Simon Simons

This book offers the evidence that some politicians have next to zero interest in doing the right thing for the country, compromising and cooperating with each other when necessary. Instead it's constant posturing and politicking. Nobody comes out well in this book: neither the Blairites (or indeed Blair himself) nor Corbyn and his entourage. At times it is comic; Corbyn cannot even manage his own inner circle and they are forever "bullying" each other; fighting with Sixth Form Communist vocabulary and demanding Union representation. The saga of Iram Chamberlain being a case in point. Although as Left Wing as Corbyn; Murray; Milne et alia she arrives late to the LOTO party and is immediately thrust into a power struggle with Karie Murphy. When Chamberlain's security clearance takes a while, LOTO immediately jumps to the conclusion that it's islamophobia (it isn't, she has brothers with links to Al Qaeda) - but why let facts get in the way of unjustified outrage and conspiracy theory? Other chapters are just depressing. The utter shambles of the HoC Brexit debates under May gets a chapter which shows that LOTO was, if anything, worse. LOTO has ample opportunity to put aside party politics to try to resolve the issues but instead chooses to encourage crisis whilst never having a position of its own. Corbyn and his comrades were full of hubris after the 2017 election loss and set about building a party in Jeremy's image. However chapter after chapter shows he is clearly not capable of leading anything and within two years the Labour Party is lost as a political force. I look forward to reading about the Starmer years in due course. He has a job on his hands, that's for sure.