12 November 2015
Class War Is Alive And Well
by Watson Low
Andrew Neil hosts a weekly political programme called This Week which exemplifies the cosy “after you, Claude” approach of establishment politicians. Michael Portillo shares a settee with Alan Johnson or Diane Abbott and they clearly have much more that unites them than divides them. Politicians who might ideologically be at each other’s throats nevertheless debate with great civility.
Queuing for a spot on Andrew Neil’s settee is the gaggle of 17 PLP worthies who recently formed the so-called Shadow Shadow Cabinet. They would have us believe that Corbyn’s election relied on mobilising the great anarchic unwashed rather than the true Labour Party faithful. Time will tell on that one. They look a frightened bunch, their demeanour reminding one of Hilaire Belloc’s admonition:
Always keep a hold of nurse,
For fear of finding something worse.
Jeremy Corbyn recently appointed Andrew Fisher as a policy adviser. He has made a number of negative statements about the PLP old guard and most damning of all, at the General Election, advocated the election in Croydon South of a candidate representing the Class War Party rather than the Labour Party candidate. You can imagine the furore among the PLP old guard.
It was a gift to the Corbyn-bashing industry so no surprise to see, in short order, Adam Clifford of the Class War Party as a guest on Andrew Neil’s Daily Politics. Ostensibly he was there to discuss the Million Mask March which had taken place the previous evening. When Julia Hartley-Brewer suggested that “poor people” should get out and vote if they want to change society, he asked “What do you know about poor people, sweetheart?” Hot under the collar, she responded that “sweetheart”, while patronising, was nicer than what he had called her earlier off-camera. Is this, one thought, symptomatic of the imminent demise of the establishment consensus in politics?
And where do the Corbynistas fit? Does Corbyn’s appointment and subsequent support of Andrew Fisher confirm him as Class Warrior in Chief? There are many out there eager to identify him with the people who roundly abused anyone well turned out entering the Tory Conference venue.
Adam Clifford of the Class War Party created a frisson and his message was clear – conventional politics provides no solace to the poor.
