I cheered for Jeremy, but now he must go

alison dowlingAlison Dowling says she doesn’t just want Labour to succeed, she needs Labour to win power. And for that to happen, Corbyn has to go.

 

I like Jeremy Corbyn’s politics. I like the man. He is clearly an intelligent man of integrity and compassion and with a lifetime commitment to the Labour cause.

I voted for Corbyn as our leader, and I cheered when the result was broadcast live as I watched on a tea break from my second job, working as I did most Saturdays at the time to support my family as a lone parent. I talked about it with my lifelong Labour supporter elderly mother, who I help look after on Saturday evenings. She was unconvinced.

I don’t hold elected office, and I won’t be standing as a Labour candidate any time soon due to the demands of a new job for which I commute four hours a day, and the diagnosis of a disability in one of my kids. I work really hard for my family, with no back up when I’m tired or ill. The buck stops at me in every way.

I don’t want the Labour Party to succeed, I NEED Labour to win power. I’m luckier than some, I’m clever, well educated and I’m healthy enough to work insane hours every week, but I don’t need my life to be harder or more insecure than it is, and only a Labour government can deliver that for me.

For that to happen, Corbyn has to go.

I write this deeply personal public email because I’m boiling with rage and frustration at where we are as a party. I’ve lost count of the Labour supporters who have laughed in my face at the idea of JC winning the next election, and that was before he phoned in his EU campaign contribution.

These are our people telling us like it is. Not Progress, not “right wingers”, just ordinary Labour voters, telling us ‘no thanks’. If they’re not buying what we’re selling, it sure as hell won’t work on the swing voters we’d need to take an election.

I have no hidden agenda against Jeremy. I don’t belong to a faction. I don’t have time to scratch my backside never mind plotting against him or anyone else. I am, on the other hand, exactly the kind of working class woman the Labour Party is supposed to serve and help make life better.

Jeremy’s values and progressive vision can be built upon in the party. That should stay at the heart of who we are. But we need to use our head as well as our heart to lead us to government again.

If you listen to our people, not just the echo chamber of his supporters saying what you want to hear, you’ll know he has to go.

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28 thoughts on “I cheered for Jeremy, but now he must go

  1. For me, Owen Smith would be a credible Leader who embraces the ideals that Jeremy so admirably represents. I like his politics, he’s a great public speaker and I think would command the respect and confidence of our party and the wider public.

  2. Everything about his history says he won’t go. He is a stubborn old goat. Labour will realistically have to wait for an election defeat for a new leader, which probably means another decade at least of Tory rule over Scotland with an increasingly right wing English electorate.
    It’s depressing as hell.

    Why can’t we choose a new path with a real Scottish Labour party that stands up for Scottish interests ?
    We can still have close links or negotiate a new kind of union or federation with the UK, but as a nation state in our own right.

  3. David Cameron and The Daily Telegraph agree with you. Just waiting on the Sun now to help pick the opposition line up for the next General Election. I wonder if this letting the opposition pick your team will catch on in competitive sport.

  4. Nice and kind post. You are lucky to be in Scotland after Brexit. On your views: We of course lost two elections. We are not ready to win one without Jeremy or with him. There is no one credible emerging bar Jeremy yet. Sorry. Maybe that will change. Bringing Labour Hame is going to take longer after the hijacking of the Party and the Blair Brown disaster. In friendship.
    Rosie Brocklehurst Hastings CLP.

  5. I agree with Rosie’s comments. I don’t see Owen Smith as a credible alternative. Now that Boris has withdrawn from the Tory leadership race, Theresa May is being backed by some pro-Brexit Tories and there are serious legal challenges to Brexit, it is quite possible that this government will continue in power until 2020. What is there to gain by forcing the most popular Labour leader out and causing further distrust and disaffection amongst members. Surely there are some deals to be made.

  6. Jeremy is great at filling draughty Church halls and rabble-rousing the lefties, but he has no traction with the unconverted. Most of his policies are worth pursuing but has he no leadership qualities, as those who have tried to work with him have testified. He is an embarrassment to everyone but his current followers. But there is no alternative, so it is best to let him bust the party and try to pick up the pieces afterwards…….or let the Scottish Party declare independence from this sorry scene.

