Jeremy Corbyn has inspired change in Labour, now Smith should be trusted to carry it forwards
I am a little bit left wing — a trade unionist since I started working and a Labour Party Member for about 17 years.
I voted for Jeremy Corbyn last year and I am one of the small group who voted for Diane Abbott in the previous leadership election. I set up and chaired a very active Momentum branch in Medway.
I am also supporting Owen Smith in his leadership campaign.
Over the last ten months, I became increasingly frustrated with the leadership of the Labour Party. I hear the policies put out by John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn and I wholeheartedly support them. I cheer the support and rejuvenation they have brought to our party.
But what I see in practice is different. I see a leader confined by an inability to compromise and to reach out to make alliances — the basis of pragmatic politics.
In Wales, Labour maintained its control of the National Assembly this year only by building an alliance with the Lib Dems’ single AM. That alliance saw off an unlikely collaboration between Plaid Cymru and UKIP.
Alliances in politics matter and create success. Yet, while Carwyn Jones is left to negotiate the future of Port Talbot Steelworks with Theresa May, we are left with a party leadership in Westminster which cannot bridge alliances within our own party.
The operation of the current leadership permeates throughout the Momentum movement. Nationally, the failure to communicate and engage on supported policy is chronic.
Organisers hand out policy and approaches as a done deal with little, if any, consultation to committees, let alone members. Even the national committee was scarcely consulted on the instant selection of Rhea Wolfson as an NEC candidate after Ken Livingstone fell from grace.
Momentum, like the Corbyn leadership, is a body on the brink of self destruction; unable to listen, blindly pushing out ideology while local groups flounder unsupported, and just a few unpopular decisions away from collapse.
My father passed away at the end of May. In true Welsh style, the community turned out and visited my mother and me. In the time spent over cups of tea and memories, conversation often drifted to politics and the message that came out from old family friends was ‘you’ve got to get rid of that Jeremy Corbyn’.
These were solid Labour voters. People who actually were part of the communities that came together and organised during the Miners Strikes. Traditional, old fashioned socialists.
They understand the need for a strong socialist party in government, but have no confidence in Corbyn’s Labour.
My confidence, which was waning, was knocked. At work, in a heavily unionised environment, people told me they had always voted Labour but had strong doubts now.
The final straw came after EDF finally made a decision to proceed with the Hinkley Point C project, which I have worked on for five years as a Branch Councillor with Prospect.
As a union, we have worked solidly with our colleagues in Unite, GMB and UCATT to support this project, which represents an £11 billion investment in the UK business economy, which will create over 25,000 UK jobs. It will produce seven per cent of the UK’s power needs with a vastly reduced carbon footprint, avoiding 90 million tonnes of CO2 production annually and is predicted to generate three per cent of the UK’s entire corporation tax when in production.
The project was initially conceived under a Labour government and has been supported by Labour, but team Corbyn’s response was derogatory and facile.
Tories have just put up the cost of your electricity by giving a blank cheque to EDF for a power station that doesn’t work
— Jeremy Corbyn MP (@jeremycorbyn) July 28, 2016
This tweet mocked the work of hundreds of nuclear engineers who have worked doggedly for years devising design solutions to combat the safety concerns raised by Fukushima. There was no advised policy, there was no coherent response and there was no support for the work of the unions.
I have felt immense relief in leaving the Corbyn camp and joining with Smith. We need a strong, organised Labour Party and he is offering that.
Owen, as a committed, soft left politician can relate to and embrace the needs of a Labour movement that has cried out for change. He has seen how the membership feels and responded. He is offering policies that sit firmly on the left but the real difference is in what he personally offers.
His policy is offered in a way that works within the constraints of our political system. It’s offered with the support of the majority of MPs who desperately want to represent the entirety of the Labour movement and make a difference to people’s lives.
Different leaders have different strengths. Many agree that Winston Churchill was a good leader in wartime but an abysmal peacetime prime minister.
Corbyn has been an inspirational force for change, but now we need to continue that change by adopting a leader who can hear the message and move the party onward to electoral success. To do that, we all need to admit and put aside our differences and work together.
We need to to build on the inspiration generated by Corbyn, by entrusting the party to the safe hands of Smith.
Rachel Garrick is vice chair of Rochester & Strood Labour Party and a trade unionist with Prospect.
