The British Labour Party just lost the elections for Parliament. When that happened, the party leader Ed Miliband resigned and a primary is about to take place to choose a new leader. At the moment, the clear front runner in that selection process is Jeremy Corbyn, an extreme left-winger. The latest polls show Corbyn with 52% of the likely vote with his three rivals sharing the remaining 48%. Should Corbyn win, we are likely to see a British political uproar unlike anything else in recent years.
First, there are endless predictions that with Corbyn as leader, the Labour Party will never be able to win a majority in Parliament. Politicians like Tony Blair who was a Labour Prime Minister for three terms even claim that an election with Corbyn as leader would result in the destruction of the Labour Party. It's roughly the equivalent of our having George W. Bush announce that selection of Donald Trump as the GOP nominee would be a complete disaster for the Republicans. It may be his view, but as a former head of the government, he basically stays out of current politics.
Second, Corbyn is advocating for policies that the British may find too unpalatable. For example, Corbyn lately has been calling for closer British ties with Russia and an exit from NATO. I doubt that we will ever see that happen, but I also wonder how many of the British people want to befriend Vladimir Putin as he leads the Russian question to take over other countries like Ukraine, Moldova and Estonia. Corbyn is also advocating for a return to the far left policies of Labour in the 1980s, years when Labour regularly lost to the Tories.
British politics has been relatively stable for about a century with Labour and the Tories exchanging control of the government during that time. The demise of the Labour Party would lead to a major realignment of British policy and politics. The UK is not the world power that it once was; nevertheless, instability in Britain will adversely affect Europe as well as the rest of the world.
First, there are endless predictions that with Corbyn as leader, the Labour Party will never be able to win a majority in Parliament. Politicians like Tony Blair who was a Labour Prime Minister for three terms even claim that an election with Corbyn as leader would result in the destruction of the Labour Party. It's roughly the equivalent of our having George W. Bush announce that selection of Donald Trump as the GOP nominee would be a complete disaster for the Republicans. It may be his view, but as a former head of the government, he basically stays out of current politics.
Second, Corbyn is advocating for policies that the British may find too unpalatable. For example, Corbyn lately has been calling for closer British ties with Russia and an exit from NATO. I doubt that we will ever see that happen, but I also wonder how many of the British people want to befriend Vladimir Putin as he leads the Russian question to take over other countries like Ukraine, Moldova and Estonia. Corbyn is also advocating for a return to the far left policies of Labour in the 1980s, years when Labour regularly lost to the Tories.
British politics has been relatively stable for about a century with Labour and the Tories exchanging control of the government during that time. The demise of the Labour Party would lead to a major realignment of British policy and politics. The UK is not the world power that it once was; nevertheless, instability in Britain will adversely affect Europe as well as the rest of the world.
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