Kmflett's Blog

Must Labour Lose? The Working Class, Tories and all that. 1959, 1983, 2019

The inquests on Labour’s election defeat are underway and to any labour historian they should have a familiar tone to them.

A Guardian Editorial (16^th December) notes that Labour needs to reconnect with its base in towns and rural areas. A longer perspective might ponder how far it has been in touch with them in recent years, or perhaps more accurately, what is meant by being in touch.

Similar questions have been asked since Labour lost to the Tories in 1959 (100 seat Tory majority). Dr Mark Abrams Penguin Special was heavily criticised for relying on polling data to discern attitudes not least by the late socialist historian Raphael Samuel in New Left Review.

Yet even Samuel noted:

Dr. Abrams is touching on important problems and genuine issues which the Labour Party has not yet been willing seriously to face: the changing composition of the working class, the expansion of white collar and service occupations, the changed outlook of the younger generation, the growth of “classlessness”. There are attitudes here at once fundamental and changing: the matrix of values where politics are formed.

If we head to 1983 and another bad Election result for Labour we can find some interesting inquests in Marxism Today. The late Doreen Massey looked at the changing composition of the working class (see above) and what this meant for the Labour vote

‘a series of different enquiries indicated a majority of skilled workers opting for the Tories.. alarm bells have been sounded about the erosion through occupational and social change of parts of Labour’s natural base… The numbers indicate that it is deserting Labour as much as it is declining in numbers’

There are a couple of points here:

Firstly working class support for the Tories is an historical reality. The deferential voter a favourite category. How that works in 2019 needs to be thought about not assumed.

Secondly the working is constantly being reconfigured. In the 1930s new technology and new industry focused, for example, on car plants. They did not arrive ready organised in trade unions. The work had to be done. They are now, for reasons beyond the scope of this post, in something of a decline and new industries have appeared. The work of organising them however is a constant.

A final more uncomfortable point. New Labour took from the lessons of the defeats of 1959 and 1983 in particular that Labour needed to appeal not to a class politics but to a progressive politics.

That view remains current with some, but with Johnson and the hard right in Office I’d suggest it is really rather difficult to ignore matters of a class. Its not difficult to work out which class they belong to.

Campaign for Real Santas

Media Release 16th December

Contact Keith Flett 07803 16726

JEREMY CORBYN WINS ANNUAL VOTE FOR BEST SANTA WITH A REAL BEARD

The Campaign for Real Santas which believes that only Santas with genuine, organic or knitted beards should be deputies for Santa, world famous for his organic beard, has said that Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn has been voted the best Santa with a real beard 2019

Competition bristled as Corbyn saw off challenges from children’s author Philip Ardagh and Brian Blessed.

The campaign says that there are still far too many Santas with fake beards around, when genuine Santas with real organic beards are available

The campaigners have urged parents and children to vigorously tug the beards of Santas they encounter as a definitive test as to whether they are in the presence of a real Santa or not. If the Santa is not real and the beard is made of cotton wool it will come away when tugged by the child

CFRS organiser Keith Flett said, it has been a disappointing week for Jeremy Corbyn but this is one poll that he has won and done so quite decisively. Clearly his genuine beard and Santa like patience with all comers has shone through

Details of #corbynschristmaschallenge foodbank appeal are here:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/corbyns-christmas-challenge-sees-thousands-21110499

Notes

HOW TO SPOT A GENUINE SANTA

Tug the beard of the Santa. If it comes away, then the Santa is FAKE

Tug the beard of the Santa again. If the Santa swears then they are genuine. If they simply repeat a ‘ho ho ho’ mantra they are FAKE

The Campaign for Real Santas says that genuine Santas must have just the right mix of bonhomie and gruffness and a real organic beard.

Beard Liberation Front

15^th December

contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Can Sports Personality of the Year Ben Stokes make it a double with Beard of the Year

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the process of determining the Beard of the Year 2019 is underway. The on-line poll to determine the winner is open and will close on December 24th

The winner is announced on December 28^th.

The Beard Liberation Front has congratulated England cricketer Ben Stokes on winning the Sports Personality of the Year on 15^th December. His challenge now is to do the double and also win Beard of the Year.

