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submitted 10 months ago by GreyShuck@feddit.uk to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk

British politics risks an unprecedented shift to the far right as a result of public disillusionment if a Labour government fails to enact radical change, the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has warned.

Writing in the Guardian, McDonnell said the threat would come not just from Nigel Farage’s resurgent Reform UK but from the return of a Conservative party “shorn” of its moderate wing and dominated by populists.

McDonnell, who served in the shadow cabinet under Jeremy Corbyn, reflected the views of others on his party’s left who are impatient with what they regard as Labour’s too-cautious approach. “The central messaging of Keir Starmer’s electoral strategy is that he’s not Jeremy Corbyn and that Labour is not the disaster that is the Conservative party,” he said.

McDonnell pointed to the polling figures of Reform UK, reaching as high as 11%, as evidence of “how a far-right populist programme can pull the major parties on to a rightwing agenda”.

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[-] TawdryPorker@lemmy.world 24 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

There's a lot of people who don't like the label fascism but just fucking love what fascism does. I think the problem is that a lot of people don't understand how complex the world is and fascism always tells them that their stupid, lazy thinking is correct. Universal suffrage is the only way to that democracy can work in this day and age and I would literally fight to save it... but boy does it come with some downsides.

[-] steeznson@lemmy.world -1 points 10 months ago

The definition of fascism is a society where the needs of the individual are subsumed by the needs of the state. I'm not sure I understand how you are using the word here.

[-] hellothere@sh.itjust.works 11 points 10 months ago

This is a bit rich really. Firstly, he's had two opportunities to get the Tories out and failed. And second, their lurch to the right in 2019 was made easier by his and Corbyn's desertion of the centre.

And, again, not that this needs repeating, but I voted for Corbyn as leader twice.

Labour pulling left didn't have the effect I hoped it would when I voted for them to lead the party, if anything, it had the complete opposite one.

[-] frazorth@feddit.uk 6 points 10 months ago

Exactly this.

As much as people on here bitch about Starmer, it's not like Corbyn didn't already have a go and gave us fucking Boris.

The lurch to the right will continue until it actually hurts. At the moment it just keeps circling the drain, as much as the Tories are cutting the NHS and benefits nothing has actually collapsed. Sure some businesses didn't make it past Brexit, but we don't have mass unemployment. There is a delicate balance and it could all go really wrong fast and I don't see significant change until it does.

[-] hellothere@sh.itjust.works 7 points 10 months ago

nothing has actually collapsed

Respectfully, I think this betrays your privilege / position.

Things very much are collapsing, and it isn't limited to the poor and destitute anymore.

A friend of mine was telling me recently how the foodbank they volunteer at has had an absolute explosion of demand and is now being used by people who previously would have been donating food. This is because they are spending every penny they can on their mortgage.

Granted, we are not in the middle of a great depression or anything like that, but things are very bad for a lot of people.

[-] frazorth@feddit.uk 3 points 10 months ago

Granted, we are not in the middle of a great depression or anything like that, but things are very bad for a lot of people.

But that's my point. We are going to have to drop further for people to actually push back because obviously all the shit that's going down isn't making people revolt.

It's not "betraying my privilege" this is me watching the Tories get a stupid amount of votes considering their platform and there has to be a percentage of those struggling voting for them for any of this to make sense.

Or the votings rigged.

[-] MadBob@feddit.nl -1 points 10 months ago

It's not like the fact that Corbyn was leader was what pushed voters away from Labour. The press were pretty merciless with him while his policies themselves were popular, I seem to recall.

[-] Adkml@hexbear.net 3 points 10 months ago

I'd think they would still be a little sour from how their last shift to the far right worked out for them when they decided to tell all their trading partners to fuck off and gave up their ability to travel freely in exchange for the ability to be more cruel to immigrants.

[-] rayquetzalcoatl@feddit.uk 3 points 10 months ago

Guess we're risking a shift to the far right then lol

[-] autotldr 3 points 10 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


British politics risks an unprecedented shift to the far right as a result of public disillusionment if a Labour government fails to enact radical change, the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has warned.

Writing in the Guardian, McDonnell said the threat would come not just from Nigel Farage’s resurgent Reform UK but from the return of a Conservative party “shorn” of its moderate wing and dominated by populists.

McDonnell, who served in the shadow cabinet under Jeremy Corbyn, reflected the views of others on his party’s left who are impatient with what they regard as Labour’s too-cautious approach.

McDonnell pointed to the polling figures of Reform UK, reaching as high as 11%, as evidence of “how a far-right populist programme can pull the major parties on to a rightwing agenda”.

Farage has continued to keep people guessing about his intentions of a return to politics, which could involve coming back as the leader of Reform or joining the Conservatives.

Our five bold missions will spark a decade of national renewal, to make working people better off and give Britain its future back.”


The original article contains 543 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 66%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] jabjoe@feddit.uk 2 points 10 months ago

We need to ditch FPTP. It's the right who have been benefiting from it. We are quite a progressive country, it's just that is split over multiple parties. Even a tip of a wing of the Conservatives. On the whole, the right is more stuck together in the form of the Conservatives.

Only 2015 that didn't have a progressive majority of the vote. I'd argue that was because people mistakenly thought Cameron's "hug a hoodie" Conservatives were progressive.

I think we need some thing like Mixed Member Proportional Representative or Range voting.

[-] steeznson@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

They should wait until after they win the election before they start squabbling like this.

[-] GenderIsOpSec@hexbear.net 2 points 10 months ago

lmao red tories arent going to radically change anything, except maybe go more to the right than the actual tories

[-] Biohazard@feddit.uk 1 points 10 months ago

Of course John McDonald would say that. He probably things labour is rather right wing.

[-] peg@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

He wouldn't be wrong.

this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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