Jeremy Corbyn

• I JOINED the Labour Party in autumn 2015 to support Jeremy Corbyn and the values that he stood for.

I was totally unprepared and completely taken aback by the unceasing and ongoing hostility of the local Labour Party establishment towards Corbyn, and towards the new members, a battle reflected in the news and letter pages of the CNJ over the past five years.

Among the constant charges against Corbyn supporters were that we were “not interested in government”, “only interested in fighting internal Labour Party opponents”, and a “cult, based around the dear leader”.

In the past 10 days Labour has been criticised by Gary Neville for watching from the grandstand, rather than opposing on the pitch, Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has threatened to expel “thousand and thousands of members” for voicing support of Corbyn, and David Evans, the Labour Party general secretary has banned Labour Party branches from criticising him or Sir Keir in any way.

Is this an example of what the psychologists call projection? I’m not an expert in psychology but I can see that the supporters of Tony Blair and Sir Keir are behaving exactly as they accuse others of.

As I write, EU negotiations are continuing, and I also can’t help thinking of Sir Keir’s role in the Conservative win of 2019, where his insistence on a second referendum did so much to enable the Conservative landslide.

An insistence that disappeared as soon as he became Labour Party leader.

GARETH MURPHY
Bellina Mews, NW5