May 6, 2017

The OffG view on the UK General Election

A while back we said we’d watch and wait for developments in the UK General Election. So far, sadly, nothing is happening that could not be expected. The Tory press are almost uniformly bent on destroying Corbyn’s credibility. The notional “left” press are being a little less committed, leaving open the small possibility of support for a Labour win if the circumstances permit. The Labour Party itself is riven, with many of its MPs seeming to prefer to lose the election than suffer Corbyn as PM. The numerous scandals in the Conservative Party pass almost unnoticed.
The voters in the local council elections did nothing that unpredictable, despite claims in the media. If you demonise and ridicule a party leader unceasingly for months you can’t claim to be stunned that many people consider him to be demonic or ridiculous. We live in a propaganda-saturated society in which whole sections of opinion and experience have no voice in the mainstream “news” that is piped into people’s brains every day. The alt media might be growing in strength but it can’t compete yet with the power and reach of the BBC, Sky and ITN. If Murdoch or the state don’t want us to know about something then most of us won’t. That’s just the reality.
Could there be a “surprise” win for Labour? Maybe, but probably not. Corbyn isn’t Trump. He’s a genuine outsider, with genuine integrity, and there’s concomitantly a much smaller chance of any vested interests seeing an advantage in helping him to victory. It could still happen, but we wouldn’t put any money on it.
More importantly, if there is a Labour win, will much be permitted to change? Again, probably not. Corbyn is a sincere and decent man and anyone not deluded by propaganda would rather see him in No. 10 than the vacuously dreadful moral blank that is Theresa May. But the idea Jeremy would be allowed to effect anything real is wildly optimistic. In the unlikely event he makes it to No. 10 he’ll find himself at war with many of his own PLP, and the Right of the party will unite to ensure he’s all but paralysed. There will be the usual fudge, and not much else. Hoping for big change through the flawed and inadequate “democracy” we currently have is an exercise in self-delusion.
That said, the NHS would probably survive a bit longer under Labour. There might be a bit more support for the disadvantaged and the sick. Anyone who visits a GP or has kids in school or cares about the infrastructure of society ought to vote Labour for these reasons alone.
Will the majority pursue their own best interest? Will the result even be allowed to reflect the ballot box? We wish we could tell you the answer to that is “yes”.