  7. I beggars belief that so many Labour members and politicians still haven’t leaned that standing with David Cameron and the Tories is going to do them no favours at all.

    Goodnight Eric…

  8. Ms Angela Eagle,
    This was taken from the Guardian Forum yesterday,is it true!

    Angela Eagle, June 13

    “Jeremy is up and down the country, pursuing an itinerary that would make a 25 year old tired, he has not stopped. We are doing our best, but if we are not reported, it is very difficult”

    Angela Eagle, June 27

    “Under your leadership the case to remain in the EU was made with half-hearted ambivalence…I have come to the conclusion you are not the right person to lead the Party we both love”

    Will
    PS.She is in trouble with her CLP,who advised her not to vote for the no-confidence motion.

  9. I’ve had comments wiped on this subject ( and others) so I wont be too naughty.
    Corbyn cannot lead a PLP which is against him 80% to 20%.
    The PLP seem to be out of touch with the Party in the country, as were many Labour MP’s in Scotland—we know what happened to them.
    Who is there out there who can unify the Labour Party? And after the IRAQ Inquiry report, there will be even less.
    This is a tragedy for those who want a progressive society, but it is a home make tragedy for Labour.
    They should be miles in front of the Tories after all the things they have done.
    You reap what you sow!

  10. The transition for a Scottish Labour Party back stabbing to Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn back stabbing comes effortlessly to Scottish Labour Party Blairites like yourself Alison, its a shame that you plunge the dagger into a progressive leader who is fighting against Tory austerity and who has a great record as leader for example winning the last four by elections and managing to get two thirds of labour supporters to vote remain in the EU referendum and has increased the Labour Party UK membership which is going through the roof, and he also has the overwhelming support of the wider Labour Party members so Alison you have picked to be on the side of the neo liberal big banks Blairites as opposed to the wider membership and the ordinary Joe Public in the fight against austerity.

    1. Yet again another divisive Blairite comment. If you do not agree that JC is a competent leader you are a Blairite! It is this nonsense that will totally destroy the Party I love. 172 Blairite MPS all chosen by stupid Blairite voters? Clearly the disciples of JC are only ones following the path of truth. It sounds almost evangelical!

      1. Jeremy was never given a chance, there was a bitter vindictive campaign before he even got in the door.

        I agree the claims of Balirite miss the mark, but the simple fact is that JC was chained to a selfish and self-serving PLP.

        You can believe what you like but for those without blinkers the conspiracy against him has been clear from the start.

        Shame on you, and shame on every single person who happily crowed when Tony Blair called JC’s supporters brain dead.

        YOU killed the Labour Pary, don’t try to blame Jeremy!

        1. John McDonnell recent exchange reported on twitter confirmed he would rather see the party split than Corbyn stand down. It is Corbyn, his apostles and the members of a corbyn cult that will kill the labour party. What you do not understand is that this is not an attack on his anti austerity policies, it is simply a recognition that “he” is unelectable. He is ineffective and not a leader. If you are convinced otherwise wait and see. The polls say otherwise but : ” men are mad and gods are madder”. The god Corbyn will lead us to oblivion.

  11. You say you voted for Corbyn, so what has changed – the EU referendum? You say he phoned in his contribution yet even Angela Eagle could say this about him – “Jeremy is up and down the country, pursuing an itinerary that would make a 25-year-old tired, he has not stopped. We are doing our best, but if we are not reported, it is very difficult.”.
    The PLP have finally decided to throw their toys out the pram. They have come clean about how they have always felt, presumably they feel they can blackmail Corbyn’s supporters into backing off and doing ‘the sensible thing’ or they can wear down Corbyn with a campaign of relentless bullying which, if it was taking place in any other workplace would see the perpetrators rightly discipline and sacked. They accuse Corbyn of not being a strong leader and of not being able to lead them, yet they have done everything they could to undermine his leadership from the very beginning – lukewarm backing, sometimes open undermining, at PMQs, constant drip feed of rumour and innuendo to the media. And now they expect to be rewarded for their disloyalty – not just to Corbyn but to the Labour Party.
    The membership of the Labour Party took control of the Labour Party away from this arrogant bunch of careerists who think it’s all about them. Now these schemers want to take it back, they want the membership to get back in the box, to leave the decision making to those who know better, to those ‘in the know’.
    The Labour party has grown to almost unprecedented size and is still growing; almost all of that is down to the hope instilled in people by the campaign to elect Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour Party will get rid of Jeremy Corbyn at its peril, this applies particularly to the prospects for the Labour Party in Scotland.