See also: Diane Abbott: Jeremy Corbyn’s vision can win a general election
46 Responses to “I founded a Momentum branch – but will be supporting Owen Smith”
Frann Leach
This is illogical and wrongheaded.
The reason Corbyn is popular is because he is what Tony Benn used to call a signpost. Smith, otoh is a weathervane, as is obvious when you compare his voting record with what he SAYS he believes now. But people aren’t stupid, and they can see through this sort of chancer very easily.
Labour hasn’t presented an alternative to the Tories for a long time, losing millions of votes as a result. Owen Smith is not in a position to change this. Jeremy is.
Susan Thomas
Regarding the Wales Question. Carwyn Jones had to reach out to the Lib Dem as his leadership was challenged by Leanne Woods of Plaid Cymru another left wing MP, whereas Carwyn Jones is not. I did not vote for Labour in the Assembly elections as Wales is the poorest in the UK. Carwyn just spouts things are going well, Oh but we just have a few problems. They lost the Rhondda to Plaid Cymru , there are 7 UKIP AM . I think the Welsh were losing interest in Labour as some areas see no benefit at all. For years Labour in Wales have invested just in Cardiff, yes they have used EU money to build roads and infrastructure but that has failed to bring jobs into some areas. Leanne woods talks about the Barnett formula being unequal for Wales, the only time I have heard Carwyn Jones talking about this is when we voted out of the EU and then he said he would have to fight for more equal money for Wales. Well, HELLO shouldn`t he have been doing this anyway. I attended an event with Jeremy Corbyn in Swansea who promises equal monies for Wales and more investment and jobs. This is what people need in Wales, better paid jobs as so many are minimum wage. Owen Smith is a weathercock, he is being supported by progress. Jeremy Corbyn is a signpost and knows where he is going and that is not a bad thing. He has principles that is refreshing in this age of spin and lies. There is another way of reforming the Labour party and that is if those CLP who are supporting him re select their MP at the next election we will have a true left Labour Party who are singing from the same hymn sheet.
Jack Walker
Garrick’s destructive piece is foolish.
We know that nuclear technology is not safe. This is so particularly when it is in private hands where profit is more important than safety (Three Mile Island) but also when it is in state hands (Chernobyl) and when the powerful forces of nature are ignored (Fukushima). I know, from the many stories told to me years ago by a then close friend who worked for the UK Atomic Energy Authority, that UK staff in power stations commonly turned off alarms when they had really bad hangovers (from the subsidised bars) and wanted peace and quiet. We know that this particular system does not work yet and we do not know when it will. But still it will be the most expensive building on the planet. We know that when it delivers electricity that electricity will cost the UK twice the going price. This is another piece of PFI stupidity that robs the people to subsidise the capitalists. It will put a vital (when it works) and dangerous object in the hands of traditional enemies of the UK. It will create jobs in the wrong sector while they are being drained from the green energy sector – the green energy in which the sector technological costs are falling rather than rising.
Smith would be a disaster for a democratic socialist party. His historic voting record and his employment record show that he is no socialist, and his participation in the #chickencoup show that he is no democrat. But worse still even if his sudden Damascene conversion to the Corbyn policies that he now spouts might be genuine, once in office as leader of the party (heaven forfend) he would be much easier for the extreme right wing (think David Miliband, think the dark Lord Mandelson, think Tom Watson, think the vile Foster – or the toad-like Akehurst) to dislodge in a fresh leadership challenge next year – the number of yearly challenges is limited by the rule-book but there are 4 years to 2020).
Yours, etc
Jack Walker (no relation)
Jackie walker
I understand the affect of others particularly at such a painful time. But I’m bewildered, not so much by Rachel’s support of Smith but the naivety of the change. To actually think Smith, backed by Progress and Akehurst and all the most right wing candidates, would not remove any chance of members having a voice is breathtaking. As for Momentum, an organisation barely a year old that is running the most effective campaign of the leadership contest, of course there are issues- many. However the recent influx of money from membership and donations will allow paid staff, computers and proper office space to be purchased. Considering that Momentum has been mostly run by volunteers under the most difficult conditions I think it’s done pretty well
Coilla Drake
Misguided.
No I don’t trust Owen in the slightest to carry out Corbyn’s policies and neither should anyone else, I do however trust Corbyn to do so.