I have never written this post for a reason. That reason is that Twitter and Facebook are full of people, in my own party and beyond, who try desperately hard to belittle the hard work and sincere dedication of members of the Labour Party. At the age of 39 in two months time, I have no idea why people behave like this. Often people harbour very naked ambitions for themselves, or vicariously wish to promote certain people. But enough’s enough. I have had experience of being bullied a long time ago, and sometimes you’re expected to say nothing. This is not that time.
I first met Dr Éoin Clarke on Twitter some time ago, at roughly the same he was establishing ‘The Green Benches’, before I attended a meeting at his invitation at Portcullis House. I enjoyed this meeting enormously. I was immediately struck with the precise way in which he constructed arguments, which at the time was a very rare quality. There were only a handful of people in the blogosphere who merited recommendation on that basis, including Sunny Hundal who continues to be extremely influential in the blogosphere. I have witnessed Dr Éoin Clarke as he has simply grown from strength-to-strength, and his commitment to discussing issues has been rarely been in any doubt. He has embraced difficult issues such as the Bedroom Tax or NHS reforms, and not been frightened to raise awareness of such matters in a way that inspires people at large.
There is absolutely no doubt that the Liberal Democrats are pathetic beyond belief, advocating a ‘strong economy’ and ‘fairer society’, when they have been utterly useless at both. Even so-called ‘Liberals’ find their stance on secret courts weird, and Keynes would certainly be turning in his grave by how the Liberal Democrats have brought the UK economy to its knees in the space of three years. People like Nick Clegg and Simon Hughes continue to ignore, remorselessly, the case of how bank recapitalisation was necessary as an emergency measure but led to a worsening deficit, but they are professional politicians. Totally principleness, and thirsty for power.
The Conservatives’ economic plan has been a disgrace, with everyone hoping that the economy will not further deteriorate. They only have managed a record number of people in employment, by giving workers the worst employment rights they have ever experienced. They have shut down libraries, withdrawn infrastructure spending, brought in a whole raft of policies to help their corporate cronies, totally shafted disabled citizens in the UK, and are behaving as if they won a massive majority in 2010. They didn’t, all the more pathetic as they had all the media virtually on their side. The Conservatives not only lack strategy and direction, but their operations management and tactical performance remain abysmal.
What goes around comes around. I look forward to Labour Left going from strength-to-strength, including the hard work of Dr Éoin Clarke, Mags Newsome, Grahame Morris, Brian Moylan, Bev Clack, Steve Walker, Richard Murphy, Michèle Paul, James Leppard, Andy Hicks, Rhiannon Lockley, Seema Chandwani, Val Hudson, all the MPs who’ve supported Labour Left from the beginning, and many more.
I know they are extremely dedicated to this important cause, and I wish Labour well in the local elections.