bren2k wrote:
I think you're wrong about that - large sections of the big policy stuff were very popular with the public; including the nationalisation of utilities and such.
Where I think you are right, is that the Brexit policy killed us off - Corbyn was forced into a strange and untenable position by people like Keir Starmer, because they are ultra-remainers who insisted on the PV being included; so Corbyn tried to find a grown-up way to include that by saying he'd stay neutral and implement the result, but it was far to ambiguous and easy to attack. And of course this was a Brexit election.
There's also the fact that Corbyn has been the target of an unprecedented and vicious smear campaign, not just from the Tories, but from the RW media, the BBC and a large contingent of his own MP's - the Blairite rump - who hate the members, and yearn for a return to the halcyon days of New Labour, when they could pretend to be socialists and thereby maintain their place on the parliamentary gravy train, because they represented no threat to the established order in this country. It's not a coincidence that Blair is the only Labour leader that the Murdoch evil empire has ever endorsed.
The battleground in 5 years time will be interesting; Brexit will be a wholly Tory mess, and Johnson will have failed to deliver on his key and seemingly made up on the spot promises - and that's quite aside from any new scandal which could emerge at any moment, given the character of the man. He won't represent change, and his tousle-haired posh boy schtick will have worn decidedly thin.
With regards to the Labour leadership - I'd go for Angela Rayner; and I'll do everything I can to resist Keir Starmer or Jess Phillips, both of whom would be a disaster in my view.
FWIW Bren, whether the Nationalisation program was right or wrong, it mad such an easy target.
The spend on something that IMO was neither urgent nor essential is just so bloody huge, it allowed the Tories to point the finger and suggest that Labour could not be trusted with the public purse.
Brexit too was a disaster.
Such was the divide within the party that, they couldn't stomach choosing "leave" as their policy, as it went totally against the majority of their party and was at odds with a large proportion of their supporters. However, their largely "remain" position was at odds with the referendum vote.
Months and months ago, I suggested on here that they had to pick a side and either work damned hard to "sell" the "peoples vote" option or, actually opt for "leave". However this would have meant losing swathes of votes to the Libdems and they would still have suffered at the election.
Either way, the 2 major parts of their policy have utterly stuffed them and it will be a very, very long way back for them. Something that, with the "loss" of Scotland, may even be impossible.
For me they have to take the centre ground or they are doomed as a serious opposition party.
