jones wrote:
Mirth wrote:
By following him over the past 2 years?
I'm not denying he's acted more like a leader in the past few weeks but can you point to once instance against either May or Cameron where you felt he was actually holding the government to scrutiny? On a personal level I was particularly disappointed with his lack of support to the EU referendum which was extremely half hearted (whatever side of the debate you were on) but there are other aspects that have alienated most of the country. It's more a case of seeing what he actually does when he has had power vs listening to him and the main reason he's struggling for votes now is purely because he's not been effective opposition to the government.
I don't follow UK politics as closely as you probably do but how much of that is actually Corbyn's fault? Don't think his decision to not support any side in the referendum was in his hands really, on one hand he sees the EU as the bastion of neoliberalism that it is which, if you are to be true to your principles, can not be defended, on the other hand the reasons for the Leave campaign had obviously nothing to do with his reasons.
Frankly that makes him a piss poor leader. At the very least he should have been able to hold both sides to account. He was irrelevant during the biggest decision that the UK have made in at least 30 years - how is that not worrying? I get that his a principled man but he's also completely ineffectual at getting his ideas across. It's true that the media give him a hard time (or rather the media give the Tories an easier time) but if there's a way to fuck up a straightforward question, Corbyn will find a way. Whether it was about raising taxes or using nuclear deterrents, he literally always ballsed it up under the name of 'principles'. There's a reason why the Tories main card in this election is - who would you rather see at the negotiation table - Corbyn or May? Now May's been dreadful but Corbyn's been just as idiotic under pressure situations and - to make things worse - his cabinet have no credibility.
To go back to my question to Rex - can anyone actually point to an instance where he's been effective opposition to either Cameron or May in the past two years?
Then you have the Blairites in his party who are looking for any opportunity to stab him in the back. How can he be blamed for being unable to unite his party with people like Hilary Benn in it? He probably would've been more successful founding his own party, if tripling the party's membership figures to make Labour the largest party in the EU isn't enough to give him support by the apparatchiks nothing will. None of this is even mentioning the media who are slaughtering him every day.
Not to say he's without his faults, I just feel he's held to impossible and much higher standards than everyone else
It's true that Corbyn has had plenty of resentment from the more centre-left wing of the Labour party and, as far as I'm concern, their right to think that they are much more electable than Corbyn. Nevertheless, through a combination of shambolic leadership and refusal to betray his 'principles' he's alienated the party and replaced them with some serious incompetence.
And the rise in membership is misleading, don't mistake that for popular support. It costs about £3 to become a member but, frankly, I'll be amazed if most of the new members were outside Islington. They're not representative of the support the Labour party and won't translate to votes. Moreover, the cult surrounding Corbyn that has hijacked the Labour party is another point of contention in the first place!
