Jeremy Corbyn – Kevin Telfer

The Conservatives are not conservative. In fact, it is one of their greatest tricks to convince the electorate that they are. Because one of the most well-known truisms about the British electorate is that we are innately conservative, with a small ‘c’. We are collectively resistant to change; suspicious of radicalism; mistrustful of ideology; and scared of revolutions. The Conservative Party learned this essential lesson long ago, which is why it has always tried to portray itself as the party of law and order; of strength and stability; and of unwavering belief in those institutions that uphold what they see as the decent British character: the monarchy, The Bank of England, the military, the Institute of Directors, etc.

Yet all the while the Conservatives have been much more radical than this portrayal might suggest. Radically destructive. Their project, in essence, is to usurp the 100 years of progress that have seen workers get more rights, consumers get more protection, and the vulnerable get more care. This is a combination of ‘red tape’ and ‘sponging’ as they see it. And they want to return to Victorian times; both in terms of hypocritical, anachronistic morality and a deregulated state that allows for capitalism to be unfettered by responsibilities. All accompanied by a prototypical Victorian foreign policy of ‘splendid isolation’. These things, of course, are all intertwined. And the Conservatives have shown themselves to be highly pragmatic when it comes to respect for those institutions that they claim to espouse, as shown by the reaction to the verdict on proroguing parliament. They will respect state institutions so long as those institutions support their ideological project.

Journalist, activist and full-time Labour cheerleader Owen Jones (is there really only one of him?) thinks that socialism is on the way; Blairite Nick Cohen fears a Corbyn government; Corbyn himself has hit a plateau of confidence and security as Labour leader; the Conservatives have presided over a disastrous year of British history during the shambolic Brexit negotiations; the essential creed of Conservatism that it is the defense of property rights and other vested interests is becoming increasingly exposed each day by the fact that the mythical carrot dangling out in front of voters that they too can become part of the prosperous, unmortgaged, property-owning club without having to sell their kidneys and/or their daughters has become less and less realistic to more and more people; the Conservatives are sitting on a demographic time bomb in terms of voting intention and party membership; Labour’s grass roots base has flourished with the rise of Momentum; younger voters have been emboldened by the shit storm that is Brexit to come out and vote in greater numbers; the economy has stalled and household debt and homelessness has soared; and austerity is now hitting mainstream state provision (like primary schools, police, the NHS and firefighters) in a way that – from my own observations in a safe Conservative constituency in the south – is troubling even many traditional Conservative voters. The conclusion seems clear: Corbyn is going to be the next prime minister.

Continue reading “Labour and a mandate for change”

About me

I am an author and journalist with an interest in all kinds of stories and a special love for the natural world, literature, history, music and wine. I live on the edge of the New Forest.

My book commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, The Summer of ’45: Stories and Voices from VE Day to VJ Day begins with the signing of the German surrender to the Western Allies in Reims on 7 May. The Summer of ’45 is a ‘people’s history’ which gathers voices from all levels of society and from all corners of the globe to explore the four months following that surrender that would dictate the order of the world for decades to come.

My debut novel Indrakhani Pass is available as a Kindle ebook. It is an adventure story set in the Indian Himalayas.

I am the author of a number of non-fiction books including Peter Pan’s First XI, about J. M. Barrie’s cricket team the Allahakbarries, and The Remarkable Story of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

I co-wrote Grand Designs Abroad with television presenter Kevin McCloud and have helped Dame Vera Lynn and her daughter Virginia Lewis-Jones tell the story of Dame Vera’s time singing in Burma during the Second World War.

I have also co-written two books about low-energy buildings called earthships with Mischa Hewitt. The second, and most up-to-date, of these is Earthships in Europe, which you can buy though the Brighton Earthship, which Mischa helps to run.

Using the pseudonym Milton Crawford I wrote The Hungover Cookbook, which has been translated into Dutch, Finnish and German and has sold more than 200,000 copies worldwide. The second book in the series is The Drunken Cookbook and the third is The Lover’s Cookbook.

I have written articles for publications including the Guardian, the Telegraph, The Sunday Times, the Idler, the Architects’ Journal, Green Building Magazine, Grand Designs magazine and BBC Who Do You Think You Are? magazine.

I have also been the news editor for the Media Society, a script consultant for BBC drama Lark Rise to Candleford, and an award-winning digital copywriter, winning the PR Week award for best in social and digital media in 2011 for a groundbreaking project with the RAF Benevolent Fund.

Tag: Jeremy Corbyn

The Labour case for conservatism (thoughts on the 2019 election)

Labour and a mandate for change