Jeremy Corbyn from the moment he was elected has been the target for ideologically driven people on both sides of the Labour Party. His back to basics fundamentalism has jarred with the Blairite formula of presenting policy on the basis of getting votes no matter how far you strayed into the opposition camp. Like transvestites they would wear any clothing to suite their mood since it was always a game of representation rather than substance.
MPs in general have strayed far from the gene pool which created the Labour Party, a party to represent the working (and non working) masses with their representatives living cheek by jowl with the people they represent. Now with a political machine that distributes the bright metropolitan university educated catchment across the land, it has become more like a strategic war game, where the seats which are 'marginal' are worthy of focus and the rest assumed secure. It was this assumption, led from a top down political elite who's involvement with the concept of Socialism arose in university debate , was always intellectual rather than instinctive, which took for granted the 'rank and file' who when asked to vote said "bugger off".
Corbyns path was always very different. A strong volatile backbencher he would often be out of sync with the Blairites. Not caught up in wooing the centre ground he felt the Party should concentrate on improving the conditions of the people it purported to represent. His appeal to the Labour Party member has been that he listens to their claims of disengagement from society and believes in re-engaging with the grass roots to build up a Party which represents 'something of value' other than trying to engage with the swing voter all the time.
Winning is important. Sitting on the opposition benches you are impotent to effect the changes you wish to see and so melding tactics to increase your vote is crucial to obtaining power but the tactics must never come between your 'core values' and a short term gain.
This is where the Party under Tony Blair lost its way because it lost its identity for so many people. It began to look more like an offshoot of the Tories, disenfranchising its bedrock support and morphing into a Centrist Party. For many who had previously voted Tory and who were captured by the charisma of Tony Blair, New Labour was always a strange bedfellow and they departed in droves when the Scotish Nation Party, a proper socially committed party became the link pin in providing a viable alternative to the ruling Conservatives.
Corbyn's idea is that as the society becomes more and more dissimilar, as the financial benefits flow to a smaller and smaller segment of the society then it is logical that a new interconnected political identity can be formed from those who are not blessed with a university education and a professional career. It is evidenced by the support he has from the 'party members' outside Parliament, mostly young people who see a bleak future flipping burgers on 'no hours, contracts. These people are not stupid they were the factory workers, the trades people, people who did not confuse wearing a collar and tie with being successful in the sense of being a real part of management, with a career and advancement virtually secured.
The MPs who Corbyn leads are what I call professional parliamentarians for whom the business of being in the Westminster bubble is enough. To sit and debate, to play the game of debate with its arcane rules and procedure is enough, more than enough, since "words" are a smooth easy way of applying the balm to the actual problems experienced in the towns and villages away from London.
Corbyn intends to create a truly representative, socially interactive party for which he believes there is a genuine need.
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