We Watched Corbyn-Hating Labour Members Plot Against Him

This article originally appeared on VICE UK.

If you're bummed Owen Smith lost the Labour leadership contest, I have good news for you. If you're psyched Corbyn won, it's bad: JC's enemies are not gonna let it lie.

Shortly after Corbyn's victory on Saturday, James Schneider of Momentum told me that we shouldn't overstate the number of MPs opposed to his vision. But it took just one day for MPs on the right of the party to make it clear that they are deeply serious about throwing their toys out of the pram, which they did at a Progress rally on Sunday night. As Wes Streeting MP put it, "I've no intention of changing, no platitudes, and no pretence that the concerns I had yesterday about the state of our party and its leadership don't still hold today or won't concern me tomorrow."

Just in case that wasn't clear, he rounded up his speech: "We the people in this room and across our party cannot surrender to the political tradition that would keep this party in opposition for generations to come. That would be the greatest betrayal of Labour values."

Progress is an organisation on the right wing of the party, which has received millions of pounds in funding from Lord Sainsbury. The term "Blairite" has become a slur for anyone to the right of Corbyn, but Progress people are genuinely big fans of the blessed Tone. Depending on your view, it's Labour's red-Tory-scum party-within-a party, or a modernising pressure group, pushing the realistic yet radical (read: business-friendly) centre ground of British politics.

In a packed-out bar, a barrel roll of MPs used the language of unity to discuss how few shits they give about the mandate of the 62 percent of the party membership who voted Corbyn – a few of whom were in the room, heckling.

They have their reasons. Wes Streeting, for instance, pointed out that a recent poll showed that Theresa May is more trusted than Jeremy Corbyn "even on the NHS – on the NHS, " he said. NUS Vice President Rob Young gave an impassioned speech about the difference "an actual Labour government" made to his life growing up gay, and there's sense among members not wedded to the Corbyn revolution that if Labour can't win, "what's the point?"

But as the night dragged on, it became painfully clear that the right of the party has got nothing to offer as an alternative. Caroline Flint called the 1997-2010 Labour government "a high point in our lifetime", apparently oblivious to how vapid that sounds. Of course the time before a massive financial crash that ruined everything was a high point for many. We're in a different world now, but the right of the party's offering seems to be: rose-tinted spectacles. Time and again that government was beatified, as if it didn't unleash mass death in Iraq in a murderous foreign policy blunder that gave us ISIS.

No ideas, then, but what about personalities? Liz Kendall was Progress's great hope in the 2015 leadership election. Her speech was boring enough to demonstrate why that didn't work out for her. Nevertheless, someone called out for her to stand again. She said "thanks but no thanks".

Hilary Benn, roundly applauded for his "blistering" speech in favour of bombing Syria, was the headliner and was touted as leadership material. I was in for a treat – a great orator of our time. He was boring too. Honestly one of my notes from the night was, "Christ this is boring".

Throughout the night, half-joking references were made to the fact that this was a "rally", as if those speaking were dimly aware but mildly embarrassed that they're being beaten by a rabble.

No ideas or personalities, then, but they do have some power. Kezia Dugdale, leader of the Scottish Labour Party, spoke to say that Labour needs to be a party serious about government, not just protest: "I promise I will work every single day to that end." A rule change is set to be given the green light by conference that will give her a seat on the National Executive Committee. The addition of two seats for the leaders of the Scottish and Welsh Labour parties will swing the committee – the one that voted to exclude 130,000 new members from the leadership vote – from a small pro-Corbyn majority to a small one against him.

They've also got their own egos and a morbid fear or being deselected by angry Corbynistas. Ian Murray, the last Labour MP in Scotland, said, "If they come after you for deselection, they come after us all." John Hannett, General Secretary of the USDAW union, described threats of deselection as "bullying" and "harassment", which gives you some idea of how the Corbyn plan for party democracy is going down among these people. Deselection does seem to be the question on everyone's lips. The assumption from the Corbyn grassroots is that if you deselect disloyal MPs, that will take them out of the picture and solve the problem. That may be correct. But there's another possibility: that the fear of it is increasing the tendency to lash out. At least still in their seats, Progress MPs have something to lose. Without that, there would be absolutely nothing stopping them portraying themselves as martyrs of a halcyon past, unfairly dispossessed by a bullying regime. The press would be all over that. Then again, as last night showed, that's pretty much what's happening already.

@SimonChilds13

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