Is Corbyn a far left politician?

[foxy lady]

I disagree, 20 years ago Blair was in charge of Labour and Corbyn is to the left of him.

 

But Blair was electable.

[Eric Arthur]

The Tories have been creeping rightward for years - that is what makes Corbyn look far left. Twenty years ago his policies were pretty much mainstream - I hope to see them so again.

 

Hardly. You must be having a laugh to suggest that John Major had the same policies as Jeremy Corbyn. Neil Kinnock had a few similar ones but his leadership was a miserable failure that needed Blair to sort out.

[JFKvsNixon]

But Blair was electable.

 

Your point being?

 

I was responding to Hogg who suggested that 20 years ago Corbyn's polices were mainstream.

[Anna B]

The Lib Dems were they're own undoing. Initially in government they decided to grow up. They supported what needed doing and asserted themselves as statesmen to help sort the country out. I was impressed and responded by becoming a member.

Then it all went wrong. They lost their bottle and spent much of their last year in government and especially the election campaign running away from what they'd done. They took responsibility for nothing and were therefore able to take credit for nothing.

Those such as myself who would have supported them for statesmanship didn't. Those who wanted more socialism had long since given up on them anyway. The rise of UKIP and the SNP did the rest.

It's not the fault of the Conservatives that many of those who abandoned the Lib Dems voted for them. They destroyed themselves.

 

I disagree with you on some of this, but whether the Tories destroyed the Lib Dems or they destroyed themselves, is not the point. I think we can both agree that the Lib Dems are a spent force at the moment, and that leaves a lot of centre ground voters like you and me with nowhere to go, and having to decide between Labour and Tory.

 

What better way to prevent those naturally Liberal centre ground voters voting Labour than to portray Corbyn as a rabid far-left Trotskyite, and therefore beyond the pale. Even natural Labour voters must be thinking twice if they believe the avalanche of Corbyn bashing rubbish they read.

 

The sheer volume of crap, both stated and implied, that has been heaped on Jeremy Corbyn should make people begin to wonder about the Establishment's agenda. It's more like character assassination really....

 

Why? Well he wants to clean up politics for a start, so no more croneyism, honours, bungs, expenses scandals etc. and he wants to curb the power of the lobbyists. He wants to curb the bankers so we don't have another crash (imminent by all accounts,) and get the Corporations and others to pay their proper tax, (not like the half hearted efforts of Osborne. No wonder the Establishment hate Corbyn.)

 

He also wants to bring real democracy back to the people and listen to their concerns on a regular basis, rather than just expect them to vote on a dubious manifesto once every 5 years.

 

He wants 'new politics,' fit for the 21st century, not mired in the 'traditions' of the 18th. He wants co-operation and the best talents of all parties to work together for a better Britain, rather than the ridiculous adversarial bear bating we have at present.

 

I could go on, and no doubt will in due course. It takes some getting used to, but none of this has been explained, rather misrepresented if mentioned at all. All this is from the horses mouth. Of course, you'll not find it anywhere in the press.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Anna B

[foxy lady]

Your point being?

 

I was responding to Hogg who suggested that 20 years ago Corbyn's polices were mainstream.

 

My point was Blair was electable. Corbyn isn't. That's why I put Blair was electable. A few years before we had Michael Foot. He was more aking to Corbyn, and he was unelectable too. It would be around 40 years ago that Labour had a leader even approaching Corbyn who was electable. But that was then. Times have changed.

Edited January 10, 2016 by foxy lady

[JFKvsNixon]

My point was Blair was electable. Corbyn isn't. That's why I put Blair was electable.

 

I guess that Blair winning three elections led you to that conclusion.

[unbeliever]

I disagree with you on some of this, but whether the Tories destroyed the Lib Dems or they destroyed themselves, is not the point. I think we can both agree that the Lib Dems are a spent force at the moment, and that leaves a lot of centre ground voters like you and me with nowhere to go, and having to decide between Labour and Tory.

 

What better way to prevent those naturally Liberal centre ground voters voting Labour than to portray Corbyn as a rabid far-left Trotskyite, and therefore beyond the pale. Even natural Labour voters must be thinking twice if they believe the avalanche of Corbyn bashing rubbish they read.

 

The sheer volume of crap, both stated and implied, that has been heaped on Jeremy Corbyn should make people begin to wonder about the Establishment's agenda. It's more like character assassination really....

 

Why? Well he wants to clean up politics for a start, so no more croneyism, honours, bungs, expenses scandals etc. and he wants to curb the power of the lobbyists. He wants to curb the bankers so we don't have another crash (imminent by all accounts.)

 

He also wants to bring real democracy back to the people and listen to their concerns on a regular basis, rather than just expect them to vote on a dubious manifesto once every 5 years.

 

He wants 'new politics,' fit for the 21st century, not mired in the 'traditions' of the 18th. He wants co-operation and the best talents of all parties to work together for a better Britain, rather than the ridiculous adversarial bear bating we have at present.

 

I could go on, and no doubt will in due course. It takes some getting used to, but none of this has been explained, rather misrepresented if mentioned at all. All this is from the horses mouth. Of course, you'll not find it anywhere in the press.

 

This is all very vague and wooly.

Reminds me of the kind of unenforceable nonsense that most new party leaders come out with.