The criteria for Beard of the Year is as follows:

The Award is NOT about people who grow beards in their bedrooms and post pictures of them on the internet

The Award IS about people with consistent beards in the public eye who promote a positive image of the hirsute

TV doctor Xand Van Tulleken and cosmologist Peter Coles currently at Maynooth University in Ireland shared the Award in 2018.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, there is no question that Ben Stokes beard played a key role in some of his great England cricketing performances this year. His Sports Personality of the Year Award is much deserved but can be now do the double with Beard of the Year

Beard of the Year 2019 shortlist

Rylan Clark-Neal

Ben Bellamy

Jeremy Corbyn

Alexei Sayle

Mauricio Pochettino

Billy Connolly

Ben Stokes

Jurgen Klopp

Bob Harris

Stig Abell

Michael Rosen

Idris Elba

Billy Bragg

George Clooney

Chris Woakes

There is an exhibition of William Blake’s works currently on at the Tate and that reminds us that Blake was a man of radical views.

It is worth reflecting that some of the most well-known figures in British history held minority and indeed what many would regard as extreme religious views. William Blake was certainly one.

The late historian EP Thompson wrote extensively about Blake and the religious traditions he stood in. There is a review of his Witness Against the Beast from a Blake related website which gives a flavour in overview of what he was looking at:

http://bq.blakearchive.org/28.2.paley

In another age these minority traditions were perhaps better understood. The paperback edition of Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class was published as the 1000^th Pelican book in September 1968. To mark the occasion the Guardian published a special supplement to which Thompson himself contributed a piece headlined ‘Beast and Whore’. In Blakeian terms the reference was to Church and State.

Thompson notably uses the ‘beast and whore’ line as the introduction to his chapter in the Making of the English Working Class, The Liberty Tree, about the London Corresponding Society that fought for democratic rights in a period when Britain was rather more autocratic than it has been in more recent times. Until now anyway.

William Blake almost certainly speaks to the Johnsonian times

The Ambridge Socialist

69 years of the class struggle in Borsetshire

December 15^th

Will Boris Johnson now visit Ambridge?

During the Election campaign Boris Johnson notably failed to visit Ambridge. Post 12^th December is he now planning to stop by The Bull to share a ‘get Brexit done’ glass with Adam and Brian? If so the Ambridge Socialist will be ready with a protest

Ambridge Socialist Editor Keith Flett said, we stand ready to continue the fight against Johnson, should he at last, summon up the moral courage to visit Ambridge

David is useless

David has been told by both Kenton and Elizabeth that he just doesn’t have the people skills to host weddings in the barn at Brookfield. David is good at killing badgers and pushing people off roofs though

Tracy needs to join a trade union

Oliver has given Tracy a final (verbal) warning for some minor misdemeanours that she has admitted to being involved in. Grey Gables doesn’t appear to have any formal disciplinary processes or rights of appeal. Its time for Tracy to join a union

In Other News

Neil has had pig trouble

Helen has been Christmas shopping

Tony has eaten two dinners

Beard Liberation Front

PRESS RELEASE 15th December

contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

ANTI-BEARD PREJUDICE MAY HAVE PLAYED ROLE IN CORBYN’S DEFEAT

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, which campaigns against irrational prejudice against the hirsute, pogonophobia, has said that prejudice against beards may have played a role in Jeremy Corbyn’s Election defeat on Thursday.

Mr Corbyn is one of Britain’s most well-known beard wearers and a former Beard of the Year.

Boris Johnson is known for making prejudicial comments about Mr Corbyn’s beard. For example at a fringe meeting at the Tory Conference in October 2018 he said:

we won’t get anywhere by metaphorically acquiring beards and string vests and allotments – but by systematically pointing out the damage they would do.

Had he won on Thursday Jeremy Corbyn would have become Britain’s first Prime Minister with a beard since the Tory PM Lord Salisbury in 1902. Significantly a letter appeared in the Daily Telegraph on 14^th December underlining the point about how difficult it is for a beard wearer to enter No.10  Downing Street

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, there is a case for saying that Boris Johnson has spent some of the last few weeks going around the country whipping up prejudice against Jeremy Corbyn’s beard. Let’s see how many beard wearers, if any, feature in his Brexit Cabinet.

A new craft beer pub opened in Tottenham on Thursday, a place where 10 years ago one struggled to find pubs at all let alone any selling decent beer.

The PalmN15 is on Philip Lane in central Tottenham and the 341 and 230 bus routes stop outside.

There has been a pub on the site since 1857 hence its original name, Lord Palmerston. A formidable Victorian politician he was alive at that time. The current pub, which was historically owned by Trumans (hence no cask beer in more or less living memory) has had a recent chequered history of being open and then closed and then re-opened.

