Jeremy Corbyn grows further apart from Labour MPs

[brooklynite]

Financial Times:

Jeremy Corbyn rose to his feet in the House of Commons on Wednesday to the sound of a party falling apart. No jeering or heckling, just sullen silence from ranks of Labour MPs who believe their leader is taking them into a political abyss.

The gap between Mr Corbyn and the MPs he aspires to lead has this week widened to a chasm, as the party comes to terms with the national security, and electoral, implications of having a pacifist as its leader.

Mr Corbyn’s initial refusal on Monday to endorse a shoot-to-kill policy for British police confronted by a terrorist trying to kill people plunged the Labour leader into what one MP called a “horrible” confrontation with his parliamentary party.

Corbin appears to be falling into Kucinich territory, and may be damaging Labour's ability to be seen as a serious alternative to the Tories for the foreseeable future.

[marmar]

1. Or maybe Labour is still too much in Blair territory.

[LWolf]

2. +1

[T_i_B]

5. This is a major divide

The MP's are still overwhelmingly Blairite, and the rest of the Labour movement went overwhelmingly for Corbyn. The result has been for Labour to plunge into open civil war, which makes them unelectable regardless of which faction has control.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. To correct the FT: what he said on Monday was not about "a terrorist trying to kill people"

He was asked "would you be happy to order people, police or military, to shoot to kill on Britain's streets?", and he replied "I'm not happy with a shoot to kill policy in general; I think that is quite dangerous"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34830750

Especially in the context of British politics, "a shoot to kill policy" means shooting to kill people who are just suspected of being terrorists, rather than people trying to kill people. Like Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005, the 3 IRA members killed in Gibraltar, or what appears to have been an unofficial policy in Northern Ireland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot-to-kill_policy_in_Northern_Ireland

[T_i_B]

4. Jeremy Kyle Show to televise all future Labour Party meetings

http://newsthump.com/2015/11/23/jeremy-kyle-show-to-televise-all-future-labour-party-meetings/

All future interactions between Labour Party MPs are to be conducted exclusively on The Jeremy Kyle Show, a Labour spokesperson has confirmed.

The decision came after a series of televised spats between Labour MPs led to a lightbulb moment for Jeremy Corbyn.

“The electorate loves this stuff,” he explained, “at first I was concerned that airing our dirty laundry in public would make us look weak, but I’m starting to realise that this is all just a part of the more honest, transparent politics I’ve been campaigning for.”

“At first I was concerned about the live studio audience jeering insensitively, but they’re actually a great deal more reasonable than that House of Commons lot.”

[Nye Bevan]

6. I admire hm for sticking to his pacifist principles,

politically unpopular as they may be.