Sunday 27 September 2020

"Left Out" - Jeremy Corbyn Assessed or Assassinated?

 

"Left Out - The Inside Story of Labour Under Corbyn" by Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire, is a sincere attempt, in my judgement, to give an objective account of what happened in the Labour Party between the Labour surge in the 2017 election to its caning in the election of 2019. Predictably, the book has divided opinion on partisan grounds.
Jeremy Corbyn, understandably, is dismissive of the book:
… those people that are now being paid a great deal to write books analysing the past five years – what do they concentrate on? ... Tittle tattle, tittle tattle, tittle tattle gossip passing off as political comment, passing off as if it is a serious analysis.”
The right-wing press, as expected, are delighted by the revelations. The Daily Mail gloated maliciously:
"Journalists Pogrund and Maguire had front row seats to Labour's calamitous attempt to gain power.Former aides have revealed non-stop infighting between top strategists, Jeremy Corbyn's anger at losing control of his diary, and his own wife's on-screen snipes."
Trust the Mail to get personal. 
Anyway, I have the book myself, but, initially, found it hard to review. Corbyn has a point when he speaks of "tittle-tattle". Heavy use is made of anonymous sources, and there are some anecdotes, presumably intended to amuse, which do not advance the narrative. There is the anonymous allegation that Ian McNicol, the Labour general secretary and Karate expert, who:
“regularly used his training to turn light switches on and off with his feet”.
The authors also found it relevant to mention David Prescott, son of John. Prescott Junior is alleged to have made a number of inappropriate advances towards women, even on one occasion:
"Prescott was said to have relived himself on the kitchen floor of a woman who refused to have sex with him". 
As might be expected, Mr Prescott denies all such allegations - but this could give grounds for Corbyn's accusation that the book is about nothing more than gossip. It might be productive for JC to explain why Prescott was not suspended from the Labour Party. The authors say that Prescott was saved by intervention from senior officials in the Labour Party hierarchy.
These anecdotes might provide light relief, but do not enlighten us much about Labour's fall from almost-victory in 2017 to defeat in 2019. To their credit, the authors report exhaustively on the reasons for the catastrophe. 
To me, the rot set in with Corbyn's inept response to the Skripal poisoning in Salisbury. When everyone else pointed the finger of blame at Putin's Russia, including most Labour MPs, Corby bumbled his way to a slow acceptance of that view. One revelation in the book describes how two of his aides examined one of Corbyn's speeches and expunged condemnation of Russian aggression in the Ukraine and an affirmation of support for NATO. As James Dowsett says:
“The Salisbury attack is something we got wrong”, admits a senior Corbyn advisor."
Then there was the vexed issue of anti-Semitism, which was another example of Corbynist bungling. His declarations of support for the Palestinians - even making Palestinian self-determination part of Labour's programme - alienated many Jewish voters, even though Labour was already struggling to cope with accusations of anti-Semitism. He refused all suggestions from aides to make conciliatory gestures to Jewish voters. Margaret Hodge MP, who challenged Corbyn publicly, was called before the Labour disciplinary committee - a contrast to the treatment of David Prescott. This led to a split between Corbyn and his old colleague, John McDonnell. As "The Week" says:
"Corbyn backed the investigation. But McDonnell did not, fearing the optics of “jeopardising Labour’s standing for the sake of winning an argument with an elderly Jewish MP on a point of principle that was to most voters beyond arcane”.
Then there is the dismal spectacle of Corbyn's dithering over Brexit, which annoyed many in his party and the country as a whole. A firm stand by him on this issue may have saved us from Brexit.
This hardback book is now being described as a "first draft". Pogrund and Maguire are working on revisions for their paperback edition to come out next year. Indeed they should. As Sienna Rogers says in "Labourlist": 
"There was the ‘oatcake’ saga, which portrayed Corbyn’s wife Laura Alvarez negatively and had Labour Twitter scrutinising footage from the campaign day. A tweet from ITV – denying that they edited out the scene described in the book from their footage, as claimed – led to the Times online extract being amended."
This, and other mistakes, will be corrected. 
The authors do not  blame Corbyn alone for Labour's defeat in 2019. While he himself blames the Press, the capitalist system, etc, he does not, unsurprisingly, blame himself or, at least not yet, his internal opponents (although the book points to some involvement in a 2019 move to dismiss Tom Watson). The book makes clear - even if Corbyn didn't see it - that there were officials in Labour HQ who were less than happy at his becoming party leader and sought to curtail his tenure.
The authors, I think fairly, make an accurate assessment of Jeremy Corbyn: 
"At points in the narrative, Corbyn is a felt absence".
He was not a unifying figure, being used to years of being a maverick. He did not cope well with confrontation, despite being an able debater in the House of Commons. He appeared to be gripped by indecision at times of crisis and this did not play well with voters. 
As for the book, it is not without flaws for the general reader. It is almost claustrophobic at times in its focus upon office politics and backroom dealings. The voice of the Labour Party members out in the constituencies is not heard, nor that of Labour voters. However, this does not prevent it from being an important book for Labour supporters and anyone interested in modern politics. I realise that some people might find the reactions in the media (including this blog) off-putting. To them I say: don't condemn this book before you've read it.

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