Jeremy Corbyn, a man that has done much to change the shape of British politics in the last two years, by being unashamedly honest about his socialist beliefs and soldiering on under a united barrage from the media, which this week manifested as 'outrage' over his reasonable preference for jury trial over drone strike. A man that inspires a cult-like following, to the extent that his supporters have a tendency to break into chants in his presence, and knows where to chase the youth vote - most notably by taking politics to Glastonbury. I hope never to see a Prime Minister address a music festival, and thereby confirm that the once-revered office is so demeaned, or to see British subjects chanting his name like they are at a football match.
What I would like to see is a Prime Minister certain in his beliefs, offering a real difference to his opponent and sure that his way is the way forward for a better future. The Conservatives have no idea what it is to have principles, the rest of us should not denigrate Mr Corbyn because he does.
The election to end all elections
Most, if not all, of us, agreed with Brenda from Bristol when she despaired at the thought of yet another vote, we had had to endure a succession of elections and plebiscites, and now an arrogant government was determined to dominate Parliament whilst it negotiated for something that it never wanted in the first place. The voters were supposed to dutifully plod into the polling booths, as a Conservative Party, blinded by hubris and self-indulgence, looked to bury Corbyn's Labour Party and relive their fantasies about the 1980s.
Of course, it did not quite work out like that, as the British electorate divided into those who pinched their noses and voted Tory to avoid a Corbyn-led government, those who voted the other way to bring the government down a peg or two, and those of us who just could not bring ourselves to endorse either. And who can blame them for not being inspired by a party without principle, which has failed to conserve anything and lost the glossy PR men, who at least sustained the guise of a party that can be trusted with the nation's finances?
Everyone now, with hindsight being the wonderful thing that it is, knows that Theresa May conducted a woeful campaign and all of the other reasons that they forgot to mention when there was the talk of 100-seat majorities and the reincarnation of Baroness Thatcher in the form of Theresa May. However, there is a reason that Mrs May is beating the retreat in the face of a Labour Party that looks increasingly like it is ready to enter government and enact its programme.
The reason is not that the election campaign was appallingly bad, not even that the prime minister is best placed out of the limelight, but because Mr Corbyn believes what he says and voters know it.
Playing the man
Media attacks on Corbyn, covering everything from his support for Venezuela to his clothes, are all but blunted now for no other reason than there was just so much of it that thought to dictate the sort of opinions leading politicians ought to have. This deluge of muck led many sensible people to conclude that, while they could never support his politics, the target cannot be all that bad, and that assessment seems to be broadly true. Unarguably, there is a sinister streak of rhetoric with anti-semitic undertones that should not be played down, but all of us also need to address the wider debasement of political discourse, which is increasingly aggressive and poisonous, by considering our own choice of language.
Mr Corbyn, however, is publically the gentleman that many of those who unfailingly heckle him in Prime Minister's Questions can only hope to emulate.
I disagree with much of what he says, and, as with most people, there are areas on which we agree, rail renationalisation for instance, but such is the beauty of political debate and the point of an adversarial Parliament. Passionate debate, an elegant duel of words, as in the days of the great parliamentary battles between Gladstone and Disraeli, is more enthusing than any sport, and yet the home of our national debate is frequently the place in which it is at its worst. Jeremy Corbyn is refreshingly different, he lacks the oratorical skill of Tony Benn, the unconquerable spirit of Ann Widdecombe and the dignified majesty of Barbara Castle, but he is at every turn polite to his opponents, many of whom sneer at him, and conducts himself with the certainty of a man that knows what he believes and why he does so.
A bright future?
Britain is crippled by both public and private debt, stagnant growth based on funny money and driven by low-wage mass immigration, little or no increase in productivity since 2008, and all of this while being engaged in stalled negotiations (which the government could solve at a stroke by adopting the EEA/EFTA route) to extricate itself from the European Union. We are led by a government which is increasingly resembling the blindfolded General Haig in Oh What A Lovely War and indulges itself with vanity projects, like the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and HS2. Jeremy Corbyn is not the solution, but neither is this Conservative government, built by people who look exhausted at having to go so long under the pretence that they believe anything.
There is a real need for a conservative formation in Britain, a movement that can make the case for genuine conservatism, not the Blairism of the Tories, and offer an alternative to Jeremy Corbyn. It does not mean playing him at his own game, for he will invariably win. Nor does it mean promising Utopia, an unachievable and foolish aim in any case, but it does mean coming up with something that points to a better future. At present voters are told that they must accept lawlessness, mass immigration, poor education, a weak economy, and the snatching away of their ancient rights and liberties. A conservative party would find this fertile ground on which to find a way to resolve the myriad issues that plague Britain.
Such a movement would do well to adopt the words of Clement Attlee:
"We want a society of free men and women- free from poverty, free from fear, able to develop to the full their faculties in co-operation with their fellows, everyone giving and having the opportunity to give service to the community, everyone regarding his own private interest in the light of the interests of others, in the light of the interest of the community; a society bound together by rights and obligations, rights bringing obligations, obligations fulfilled bringing rights; a society free from gross inequalities and yet not regimented nor uniform."
If it is to come about, it must do so soon to rid us of this insufferable Blairite consensus and see off the seemingly inevitable Corbyn succession.
