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Thursday 29 March 2018

John Woodcock - On His Way Out

The accepted narrative on still nominally Labour MP John Woodcock is that he is a principled man, frustrated by the inexorable leftward drift of the party he joined, who only remains in Parliament to give service to the voters of the Barrow and Furness constituency. In this, he is supported by many in the Press and Pundit Establishment. But like so many Establishment narratives, this one is utterly false.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out

Woodcock, who has been such an effective MP that he has turned a majority of over 5,200 in 2010 into one of little more than 200 last year, backed Liz Kendall for Labour leader in 2015. And when Jeremy Corbyn won the contest, rather than accepting that he should at least accept the result, Woodcock embarked on a very public show of petulance.

Corbyn, whose opposition to nuclear weapons is well known, was challenged as to what he would do if the town of Barrow were to lose its submarine-building facility, which is where the UK’s Trident fleet was built, and from where a replacement fleet would probably be launched. Jezza declared that he would not want to see any outcome which caused jobs to be lost, even though he maintained his anti-nuclear stance.

But instead of graciously accepting this olive branch, proffered by the hand of friendship, Woodcock viciously kicked his party leader in the teeth. Corbyn had been insufficiently bellicose. The debating tactics of Jezza’s colleagues Emily Thornberry and Clive Lewis were denounced asbogus”. Woodcock moaned about “CND and its advocates on the front bench”. He was deliberately and loudly disloyal.

Only last week, Woodcock pointedly intervened in a response by his own party leader to gainsay Jezza’s record on Russia. He could not make his sulky tantrums more obvious. Accepting that he was re-elected to Parliament under Corbyn’s leadership, and on that leadership’s manifesto, was not allowed to enter. And now has come news that he is to make a political martyr of himself by resigning the Labour whip.

As Politics Home has told, “The Barrow and Furness MP has told friends that recent rows over Russia and anti-Semitism, as well as Owen Smith's sacking and moves to unseat Dan Jarvis have pushed him to breaking point”. No word, of course, on pushing his party leadership to breaking point. Because it’s all about Himself Personally Now.
The report goes on “If he does give up the Labour whip, it is understood that Mr Woodcock would continue to sit in the Commons as an independent MP … When approached for comment, Mr Woodcock said: ‘The last few weeks in particular have been pretty awful but any suggestion that I have made up my mind to leave is not true and not helpful to have it played out in public’”. So he has not denied the claims.

That should come as no surprise. Woodcock is a favourite of the Westminster media bubble, many of whose occupants for some reason consider him as a credible politician and worthwhile source. He is at home in the world of lobbyists and think tanks which occupies a world far to the right of today’s Labour leadership. But all that resigning the whip would do would be to create one mock heroic moment. It would not hurt Corbyn.

But then, that is perhaps not the point: like others before him, John Woodcock would find the transition from centrist MP to the world of press commissions, lobby groups and media appearances no problem at all. And that is where my Occam’s Razor is pointing right now.

Should he resign the Labour whip, Woodcock would not be considered as Labour’s candidate to fight Barrow at the next General Election. He would not stand a chance as an Independent candidate. It would come as no surprise if news were to emerge that he had already been pencilled in as an “Honorary Fellow” of one or other centre-right think tanks. Nor would his appearance as a columnist at one or other right-leaning papers.

When he asserts “My loyalty is to my constituents and local party members and anything I say in future will be to them first”, this is so much cant. After all, when Labour had another leadership contest in 2016, his own CLP voted overwhelmingly … for Jeremy Corbyn.

You read it here first: John Woodcock to abandon his constituents for an easy life among the London media set. There, he could rub shoulders with all the has-beens, which would be quite a step up. After all, at the moment he’s only a never-was.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's nothing "centre right" about Woodcock. He's a red tory and should be treated as such. Personally, I hope he fucks off sharpish and joins the tories openly.

But this is just the latest move by one of the New Labour gang. Watching them squirm is mildly interesting: Bomber Benn made himself scarce after voting to massacre more Syrians, Burnham fled into the mayoral chambers of Manchester, Umunna tried (and failed) to look less sinister and Canary Wharf, even Mann tried (and failed) to divert attention from his thuggishness. They and others of their unwanted ilk have skulked in the background as an ever ready rent-a-reactionary-gob whenever mainstream media requires a second rate boot boy or girl to attack the Labour Party. But they have ceased to fool anybody who has their democratic common sense intact.

So Woodcock can do one. He won't be missed. Nor would any of his fellow political traitors if they had the guts to get out of a party that no longer wants them or their spiv mentality.

Jonathan said...

Ah Progress boy Woodcock is well known around the Northern Lancashire area as a ultra Blairite and so out of touch with his CLP that it's a miracle he's still a Labour MP.

Anonymous said...

Maybe he's going to form some kind of double act with Dan Hodges at the Daily Mail?

Burlington Bertie from Bow said...

'So much cant': Tim Fenton on John Woodcock.

It's all those visits to London, Tim. You've started to pick up the accent.

chris stiles said...

His other half works at the Spectator - so I assume this is the reason for his closeness to the Westminster media bubble.

Someone somewhere pointed out that his name is literally 3 synonyms for penis back to back.

Matt said...


This is surreal for me. I replyed in an ironical way to a twitter post from Mr. J. Woodcock that I sympathised with his strong feeling about anti-semitism in the Labour Party and that he was too good for the party and that he should consider quitting and standing as an independent. I naturally come in for criticism of being a blairite.
Watching him in the House of Commons last week standing isolated and alone on the Labour benches critiquing Corbyns Russian stance and only getting support from the Tory’s was a poignant moment that sqwawrkbox picked up on.
Too many wreckers in the party who haven’t moved on. Let’s hope they carry out Woodcocks threats and do eventually move on.

Boris said...

You couldn’t stick a cigarette a paper between James Reed, Tristram Hunt and J Woodcock.

They are all useful idiots for the right wing media.

Problem for Labour is that there are about another 50 of them.

Good news is that they are being smoked out.

Jonathan said...

Having worked with Jamie 'Sellafied' Reed, Tristram 'Invisible Man' Hunt and a few other of the Blairite gang during the 2015 campaign, it was amazing to see how invisible these guys were and a sheer lack of any personality especially Tristram who popped into a local primary school and nobody had a bloody clue who he was..
The trouble with the Blairite Red Tories they're all plastic and false, the electorate can see right through them..
One Blairite who I wouldn't piss on if ever on fire is Mary Creagh, a rude and obnoxious individual who treats party workers as if they're slaves.

Anonymous said...

The other day I wondered why Woodcock was wearing a blue suit, a blue tie and a blue shirt.