Mandy files again

They tell us nothing we didn't already know - it is the whole party which is the problem

I wonder if Starmer now regrets using a Humble address during Brexit to get the government to release certain files and documents. I bet he must have felt pretty good on the day as he used his clever lawyer brain to get what he wanted to try and stop the process. I doubt he feels as smart now after the Tories used the same one to get his own government to release the Mandelson files i.e. his communications whilst in post.

Personally, I find it quite delicious and am endlessly amused by the discomfort that it must be causing him and the damage it is doing to his pitiful government. This is less death by a killing blow and more the slow bleeding out by a thousand cuts. None of them are that bad but each one destroys ever more of Starmer’s, and the governments limited reputation and political will.

The latest ones that came out yesterday have nothing to date that bad insofar a single stand out message that will bring anyone down. However, they just underline a subpar government and party run by people who really have no idea what they are doing. They in short reinforce exactly what the public now thinks which is these guys should not oversee a McDonalds let alone a G7 economy.

The standout quote is one from Pat McFadden who is a long-term Labour MP having served in the Blair government. He is considered a safe pair of hands as is saner than most and has acted as Starmer’s fixer much like Gove did for the Tories. In a frank exchange with Mandy, he is said that every meeting he has with the PLP concerned the question: “Who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others?”.

I mean let’s face it that is very funny and much like how Helen of Troy’s face launched a thousand ships we can be sure that this cracker of a quote will be used to launch a lot of election campaigns. It should as again it just reinforces what the public already can see - that Labour has no interest in fixing anything but is simply focused on transferring ever more money from the productive and the young to the lazy and the old.

This will hit hard across much of the country though especially in the Red wall where Reform has been talking about alarm clock Britain (Those who work vs those who shirk) for months now. You can say whatever you like about Farage, but he is a master politician having been in the game longer than pretty much anyone else in parliament. This is a perfect quote to permanently brand Labour as the party of the workshy.

Poor old McFadden may well have produced in such an innocuous remark which he never thought would be released the perfect summation for where Labour has degenerated to. Let us not forget the party was setup to represent the working class – the hint is in the name – Labour and the class are those who work. It was not supposed to be about benefit claimants which is where it finds itself now.

Regardless, the other quote that stands out is one by Torsten Bell who is the pensions minister. He is formerly of the Resolution foundation which is Labour’s preferred economic think tank. Whatever my considerable disagreements with Mr Bell and I have many I respect him a serious policy led thinker and analyst. So, for him to complain to Mandelson that the government “doesn’t do policy, generally speaking, well enough” is a comment that I take seriously.

However, again it doesn’t come as a shock to anyone who has observed the shambles which has been national leadership since Labour gained power. Again, for the slow learners I am not saying the Tories were better – they were simply rubbish in different ways and after all those long years I was happy to see the back of them.

Regardless, Labour did at least have 14 years to prepare for this moment, and they apparently thought that coming up with workable policies which were rooted in the country, world and reality of the here and now was just a bit too much like hard work. It is this fact more than anything which has caused the implosion the government.

But before you get to policy you need a serious analysis of why we are here in terms of our many social and economic issues which are growing by the day. This is not something that Labour or the modern left has even vaguely tussled with as in many ways that would force them to confront the reality that their worldview is a big part of the problem though not only.

For Labour and the progressive left are not as they like to see themselves concerned with protecting and caring for the working class. Quite the inverse their main concerns are now mass migration, net zero and European Union membership. Each of which runs counter to the material wellbeing for the poorest in society.

Bluntly put mass migration from the EU or elsewhere suppresses wages for those at the lower end of the income spectrum and erodes community cohesion and social stability, net zero which has greatly increased the cost of British energy to the point where we are rapidly de-industrialising as companies move abroad is destroying their jobs and European Union membership which bakes in the first two dilutes democratic power taking away the primary weapon that the working class have to fight back with which is the vote.

These are the facts though most on the left are still in denial over them or in many cases just don’t care though they will still performatively go to the Durham miners gala even as they celebrate the death of British industry and the end of our fossil fuel extraction though we will be using the stuff for decades in the best case scenario in terms of net zero.

The truly saddest part over this is how little anything will change within Labour whatever happens. The PLP and membership are now salivating over the hope that Andy Burnham will win in the Makerfield by-election. This will allow them to crown the King in the North via a coronation over the summer so he can be in post for the conference season.

Our Andy is doing nothing to challenge the party with hard truths or even a vague piece of analysis over why we are here except to blame Thatcher and neo-liberalism and claim the solution is Manchesterism – don’t ask because nobody knows what it means. So, should he win and I personally don’t think he will then he would wander into parliament and likely Downing Street unencumbered with anything like a serious policy platform or plan.

Now getting rid of Starmer would greatly enhance my day-to-day life as I can’t stand the man on quite a visceral level. Literally I have a physical reaction when I see or hear him forcing me to turn off whatever device I am being assailed by him via. However, my personal dislike of him should I feel come a very distant second to getting party and leader in place who can take this country into the future.

Currently I am seeing no sign that Labour is ready to start getting serious about our problems because I am seeing no sign that they are even willing to listen to the public let alone think about what needs to happen. That means the PLP will continue to obstruct everything, ministers will still be clueless over what to do and the government will continue to drift whoever is ensconced behind the black door of Number 10.

In the meantime, we wait for something to go bang forcing voters to demand change from a political class who for nearly two decades have utterly failed to lead us forward to something new. I think my big take away from recent events is the regression of the left into a pressure group of virtue signallers rather than a serious movement which is ready to make hard choices for a better future.

I didn’t really need some WhatsApp messages to know that.