It is often said that while success has many parents, failure is an orphan. The exception appears to be in the UK Labour Party where the leadership is coalescing around itself. This is notwithstanding that Jeremy Corbyn led the Labour Party to its worst result in approximately eighty years. In the middle of what was electoral debacle, Mr Corbyn announced that he would be stepping down as leader of the Party. In time.
Two days after the vote Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell stated publicly that Labour’s poor showing at the polls was entirely his fault. What will this admission do for Mr McDonnell’s future career regardless of whether he chooses to try to succeed Mr Corbyn?
Around the same time as Mr McDonnell’s statement of culpability, Mr Corbyn issued an apology for his “share of the responsibility” for the Labour Party’s disastrous result. But did not John McDonnell accept full responsibility for it? If so, how much blame could Mr Corbyn have really accepted, or, is this some form of new math for which Labour is trying to change the education curriculum?
Finally, one of the issues that plagued the Labour Party during the election was the lack of credibility in its manifesto promises and how they could translate into a viable economic plan. The Origin of the Specious has a theory as to why this was the case. Prior to and during the election campaign Labour was also caught in the grip of a scandal on how it dealt with antisemitism. Of course, antisemites everywhere know that Jews control the economy. Perhaps Labour could not accept the thinking they revile.
Q.E.D.