Nearly a decade of austerity for the Tories and still a crushing win – Labour’s defeat demands a complete rethink
WHO would have thought that after nine years of austerity, with a Tory Party tearing itself to bits and Brexit still not sorted, the Tories could win as big as this?
This is a catastrophe for Labour. It isn’t just a defeat for Jeremy Corbyn but for everyone who supported his hard-left, extremist agenda.
And if this doesn’t make them think again, what will?
Of course, they will claim this was the Brexit election, not a verdict on their mad manifesto.
They will blame the media, the opinion polls, their opponents and even the weather. Anything to avoid responsibility for taking the Labour Party to its worst result since 1935.
But what did they think would happen when Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and the rest of them won control of the party? And what did Labour MPs think would happen when decent British people were asked to put them in power?
A shattering defeat such as this demands a complete rethink.
And moderate MPs need to devote every minute to reclaiming the party from the hard-left extremists.
They need to boot Corbyn, McDonnell and the rest of them out, get back to the centre ground and start listening to decent, patriotic working-class voters in places such as my old seat in Dudley.
I could not be prouder of the British people
Ian Austin, Former Labour MP
They need to show that they can be trusted to tackle terrorism, defend our country and protect its borders.
Most of all, they must banish for good the anti-Jewish racism that has poisoned the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn.
This catastrophic defeat can be put down to a number of factors: Brexit, their economic policies, extremism and Corbyn’s useless leadership.
But it’s also clear that anti-Semitism had an impact, too, and everyone who wants a Labour Government needs to think about this long and hard.
Labour’s anti-Semitism crisis goes much deeper than just the leader.
It is now in the party’s bones and a change of leader won’t be enough to solve it.
So my old party has a long and hard road back to respectability and relevance.
And we all have a big job to do to stand up for mainstream democratic values and beat the extremists for good.
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But I’m optimistic about that because I could not be prouder of the British people tonight.
They have rejected extremism and the poisonous hate which the hard left brought into the Labour Party.
And they have stood up for Britain’s Jewish community, rejected racism and said enough is enough.
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