With more and more of the hierarchy of the Labour Party coming out against the prospect of having Jeremy Corbyn as their new leader, one starts to see how little connection there really is between the 'Party' and its members.
Current polling shows Corbyn with a huge lead over his rivals for the leadership; a YouGov poll today shows that 53% of eligible voters support him against the best of his competitors, Andy Burnham, with 21%. Clearly, Corbyn's campaign and ideology reflects the views of a very large part of the Party's grass roots members, while the ideology of his opponents is seen as vague and non-representative. However, the Party's hierarchy see things very differently and voice their ever-increasing alarm at the prospect of a 'lurch to the left' under Corbyn; they would much rather see a continuation of the bland 'middle-of-the-road' politics espoused by the likes of Tony Blair for the simple reason that that approach won them power. In other words, blow the ideology and the views of Party members, our way gets US into power.
This is not a situation unique to the Labour Party and, indeed, the Conservatives are exactly the same. The Party establishment inevitably opts for the 'safe' alternative whenever a new leader is needed, and the result is usually 'more of the same' rather than any radical thought and real progress. The one shining example of this not happening was in the election of Margaret Thatcher as leader, but then the 'big-wigs' in the party probably saw her as a stopgap who could easily be controlled; after all, she was only a woman.
Electing Corbyn as its new leader may well be problematic for the Labour Party, but it seems that it would be reflective of the views of a majority of its membership. Electing any of Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper or Liz Kendall, the other candidates, would be reflective of the hierarchy's desire to maintain the 'status quo' and get back into power as soon as possible, without having regard to what the membership wants. Frankly, the Party is 2 parties and needs to accept this truth; if I was Corbyn, I'd be campaigning on behalf of the 'Real Labour Party', and leaving Burnham, Cooper, Kendall and the rest to carry on being 'New Labour'.
Whatever the result and whoever wins, the Conservatives must be licking their lips and laughing all the way to the 2020 polling booths. Labour looks unlikely to mount any form of serious challenge for at least a decade, maybe more.
