DEAR ED I have voted Labour at every election since 1964. This included returning early from a sabbatical in the States to vote in the 1979 election: sadly I was unable to halt the Thatcher juggernaut single-handed. This is not to claim Nectar points, just to establish my credentials as a mainstream loyal Labour voter who has experience of the party over 50 years, through thick and thin. Ed, it’s not going to work. I have to admit that I felt that strongly after your leadership election but tried to suspend judgement until we knew you better, but time and again the evidence would hit me in the face. You are not Labour leadership or prime ministerial material. I know it seems cruel but it is the kinder course to be direct and explicit about it: I had to face the cruel facts that I would not be a rock star or an England international. You have to accept that you are not a great political theorist, you do not have the charisma to inspire the Party or the electorate, and if you think you do you have been listening to sycophants and Canute-like optimists. For you it is a sad fact that the genes for all these qualities by-passed you and came to rest in your brother David. Let me stress, I do like you Ed, but this is not enough. I’m absolutely sure that you are a very nice guy, your motivation is unimpeachable, your commitment unquestionable and your willingness to labour for labour, total. But I also liked Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock……….who had magnificent talents, but who should never have been let near a TV studio (or in Kinnock’s case, a beach). In contemporary media-driven politics, there has to be a ‘goodness of fit’ between the candidate and the future role, and some of that is about looking the part. I loathe Cameron, but he has all the necessary attributes, with perhaps the exception of honest credible policies. He is exceptionally articulate, thinks well on his feet, and in debate he is currently brushing you off like dandruff. So this is what you do: resign now for the good of the party and the country, and you will have their eternal respect and gratitude for your self-sacrificing altruism. Prevail on David (there must be at least one skeleton in his cupboard you could use as leverage) to return and grab the baton. They say it’s too late but it isn’t really, they just don’t want to grasp the nettle. He is made for the job, he has all the intellectual and presentational skills, he is telegenic, and the effect of his introduction would boost the campaign from the launch-pad to lift-off with immense force. OK so he has the Blair/Iraq mark of shame. You know what, I don’t think the Great British Public gives a damn, it’s just the politicos who do. So, man-up, and get on the phone to brother Dave. Sort it. Or would you prefer total humiliation that makes Kinnock and Foot’s results look good, plus Cameron as PM, Nigel Farage as Foreign Secretary and Russell Brand as Minister of Education?
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 17:41:21 +0000