Elevating political suicide into an art form
There have been some pretty daft things happening in British politics over the last few weeks.
But the most ridiculous thing to happen this week was the constituency Labour party for Barrow and Furness - Barrow, where the dominant employer is the BAE facility and where thousands of jobs depend on Britain's nuclear deterrent - nominating the hopelessly anti-Trident Jeremy Corbyn for re-election as Labour leader. Apparently 70% of the local party voted for this lunacy.
I am not in a position to know how many of the people who are likely to stand as Labour candidates in Barrow in next year's elections to Cumbria County Council supported Mr Corbyn.
But irrespective of the position of any individual Labour activist, it means that wearing a red rosette while canvassing in Barrow during next year's local elections, or indeed any election in Barrow in the next few years, is equivalent to knocking on doors while sporting a T-Shirt which says in big letters
"I want thousands of people in this town thrown on the dole!"
Every time a Labour canvasser knocks on a door in Barrow, there is a very strong chance that he or she will be talking to someone that Barrow CLP effectively voted this week to make redundant, an even stronger chance that it will be someone who has a close friend or family member that they voted to make redundant, and a certainty that they voted to make thousands of their neighbours redundant.
A vote for Labour in South-West Cumbria is now a vote for unemployment.
The Conservatives will of course, be pointing this out not just in Barrow but in the other parts of the constituency and indeed in towns like Millom, currently in the Copeland constituency, which is also home to many people employed at BAE.
It isn't just policy on defence. If Labour activists are foolish enough to support Jeremy Corbyn in a constituency where everyone with a working brain knows that one of the policies dearest to his heart will devastate the local economy, what other idiocy can you trust them not to support?
But the most ridiculous thing to happen this week was the constituency Labour party for Barrow and Furness - Barrow, where the dominant employer is the BAE facility and where thousands of jobs depend on Britain's nuclear deterrent - nominating the hopelessly anti-Trident Jeremy Corbyn for re-election as Labour leader. Apparently 70% of the local party voted for this lunacy.
I am not in a position to know how many of the people who are likely to stand as Labour candidates in Barrow in next year's elections to Cumbria County Council supported Mr Corbyn.
But irrespective of the position of any individual Labour activist, it means that wearing a red rosette while canvassing in Barrow during next year's local elections, or indeed any election in Barrow in the next few years, is equivalent to knocking on doors while sporting a T-Shirt which says in big letters
"I want thousands of people in this town thrown on the dole!"
Every time a Labour canvasser knocks on a door in Barrow, there is a very strong chance that he or she will be talking to someone that Barrow CLP effectively voted this week to make redundant, an even stronger chance that it will be someone who has a close friend or family member that they voted to make redundant, and a certainty that they voted to make thousands of their neighbours redundant.
A vote for Labour in South-West Cumbria is now a vote for unemployment.
The Conservatives will of course, be pointing this out not just in Barrow but in the other parts of the constituency and indeed in towns like Millom, currently in the Copeland constituency, which is also home to many people employed at BAE.
It isn't just policy on defence. If Labour activists are foolish enough to support Jeremy Corbyn in a constituency where everyone with a working brain knows that one of the policies dearest to his heart will devastate the local economy, what other idiocy can you trust them not to support?
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