Copeland And Stoke Byelections

Break with labour blairism wasn’t on offer.

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What we think

The dramatic by elections that reached their conclusion on 23 February were initially triggered by the resignation of two Blairite MPs - Tristram Hunt and Jamie Reed. Each of these men chose to exchange their parliamentary seat for a fatcat executive job.

But it wouldn’t be accurate to ascribe personal advancement as the sole motivation for the resignations. Clearly there was also a political agenda at work. Both Hunt and Reed hoped that these contests could provide a fresh opportunity for the Labour right to oust Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party.

In the event the mixed results, with Labour retaining its seat in Stoke Central but losing Copeland to the Tories, do not appear to have given the Blairites sufficient confidence to attempt a further coup at this point. Even so, Tom Watson’s strategy of slow strangulation - attempting to ‘hem in’ and paralyse Corbyn with the hope of forcing his resignation - is continuing to intensify.

Over the weekend, a barrage of abuse has been aimed at Jeremy. The whole of the capitalist media, the majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party and a range of discredited political figures have all joined in the chorus of attacks.

Now a number of right-wing trade union leaders have also jumped on the anti-Corbyn bandwagon. This includes Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, John Hannett, leader of Usdaw, and Gerard Coyne, who is being backed to the hilt by the establishment in his attempt to oust Len Mcluskey as general secretary of Unite the Union.

Blair’s toxic legacy