One of the
things that came through loud and clear from Corbyn during the leadership
election was that he doesn’t do personal.
He really doesn’t seem to care that much what people think of him at a
personal level, and he wants to talk policy rather than personality. It is, I suspect, a significant part of what
won the election for him.
In the light of
that, what can we make of the frenzied reaction of the press to him refusing to
sing ‘God save the Queen’, and attacking his mode of dress? Three things, it seems to me.
Firstly, his
political opponents – including, or perhaps even especially, those in his own party – are deeply uncomfortable
with discussing policy. There are
probably several reasons for this – including that they’re not used to thinking
in terms of policy, and much more accustomed to voting as they’re told, and that they
are probably (and rightly) afraid of losing any intelligent argument around
policy.
Secondly, it
makes for easier headlines. There’s a
lot less work involved in writing a press release or tweeting a negative and
highly personal attack than there is in preparing a serious response to policy;
and what passes for journalism finds it easier to write big screaming
headlines in response.
But thirdly,
and most importantly, there’s a less obvious effect at play, and that is an
attempt to impose, or at least reinforce, the boundaries within which politics
is conducted. And that includes preventing or suppressing any serious debate about policy which might expose the fact that there are alternatives. There’s a mindset at work
for which ‘being different’ is inherently dangerous, even if the differences
are not as great as they're portrayed.
Corbyn could,
of course, simply compromise and fall in with convention, which is what I’m
sure many of his so-called colleagues will be urging him to do. Hypocritical, of course, but it’s what they
seem to want. I doubt that it will make
much difference – they’ll only find more and more things to criticise unless
and until he’s brought completely back into line. And parts of the media are not averse to
making things up if it suits their agenda.
But for me,
there’s something very sad about a political culture which would find complete
and obvious hypocrisy more acceptable than honesty and consistency. That, though, is the Labour-Tory consensus in
which we live.
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