Revisiting Lesser Evilism

It's time to revisit the unavoidable horizon of lesser evilism, albeit from a completely different perspective. Traditionally at election time people like me have to lecture comrades on the left to think deeply about their ill-fated electoral interventions and/or abstaining and vote Labour to keep the Tories out. As I've been a party member for seven years, that has meant urging a Labour vote despite Ed Miliband's immigration mug and the disaster zone that was Gordon Brown's premiership. Even before, all through my time as a Trot, it was obvious that a Labour government, regardless of the fact that it undermined the constituency it was set up to represent, is always preferable to a Conservative government. How things change. The left have captured the leadership, the left is running the election campaign, and the well-received manifesto is a document of the left. This time it's entirely unnecessary to bother with the few folks determined to lose their deposits. On the whole, most of the extra-Labour left are now on board. They may have criticisms of Corbyn but overall the party is heading in the right direction.

Yet there are some Labour people, some former activists and members, who have left the party and are determined not to vote for Labour. Some have gone because of Brexit, even though Labour accepting the result appears to be vindicated by the polling. And not a few vanished because of Jeremy Corbyn and all the reasons that got a full airing during the two leadership contests. And so to these people - you know who you are - this is for you. A few have even joined the Liberal Democrats. I say this in the same way it was sais to impatient lefties in the past: get a grip. This election is not about you, it is bigger than whatever criticisms you may have.

Just look at what is happening. Every time Theresa May opens her mouth about Brexit, the more likely we will crash out of the European Union without a deal. Because, true to form, the short-term headline-driven interests of the Tory Party is what comes first and foremost in every Conservative leader's mind. Their record this century on this score speaks for itself. Fine, you don't like it that Labour trooped through the aye lobby for triggering Article 50, or that the party is now committed to the end of free movement, but the choice is very clear. It's a choice between a likely no deal or a very bad deal negotiated by the clowns May has put in charge of Brexit, or a Brexit that preserves as much of the status quo as possible. Two evils, one is less damaging than the other to our people. Which is it to be?

Should we mention the security situation again? Okay, you don't like Jeremy Corbyn because of his past associations, his lefty record, his stance on nuclear weapons. It's unlikely a sentence or two expended to persuade you otherwise is going to change your mind. Instead, look at it this way. Under Theresa May, you know as well as anyone else that police numbers were substantially cut, depriving the security services of crucial community-level intelligence. In her speech responding to Saturday's terror attack, May not only unveiled a counter-terror strategy doomed to failure, but even now won't rule in extra police resources or rule out further police cuts. Meanwhile, Jeremy and the party have pledged 10,000 more coppers - a partial reversal of Tory cuts - and whatever it takes to keep the people of Britain safe. Which then is the lesser evil? Having someone you have political differences with as Prime Minister who would nevertheless address the terror threat, or a complacent Conservative government who've presided over three attacks after a period of defunding counter-terror policing? Which is the lesser evil?

Let's have a think about aspiration seeing as it got bandied around with much gusto in the immediate aftermath of the last general election. I'm going to define aspiration quite simply. It's something much more basic than "second home ownership, two cars in the driveway, a nice garden, two foreign holidays a year, and leisure systems in the home such as sound, cinema, and gym equipment", as Scottish Labour once put it. For too many of our people, it's the aspiration of having a regular job with regular hours, of getting work in which one can exercise their full talents, of buying their own home, of a life free of debt, of not getting hounded by the DWP for a few quid overpayment, of not having to face the humiliation and fear of the work capability assessment, of going into overcrowded hospitals and not having to wait for hours in pain, and the aspiration of living in a society that has left behind dog-eat-dog attitudes and is offering something better for everybody, be they poor or better off. Fine, you don't like how Corbyn supporters have talked down achievements of past Labour governments, but what is important is happening now. You can support a Prime Minister elected on a manifesto that will address all of these, or vote for a party that talks about a fairer society, but will leave social care unattended, the NHS in a mess, the disabled in crisis, and disproportionate numbers locked into low paying insecure jobs. This isn't even a lesser evil question, it's a simple yes to a positive programme or the acceptance of a miserly, grey patrician vision of a Tory Britain. There really is no contest.

These are the choices you have to weigh up. Does your dislike of Jeremy Corbyn trump the transformative programme Labour offers? Does your dislike of Jeremy Corbyn mean you'd rather see a Conservative government that's reckless with the wellbeing of its citizens, reckless with Brexit, and reckless with our safety? And, seriously, what is better for the centre left politics you're committed to - a government that seeks to put the values you hold dear into practice or one that is their very antithesis? Are you prepared to see the Tories win just so your centrist purity remains unsullied? Think about the others who need a Labour government. After all, it's a line you have used with others before. So if you don't like Jezza, put on your nose peg on Thursday and do your duty just as many others have done for previous Labour offerings.