I predict that this General Election will be a dirty one and socialists will be fighting on two fronts, three if we fight amongst ourselves!

Toughen up, just toughen up

Tony Benn

I’ve been in conversation by email with Chris Williamson. We’re trying to arrange a zoom meeting but each of us has let the other down by failing to keep an appointment. Neither of us was to blame on the third occasion, I was having problems with my broadband which prevented me from participating. Our meeting is now postponed until after the general election – Chris is busy campaigning for a return to parliament as Workers Party candidate for Derby South while I’m working on getting my Twitter/X back to normal after it was hacked. I can say with confidence that my new normal won’t be the same as my old normal and my conversation with Chris won’t be the one we would be having today.

I don’t believe in strategic voting, although I see people advocating it to “get the Tories out”, but a case could be made for it in some constituencies where there’s one candidate with a chance of ousting both Tory parties. Voting strategically in the Selby by-election would have meant voting Labour in a safe Conservative seat just as I had done previously, I didn’t this time but they won anyway. I voted Green and they increased their share of the vote from 2019 whereas Labour lost fewer votes than Conservatives did. They came in third, a long way behind both Tory parties but I can’t envisage anyone else defeating the duopoly in Selby and Ainstey.

My vote isn’t worth a hill of beans under FPTP so we need to vote for candidates who will put pressure on whoever forms the next government to adopt a PR system and abandon the ridiculous idea of requiring photo identification to vote.

I can’t do much in attending rallies and such but there’ll be plenty to do on social media, especially when fighting on two fronts and getting the same bullshit from both Tory parties. I’ll be doing what I can to support the following candidates:

• Islington North – Jeremy Corbyn 

• Holborn & St Pancras – Andrew Feinstein

• Derby South – Chris Williamson 

• Blackburn – Craig Murray

• Leicester East – Claudia Webbe 

• Ilford North – Leanne Mohamad 
• Kensington – Emma Dent Coad

I hope to be able to donate to their campaign funds, when I’ve done so I’ll share details so others can do so if they wish.

Some things are non-negotiable when deciding whether to vote for an independent, we cannot support any candidate who implicitly condones the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Their silence makes them complicit.

Zarah Sultana is very outspoken on this issue but remains a member of the Labour Party, which makes her commitment questionable. I like her personally but that’s an issue for her constituents to resolve.

There are some things we, as socialists, must insist on a candidate supporting if they want our vote. First and foremost is an end to NHS privatisation and proper funding for essential services. They must also actively support taking rail, mail, energy and water back into public ownership.

We need a government that recognises and acknowledges dissent. I’ve built up a reputation for promoting petitions but experience informs me that the government aren’t really interested in what we have to say, they just want to give us an impression of caring. Legislation that restricts our right to protest or withdraw our labour is a red line!

Like many others, I’m disgusted that Starmer hung Diane Abbott out to dry and only decided at the 11th hour to allow her to stand as a Labour candidate, and only after she announced that she would stand! No doubt he recognised that she was likely to win anyway and preferred that she should do so as a Labour candidate. I admit to being disappointed, I would’ve preferred her to stand as an independent and helped deprive Starmer of the landslide that many pundits predict.

I have a lot of sympathy for Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell who have remained loyal to the Labour Party for decades despite differences with the leadership. It must be very difficult for them to totally reject the party despite it being changed beyond recognition from the party they joined. I have less sympathy for younger MPs of the Socialist Campaign Group who hang on in the forlorn hope of changing the party to what it was.

I think it’s very important to avoid personal attacks on individuals, we’ll be facing enough of them ourselves. A sharp retort and then block is my policy, I don’t have time to engage in argument with someone who employs the same worn out tropes. Most of all we have to avoid arguing amongst ourselves, when the two major parties are tearing themselves asunder. Conservatives are losing MPs left and right – some defecting to Labour others to Reform – while Starmer’s part is content to replace socialist MPs with Tories. Socialists will continue to be ignored if we allow ourselves to be, so it’s important that we’re united ✊

Personally I feel disillusioned with parliamentary democracy and, although we need them, I’ve little confidence in unions defending our rights. It’s on the streets that we can do that, alas I’m to old to participate now 🙁