WARRINGTON North MP Helen Jones has spelled out in detail the reasons she cannot support Jeremy Corbyn in the ballot to elect the leader of the Labour Party.
In an email sent to Labour Party members and supporters in her constituency she warns that with Mr Corbyn as leader there is a very real possibility of Labour ending up with less than 200 seats in the House of Commons for the first time since 1935.
Yet the country needs a Labour government – as do the people of Warrington North, she says.
The full text of her message to supporters is as follows: “As a member of the Party for over 40 years and as your Labour MP, I have watched with dismay what has been happening to Labour since the 2015 General Election.
“That election produced our worst result since the 1980s, the loss of all but one of our seats in Scotland and Labour representation cut to only 13 seats south of the Midlands (outside of London).
“The fact that our majority in Warrington North went up should not blind us to the wider picture.
“Since then, things have got worse. The party has fallen to third place in Scotland, behind the SNP and the Tories, lost our overall majority in the Welsh Assembly, and suffered a net loss of seats in the English council elections.
At the time of writing, the polls show Labour on between 26 per cent and 28 per cent support (which is between 12 per cent and 14 per cent behind the Conservatives), yet at this stage in the electoral cycle we should be polling at least 40 per cent to have a chance of winning the next General Election.
“When Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader, we were promised that he would improve Labour’s position, that the voters in Scotland would return to us and that we would gain more working class votes. None of this has happened. Instead the situation has got worse.
“Jeremy does not have the support of many people who have previously voted Labour.
“You will know that I spend a lot of my time out knocking doors in this constituency. Time and time again, people who were previously solid Labour voters tell me that they cannot vote for us with him in charge. People have come out into the street to tell me he has to go.
“Nor does he have the support of most of his colleagues in parliament. I have watched Jeremy’s performance in the House since he was elected, hoping that it would get better. It has not. He is simply not capable of taking on the Tories at the Dispatch Box.
“Many of my colleagues who were on the front bench have found it impossible to work with him. They have found that they agree policies only to find that something different is announced or that they cannot get meetings with him to decide important issues. Whether you like these things or not, they are facts and they will not go away.
“Yet we need a Labour government. The people we represent here in Warrington North need one. Everyday, my office deals with people who cannot manage on what they earn, who are at risk of losing their homes, who have long waits for the hospital treatment they need or whose children cannot find a decent job.
“These things cannot be changed by big rallies, however much people enjoy them. We are not a debating society. The Labour Party exists to win a parliamentary majority so that it can improve the life chances of people in this country. If we have no chance of doing that, then we have to ask if we are going in the right direction.
“Labour governments created the NHS and the welfare state. Labour governments gave women the right to equal pay, raised the school leaving age and built decent housing. It was the last Labour government which brought in the minimum wage, the right to paid holiday, the right to union recognition, which increased maternity leave, introduced paternity leave, brought homes up to the decent homes standard, and made a record investment into the NHS.
“That government built a new A&E department here in Warrington and provided the money to take over the private hospital that was once in its grounds, giving state of the art facilities to NHS patients. It opened
Sure Start centres (now being closed by Tory cuts) and funded the Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub. It improved the incomes of working people through its tax credits and gave extra money to the poorest pensioners.
“It was because of that government that I met families who could give their children a day out for the first time and pensioners who could have a holiday for the first time in years.
“None of this was achieved by rallies or talking to ourselves. It was achieved bypersuading people across the country, poor or well-off, old and young to vote for us.
“Sadly, I do not believe we can do this under Jeremy Corbyn. His personal ratings are dragging Labour down. Polls now show that only 18 per cent of voters would choose him, rather than Theresa May, as Prime Minister. If he continues as leader, there is a real risk of Labour ending up with less than 200 seats for the first time since 1935.
“That is why I am supporting Owen Smith in this ballot. He is capable of holding the Party together, he is good on the media and he appeals to a cross-section of voters. I believe that he can win the next General Election.”
Ms Jones asks people to visit Owen Smith’s website www.owen2016.com and appeals to Labour members to think about the future of the party and the future of people in Warrington North before casting their vote.
Helen Jones MP
MP spells out her opposition to Jeremy Corbyn
7373 Comments
73 Comments
I’ve been a Labour supporter for 30 years and would have always considered myself fairly central and pragmatic, but I voted for Corbyn in the leadership election. I felt, and I know many others did, that the result showed that people didn’t trust the glossy centrist image of the Labour party. In Scotland votes shifted to the left – that was devastating for Labour. As the party turned on itself, I watched with dismay. I saw Labour supporters who had stood for election (and lost) telling a floating voter who had voted Tory in 2015 that he was ‘mad’ to like Corbyn. What kind of party would try to persuade a Tory not to vote Labour? I saw thousands of young people flock to the party, drawn to a man who would take the bus, sit on the floor of a train, draw low expenses rather than enjoy the trappings of power. These were not militants, but people who saw someone who seemed to be fair, decent and kind. After the referendum, the biggest own goal for the Tories in their history, when they were at war and in total disarray; in the same week that a UN report poured scorn on Osbourne’s austerity measures, what did Labour do? Their job was to oppose. A rallying party exposing the cracks of the Tories would have drawn support to them like a moth to a light bulb. But no, they went for a vote of no confidence in their leader instead. And since then, all I have read from labour MPs has been about the party, the party, the party. No wonder support is falling away. After 30 years I don’t care who wins the leadership election. I’ve lost faith in this self centred, self interested parliamentary party whose neglect of its duty to oppose the government has been shocking. What a shoddy display.
