At last – a journalist notices Jeremy Corbyn and Andrew Feinstein
JVL Introduction
Perspectives on the general election (16)
A curious feature of mainstream media coverage of the election so far has been almost total silence on the number of independent candidates standing – 459, more than twice as many as in 2015, according to this article by Zoe Williams in the Guardian. Hers is the first of our “Perspectives on the GE” pieces to give due attention to the independent candidacies of Jeremy Corbyn, standing against official labour in Islington North, and Andrew Feinstein who is taking on Keir Starmer in Holborn & St Pancras.
As Williams points out, many of the independents are motivated by disillusion with Starmer’s Labour, particularly its stance on Israel’s assault on Gaza. She notes that internal party disputes about Palestine “made many Jewish members uncomfortable, but it’s not that simple. Loads of not-Jewish, centre-right members also felt uncomfortable, and many members expelled for their pro-Palestinian views are Jewish. There are very deep convictions here – it would be remiss not to point out that everything and worse that pro-Palestine members warned of and dreaded has come to pass during the course of the war. While Feinstein poses no immediate electoral threat to Starmer, this rift will not simply evaporate.”
NWI
This article was originally published by Guardian on Thu 20 Jun 2024. Read the original here.
Starmer fighting one seat, Corbyn the one next door: a schism and a symbol of battles to come
Perspectives on the general election (16)
The current Labour leader will win; the former leader might. And the dynamics of their rift are being played out around the country
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The Guardian is far too late with this sudden discovery of what’s being going on for five years. The most we can hope for is that some readers will be bothered to go and vote for Corbyn if they weren’t going to vote before.
“You have to wonder, too, whose influence is taking precedence over that of party members”
A typically disingenuous Guardian viewpoint. Everyone bar the half-witted readers of that rag knows very well “whose influence is taking precedence” – big business, private healthcare/education interests and NATO, of course!