 

What laws would he pass to make these ideas stick?

 

What changes would he and the shadow Chancellor make to the tax system? I'm especially interested in the personal income tax allowance, the rates and thresholds of income tax overall and the VAT rate. If there are any planned changes to NI, that would be important too.

 

 

I also think you underestimate the value of voting for a minor party.

Are there no parties out there which are in line with your views?

Edited January 10, 2016 by unbeliever

[Eric Arthur]

I disagree with you on some of this, but whether the Tories destroyed the Lib Dems or they destroyed themselves, is not the point. I think we can both agree that the Lib Dems are a spent force at the moment, and that leaves a lot of centre ground voters like you and me with nowhere to go, and having to decide between Labour and Tory.

 

What better way to prevent those naturally Liberal centre ground voters voting Labour than to portray Corbyn as a rabid far-left Trotskyite, and therefore beyond the pale. Even natural Labour voters must be thinking twice if they believe the avalanche of Corbyn bashing rubbish they read.

 

The sheer volume of crap, both stated and implied, that has been heaped on Jeremy Corbyn should make people begin to wonder about the Establishment's agenda. It's more like character assassination really....

 

Why? Well he wants to clean up politics for a start, so no more croneyism, honours, bungs, expenses scandals etc. and he wants to curb the power of the lobbyists. He wants to curb the bankers so we don't have another crash (imminent by all accounts,) and get the Corporations and others to pay their proper tax, (not like the half hearted efforts of Osborne. No wonder the Establishment hate Corbyn.)

 

He also wants to bring real democracy back to the people and listen to their concerns on a regular basis, rather than just expect them to vote on a dubious manifesto once every 5 years.

 

He wants 'new politics,' fit for the 21st century, not mired in the 'traditions' of the 18th. He wants co-operation and the best talents of all parties to work together for a better Britain, rather than the ridiculous adversarial bear bating we have at present.

 

I could go on, and no doubt will in due course. It takes some getting used to, but none of this has been explained, rather misrepresented if mentioned at all. All this is from the horses mouth. Of course, you'll not find it anywhere in the press.

 

New politics my eye. You seem to have fallen for it hook line and sinker.

 

Have you heard of the Lobbying Transparency Act? It's the one brought in a couple of years ago by the Coalition because of the election antics in Falkirk of your hero, and Jeremy's Deputy, Tom Watson.

 

 

 

 

Back to my other question.

Corbyn is left of centre, but he is not a Marxist, Trotskyite, hardliner, or anything else extreme.

 

Out of interest, since almost everyone else considers Corbyn to be far left, what would he have to do or say for you to think so too?

[foxy lady]

I disagree with you on some of this, but whether the Tories destroyed the Lib Dems or they destroyed themselves, is not the point. I think we can both agree that the Lib Dems are a spent force at the moment, and that leaves a lot of centre ground voters like you and me with nowhere to go, and having to decide between Labour and Tory.

 

What better way to prevent those naturally Liberal centre ground voters voting Labour than to portray Corbyn as a rabid far-left Trotskyite, and therefore beyond the pale. Even natural Labour voters must be thinking twice if they believe the avalanche of Corbyn bashing rubbish they read.

 

The sheer volume of crap, both stated and implied, that has been heaped on Jeremy Corbyn should make people begin to wonder about the Establishment's agenda. It's more like character assassination really....

 

Why? Well he wants to clean up politics for a start, so no more croneyism, honours, bungs, expenses scandals etc. and he wants to curb the power of the lobbyists. He wants to curb the bankers so we don't have another crash (imminent by all accounts,) and get the Corporations and others to pay their proper tax, (not like the half hearted efforts of Osborne. No wonder the Establishment hate Corbyn.)

 

He also wants to bring real democracy back to the people and listen to their concerns on a regular basis, rather than just expect them to vote on a dubious manifesto once every 5 years.

 

He wants 'new politics,' fit for the 21st century, not mired in the 'traditions' of the 18th. He wants co-operation and the best talents of all parties to work together for a better Britain, rather than the ridiculous adversarial bear bating we have at present.

 

I could go on, and no doubt will in due course. It takes some getting used to, but none of this has been explained, rather misrepresented if mentioned at all. All this is from the horses mouth. Of course, you'll not find it anywhere in the press.

 

There is of course one small problem with your synopsis. The libdems crashed in 2015. Their voters diserted them at the last election. If they didn't move to the slightly left of centre Miliband, why would they move to the far left Corbyn? The libdems only have 8 seats left to lose, but they do have a lot to gain if the voters see Labour moving to the left.

In actual fact the libdem defectors of 2015 split around 50/50 between the tories and labour. So there are a lot of libdem voters who were prepared to move slightly left to vote for Miliband who may not move very far left and vote for Corbyn, so return to the libdem fold. The opinion polls seem to back that up.

Edited January 10, 2016 by foxy lady

[unbeliever]

Have you heard of the Lobbying Transparency Act? It's the one brought in a couple of years ago by the Coalition because of the election antics in Falkirk of your hero, and Jeremy's Deputy, Tom Watson.

 

Corbyn emphatically opposed it.

http://jeremycorbyn.org.uk/articles/report-from-jeremy-corbyn-mp-20112013-220114/