Jeremy has over 300 CLP s supporting him. I attended our CLP when we voted by 42 to 11 to nominate him. That’s 53 people out of a constituency of 75 000 voters. Membership in our constituency has increased in last year from 150 to 1000 so I was told. Of the 53 who turned out only 2 were new members. Where are the newcomers? No one I meet outside of the party takes Jeremy seriously. That’s the problem. New members have paid £3.00 to protest( about Westminster in general) but they are not going to help get us elected. They are Labour voters anyway. Scotland is a different issue and very complicated. SNP have stolen Labour policies and Scots have given up hope of a left of centre government. But they have a good leader. Corbyn is not. End of story.
Surely almost half a million new members is as representative of the electorate as any poll! Also, Smith has absolutely no chance of winning votes in Scotland where they need to see real socialism not a corporate businessman’s view of it!
But they are not. Most of those new members a located within Labour urban strongholds. There is no increase in membership in those 100 marginals Labour needs to win to have any chance of forming government. There is a disconnect between hard line Corbyn supporters and the reality of winning General Elections. But sadly, I think it will take Labour losing the next GE under him for them to understand that, and then he will of course, have to resign, and it will be over.
…and you think a corporate businessman who lies convincingly would be better? Smith would stand no chance in Scotland!
I am not a ‘hard line Corbyn supporter’ but a socialist and labour party member who left the party when Blair decided to invade Iraq. I am female, 56 and a special needs teacher. I am not a trot, an orc or a communist. I simply would like to see an effective left wing party oppose this cruel Tory government. I am sickened by the squandered opportunity to oppose this government, by the abstention on the welfare bill and the vote to bomb Syria – there has been no discernible difference between ‘new labour’ and the centre right. I want to be represented in Parliament by my peers, not privately schooled, Oxbridge boys who think that politics is at best a game and at worst an opportunity to line their own pockets. Labour were ahead in the polls before the pathetic, mealy mouthed chicken coup and making excellent progress in terms of by elections and mayoral elections. The opposition to Corbyn is no more than trumped up opportunism backed by those with a vested interest in keeping the status quo. Ordinary people are supporting him and even if Labour don’t get in in 2020 at least there will be a left wing, vociferous voice of opposition. Politicians on both sides have seriously misjudged the mood and will of the people.
I am told that we have “several hundreds”new members in my own (currently Tory) marginal. The problem is that the CLP has done very little to get them engaged, it seems they’d rather they all went away and left the party to the old guard anti-Corbynites.
Where are the new members? Locked out by the NEC from taking part along with the CLP’s locked out from engaging with them. When this diabolical edict is lifted *then* you’ll see the new members getting active and the majority will be for JC.
You will be surprised, just wait and see the very many of “common and ordinary” people like me, who either joined recently ( I am on of the 100.000 + that never joined a political party, voted Labour and payed the £3 first and then the £25 ); or are just supporting Jeremy policies and leadership. He is a leader. Perhaps you don’t like his style, and that is fine, but we both will agree we need honest people in power. People are just tired, feed up of Parliamentary fat cats doing business for themselves and totally detached from us, the common and ordinary, who suffer the austerity as usual. The press is not being honest on the contrary, the press is completely bias to this phenomenon named JC. Wait and see.
As a Scot I would say that Labour lost Scotland because it moved to the right &shared a platform with the Tories at the Inderef so Lost what remained of their credibility SNP won on a socialist anti austerity message ,the same policies being proposed by Corbyn so WHY do you say he is not a leader ?He is Labour’s only hope of success Strikes me that there are lots of folk in England being brainwashed by the hate spewing out from the MSM
Spot on Dorothy… Scotland was lost well before Jeremy Corbyn’s nomination….largely due to Labour right crossing the boundaries and adopting Conservative aspirations. Many members left under Tony Blair for exactly the same reasons.
There are no blurred boundaries with JC….no spin…..no dirty tactics…. just integrity, vision, progressive policies for all and for future generations, peace and honesty
It is nonsense like yours that is dragging the Party down. The new Members are not dilettantes. They joined because they want a change from the “business as usual” Westminster.
The SNP are in deep trouble as the Scottish people don’t actually like what they are trying to do. Hence the recent Labour By-Election win. As your CLP obviously wants Jeremy by a huge margin, why do you say you didn’t meet anyone who takes him seriously?
