Despite wrecking the country’s economy the last time they were in power and their current leaders’ Marxist ideologies and history of sympathizing with terrorists, the Labour party are the bookmakers’ favourites to win the most seats at the next UK general election.
How has this happened? The answer, at least in part, is that Labour has hitched its wagon to the phenomena of “populism”.
Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, the UK’s referendum in favour of Brexit and Marine Le Pen making it through to the final round of the French presidential election have all been credited to “populism”.
While Labour have embraced social media, the Tories have been slow to recognise the importance of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and how information is shared in the age of smart phones and high-speed broadband.
The left has developed a clear and coordinated Social Media strategy. This allowed them to dominated the medium and engage with younger voters in particular.
The Tories mainly stuck to their old media habits in June’s general election and paid a hefty price.
Labour has been very effective in stimulating class envy and a readiness to blame the rich for not paying enough taxes. Class and money have always been Labour rallying cries but the party’s lurch to the Left in the last couple of years have seen these old staples dusted off, polished and pushed with extra vigour.
Former leader Ed Millibands’ decision to allow people to join the Labour Party for just £3 and have a vote in who becomes leader resulted in a huge increase in membership. Many of the new members were in the important 18 to 24-year-old category.
Labour have become adept at taking advantage of current events. Major party figures including Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell have been turning up for photo and virtue signaling opportunities after tragedies such as the Grenfell Tower fire.
Corbyn and McDonnell made speeches at the Glastonbury Festival. Politicians hijacking pop concerts is a fairly new phenomena in the UK.
Labour party activists and supporters have been leading chants of “Jeremy “Corbyn” and “F*** the Tories” at other public events, including the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
If Labour regain power they have promised to end austerity and introduce a tax and spend programme. This will include writing off student loans. A move which, understandably, is very popular with the 40% of young people who go on to higher education these days, never mind those who have been through the system and are paying off old loans.
There has been plenty of turmoil among Labour MPs and many of them were convinced Jeremy Corbyn was the wrong guy to lead the party and he would not survive. However, following a surprisingly strong Labour performance in the general election in June and the rapid rise of his approval ratings in contrast to Conservative prime minister Theresa May’s plummeting figures , Corbyn is more secure in his position now than at any time since he became Labour’s leader.
So now we have come up with arguments which may help explain Labour’s surge in popularity, the next question to ask is why this sudden change for the better in the party’s fortunes has happened in a relatively short space of time?
The Momentum group is Corbyn’s power base and it has sustained him when his leadership has been questioned.
Their old-fashion socialist politics may not be palatable to many in the party but Momentum members appear to be focused, fully committed and, rather unusually for a political group on the left, well organised.
Just having a loyal grass-roots backing group and going down the “populism” route are not enough to have brought about Labour’s metamorphosis from a chaotic party in steep decline into a vibrant, confident and powerful movement with a realistic chance of forming the next government.
What else could be behind Labour’s resurgence?
Is someone or some entity guiding Labour’s hand?
Whose behind the transformation from political outsiders to bookies’ favourites.
For the answers to these questions it’s worth looking across the Atlantic at Donald Trump’s stunning victory in the American presidential election last November for a clue.
Despite no demonstrable evidence, the Democrats and their friends in the main-stream media in the US have insisted Trump’s victory was down to the Republican candidate’s campaign team colluding with Russia and that the Kremlin under Vladimir Putin’s direction “hacked” the US election to prevent Hillary Clinton becoming president.
These claims simply aren’t creditable. If the Russians were going to back anyone it would have been Clinton as they have far more in common with the Democrats than the Republicans and, given her and her husband Bill’s many scandals, Putin is likely to have far more “leverage” over Hillary Clinton than he has over Donald Trump.
Could Russia be colluding with the Labour Party?
The Russians have close historical ties to Labour.
Jeremy Corbyn has frequently attacked Donald Trump and there will be no special relationship with America if he becomes prime minister.
Jeremy Corbyn has stated he would never launch a Polaris missile if he had his finger on the nuclear trigger.
Both Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s number 2, John McDonnell, are strong socialists and fans of Karl Marx’s writings.
It’s not difficult to believe Vladimir Putin would be quite happy to see Labour form the next UK government.
In those circumstances it’s not difficult either to believe the Russians may be supporting the Labour Party with resources and strategic advice to help propel Jeremy Corbyn to Number 10 Downing Street.