Momentum on the March

If there is one thing that Theresa May will never be forgiven for it is her incompetence in dealing with the rise of Corbyn and his movement. From a position of seemingly overwhelming strength she had the ability to route the most useless and dangerous Labour Party leader that this country has ever seen. From dominating the polls May went on to barely hanging on to power having to go to the religiously motivated DUP in order to survive.

The consequences of the last election will reverberate for some time.

Already the far-left or hard-left whatever you want to call them are on the move with attacks already being made on Jewish MP Luciana Berger being told she must apologise for criticising the Dear Leader by the Momentum thought police. Big Brother is here and they are about to launch an assault on parliamentary democracy.

According to The Times (no link £):

A fifth of Labour MPs have appeared on a deselection hitlist drawn up by left-wing activists emboldened by Jeremy Corbyn's election success.....

A grassroots Momentum group in South Tyneside published a list of 49 prominent Labour figures including Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie and Jess Phillips suggesting they should "join the Liberals". 

Apparently:

Mr Corbyn's office claimed to be neutral on the question of reselections.

Meanwhile:

Momentum is not campaigning for the deselection of individual MPs but a spokesman said it "supports local initiatives that make sure members have a say in how their party works and who represents them.

In other words the purge is on. The new "Red Guard" has already found these MPs guilty of not toeing the party line as they see it and the whole nature of the Labour Party is being set to change, not to the future but to the past as "democratic centralism", a Leninist concept of authority is imposed on the party.

This is not a new phenomenon. One of the arguments that took place when the left took over the PCS union was over their concept that the union should be activist led rather than a representative body. One, now former NEC member Bev Laidlaw once told me it was "in the members interests " to back Corbyn when I queried why they were not consulting their membership. Glad I'm out of it. There was for me an alternative union to join, but when it comes to the Labour Party there is currently no alternative.

The Corbynistas dominate the Labour Party and whilst Momentum may only represent a fraction of that pro-Corbyn membership their use of social media will allow them to ram home the new politics of the intolerant left.

Thousands of moderates or mainstream activists have left Labour since Corbyn's ascendency. Others are seemingly just capitulating to the comrades demands. There is no organised fightback. No mainstream equivalent of Momentum.

There remains talk of an alternative party but because the seeming success of Corbyn and Labour's continuing growth of Labours fortunes in the poll the prospects for any kind of realignment seem bleak.

If Momentum continue to pick off MPs over the next five years then there will be little hope for the mainstream to regain the party.

For the time being it seems those of us in the political centre are homeless. Joining Labour is not an attractive prospect for any of us. The thought of constant battles in meetings with rabid Corbyn supporters does not appeal.

They don't listen.

The problem remains. The thought of a Corbyn led Labour government literally frightens the hell out of me.  The question needs to be asked. What next?

I do not pretend to know the answer.......