That’s all for today. Thanks for all your links and discussion this week. Have a good weekend.
Michael White has been up in Robin Hood country for Nottingham’s ‘Jeremy for leader’ rally, pondering the long-term implications of Corbynmania.
And Diane Abbott has written for Guardian’s opinion pages on Labour’s response to the Corbyn surge. She calls the party’s “blind panic” at the influx of new members and supporters as “sad”.
Updated
Here are a few recommended reads for a Friday afternoon, courtesy of our readers. Unsurprisingly given his frontrunner status, it’s Corbyn-heavy.
- We’ve heard a lot from members of the parliamentary Labour party about why a Corbyn victory would be disastrous. So here’s a blog post from Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South and excited at the possibilities of harnessing the movement Corbyn has sparked. HT: Vintagebeauty
The second answer relates to the practicality of Corbyn’s proposals. The neoliberal project weathered the massive global recession it created in 2008 because it has managed to convince not only elites but large sections of the population in the US and Europe that there is no alternative, a dictum promulgated so successively in Britain by Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Corbyn’s modest proposals to boost economic activity and raise living standards by curbing austerity are deeply practical and pragmatic: it is austerity itself that has prolonged the recession, providing a cover for the dismantling of social provision and the rerouting of taxpayer funding to subsidize corporate profits.
- There has been plenty of discussion over the viability of Corbyn’s economic policy. Here’s an even-handed appraisal from Robert Skidelsky, flagged up by Csakagondamunka. It begins:
Fiscal austerity has become such a staple of conventional wisdom in the United Kingdom that anyone in public life who challenges it is written off as a dangerous leftist. Jeremy Corbyn, the current favorite to become the next leader of Britain’s Labour Party, is the latest victim of this chorus of disparagement. Some of his positions are untenable. But his remarks on economic policy are not foolish, and deserve proper scrutiny.
- Have some time on your hands? Why not read through Jeremy Corbyn’s voting record [as far back as 1997].
- Readers have been enjoying Corbyn’s out-of-office message.
Apologies for the lack of updates so far today.
Andy Burnham’s campaign have hinted that they may challenge the outcome of the leadership election of Corbyn wins, as concerns over entryism continues, at least within certain sections of the party.
In the comments section here in the readers’ edition, there’s been interesting debate around the identity of the next-but-one Labour leader.
Andrew is not (usually) writing his usual Politics Live blog during summer recess but, as an alternative, here’s Politics Live: readers’ edition. It’s intended to be a place where you can catch up with the latest news and find links to good politics blogs and articles on the web.
Please feel free to use this as somewhere you can comment on any of the day’s political stories - just as you do during the daily blog. It would be particularly useful for readers to flag up new material in the comments - breaking news or blogposts or tweets that are worth passing on because someone is going to find them interesting.
It’s been another busy week in the Labour leadership election process. As it’s Friday, let’s treat today as a chance to take stock: what are the best things you’ve read all week? Treat us to interesting takes, analysis and angles, and I’ll post the best above the line, alongside updates from today’s politics agenda.
Ok - so for fun - who do you think are the top three contenders to be Labour Leader at the next election and why?
for me
a) Dan Jarvis - mainly because he is new and has an impeachable back story and would find the stresses of Westminster fairly tolerable to being on active service
b) Keir Starmer - ex DPP - and good record on human rights. Potentially issues about connection to previous Govts - but as a QC will be used to fielding questions and making a case
c) Not sure - but I guess there is potential from a number of the Dept Leaders - but not sure who I would go for - slightly "left field" (sorry) Seema Malhotra - smart cookies with Big Firm work background - would understand how change works?
Thoughts?