CommonSpace columnist Yvonne Ridley says Labour could claim victory in a General Election if it accepted a little help from the SNP
THE enduring mantra of Jeremy Corbyn's enemies is that the Labour leader cannot win an election. I think they're wrong and here's why.
Labour in its last incarnation under Gordon Brown and then Ed Miliband proved unelectable in two General Elections because the party had moved so far to the right voters became confused what it actually stood for.
Now, under Corbyn, it is obvious this is a party with ambitions to put welfare ahead of warfare and fight austerity instead of promoting it. The message is playing well among the working classes who have been feeling isolated and disenfranchised for years having seen their coal, iron, steel, shipbuilding and car manufacturing industries annihilated at the hands of the Tories.
Many in the anti-Corbyn lobby blame the Scots for the dire state of English politics and in some ways they are right because the electoral success of the SNP has consigned Scottish Labour to the electoral bin for the foreseeable future.
The very mention of Tony Blair and his Blairite supporters makes them angry – very angry. That anger was reignited in the aftermath of the Chilcot Report findings and it has now turned to outrage after the reminder that it was Tony Blair who knighted Sir Philip Green, who flogged off BHS for £1. The full extent of that deal was felt when 11,000 low paid shop workers were told their jobs were in jeopardy along with a chunk of their pension fund.
These voters couldn't give a flying fig over the weekly performance in Prime Minister's Questions – a theatrical farce only watched by Westminster sketch writers and the political elite. It is not clever, it is not funny and if they did watch it the performances in the House of Commons would probably turn them off politics even further.
There were fears that the working classes were heading in droves to Ukip after being told by the London-based tabloid media that all their problems were down to immigrants. A Project Fear-style campaign spread through former Labour strongholds like a virus which probably manifested itself in the Brexit vote.
But the isolated and disenfranchised are waking up to the fact that Ukip has proved to be a fickle friend and now that Brexit is unravelling trust is falling away rapidly. It is to these people that Corbyn's message will resonate and these are the very same people who will look at the failed coup and the backstabbers with some disgust.
There is no reason why the SNP 56 could not act as power brokers and help Corbyn form a Labour-led coalition government in Westminster at the next General Election.
However, instead of blaming themselves, many in the anti-Corbyn lobby blame the Scots for the dire state of English politics and in some ways they are right because the electoral success of the SNP has consigned Scottish Labour to the electoral bin for the foreseeable future.
So here is the thrust of my case for Corbyn forming the next UK Government, there is no reason why the SNP 56 could not act as power brokers and help Corbyn form a Labour-led coalition government in Westminster at the next General Election should it produce a similar result to the one in 2010 when neither of the main parties could achieve a majority in the London-based parliament.
It is a distinct possibility and would explain why the rightwingers in the Labour party, especially many of the 172 PLP plotters, hate Corbyn and the SNP 56 in equal measure. From day one, several of the SNP 56 told me that the hatred pouring over from the Labour benches towards them was more than palpable.
And just a few days ago the SNP's John Nicolson had Labour MP Liz Kendall squirming on the sofa of the BBC politics show This Week when he said the hatred he had personally witnessed directed towards Jeremy Corbyn from day one as leader in the House of Commons was "visceral".
The cracks are already starting to show in the anti-Corbyn camp with the return of the Rotherham MP Sarah Champion to the shadow cabinet. It is widely rumoured that many of the 172 plotters had been cajoled and bullied into joining the failed coup against the Labour leader and speculation was rife last night that Champion may be joined by more of her PLP colleagues.
It is a distinct possibility and would explain why the rightwingers in the Labour party, especially many of the 172 PLP plotters, hate Corbyn and the SNP 56 in equal measure.
Corbyn's message has always been one of forgiveness and this was illustrated when he welcomed her back on Monday. Champion sent him a letter stating: "I would like to formally retract my resignation and ask to be reinstated to my role as shadow home office minister for preventing abuse and domestic violence with immediate effect."
It remains to be seen how the London-based media will treat Champion's U-turn as the headlines are still very much spinning against the Labour leader.
However the friendly overtures towards Corbyn from the SNP have increased in volume. One of the most outspoken has been former First Minister Alex Salmond who has expressed his personal disgust towards the attempted coup.
The SNP 56 proved from day one they could be an effective opposition party to the Tory government and it is obvious they also see themselves as possible power brokers in the next General Election.
Picture courtesy of Garry Knight
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