Wednesday 28 June 2017

Momentum was the force behind the Corbyn surge

So proud to have been part of the Momentum/Labour team that saw the party come from a polling of 24% at the start of the General Election campaign to gaining 32 seats.

Theresa May expected a landslide victory. She got a kick in the teeth. Instead of crushing the Labour Party & strengthening her mandate for a hard Brexit & austerity max, she inadvertently gifted Jeremy Corbyn a media platform he had previously been denied.

Suddenly, the man that his New Labour detractors claimed was unelectable, emerged as the people’s politician – headlining Glastonbury & smashing it. Everywhere he went, thousands came, each leaving inspired, taking the message of hope back to their families and friends, sharing memes and messages on social media. I saw the crowds that the mainstream media wouldn’t show & I knew history was in the making.

From the NHS to NME, Corbyn cared. He touched lives, spoke the truth, his humanity already healing wounds inflicted by 7 years of Tory hate. “He seems like a decent man” people would say, then, parroting tabloid propaganda, “but he’s not a leader”. If principles and integrity aren’t leadership traits, what are?

Towards the end everything changed. Sneers were replaced with beaming smiles. Reacting to my (vote Corbyn) badge on the tube one Saturday night, a football reveller broke into song, “Oh Jeremy Corbyn”, as he swayed, arms aloft, shrapnel from his burger discharged randomly about the carriage. Joined in the refrain by a suited white man, a Chinese couple and a Jamaican octogenarian, it was the sweetest tube ride of my life.  

The genie is out of the bottle now & there’s no going back.

Having backed Jeremy Corbyn and his socialist vision of hope and social justice from the start, I never lost the faith. Here's some stuff I wrote in the past:

On Jeremy Corbyn: A worthy leader:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/dont-think-jeremy-corbyn-is-a-worthy-leader-maybe-its-time-to-leave-the-labour-party-a6773741.html

On the chicken coup:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tess-finchlees/jeremy-corbyn_b_10760550.html

On media bias:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-media-must-give-jeremy-corbyn-a-fair-hearing-a6804821.html

On New Labour losing the 2015 General Electiom

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/suffragettes-died-for-my-right-to-vote-so-dont-tell-me-that-i-shouldnt-vote-for-jeremy-corbyn-10495014.html


With 27,000 members in the UK alone Momentum has already changed the course of British politics. Why not sign up & join the army of foot soldiers we're gonna need to win next time 'round.


Sharing a post election drink with Emily Thornberry & Cat Smith. Two Labour legends & future cabinet ministers.



See channel 4 news clip about Momentum’s role in Labour’s incredible GE result here:

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