Tony Thatcher and Margaret Mandelson were the main reason I ended up joining the Greens.
Once the Labourservative Duo had marshalled the Westminster Labour Party’s Gadarene rush to the ‘centre’ ground, where else was there to go?
Lib Dem? Nah. It was obvious well before 2010 that they would do anything, anything for a crack at power. After 13 years of ConLabour, whichever side the Dems propped up in coalition would have amounted to the same thing.
Meanwhile, beneath the cod-ethnic, ear-flapped woolly hats and “Fracking makes me jolly cross” placards, the Green Party had fairly ferocious agenda. Given the chance, they’d only detach a couple of squads to give tree hugging demonstrations while the remainder busily sawed the oligarchiat off at the ankles.
“Given a chance” being the operative words of course. If Jeremy Corbyn’s chances of getting elected are slim, the Greens’ are positively skeletal.
Which raises the question of which party to support. For now, being either Labour or Green is a labour of love, since one’s not doing it with any expectation of one’s party being elected. OTOH if Corbyn plays his cards right, Labour could be in with a shout on a proper alternative platform in 2025 whereas the Greens might be looking at a dozen seats and maybe, just maybe holding the balance of power.
Hmm.
QuadRanting 