YOU HAVE JUST PUT PAID TO THE WHOLE NEWCOMERS ARE THE ONES VOTING FOR HIM..ONLY 2 OUT OF THE 53 WERE NEW BUT 42 VOTED FOR HIM. SO ITS ESTABLISHED MEMBERS IN YOUR CLP THAT THINK HE WOULD MAKE A GOOD LEADER. GOOD NEWS!
We are not allowed. Unless the membership was prior to 12 January we are denied a meeting until after the September event in Liverpool. Don’t blame the absolute desire and interest of literally thousands and thousands of us at the behest of NEW rules of the NEC. Come September see the seats fill up
Absolute none sense! Your actions and those of your coup supporting colleagues have been abominable but enlightening. The behaviour of the PLP has been that of turkeys sensing the arrival of Christmas, Labours strategy of abandoning the working class in pursuit of the ‘floating middle’ emaciated the membership and also shed voters as it adopted a policy free vacuous approach to achieving power at all costs. This was failing long before Jeremy Corbyn was elected with an overwhelming majority! At a time when the real Tories were there for the taking, with an enlarged and motivated labour membership at your disposal, self interest took over! Shame on you all!
My endless question to all you decent people is…..’would you trust this woman, who has repeatedly voted to bomb, invade, maim and kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people to direct you on a course of truth and understanding’. Would you. She voted for all the war and conflict issues throughout the Middle East, including Iraq. She voted against the Chilcot enquiry and still she voted to continue with the support of bombing Aleppo. Look at the vision of those young children and tell me you care not but yet still trust her as much as you would trust Blair.
Brilliant, well said Debra… what planet are the plp on. Not ours certainly.
Surely, if for no other reason, we cannot have a party leader who would be 70 if he were to become Prime Minister after the next Genera Election.
It’s kind of sad that you thing age has anything to do with this. I guess we have covered all the other ‘isms’ but ageism is still rife!
Yes. All those years and years of experience in politics and the wisdom and mellowness of age. Couldn’t be a better time to snap him up as prime minister. There are new members all over the country and the members overwhelmingly voted for him, new and old last time. How anyone could vote anything other than Corbyn in this election is beyond me. Would you join in with democracy being trampled? Would you join in with a bullying campaign of people who have proven themselves untrustworthy? This is the politician we have all been waiting for all our lives: one who is honest and caring and has integrity,nwho understands and listens and respects, who wants to share power with the people. As Prime Minister he will give us the fair and prosperous country we have always wanted. As someone else said the rally attendance’s and increase in membership are a poll of people voting with their feet and they are just the tip of the iceberg. People trust and relate to Corbyn and he can take us all the way, not with smoke and mirrors and spin, but with good honest democratic socialism. Before being convinced by all the anti-Corbyn smear and innuendo investigate the evidence. What this MP is saying is just the same old line that the saboteurs seem to have decided to take. It’s not original as she tries to make it seem, as if she’s thought about it and this is what she thinks. The people who are trying to sabotage democracy don’t want a democratic party or country and they don’t want democratic socialism. All the other smears are just excuses aimed at scaring, bullying and convincing voters. As for the old ‘Ive been knocking on doors and this is what people tell me in the street’ chestnut….how scientific is that? How can we verify that one single person has said they don’t like Corbyn to her let alone the majority? One minute these MPs are complaining about being harassed by masses of disgruntled members of the public life who support Corbyn, the next they’re saying everyone they meet doesn’t like him. It’s just hearsay. Please try to look at evidence and verify it before you take things like this on face value. We are not ‘talking to ourselves’ and rallies are more than just fun. Corbyn stood in the street in Sheffield last night where everyone and anyone could see him and listen to him and he laid out where he wanted to take our country with our help, and those numbers attending those rallies all over the country, often thousands at a time, like in Sheffield, they are verifiable evidence of the attraction and the support of the public. Ignore the accepted wisdom on polls because these circumstances are unprecedented and unique, Corbyn’s u expected rise, the referendum result (which defied the polls) , the coup…..it’s not business as usual and that’s what scares them. This is our once in a lifetime chance to actually make a difference and make a positive change in the Labour Party, politics, the country and our lives.B believe me, if we miss this, those who want to control things in the Labour Party and the wider establishment will get this opening seen up double quick and we’ll never have a mother chance to have a say in things and make real positive change again. Vote wisely folks and best wishes x
Sorry, I was rushing off and made some typos. They will get this opening SEWN up and we’ll never have ANOTHER chance. X
I suppose we are going to see a 170 + of these now that voting is about to begin… I would be interested in hearing what Helen Jones will do, should Jeremy Corbyn be re-elected.
And yet again the onslaught goes on drip feeding negativity from the plp. Shame they aren’t so condemning about the comments of people like foster or as committed to tackling the tories as they are about trying to protect there own positions.
It is very sad when an MP refuses to represent their constituency. Helen Jones blocked me from facebook and twitter when I disagreed with her when she voted for the extension of the bombing of Syria. Now, I know I am just one person BUT I know of MANY in Warrington who desperately want a real socialist like Corbyn to lead the Labour Party and finally get rid of the tories. As a member of the Labour Party, I can tell you that local meetings are greatly split concerning this too, with MANY members wanting Corbyn to remain as leader. However, members backing Corbyn have been refused a say. As a DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST party, Labour needs rid of MPs who refuse to represent their constituents and merely put across their own views. I hope Helen Jones graciously steps down as MP when Corbyn is elected.
