Recent media commentary about splits in the Labour party and exaggerated claims of widespread antisemitism are nothing new. A successful left-leaning leader who has energised the party, stuck to his principles, championed anti-racism and defended those discarded and forgotten by the establishment will always face the wrath of the powerful and privileged and their sentinels in the media.
The Labour party has 552,000 members, 257 MPs, 188 lords, 20 MEPs, 23 MSPs, 29 Welsh assembly members, 12 London assembly members and 6,470 councillors. A handful of anxious Labour MPs facing questions about accountability from those who worked to get them elected is no big deal. It is not a sign of a broken party. The decision by Frank Field to refuse to take the Labour whip in parliament is, according to the party rule book, synonymous with resigning from the party. In the modern history of the Labour party he will not be the first MP to face deselection and try to cling on to his seat. John Grant, Labour MP for Islington Central in 1981, left Labour to join the SDP after it became clear he faced deselection. Not long after and with boundary changes, Jeremy Corbyn became the Labour candidate for Islington North in 1982 and won the new seat in 1983. Time for some perspective.
Steven Walker
(Former branch secretary, Highbury, Islington North Labour Party); Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex
• The cacophony of advice to Jeremy Corbyn forces to the fore a single and very simple choice: does Labour wish to lead the country with inspiration and courage or oversee an unstable coalition of interests, which may or may not ever be elected to power. Corbyn’s – and Labour’s – real opportunity – perhaps something that has not been possible since the Great Reform Act – is to split the Tory party and commit them to decades in opposition and ultimately political oblivion. By embracing the EU and demanding a second referendum, Labour can deliver its policy objectives, force the defeat of the government in parliament, unleash a general election and a Labour victory.
Windrush, Grenfell Tower, no-deal Brexit – those stains of May’s leadership can be replaced by a Corbyn leadership. Wallowing in factionalism makes a mockery of a desire for power and abdicates the responsibility for renewing hope and creating opportunities for all in the UK.
Professor Emeritus Howard Williams
London
• Frank Field, Margaret Hodge, antisemitism and Brexit have, throughout the summer, been massive distractions from the plight of the poorest residents of the UK of all faiths and of none. Our poorest fellow citizens are suffering from the consequences of the deregulation of lending, the abolition of rent controls and permitting the free flow of money in and out of the UK by the 1979 government, which the 1997 and all subsequent governments have let rip. Low incomes, high rents and increasing mortgages are creating debt, hunger and homelessness, thereby damaging the physical and mental health of men, women and children. Action is desperately needed by central and local government to reverse the ongoing lack of humanity.
Rev Paul Nicolson
Taxpayers Against Poverty
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition
