Abbott: New Labour "contaminated" by big money
As the Labour leadership campaign creeps closer and closer to balloting, candidate Diane Abbott is taking a new approach to her leadership bid:
Class warfare.
Some may recall that, as the 2010 general election approached, then-Labour leader (and then-Prime Minister) Gordon Brown tried to stir up class warfare sentiments when he targetted Tory leader David Cameron over his education.
Abbott has evidently decided to adopt the same tactic. The difference is that she's directing it within her own party, as opposed at a partisan opponent.
Her principle complaint is that some of her competitors have received far more campaign donations than she has. She declares this to be evidence that New Labour was "pretty much contaminated".
"It is odd that David Miliband has £400,000 and I have £5,000," Abbott complains. "He's got the big Blairite money and the big Blairite backers."
It's the kind of move that must lead one to question how serious Abbott is about her leadership bid.
After all, to be seen attempting to divide Britons at large against one another based on wealth is one thing. To be doing it within her own party is another entirely.
After all, election campaigns cannot be contested without money. Under Abbott's best-case scenario, in which wealth is a pervasive enough wedge issue to help her win the Labour leadership, she risks dividing the party membership against those most likely to donate to contest the next election.
The dangers of this stategy speaks for itself: a Labour Party under Diane Abbott's leadership isn't likely to progress any closer to power in a future election, but is likely to instead find itself further away.
Moreover, if Labour rewards Abbott's petty class warfare, it will deserve to be.
Monday, August 09, 2010
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It appears the Labour Party has adopted the Liberal party tactic of navel gazing, airing their dirty laundry in public.
ReplyDeleteTheir Conservative, Liberal political opponents are thankful for the sideshow.
One should keep in mind that Labour doesn't have nearly the record of political success that the Liberal Party does, and yet they're still thoroughly confused about how they lost power.
ReplyDeleteThat Diane Abbott would even raise this issue as if it were a substantive political matter is evidence of that.