As Scotland, so also England

[Richard A]

As I commented on another thread, the comfortable election of Hamza Youssaf as SNP leader and hence Scotland's new First Minister, echoes what's happened in the Labour Party. This satirisation of The Red Flag goes back a century, but rarely has it been quite so applicable as under Keir Starmer.

The people's flag is palest pink
It's not the colour you might think
White collar workers stand and cheer
The Labour government is here

We'll change the country bit by bit
So nobody will notice it
And just to show that we're sincere
We'll sing The Red Flag once a year

The cloth cap and the woolen scarf
Are images outdated
For we're the party's avant garde
And we are educated

So raise the rolled umbrella high
The college scarf, the old school tie
And just to show that we're sincere
We'll sing The Red Flag once a year

[Heid the Ba]

I'm not sure how comfortable Yousaf's election was, it was closer than a lot of people thought.

[Richard A]

Meanwhile, Keir Starmer continues to live up to the "palest pink" description. He's put a motion through the Labour Party's National Executive Committee banning Jeremy Corbyn from standing as Labour candidate at the next general election. The motion makes no mention of antisemitism - which Corbyn since 2019 has worked hard to distance himself from - but rather says his being a Labour candidate would damage the party's prospects of election. Given how he's already been sidelined, that seems unlikely, but it does demonstrate Starmer's commitment to removing the left from the party. Underlining that, he has said that anyone - either an MP or a member - who doesn't like the decision is welcome to leave.

It'll be interesting to see what happens next. Corbyn is likely to stand as an independent candidate and may well be successful. If he is, this will likely damage Labour - Starmer will be more than just disappointed. Not enough to damage its election prospects, but it could harm whoever Starmer chooses to be the Labour candidate in Corbyn's constituency if they lose.

Talking to a leftist colleague at SOAS (of which there are several), I found they support the Green Party. If those Starmer invites to leave Labour do likewise, the Greens could become rather less of a fringe. We live in interesting times: a traffic light coalition might not be so unthinkable after all.

[Heid the Ba]

Same could happen here. I don't know where those who are leaving the SNP will go, and I don't know where I would have gone if Forbes or Regan had won.