Several Labour members of the House of Lords have resigned,
citing differences with the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Our 2 men in the met
office looked at the dissent over a cup of tea.
Weatherman
1 : Another Labour peer has gone. Lord Grabiner said he had nothing
in common with the new direction of the Labour party.
WM1 : There’s grumbling in the
ranks of the MPs too.
WM2 : It must be very confusing
for them. They get elected on one set of values, and then the party morphs into
something they don’t believe in.
WM1 : But they are elected to serve. It’s not their opinions they
should be pushing, but those of the people who gave them power.
WM2 : That would be far too accountable. Politicians have a set of views
and if they get elected they expect the electorate to shut up and let them get
on with it. No interfering.
WM1 : How has the public
interfered?
WM2 : They became Labour Party supporters.
Tens of thousands of people signed up, voted in Jeremy Corbyn as leader and now
he is trying to move the party towards a more socialist and pacific agenda. There’s
a new pressure group called Momentum trying to steer to the left.
WM1 : What’s wrong with that? It’s
legal isn’t it? Just don’t hit the curb.
WM2 : Yes, but if an MP got
elected advocating a hawkish attitude on the world stage and suddenly a white
dove lands on his head...well it’s wrong footing. If he wants British forces in
Syria, it’s unhelpful having a leader who disagrees.
WM1 : But you say Jeremy Corbyn has
been given a huge mandate for change. If thousands vote for him, that’s
difficult to argue against.
WM2 : It’s like going for a job
interview, getting the job, and then the job changes.
WM1 : I know of one van driver who
had 20 drops. Because he did them the company gave him 25. He drove faster.
Then 30 – he started having accidents and they sacked him.
WM2 : Some say Labour is driving at
high speed into a wall. There’s talk of a review of MP selection – and that
means MP’s jobs are on the line.
WM1 : You can’t dictate what sort
of work you do as an employee. Can you imagine an ethical vegetarian Tesco till
girl refusing to serve someone trying to buy meat? She would be sacked. The MPs
have to change their stripes.
WM2 : How many jobs do you get
hired for based on what you believe? Bishops, Priests and MPs are about it.
That’s at the heart of the issue. And if someone reinterpreted the bible and decided
adultery was acceptable, well then those Bishops wouldn’t like it.
WM1 : Except for the one from
Arundel and Brighton, who would be delighted with the blessing; he’d been at it
for years. So have MPs; they could resign and force a bi-election.
WM2 : They’re not stupid. They get
a good salary, great restaurants, they influence events at a high level, the
pension is good, loads of expenses....resign? Better to try to bring Corbyn to
heel.
WM1 : Companies adapt. They do
market research to find out what their customers want. If they make a widget
no-one wants to buy, then it sits on a shelf gathering dust. It’s a waste. There’s
no point pedalling widgets people don’t want to buy. A significant proportion
of the population like Corbyn.
WM2 : Yes, but MPs like being
widgets and sitting on the shelf. If they can be left to gather dust for 5
years on that salary and pension, and don’t have to re-examine their political
consciences, well they will. Most of them weren’t really clear what Labour stood
for anyway. They all had meaningless catch phrases like “we are a one nation party committed to reform to reduce the deficit”
and were willing to say whatever the electorate wanted to hear in order to get
the job. And it looks great on their CV in 5 years time -like they were busy
doing something really useful.
WM1 : So what will happen?
WM2 : When a company goes bankrupt,
someone else starts up a business. If Labour crumbles, a new party will spring
up from the rubble. They will claim their ideas are original and call
themselves New Vision.
WM1 : Sounds like an optician.
WM2 : But they’ll be wearing Varifocals.
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