang on about brexit until they’ve wrung the last electoral drops out of it. Johnson “the genius” calm down he is still the bumbling corrupt Eton mess he’s always been. It’s the electorate that have dumbed down with him. We’ve always had a soft spot for bumbling idiots. I think the constant corruption at the heart of this govt will eventually take its toll.
Johnson’s biggest advantage and labours real problem is that Johnson is not a Thatcherite or an ideologue of any kind so he may well be able to keep the shires and post industrial north voting the same way.
