Your Letters: November 25

WE WILL PAY THE PRICE FOR LABOUR

I could not help but pause and smile when reading recent letters defending this Labour government. The idea that Labour is the party of us, the great undervalued and exploited, is still abroad in the minds of some deluded individuals.

When Keir Starmer ran for the leadership of the Labour Party, he retained a largely Corbyn-style policy prospectus. 

I recall Andrew Neil challenging Starmer that once elected he would move the party sharply to the political right. 

We can all judge what happened, but it is obvious, given Starmer's problems with the Unite union, that there are many in the party and wider movement who are deeply at odds with the leadership.

In these circumstances, it is best to take stock. I have never had any truck with Socialism both as an idea and most certainly when it has held power over lives. The idea first advanced by Marx that all social problems are due to class antagonism is simplistic and wrong. Never in history, when those who claim socialism as their ideology have been at the helm of a society, have the results been pleasant. Millions have died in the pursuit of some idea of perfection in the social order that exists only in the minds of those who believe it.

Starmer has, in his initial few weeks, attempted to blame all that is wrong upon the previous government. He has sought to enrich the public sector and make the private sector pay for this enrichment. 

At the same time, Starmer has pushed his snout into the trough, taking more personal gifts than any other political leader. He now lives at our expense in Number 10 whilst renting out his home in London.

It is not my complaint that this is morally wrong or even unacceptable, my issue is the hypocrisy and downright mendacity of the Labour leader. How any person can still subscribe to them and us Labour mantra in light of this is beyond me. I never doubted once that Corbyn believed what he said nor that he would try at the least attempt to enact those beliefs.