Would you really trust the word of someone who voted for the Bombing fo Syria.I for one don’t and Ms Jones should look at pictures in the media,because she condones all these Children Suffering.Shame on her..
I would not trust someone who vote for bombing Syria. Shame for them.
And you voted to bomb Syria, Helen?
You’re a disgrace to the Labour Party.
We want a new type of politics, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. If you’re not willing to follow the wishes of the members of the Labour movement, get the hell out of the way. Resign your seat and let’s have a byelection.
But do your principles go that far?
Changing leaders on poll ratings four years out from a General Election is a very shortsighted action. I don’t feel very much confidence in a PLP that has taken the chance to show a firm and united opposition to a floundering Tory Party post referendum and turned it into a debacle by turning on a leader who has attracted enormous numbers to join the Party. Not only has their treatment of Jeremy Corbyn, with his overwhelming mandate, been close to workplace bullying and harassment, but the disdain shown for the Party members, who support and campaign for Parliamentary candidates has been counter-productive, anti-democratic and undermining the Labour Party’s electoral chances.
From the start of his term as leader there has been a deafening silence from many members of the PLP who are unhappy with his political views and history and it is clear that they have been looking for any opportunity to find a way of replacing him regardless of the dubious legitimacy of the methods or the consequences for the Party.
As a floating voter with a particular passion for free education I withdraw my support from the Labour Party when they introduced University Tuition Fees and supported the LibDems who pledged to scrap them. They changed their minds on the issue and I felt betrayed and so did not vote in 2015 because I felt unable to trust politicians.
I had never heard of Jeremy Corbyn until his name appeared on the ballot for the leadership election. I investigated to find an MP who has never sought a position, had lived a dedicated and frugal life, whose expenses had been minimal, whilst others had been milking the system, an MP who stood shoulder to shoulder with the people he represents and votes according to his convictions and promises made to the electorate. In other words someone I felt I could trust.
I have now joined the Labour Party and will put time and effort into supporting Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. I trust him to develop policies through the democratic processes as laid out in the booklet sent to me when I joined and not by sit downs with a handful of MPs in Westminster. I trust him to represent me in Parliament in a serious and dignified manner and not resort to the sneering sarcasm that seems to be so valued by political insiders. I still carry the shock of a young man in the 70’s of visiting the Strangers’ Gallery and seeing the puerile behaviour and hearing the baying and jeering and am delighted that finally someone has the strength to stand against the tide and actually show some respect for this ancient institution and treat his role seriously.
I believe that despite the detractors, the mass media hype and the short-sighted self-serving attitude of many Labour MPs that through word of mouth, social media, rallies and campaigns more and more people will start to realise what an asset to the Labour Party and to the country Jeremy Corbyn is.
The whole Owen Smith campaign is a joke. He has no original policies – or thoughts – and has spent most of the hustings making personal comments about Jeremy Corbyn. To his credit, Jeremy does not respond to insults but does his best to bring the hustings back to policies. I am on the wrong side of the river to vote for Helen Jones but if she were my MP I would never vote for her again. The blood of innocent people is on her hands and she is ignoring her constituents by entering into a coup cooked up by those who feel threatened by Jeremy Corbyn. Owen Smith will fall by the wayside just as Angela Eagle did. Stop treating Labour party members as if they were idiots. We pay your wages so get off the gravy train Helen and do some real work please.
If you put a fraction of the energy into opposing the tories that you do in attacking Jeremy corbyn then people may trust you, but as it is all we see is a bunch of so called adults acting like children, you need to do what you were elected to do, and that is represent your constituents and oppose the the conservatives.
That 2015 election? Ed Miliband only fell 200,000 votes below the total that Blair won with in 2005….and that’s despite the loss of votes in Scotland.
The sheer fact that labour did so badly in the last election should tell people there needs to be a change and as far as i am concerned Jeremy Corbyn is the change that a lot of people want
All your observations in regards to last election is before JC. When your lot were in control of our party.
Since then we have won everything put in front of the party. By-elections, Mayoral. JC has won everything including a 59% of the Electoral vote in last years Leadership Election. Which you lot undemocratically ignore, with your failed coup and your undermining of our Leader, you are a disgrace to freedom and democracy, within our once great party.
What are your plans when he wins yet again, is it more of the same or will you join us and fight my real enemy the Tories.
It seems to me that you need to get statistics up to date. The seats lost to SNP can hardly be put solely on JC’s shoulders. The Labour party as a whole needs to take responsibility for that. When will you take off your blinkers and see that Mr. Corbyn is offering the kind of policies that people want? The increase in membership is evidence of that, as is the Labour success in by-elections and the obvious support for Mr. Corbyn at rallies and hustings. Also, Mr. Corbyn is a man that can be trusted, a man of dignity and common sense. He has my support all the way!
