Dangerous Times

These are dangerous times for the UK and the EU. Those who would be mainstream political leaders need to use their opportunity to speak to the mass of the UK population with care. The best example of a leader offering a way forward in the context of Britain's new right wing as it consolidates its weight and power in the UK, was Nicola Sturgeon. Whatever view might be held in the English and Welsh Labour movement about Scottish independence, the Scottish National Party leader and chief minister in the Scottish parliament was able to give a clear route out of the gathering mess in English and Welsh politics. Scotland needed to re-look at its own independence. She managed to create a message of hope in the confusion and defeat (for nearly two-thirds of Scottish voters) following the EU referendum. That is the approach that genuinely 'steadies the ship'. It reorganises the big political and economic perspectives in a tangible and positive way; for the people.

What 'walking dead' PM Cameron could offer in his speech outside number 10 was his best efforts on behalf of the country he loved (not reciprocated). He will stay on until September, he said, to 'steady the ship'. It was a lachrymose, self-pitying performance that will not alter one particle of the damage he has done. And the political tidal wave that he has unleashed, the re-composition of right-wing politics (and economics) in Britain, is unaltered as it surges forward, accepting one Eton boy's 'sacrifice' and promoting another on the crest of its wave.

The trembling uncertainty now manifest in Britain's so so solid political institutions, and the terrible cracks opened up among the population at large, (youth against the old, London against the North East Wales and the Midlands, Scotland against England etc., etc) are the context now for mainstream (indeed any) political leadership. And 'steadying the ship' by itself is not any sort of answer.

(It is worth noting that it is the pressure from the new and switching pro EU-exit voters, mainly from the working class, that is causing UKIP leader Farage such a headache. Should he bring his UKIP battalions with him inside the new Tory party, dissolve them into its organisation and seek a central leadership position himself? Or will the inevitable 'shilly shallying' of the globalista Tory elites (now already denying that they will reduce immigration) mean that the UKIP army needs to be kept intact on the lawn of the new Tory edifice as a permanent warning?)  

Which brings us the leadership of the Labour Party. Bankers, confused leaders of the Civil Service, multi-nationals and Russian property owners want a steady ship. They want nothing else to happen for a good long while so they might make their self-serving arrangements to put their wealth and resources in the most accessible and lucrative places without further disturbance. But the mass of ordinary people are not seeking 'deep breaths' or 'time to calm down', especially those millions of previously Labour voters or those previously disenfranchised by the total unrepresentativeness of the main political parties. On the contrary; they want to see action - as a result of their decision.

It is a time for the new, left Labour leadership to make its mark and re frame the next stage of mass politics. Leaving the ship steadiers to their own business, what Corbyn should have made of his first post Brexit speech, which would have forced his testy MPs into line as well as directly speaking to the new layers in society now politically aroused, is the elaboration of two great proposals. First, Labour should lead the charge for a new General Election. No new PM without a new election. No more austerity. No more poverty. A minimum and a maximum income for all. Rebuild Britain. Save our services. Second, fair votes. Let all the peoples' votes always count and in all elections.

Defensive formulations and steadying the ship will not cut it either inside or outside the Labour Party. Not now. Instead the crisis must be faced, redefined and transformed. In great political moments, that have not yet lead to definitive victory or defeat, only the boldest actions carry the day.