Forget Labour's surge, the Tory advances in Scotland, the collapse of Theresa May's majority and her arrangement with the Democratic Unionists. Only one set of results mattered on Thursday, and they were the far left's. As we saw, the bulk of the far left decided to steer clear of the field for a change. In England and Wales, the Communist Party of Britain, the Socialist Party (via TUSC), and the Socialist Workers' Party threw their battalions into the firefight behind the Jeremy Corbyn insurgency. In Scotland, the Scottish Socialist Party endorsed the SNP on the grounds that only independence could save the country from a Tory government. And that's your lot, it was left to the smaller groups to wave the unsullied flags of the left-of-Labour, um, left.
That is ado enough. Here are the numbers.
Alliance for Green Socialism
Kensington - John Lloyd 49 (0.1%, -0.2%)
Leeds North East - Celia Foote 116 (0.2%, -0.7%)
Leeds North West - Mike Davies 47 (0.1%, +0.1%)
Communist League
Islington North - Andres Mendoza 7 (0.0%, +0.0%)
Manchester Gorton - Peter Clifford 27 (0.1%, +0.1%)
People Before Profit Alliance
Foyle - Shaun Harkin 1,377 (3.0%, +3.0%)
West Belfast - Gerry Carroll 4,132 (10.2%, -9.0%)
Socialist Labour Party
Birmingham Perry Barr - Shangara Bhatoe 592 (1.3%, +0.5%)
Bootle - Kim Bryan 424 (0.8%, +0.8%)
North Cornwall - Robert Hawkins 138 (0.3%, +0.3%)
Socialist Party of Great Britain
Battersea - Daniel Lambert 32 (0.1%, +0.1%)
Islington North - Bill Martin 21 (0.0%, -0.2%)
Swansea West - Brian Johnson 92 (0.2%, -0.1%)
Workers Party
Belfast North - Gemma Weir 360 (0.7%, -1.6%)
Belfast West - Conor Campbell 348 (0.9%, -0.8%)
Workers Revolutionary Party
Camberwell and Peckham - Aminata Sellu 131 (0.2%, +0.0%)
Ealing Southall - Arj Thiara 362 (0.8%, +0.8%)
Hackney South and Shoreditch - Jonty Leff 86 (0.2%, +0.1%)
Hornsey and Wood Green - Anna Athow 55 (0.1%, +0.0%)
Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough - Mike Driver 137 (0.3%, +0.3%)
That gives us a combined vote of 7,156, well over half of which comes from the People Before Profit Alliance in Belfast. The bench mark for far left candidacies is the 1-2% range, a bracket that only the SLP could manage in Birmingham Perry Barr. By such a measure, these are a poor set of results. Leaving aside the SPGB, for whom Jeremy Corbyn's Labour is no qualitatively different to (at the time of writing) Theresa May's Tories, perhaps the rest of the parties in England and Wales ought to have a word with themselves. There's a huge movement piling up in Labour and they're carrying on as if nothing is happening - not that it bothers me, but surely from the perspective of their politics they should at least make efforts of relating to it?
NB Foyle for the People Before Profit Alliance added 14th June. Combined vote excludes their 1,377 votes.
I've lived in the Leeds North East constituency and Celia Foote's council ward for over ten years now. Their leafletting and road advertising is disciplined, thorough and predictable. I admire their commitment, puzzled that they didn't sit this one out.
ReplyDeleteBoneheaded sectarianism. If memory serves Mike Davies was turfed out of the Labour Party many moons ago.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Mike Davies the husband of Liz Davies erstwhile chair of the post SPEW Socialist Alliance?
ReplyDeleteNo he isn't.
DeleteDoesn't the Gorton fedora not count ? I gather he did miserably, and wasn't even arsed to come to the count. Also, although not of the left, the great ego of Rochdale crashed, i gather, to a three figure finish
ReplyDeleteThe AGS decision to stand is puzzling, because they're hardly a revolutionary organisation and their stance isn't a great deal further left than the Labour manifesto. I presume they felt that the last couple of years have just been a blip and that normal service would be resumed after the election.
ReplyDeleteShame there were no Class War candidates this time around. They're always good fun. They're also the only political force in the UK (perhaps even the world) that prioritises poor doors as an issue over and above everything else. An entire political philosophy based on the primacy of equality of access to residential tower blocks.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot People Before Profit Alliance in Foyle.
ReplyDeletePeople Before Profit in Foyle too. Possibly my second comment. I can't tell if the first went through :/
ReplyDeleteThe Labour Manifesto isn't far left - it is much weaker than 1983 when many of these parties also stood. The Labour party in Councils up and down the country are implementing austerity, they are cutting services, they are cutting wages, they are reducing staff, they are selling off social housing and they are paying £millions to the City in interest.
ReplyDelete