I have been a Labour supporter for 30 years. I have seen the arty get worse since the Iraq war. Since then the party decided to disregard it’s members and hence the loss of Scotland. You say you had hoped Jeremy Corbyn is not good enough because you’d hoped he’d get Scotland back. How naive to think that he’d wave a magic wand and get Scotland back in 10 months?. Perhaps if you had fallen behind him to attack the Tory policies and showed how Labour had become a party of the electorate not just Westminster – Scotland would have come back.
There is no way am I going to vote for someone who has attempted to destroy the party and who shamelessly copies everything Mr Corbyn has been saying, and claiming those ideas to be his own.
It amazes me how any Labour MP has the audacity to say how much they had failed in the 2015 election and then say the new leader is unelectable, She isn’t on her own thinking the bad results had nothing to do with her and the way the party was led, she and her fellow Labour MPs have lost 168 MPs in ten years, lost Scotland and 5m voters, they are incompetent, they sent a message to the members that they didn’t care about the worst welfare bill ever put before parliament however much they want to distance themselves from that vote now, that abstention was a red rag to a bull for those who care for the poor, disabled and disenfranchised in this country, the coup was from the start a disgraceful act of treachery to the members who had overwhelmingly voted for Corbyn to try and change the direction of the Party, it has been laughable at the schoolboy antics from the PLP during the coup, the very people who want to convince us they can rule the Country cannot even run their own party, The membership know when they are being had and they have been had big time but they will win in the end, believe me they are determined to get these cuckoos out of the nest.
Jeremy Corbyn was elected by a huge mandate last year and I am proud to be someone who voted for him. Over the past few months, Labour has won elections and party membership is at its highest point. Why then, did this leadership contest come into being? The reason for this is very simple. There are those so-called Labour MPs who are career politicians who are not at heart democratic socialists and never have been. Mr Corbyn’s policies and politics threatens their nice, cozy life inside the Westminster bubble. Heaven forbid a government should actually act in the interests of the people. This is all about the establishment clinging on to creating its wealth via disenfranchising ordinary people. This is where Ms Jones’s interests lie. Well, Ms Jones, politics is changing and for the better. There’s never been a phenomenon like this in British politics with an increasing number of people taking an active interest. If you wish to continue as an MP, you would perhaps do well to start to work for your constituents and listen to them. For example, just how many constituents did you hear from regarding bombing Syria? Are you proud of ignoring their wishes now that there are pictures of the devastation and horrors your action in voting for bombing has caused? An MPs job should be to act in the interests of her/his constituents. The Tories were in disarray following the EU referendum. There was a golden opportunity for a united Labour Party to strike against them. What happened? 172 MPs decided to openly challenge our democratically elected party leader rather than do the job of the opposition. Shame on you!
Yes – I think we are going to see a drip drip of these articles now sadly as the vote gets closer. Looked at her voting record, and can see why she would not support Jeremy Corbyn. What these MPs don’t get is that the more they try to vilify Jeremy Corbyn, the more support he gets as people just don’t like bullys. So carry on…
its not the fact that some labour MPs voted to bomb Syria…but the fact they all cheered when they won they vote !…cheering as the bombs started to drop….and these MPs want to lecture me…
So very glad you’r not my MP – you do understand that the world is moving into a new paradigm and we need to let go of the old, imperial mores in our dealings with the other nations? There’s so much we can do that is positive and I hear none of it here.
We, the membership are very disappointed with your destructive decision. You and your right-wing policies and right-wing mates are what is destroying, what could be, the greatest social movement within the party and within British politics for years.
Scotland was lost, as you well know, to the left-wing. It just does not make sense to continue down that route if you want to win back Scotland.
You say it has got worse in Scotland since JC was elected, you have no proof and there have been successes in Scotland, but you of course would not want to look at that.
You also know well that those who don’t support JC are in the grip of Progress, the right-wing thinktank within Labour(what a misnomer), who would stand to lose much inder a JC Government. You might deny this, but we are not fools, we know the truth and the drive behind the madness that is “anyone buty Corbyn”. It is really self explanatory.
You talk about the people you represent; have you been to ask them recently?
Do you honestly think the NHS is safe with the like of Mr Pfizer or any of the other right-wing members who support PFI. I am sorry, but you are either being economical with the truth or unaware! You decide?
You say again the overused maxim: “I don’t think JC…..” I don’t even have to write it because we are all bored with this drivel. It has no substance and in fact the latest polls prove the opposite.
So Ms Jones, I suggest you go back to your constituents and ask them what they want you to do. That is how democracy works!
drip, drip, drip ……only another 25 of these to go and then the election will be over
A LP supporter for more than 50 years I expect PLP members to have integrity, altruism, courage and loyalty. Sadly during the last year the duplicity, treachery and willingness to oust a democratically elected leader by 170+ MPs has shocked and revolted me. Jeremy Corbyn will get my vote as he did last year. He is a fine example of a strong and caring leader and I am proud to support him.