    1. Well said! How dare any Labour MP boo any other Labour MP in the Commons in full view of the world’s media? Shameless! I really wonder at how some people were raised.

  12. Who exactly is pulling the strings among the plotters as to who is going to face up to the Genuine Elected Leader.
    Very strange way to treat the members.

  13. The Labour Party lost the last two elections and that had nothing to do with Corbyn so he can’t do much worse can he?. He could however do a lot better if people had the courage to stand by him, he is the most popular leader we have ever had and he deserves to carry on.

    1. By “we” you mean Labour members, not voters. 2015 will seem like a victory compared to the next election if Jeremy is the leader. UKIP will be well placed to replace many northern English Labour MPs if things continue as they are. But, hey – it’s all the fault of the Right wing media and those horrible Blairites. FYI – the media have always been hostile to the Labour Party, but it didn’t stop us winning in 1945, 1966 and 1997. Now, why do you think that was?

  14. Dear Jeremy,

    I am apalled by your leadership.

    The debate over the United Kingdom’s position in the European Union was of profound national and historical significance. I am apalled partly because of your own indifferent and insincere contributions to the debate.

    However, what is worse than indifference and insincerity is absenteeism. Britain’s membership of the European Union is correctly identified by party policy, the vast majority of labour voters, parliamentarians, supporters and members rightly as being of profound importance to the prosperity of working people.

    Whether through calculation or inability, you reduced my party’s role in that debate to an irrelevance. That is inexcusable.

    In my estimation your leadership is visiting lasting and irreparable violence upon the party’s credibility; you are jeopardising its very existence.

    I strongly urge you to consider the foregoing and re-evaluate your position.

    Hugh

  15. And more of Duncan’s pet project allowed space to flourish here: undermining the democratically elected Leader. Corbyn has ridden out the storm and he is going nowhere. If MPs have an issue with him, rather than LIE about things, and get all Machiavellian, they should get their arrogant selves back to their CLPs and discuss constructively the issue with the members.
    And at the same time, they should be BOOING Boris the man with no plan, Gove, Cameron etc and not ANY Labour member nevermind the leader.

  16. Alison I agree totally with what you have said. JC has been such a disappointment. What amazes me is that he and his followers think he “is” the Party and he “is” Labour. Their idea of democracy is also spun to suit their argument. Yes he was elected by the members but the 172 MPs who have voted no confidence in him were elected by their constituents who, maybe not members, are never the less supporters and Labour voters and far out number the members. Who are they to hijack this party and, moreover, to assume ownership of a belief in social justice. I believe in social justice but it needs to be delivered to be meaningful. This was not a vote on his policies but on his leadership. Anyone against him is against social justice and democracy? The arrogance leaves me bewildered! He will destroy this party and still, no doubt take the moral high ground!

    1. JC has never claimed to be the party, BUT he has a majority and membership you’ve never seen.

      If you continue your attempts to oust him Labour will wither and die.

      How far do you think your subs will lest with mass member resignations, how will you pay the electric and gas bill without the Union’s support?

      By all means be unhappy and discontent with Jeremy, but take some responsibility, you’re killing the Labour Part, not Jeremy!

      1. Jam, most of the new members paid a one off £3.00. The Unite polls say that most members do not believe Corbyn is the right man for the job. Union membership is dwindling, There was a turn out of 15.2% of unite members in their leadership election, that means Mccluskey does not hold the influence that he appears to suggest he has. Just because you lead does not mean everyone automatically follows. The pied Piper lead and look how that turned out!

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