I am a long-time Labour activist in an erstwhile Tory stronghold, and Paul Mason’s call for a Labour-led, cross-party response to the threat of rightwing populism resonates strongly (Labour must adopt a tactic from the 1930s: a popular front, Journal, 3 August). I joined Labour as a hard-up lone parent and council tenant because I saw where Thatcherism was leading and wanted to be part of the resistance.
As socialists we surely cannot ignore the urgent threat now posed not only to our increasingly fragile postwar social contract but also to our party as a credible voice for the many.
Yes – we do want to defeat Boris Johnson and the triumph of nationalism, greed, vanity, narrow self-interest and intolerance that his premiership represents.
Labour must offer the leadership that Mason proposes, not just because of what the polls, professionals and historians are telling us but because of what we heard time and again on doorsteps in May from the many people who once saw Labour as their party.
The mood has changed since 2017. First past the post looks increasingly unlikely to deliver a sound Labour majority, however fervently we will it. We need to put country before party and the people before tribal reflexes, and thwart the disaster that leaving the EU would most heavily inflict on the poorest in our communities.
If we succeed we must then reflect on the lessons learned from this sorry episode, including the consequences of clinging to an electoral system that continues to work in favour of the few.
Brenda Weston
Taunton, Somerset
• Paul Mason makes clear the near-inevitability of a snap general election and the need for a temporary alliance of the parties of the left and centre to beat Johnson and prevent the disaster of a no-deal Brexit. He concludes that Labour members should “rule nothing out”.
To this 90-year-old member, who remembers the bliss of 1945 and is beyond anger at the state we are now in, it is obvious that the elephant in the room is Jeremy Corbyn. Once such an inspiration, his name has become toxic – and the direction of change is irreversible.
To avoid a fatal split in the party, senior shadow cabinet members, such as Tom Watson, Emily Thornberry, Keir Starmer, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell, must now combine to convince Corbyn to stand down voluntarily and with his dignity intact. His successor must commit enthusiastically to what is now clearly in the best interests of the people of the United Kingdom: remaining in Europe. This is, I firmly believe, our only hope.
Dan Willis
Gillingham, Kent
• Paul Mason is, as usual, spot on when he advocates some kind of united front. All progressive-minded people understand that if Johnson and Farage are hellbent on something, it must be destructive and harmful for ordinary folk. But to effect such a policy requires energy, courage and imagination, qualities which Corbyn, stuck in his 1980s bunker, seems singularly to lack. I joined the Labour party in 1964, and voted for Corbyn as leader twice.
Robert Leach
Selkirk, Scottish Borders
• Paul Mason is right. We face a crisis. Sooner or later, there will be a snap general election. Johnson and Farage will get their act together and, against a divided opposition, will win. The outcome will be Brexit and a horrible far-right government. Our only hope for sanity is for remain parties, – Labour, Green, Lib Dem and SNP – to agree not to stand against each other, thus ensuring that the remain vote is not hopelessly divided. Labour must begin negotiating now with the other parties to ensure that Johnson and Farage do not triumph. The crisis we face demands a crisis response.
Nicholas Maxwell
London
• Paul Mason’s challenging proposition, for progressive politics to unite against the resurgence of extreme rightwing ideology, would stand a much greater chance of being realised if it also included the need to unite against extreme leftwing ideology. As well as a commitment to a final people’s vote on Brexit, such an alliance would need a cast-iron commitment to implementing PR at the earliest possible opportunity so that future politics properly reflect the diverse plurality which so obviously exists throughout the UK.
John Stone
Thames Ditton, Surrey
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