the brilliantly leaping gazelle

When in a previous post I suggested that Plonker didn’t give me the impression that he had of a fundamental, non-negotiable core belief that informed his entire way of political thinking, one that would be discernible in all the policies Labour would implement if elected into government, I thought it mattered.

And that I found it almost impossible to think of any principles he truly believed in – other than that he wants to be PM and will say or do anything to achieve that goal – and that because of that, that he only stands for two things, and one of them is the National Anthem, and this too concerned me.

I now realise that his lack of principles is irrelevant, largely because there are many, many more people in his party who do have principles, very deeply held principles that they want us to share, regardless of whether we want to share them or not. The Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP)  – the MP’s at Westminster whom he notionally leads – underline this truism. They all have their own particular interests and causes to champion. And whilst in opposition they will have kept quiet about them and maintained party discipline so as not to scare the electorate and ensure election, once that is achieved, the gloves will really come off.

And if elected, the larger his majority is, the less of a problem for him the PLP will be, because more means less of an influence they have. So as most people understand it, among the things being in government might entail would be choosing what the priorities in a legislative agenda are , granting concessions or amendments in the policies aiming to become legislation or quietly ditching policies altogether. Not easy, but made less difficult with more MP’s to play each other off against.  All told, it’s like trying to do a Rubik’s cube that’s fighting back against you. 

But difficult as all that may well be for Plonker, it is as nothing when compared to laborious process of deciding what exactly is the process in the first place.

If you really want to know how its all done, here’s a guide done by the BBC, but honestly!. That Rubik’s cube analogy? Add being blindfolded and being constantly shouted at as you did it,  having it snatched away from you and jumbled up repeatedly and if you did somehow manage to complete it, being criticised because of the way you did it.

Basically the PLP doesn’t decide what Labour policy is, committees do. These committees are made up of MP’s, trade unionists and others. But not before other sub-committees have decided on what it is those committees can decide on. And just to make this process even more complex than it already is, sometimes these motions or policy idea’s that the subcommittees can refer upward will have first been proposed and adopted at the Labour Party conference. 

Now remember how Corlimey got elected as Labour leader in 2017? The sudden influx of people joining the Labour Party on £2 membership expressly so they could vote for him? Many were young idealists and some remained after Plonker replaced Corblimey as Leader seeing Labour as a vehicle that might deliver the changes they thought Britain needed. More joined for the same reason, better to promote their idea of progressive politics.

They’re the ones who’ll bother to go to constituency meetings on a cold Wednesday night. They’re the ones who’ll do the unglamorous work outside of an election campaign.

They’re also the ones who’ll get elected onto constituency committees, in order that they can go to Labour Party conferences and propose motions to be discussed by the various committees I mentioned earlier. They’ll also be the ones using social media to put pressure on those committee members to ensure those motions become policy.

They’re also the ones who’ll use social media to lambast any MP who says or does anything they don’t approve of and they’ll also be very vociferous about what they perceive as either a watering down or new addition to a policy that they do or don’t like. And if that doesn’t work, they’re the ones, who because of being on those constituency committees, who’ll try to initiate a de-selection process for an MP to prevent them from standing for re-election as a Labour candidate.

They’re the one’s who wield the real power, not the leader, the MP’s or trade union leaders, but the activists who know not just how the system works, but to make it work to their advantage. They know it and so does everyone else. Both the main political parties are vulnerable to this type of insurgent activism but when Labour has a leader like Plonker, a man who stands for only two things, and the other is when he’s having a piss, you can hardly blame them. 

That’s why it is ultimately of no importance what Plonker does or doesn’t believe in.