That you and your colleagues are unable, or more truthfully unwilling, to work with the democratically elected leader is a failing on your part, not on his. When he is re-elected I hope you will have the decency to either abide by the decision of the sovereign body of the Labour Party and support the leader or resign the Party whip. The arrogance and contempt for the Labour Party membership shown by the coup organisers, supporters and hangers on is disgraceful and has brought the Labour Party into disrepute and seriously damaged it’s chances of replacing the Tories and helping working people, the vulnerable and disabled in the next General Election.
You voted to bomb Syria. I don’t have faith in you because of that. Also You should support your leader. When you disrespect him, you distrespect us who elected him.
You say you have no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn’s ability to lead the Labour Party to success in the next election. This may well be your personal opinion and you are entitled to hold it, but it is not the opinion of your constituents nor the hundreds of thousands of people, old and young, who Jeremy has inspired to get involved in politics. Jeremy is an inspiring figure. He is a decent and honest man who has put forward a series of centre-left policies that the whole PLP should be getting behind, instead of plotting whatever cheap smear tactics they can to try and remove him. Do you think we are fooled by the not-very-well-trained Owen Smith with his constant lies and hypocrisy? No-one for a moment believes that win or lose, Owen Smith has a future at the head of the Labour Party. He is clearly a naive puppet who will be cast aside when he has served his purpose. Why not accept that the country wants Jeremy and his policies and get behind him to lead the Labour Party to victory at the next general election?
Utterly boring and predictable garbage, no doubt taken from a set script that we will see repeated 170 times in the run up to the leadership election as all the other coup members do likewise. You voted to continue bombing innocent civilians in Syria and should be hanging your head in shame and get out of politics
Jeremy Corbyn’s policies are exactly what the country needs. If your constituents don’t understand this it is due to the constant negative drip feed of a right wing media and M.Ps from the labour party who follow a neoliberal agenda. It is your job to counteract theses influences and explain the positve potential to society of our leaders policies. As others have mentioned you have made youself part of the problem. In taking this position, you are supporting those who lost the last election and are part of the politics as usual which are distroying our country.
If you had got behind the elected leader of the party and not undermined him from the very start perhaps the polls would be better. Nobody promised scottish voters would return as everyone knows the situation there is very complicated. That is just 1 inaccuracy in a disgracefully inaccurate statement. It was the pre corbyn party which lost scotland and millions to ukip. Jeremy corbyn simply projects true labour values against a recent history of tory lite labour junk politics. You voted to bomb Syria. How do you feel about that now ? Did you vote against tory welfare cuts ? The membership of the party overwhelmingly supports corbyn policies. Why is that so hard to understand ?
You and your parliamentary colleagues have betrayed not only your leader – democratically elected with a huge mandate – but the membership of the party and the constituents you represent, and by extension the country. The carefully orchestrated rebellion of right wing MPs is a crying shame and disgrace to the party and I don’t know how you can sleep at night. You voted to bomb Syria – did the recent pictures of that poor little boy, the video of doctors saving the lives of a pregnant woman and her baby hit by shrapnel give you nightmares? I suspect not, sadly. The people of this country need a real Labour government with a real Labour leader, not the pale, tentative imitations of recent years. How do you personally feel about the undemocratic way every effort has been made to prevent members from voting – to effectively rig the result of the leadership election? Leave a nasty taste in your mouth? Well it should do – it does in mine. I’ve seen people who have never engaged in politics or been a member of a political party join over the past months because Corbyn speaks to them in a way no other politician does. They see what I do – an incorruptible, honest man among corrupt and self-serving politicians, reviled by a corrupt and self-serving media. Shame on you for what you have done and what you have written here.
I don’t know how you and your colleagues who voted to bomb Syria, can sleep at night knowing you are responsible for the deaths of so many men, women and children who were just going about their daily lives, scraping a living in the ruins of the homes, SHAME ON YOU
Another day, another sniping MP. The anti-Corbyn roll-out of moaners and complainers continues. Congratulations on fitting several of the coup plotters’ stock phrases into your piece (I think you used “we are not a debating club” twice). And good luck backing Owen Smith – what will you do when he disappears back into the cogs of the plotters’ machinery? I guess it’s too much to ask that you support the elected leader of our party?
The SNP simply put forward an alternative manifesto based on the nordic countries democratic socialism and walked the election. Corbyn and his team are offering a similar deal. This MP has betrayed the membership and the democratic process by undermining the elected leader from the very beginning. If she fails to abide by the ballot result her constituency members will have the options available within the rule book to challenge her.
Disgusting representative of Labour! I have voted Labour my entire life until the latter Blair years… I want a leader who represents True Labour, not New Labour (pink Tory). Jeremy Corbyn is the only person in my view who represents a real Labour Party. Personally, if JC is ousted I will not hesitate to leave the Party as I do not wish to be part of a non democratic, Tory Light Party!