I suppose you could call it a street corner local but who the locals were or are, pace Boak and Bailey’s work on Bristol pubs, will have changed considerably over time.

I stopped by on Saturday afternoon and it was busy, predominantly with people considerably younger than myself (hardly difficult) including families.

The pub has a single central circular bar and has been stripped back to reveal original features.

Yes, but what about the beer, I suspect most are saying by now.

There was a good range of a dozen taps, six on each side of the bar. Three had local beers from One Mile End, Pressure Drop and Beavertown. A couple had cider and there was Lost and Grounded Keller Pils. In short decent.

There was also a shortish menu on a blackboard by the bar. I didnt try food as I was only stopping by but numbers were eating.

In short along with the fairly nearby True Craft and High Cross and the Bluecoats nearer Spurs its a good addition to the local craft beer drinking scene.

Given it has a cellar its a pity its not selling a local cask beer or two but the Beehive and Antwerp Arms both sell Redemption on cask so its not absent from the area.

As often with such pubs at the start its not that easy to find out opening hours etc but there is an Instagram account and a twitter presence both PalmN15

Labour suffered a significant Electoral defeat on 12th December while the Tories achieved a large majority, their first for three decades.

Jeremy Corbyn is right that a period of reflection is required to understand what the defeat (and victory) means for the future. Obviously it means a grim Christmas and beyond for the ‘Have Nots’ but a question on the left is what needs to be done to achieve Election victory.

The media, which at best, is not great when it comes to history have noted that the 203 seats won is the lowest total since 1935. Of course there are always other figures. One (I havent yet checked the final figure) is that Labour now has the largest number of female MPs in Parliamentary history.

One interesting measure is the total number of votes  cast for Labour. This (fairly obviously) is not a guarantee of Electoral success but it does in a very broad way reflect a class vote and the depth of a Party’s support.

Here Labour’s 10.3 million is well down on what Corbyn achieved in 2017 but beyond that the second highest Labour total since 2001, Tony Blair’s 2nd Election victory.

One thought might be that this support needs to further engaged with and organised to help secure a future Labour win. Its surely not about Westminster but about the grassroots in workplaces and communities across the country.

Labour votes

2019 10.3m

2017 12.88m

2015 9.35m

2010 8.61m

2005 9.55m

2001 10.72m

1997 13.52m

1992 11.56m

1987 10.03m

1983 8.46m

Campaign for Real Santas

Media Release 14th December

Contact Keith Flett 07803 16726

VOTE FOR BEST ORGANIC SANTA 2019 OPEN

The Campaign for Real Santas which believes that only Santas with genuine, organic or knitted beards should be deputies for Santa, world famous for his organic beard, has said that the on-line poll for the best Organic Santa 2019 is now open

In 2018 the competition bristled as Blessed saw off challenges from children’s author Philip Ardagh and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in an on-line poll and these three ‘Santas’ together with others are on the 2019 poll

The campaign says that there are still far too many Santas with fake beards around, when genuine Santas with real organic beards are available

The campaigners have urged parents and children to vigorously tug the beards of Santas they encounter as a definitive test as to whether they are in the presence of a real Santa or not. If the Santa is not real and the beard is made of cotton wool it will come away when tugged by the child

CFRS organiser Keith Flett said, Brian Blessed was an excellent winner of the Organic Santa vote in 2018 but can he shave other Santas this year?

The vote closes at midnight on  Sunday 15th December and the Organic Santa 2019 is revealed on 16th December

Notes

HOW TO SPOT A GENUINE SANTA

Tug the beard of the Santa. If it comes away, then the Santa is FAKE

Tug the beard of the Santa again. If the Santa swears then they are genuine. If they simply repeat a ‘ho ho ho’ mantra they are FAKE

The Campaign for Real Santas says that genuine Santas must have just the right mix of bonhomie and gruffness and a real organic beard.

Beard Liberation Front

PRESS RELEASE 13th December

contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

DISMAY AS JEREMY CORBYN FAILS TO BECOME FIRST PM WITH WITH A BEARD SINCE 1902

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, which campaigns against irrational prejudice against the hirsute, has sent a message to Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn commiserating with him on failing to become the first Prime Minister with a beard since 1902.

Had he won on Thursday Jeremy Corbyn would have become Britain’s first Prime Minister with a beard since the Tory PM Lord Salisbury in 1902.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Jeremy Corbyn has struck a real blow for diversity in challenging to be the first Prime Minister with a beard to occupy 10 Downing St for over a century, but the fight against discrimination will go on.