Tuesday 16 June 2015

Jeremy Corbyn? I can't think of anything worse

As my friend Richard Black notes, it is tempting for Conservative supporters to support Jeremy Corbyn and the disaster that his leadership would be for the Labour party. We should, however, be content with the fact enough Labour MPs supported Corbyn to allow him to make it to the ballot paper. This is enough to suggest something seriously wrong with those who sit in the opposition benches, we don't need the party to go ahead and elect the terror, Iran, Assad, Hamas, Hezbollah and anti-Semitism apologist to demonstrate that. It takes a lot for me to think that maybe broadening the debate isn't worth it. The things that Corbyn stands for are more than enough for me to think the Labour party leadership debate is better off without him.

Amongst the more bizarre reasons to support a Corbyn nomination, are that he is a "nice guy" and he has a good beard (Owen Jones' quality analysis). It is worth noting, of course, that virtually every tweet and status and comment I have seen supports Corbyn being nominated but either stops short of supporting his candidacy or explicitly rejects it. His views are great for debate but G_D forbid we actually let him lead the party with them. It's a bit like inviting a McDonalds enthusiast to a Weight Watchers class to increase the options for dinner. I have trouble believing he is a nice guy, mainly because I find it hard to believe anyone whose list of friends include Assad, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, anyone who hates Jews and a number of terrorists (see here) can be a nice guy. If you happen to support a man who is responsible for a war that has killed over 200,000 civilians and displaced millions (like Stop the War, of which Corbyn is the chair) then you can say please and thank you as much as you want, but you are not a nice guy. To be blunt, I am disgusted at the number of people describing him as a nice guy. He is most certainly not a nice guy.

This is a man who hides behind a cloak of anti-Zionism when preaching anti-Semitism. A man who stands up for Assad and Iran. A man who calls terrorists his friends and hosts extremists, supporting and promoting their views. This is not a man who is good for debate. That 36 members of the Labour party are ignorant of the views I detail here, willingly chose to ignore them when making their nomination or, and most worryingly, actively support some, or all, of what he stands for is immensely worrying, disturbing and a good representation of just how out of touch Labour are.

I look forward to him blaming Israel and claiming he is not an anti-Semite when he, hopefully, does not win.