I am very proud to be supporting Jeremy and his new Shadow Cabinet, all of whom seem to have no problem in working with him, and none of them are guilty of endless leaks to the Right-Wing press and the BBC, both of which have been proved to be biased towards him. Too many current Labour MP’s are an absolute embarrassment to us party members and are causing the party to look like a national disgrace. If you can’t work with colleagues in parliament then you should not be an MP – simple as that. We are all tired of the press drip-feed designed to try and elect someone as a party leader who has only been a Socialist for about two weeks.
Give us a break. The iron-clad ‘on message’s culture of control under Blair, Campbell and the New Labour machinery has been subverted and the party is now, thank God, back in socialist hands, where it belongs. We will heal your failures, the austerity-colluding Tory Lite dogma, that caused us to be kicked out of No. 10 and haemorrhage almost 4 million votes not to mention disillusioned members from the Party, bit by bit, from here. You and your kind – the Blair-obedient, Murdoch-courting careerists – that lost us our Scottish voter base in the first place, will do well to note that in only 11 months and with colossal media and in-house betrayal snapping shark-like at his heels, Jeremy Corbyn has inspired signs of life in Scotland for Labour again. Shame on you Helen Jones.
Yes, the advances mentioned now being undone by the Tories as mentioned can only be restored by a credible government, not con merchants.
To blame Corbyn for Labour’s poor polls is an outrage. Labour was ahead in one poll just as the coup broke, and now is gradually rising again. Many things about this leadership contest make me angry but nothing makes me as angry as the patronising MPs who rank down at us as if we are stupid and ignorant. Corbyn us the democratically elected leader. Get over it. Support him. In doing so you will help the party too.
Proud to be supporting Jeremy Cornyn, a decent and honourable man.
Sorry Helen, you are wrong and have gone against the majority of the people who voted you into your position. I am proud to be standing with Corbyn and think you need to have a look at yourself in the mirror.
You vored for thiis – Shame on You !
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10210254407065916&set=gm.1578484995790793&type=3&theater
It seems sadly that you are another gun rotting cowboy MP who wants to do nothing but tear around into other people’s countries. Tearing them apart. Seriously look at Syria and look at the little boy in Aleppo and still declare that you are a pro war, Anti Corbyn MP who has turned off completely from the electorate. If you can truly still declare that war was right then you seem to have become inhumane. It’s surprising you are still around. If the electorate wakes up and votes you out, this world will be one more step to being a safer place.
I am a Jeremy Corbyn supporter because, having watched him at the hustings and on TV interviews, I find him to be intelligent, compassionate, honest and statesmanlike. I have also done a lot of research on him and other MPs and have found nothing to make me change my mind about him. Other MPs, not so much. What makes me so mad is the utter disgusting lies and propaganda churned out by mainstream media. But then, they are owned by the !% elite who have much to lose if Jeremy becomes our Prime Minister. And that makes me very suspicious. What do the MPs who oppose him have to lose? For some it’s obvious by their backgrounds but what has been promised to the rest? They just keep saying he is unelectable which is so obviously untrue that it beggars belief. And you and the others obviously despise the Labour party members or you wouldn’t behave the way you do. But we are not idiots and we have the internet to find out the truth. I watched the video of Omran Daqneesh and another one that was in fact worse, showing a baby with a shrapnel wound to his head and hope that you and all the others who voted to bomb Syria and cheered at the result will hang your heads in shame forever.
It is very worrying when those who oppose Jeremy Corbyn have no idea of who could take his place and end up trying to prop up Smith with the hope that he will become less odious. You`s have to face facts. Only Jeremy can lead you to victory. Only Jeremy can represent the nation. We are fed up with the whole 172 of you caring more about your bank accounts and nice earners than the country.
To the 170 +. Do you think we are fools? Either/or Labour members and/or the Public?! Do you think that we do not understand what you Coupers are doing. Trying to affect the outcome of the Leadership vote with this last-ditch kick at your democratically elected leader. She should all be utterly disgusted with yourselves. You are bringing Labour into disrepute. If Labour fails then Labour Members and the Public who are far more wised-up than you think will be holding you responsible – NOT Jeremy Corbyn. I can see it and it is disgusting and I am not a JC supporter. I am undecided. But you are certainly pushing me into his camp. You should be ashamed of yourselves
She’s clearly cannibalising the template email they’re all using to try to defend their indefensible and inexcusable actions. Not even enough nous or ideas to create a genuine message to her local members. Trying to knife Corbyn in the back they end up shooting themselves in the foot.
All they’ve done is remove any leg to stand on when their members deselect them.
I think pre judging an election that is 3-4 years ff is extremely stupid thing to do . After all the pollsters got it correct on the las two occasions didn’t they. The Parliamentary Labour Party need to pipe down and do some work, instead of boosting their own profiles in the media.
Labour party members and politicians who bring the party in to disrepute should be expelled immediately, i’m taking about you John Mctiernan and you Simon Danczuk. MPs have short memories, some say that have no memory of of what loyalty means either to the party or to the party members who work so hared to get them elected.
If MPs cannot work with the leader they should test their support in the CLP by organising a selection process as soon as possible.
These MPs are little more than careerist managers apparatchiks of regime that keeps them there and that they will follow unquestionly.
