John Woodcock was
'singled out' after the Labour leader was humiliated
He commented on
Jeremy Corbyn's campaign and their tactics
Mr Woodcock said it
was shocking to publish a hit list of 'abusive MPs'
By JOHN WOODCOCK,
LABOUR MP FOR BARROW AND FURNESS
PUBLISHED: 01:44, 18 September 2016 | UPDATED: 08:47, 18
September 2016
(Sent to NV by Trevor Hoyle)
JUST when you think the state of the Labour Party under
Jeremy Corbyn's regime cannot get any bleaker, his team does something so nasty
it surprises you all over again.
The decision by the Corbyn campaign to publish a hit list of
so-called 'abusive' MPs is shocking even by the standards of a team which has
knowingly enabled a culture in which intolerance and abuse of fellow members
has become the depressing norm.
Their attempts to intimidate critics and suppress dissent
owe more to Russia than Britain, so much so that I am half expecting Mr
Corbyn's communications chief Seumas Milne to hove into view as I type this in
the lobby of a Moscow hotel. (I am here
as part of an official visit to observe today's parliamentary elections, rather
than consigning myself to some early Soviet-style re-education for my thought
crimes against Corbynism.)
It was deeply malicious to release the names of 13 supposed
miscreants (including mine) to the 'MSM' – as Corbyn fans disparagingly badge
the 'mainstream media'.
I was singled out for expressing dismay in colourful
language after the Labour leader was humiliated yet again at Prime Minister's
Questions.
Ironically, that particular disaster was caused by the now
infamous 'core group-negative' list that grouped MPs according to the
level of loyalty they showed to the leader. It was also, surprise surprise, apparently
revealed by mistake.
My response was inappropriately sweary, being intended as a
private message to a colleague rather than a public tweet, but it voiced
despair at Labour's sorry plight – not abuse of Mr Corbyn.
Ignore the guff about the press release being a mistake,
this was calculated to divide our party further by fingering individuals as the
'enemy within'.
Why bother singling people out rather than let the
Parliamentary Labour Party as a whole carry the can for this summer's
leadership election?
Well, the sheer number of resignations from the Labour front
bench has presented Team Corbyn with a problem – 172 Labour MPs is too large
and unwieldy a bloc to ostracise.
Better to create a small band of scapegoats for Corbyn fans
to vilify in earnest.
The message to MPs is clear: want to avoid being thrown to
the angry mob like these guys? Then get your head down and come back into the
fold.
It is an age-old tactic practised by authoritarian regimes
the world over: in fractious times, attempt to unite people in common hatred of
an 'enemy within'.
For French revolutionaries and, later, the Marxists, the
bourgeoisie were to blame for society's ills; in modern Russia, President
Putin's state-led media repeatedly drills home the message that 'the oligarchs'
and agents of foreign powers are trying to ruin the country.
Similarly, in Corbyn's Labour Party, those pesky 'Blairites'
are behind every reverse. It is not required to have any affinity to Tony Blair
to be a Blairite: in fact increasingly, often quite the opposite is true. You
just need to be named as such by any number of pumped up anonymous internet
trolls sporting Corbyn ribbons on social media.
Up until now, Mr Corbyn has left it to the trolls, his
Momentum groups, and occasionally his Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, to
dole out the abuse while he smiles serenely and gives out the odd platitude
about things not being in his name.
Having one of his official mouthpieces fanning the flames of
hatred towards named individuals – as was the case with the list of 'abusive'
MPs – takes things to another level entirely. The swivel-eyed nature of the
list of 13 and the fatuous and, in many cases, inaccurate examples it cites has
prompted a number of my colleagues to consider suing Mr Corbyn for defamation.
But aside from the folly of libelling colleagues you are
supposed to be leading, it is irresponsible to put out what will inevitably be
interpreted as a roll call of 'traitors' by idiots who need only the slightest
encouragement to turn up the hate towards people, most of whom have been loyal,
decent Labour members far longer than they have.
It is worth reminding ourselves of some of the things that
have happened since everyone pledged themselves to a kinder, gentler politics
after the brutal killing of our friend and dearly missed colleague, Jo Cox.
Two MPs have had bricks thrown through their office windows,
others have had death threats and scores have been subjected to a barrage of
vile online abuse.
If harm comes to any of those on the list as a result of it
being published, Mr Corbyn will rightly be held responsible for what is done in
his name.
The excuse that this was an unauthorised act by a 'junior
member of the campaign team' will not wash. If they insist on insulting the
intelligence of members with this garbage, then we need to know exactly who was
aware of and condoned the existence of the list, even if they did not
personally sign it off.
A friend who is a Labour member contacted me earlier in the
week, before the list was published, saying he had been telephone canvassed by
a member of Corbyn's campaign team who claimed that John McDonnell was keeping
a list of the MPs who they wanted to finger as responsible for the challenge. I
ask Mr McDonnell here and now: is this true?
The leaking of the list of 'abusive' MPs highlights another
depressing aspect of the failure of Corbyn's leadership, namely the huge gulf
between the lofty culture he preaches and the base tactics his regime deploys.
Messrs Corbyn and McDonnell have set themselves up as the
high priests of an 'honest, straight-talking politics', yet as soon as they are
challenged their operation squirms, spins and distorts like the very worst of
anything that came before.
They talk about transforming campaigning while relying on
speaking to the converted at placard-heavy rallies which the hard-Left has been
organising for decades while losing election after election to Right-wing Tory
governments.
Mr Corbyn plays Jeremy the endearing old man, urging people
to be kinder and gentler while his operation fans the flames of division and
hate to sap the morale of many decent Labour members in the hope they will lie
low or leave the party.
Mr Corbyn and his team may already be starting their victory
lap before the result of the leadership contest is announced on Saturday, and
planning their revenge on those they want to isolate and denigrate, but this
election is not over yet.
There is still time to save our party and turn the page on
this deeply divisive period if the members and affiliates who have not yet
voted choose the alternative that Mr Corbyn's hard-working and decent opponent
Owen Smith has slogged tirelessly over the summer to promote.
The Labour Party and the country deserve better than a man
who tells his followers he is full of love while creating a party in which many
do not feel welcome or even safe.
Clem Attlee would never have stood for this. We don't have
to stand for it either.
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