Clearly keen to maximise his princely investment of £3 in the Labour Party - that’s the one he left in a mardy strop some time ago - the Telegraph’s not at all celebrated blues artiste Whinging Dan Hodges has attempted to position himself as a credible commentator on the leadership contest by finally abandoning his presumably ironic support of Jeremy Corbyn and supporting a supposedly mainstream candidate.
Claims to have rejoined Labour. Allegedly
So who was to be the beneficiary of this generous endorsement, which they could well do without? Would Hodges deploy his great influence (OK I’m not being totally serious here) to support initial front runner Andy Burnham, still the best prospect to bring all strands of the party together? Ah, but Dan doesn’t do that kind of reasoning: his is the sort of support that comes after hearing just one speech.
Oh, and, for a Telegraph pundit, the backing of the deeply subversive Guardian, just to show a little more of that flexibility of principle: “Guardian comes out for Yvette Cooper”. Was he serious? “Joking aside, given their readership, that's a gutsy editorial from the Guardian”. I’ll take that as an indication that he was indeed serious.
Yes, Dan is backing Yvette: “Final time. If you want a woman to lead Labour you're actually going to have to vote for one. Sorry. I know it's a pain. But there it is … OK, how do I get an Yvette twin that doesn't actually make me look like Yvette. She doesn't need this at the moment”. And then he put the ball in his own net.
What could the sage of Buckingham Palace Road have meant? “Not twin, twibbon … Please help support Yvette for Labour Leader, add a #Twibbon now!” It’s not going too well, this supporting Ms Cooper, is it? He sort of conceded that it wasn’t: “OK, think I"ve got it sorted. Sorry Yvette. If you lose, blame me”.
So why not Burnham? “Andy Burnham has run the worst campaign of any serious candidate for a serious political office I've ever seen”. Note he waits until now to tell the world. Then comes “And despite that, Andy will still be getting my second preference. Which tells you everything you need to know about this benighted contest”.
Riiight. And remember, folks, this is why he’s backing her: “Not sure whether or not Yvette Cooper's intervention will prove decisive. But it's clear it's got Corbyn's supporters rattled”. I doubt that any of Corbyn’s supporters even noticed, let alone got rattled. If anyone should have been rattled, it should have been Yvette Cooper’s campaign.
After all, this is the pundit who, while a Labour member, openly supported the Tory candidate for Mayor of London. Yes, Hodges backed Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, the comedy turn who has sprayed millions up the wall on vanity buses, a vanity cable car, vanity water cannons, and wants to shell out on a vanity Garden Bridge. Hodges’ series of lame excuses included accusing Ken Livingstone of “cronyism and scandal”.
Then he supported Bozza, who really has done cronyism and scandal. That, folks, is why Yvette Cooper’s campaign has been cursed.
The great thing about this scattering of far right rats is that it begins a natural purge of them.....as in, for instance, when the Gang of Four set up the hysterically-funny-short-lived "Social Democrats."
ReplyDeleteIf a TRUE Social Democrat like Jeremy Corbyn can do that, imagine what a TRUE Socialist would do.
In the (historical) short term of course this era will not be "electorally successful" for the Labour Party. But so what? Let the neocons carry on and take full responsibility for their attacks on society and communities. We've had over thirty terrible years of their corrupt muck and each passing day has made things worse. This time uninterrupted by world wars. Even the Cold War has gone as an excuse.
The damage has been and is terrible, utterly disgusting. But every passing day makes plain what an ugly assault capitalism is. Sooner or later the aggregate affect will be so awful widespread organised resistance will become inevitable.
It's just a matter of time. The problem is what further horrors will be inflicted in the meantime.
Hodges, the other day, said that in the Labour party deviating from the adulation of Corbyn was heresy of the highest order.
ReplyDeleteHas he even seen any media coverage of this contest?
Quite what his qualifications or insight are, I don't know.
Why was Hodges allowed to become a supporter? There can't be many people with a much clearer track record of being anti-Labour.
ReplyDeleteWell, Dan never felt more like whingin' the blues
ReplyDelete'Cause he never thought that Jeremy would fuse
The left vote, so Yvette's his new idea
Well, he never took to that Ed Miliband
And Jezza Corbyn he just don't understand
So Yvette dear, you are the whinging man's muse
So Liz and Andy no longer fizz
The dream is gone he thought was his
There's nothing left for him to do
But whine, whine, whine, without a clue
Well, he never felt more like wasting away
So Yvette it is to be but why, who's to say
He's lost it, thats why Dan's whingin' the blues