The majority in Warrington North increased, indicating support for Jeremy Corbyn. Helen Jones – you were elected to represent these people – not the self-serving interests of a group of back-stabbing Blairite has beens. You obviously have no intention of representing the views of the people who elected you, rather than being their voice in parliament you choose to dictate your own personal views. In your comments above, not only have you displayed a disgraceful condescending attitude towards your constituents, you have attempted to validate your views with misleading information. As you don’t represent your constituent’s views and refuse to back your democratically elected leader you should resign.
Jeremy Corbyn’s ever increasing popularity is basically due to the fact that in a cesspit of self-servers he stands out as a person of integrity, which sadly Helen your comments indicate you are not. You, and it seems the majority of present MP’s of all parties are so far removed from the mind-set of the general public, who are in the main decent, honest, humanitarian, peace loving people and not the selfish, self-serving, money grabbing imaginary society you are all trying to get votes from.
The trouble with most of you people is that you are mostly all ME ME ME. You want a Government that looks after YOU personally. Don’t you realise that the government’s job is to look after the country…the economy. Then it will be able to look after YOU as well. But if it follows the nanny state policies of socialism (which would be lovely if they worked, but they don’t) it will swiftly reduce us to the level of a Third World Country. If that’s what you want, vote Corbyn. Except of course that if you do, you will ensure that Labour doesn’t win a General Election for years anyway. In fact you could well result in a split in the party, reducing Labour to the level of a political minnow.
Calm down Mr/Ms UVOR NOTION! The fact that most people support Jeremy Corbyn seems to be leading you and the ‘has been’ Blairites to the point of hysteria!
Before you decided to berate the posts of ‘most of the people’ here did you actually read the posts? How have you managed to interpret some posters humanitarian concern for the suffering of unknown people in far-away lands as their own ‘personal’ interests?
You ask “Don’t you realise that the government’s job is to look after the country…the economy?”
Are you kidding? After the mess those you support made of the economy, your statement is nothing other than ridiculous!
Your attempt to create panic of mass poverty is truly pathetic. For people queuing up at food banks Britain must already seem like a ‘Third World Country’, but is worse, because whilst they are forced to suffer this degradation it is in the knowledge that it is needless suffering because Britain has in fact one of the best economies in the world.
Nobody is falling for all the bull about ‘austerity’. That was always just an excuse to bleed money from the people to pay for the wars the politicians are creating. Wars which have no humanitarian grounds, just greed. And whilst people in these countries are dying and suffering those you support are cheering and no doubt already debating the sharing out of ludicrous contracts for rebuilding the lands you have razed to the ground. We the public who did not want any of these wars, not only have to pay the financial costs but also the price in terrorist threats.
We have endured constant cuts to public services to the most vulnerable members of society, increasing numbers of old people who can’t even afford to keep warm, exorbitant higher education costs which prevent the young from securing a prosperous future etc. etc. etc. Yet we can all see that developers and their like have never had it so good.
Your ignorance on the policies of socialism is profound. The ‘nanny state’ was a creation of those you support for no other reason than to degrade and enslave the working classes.
Socialist policies advocate a fairer distribution of wealth and the enablement of people to earn enough to fully support themselves. You say socialist policies don’t work – other than the ‘corrupted’ policies of fake socialists we haven’t ever had any!
Why voting for Corbyn is such a popular option.
Corbyn is a genuine, honest man of integrity.
Corbyn’s policies are to create a fairer society, to relieve poverty and suffering and enable the majority to prosper.
The reason you and your supporters are getting so hysterical about Corbyn is because his economic policies will appeal to people from all walks of life (excepting of course the super, super rich off shore tax evaders).
The Tories and yourselves the Pink Tories having fleeced the working class to the point that you can’t get more blood from a stone will now be concentrating your revenue raising efforts on the middle classes. Corbyn will not make cuts to services for the most vulnerable and will ensure a decent living for the working classes. He is not out to fleece the middle classes to pay for this. His intention is to make those who have become super, super rich on the toil of others pay their fair share and he will put an end to off-shore tax evasion. Why wouldn’t anyone vote for him?
Corbyn is a genuine humanitarian and will not lead us into needless wars.
He will help the most vulnerable in society, and will be supported for this by all.
Your mistake in thinking that he would not be popular with the middle classes for supporting the vulnerable is due to the fact that you mistakenly believe that they are people like yourselves with no compassion for others.
Mr/Ms UVOR NOTION are you dim? The Blairite ‘has-beens’ have already created a split in the Labour Party. They should be true to their real loyalties, resign and join the Tories.
This attempted coup of a democratically elected leader has already seriously damaged the Labour Party.
Owen Smith will never lead the country because nobody is going to vote for a Blairite clone who supported the backdoor privatisation of the NHS.
Face reality, without Jeremy Corbyn Labour hasn’t a chance in hell of winning a general election – whilst, without Labour Jeremy and his supporters could re-form and win anyway!
And you accuse me of hysteria!!!
You can’t face up to the facts, but seriously, is that the best response you can come up with?