Kim
What you wrote is true to a great extent but I would also like to annotate some of what you said (without the original quotes from you for simplicity but I am sure you can follow.
managing after their shock winning vote.
The labour manifesto: The problem is that of course it is fair and well balanced to someone who bothers to read it and has the analytical ability to find out what it says. But this is politics which I am afraid means that most people get their information from soundbites or even headlines through the MSM or TV. Both of these presented this choice as complex whereas Boris’s boring Get Brexit Done was succinct and said repeatedly. The other problem is that people everywhere were getting fed up of the uncertainty of whether Brexit was going to happen and from what one hears many remainers in the end just wanted to move on and take the line of least resistance. Also Labour in 2017 where we did much better,. Had stuck to the line that Brexit will happen and therefore the line of the second referendum appeared to have been a change in direction.
Corbyn’s neutrality as an honest broker
I also believe so but this whole process did not only present a mixed message policy but highlighted two things: that the PLP was not behind the leader, and that the party is very badly divided. The other factor was the constant demonisation and the high profile use of the antisemitism smear added to this mistrust. This is probably why overall the electorate came to doubt that Labour would be able to carry out all the promises made including very attractive ones.
Labour support amongst the working class:
We have to bear in mind some factors about who the core Labour supporters are now. As the article points out this has shifted. To my mind Labour support no longer reliably comes from the working class for a variety of reasons. The ‘working class’ is no longer a defined class because of what Thatcher and subsequent governments did to weaken the trade union movement. The increase in fragmented employment due to privatisation, zero hour contracts, seasonal workers, black economy and employment regulations skewed on behalf of employers, together with prolonged austerity which meant that even unionised workers had little benefit from being members of the union has blurred the concept of working class. It would be interesting to know whether there are statistics about these workers as to how they voted, or even whether they bother to vote because the do not have the time to find out what is good for them.
I agree with you that the labour manifesto was great and any one who is salaried should have voted for it as well as small businesses and so on. But sometimes less is more. With hindsight, Labour should have stuck to two high priorities, the NHS wand Railway nationalisation. Of course we all like full nationalisation of utilities and even broadband, but it made it all sound that labour was promising too much. Concentration on two main issues with a statement that this is the beginning of a process to look at others in time, a declaration of direction, rather than a wish list, even if fully costed. This would have eliminated the sneers and ridicule from the Tories and their claims about £1.3 trillion.
Finally I think that in principle the fact that this important function of counting and verifying votes is vital to democracy and on principle should not be left to a private enterprise which is so heavily biased towards one party as is the case here and that should be taken up. But it does not seem to have bothered the Labour party enough to take a second look at this. The electoral commission should also be more neutral and grow sharper teeth. But for us at this stage to try and prove vote rigging we must ask ourselves again as to why the Labour party has not raised this issue? We need some handle on this before it can take wings. I suppose that is what you are trying to do, and this is admirable AND I WISH YOU DO PROGRESS WITH THIS. Time permitting, I will also look at corruption but again there is indifference about this. For example Boris and his sex partner were given a freebie worth £20000 for a week’s holiday in Mustique with no batting of eyelids. It should be clearly stated that a servant of the people should decline such freebies or alternatively like everyone else should pay tax on them. Why this is not the case with the PM of this country is something I find difficult to comprehend.