In the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn as the leader of the Labour Party, Rebecca Long-Bailey has likely secured the socialist faction of the party, after taking on the leader of the far-left group Momentum as an advisor and choosing a self-described Stalinist as the manager of her leadership campaign.
One of the favourites to succeed 70-year-old socialist Jeremy Corbyn, Rebecca Long-Bailey, a “Corbyn loyalist” MP from Salford and Eccles, is being advised by Jon Lansman, the chairman of the far-left Corbynista group Momentum.
The incorporation of Momentum and Jon Lansman into her leadership campaign signals that Long-Bailey will likely “sew-up” the far-left wing of the Labour Party, according to The Times.
The move has been criticised by moderates in the Labour Party who fear that the selection of Long-Bailey as leader would serve as a continuation of the socialist policies of Corbyn that lead to the party’s worst defeat since 1935.
“Despite the obvious truth that Jeremy Corbyn must take the blame for the worst result in almost 100 years, Rebecca Long-Bailey, his anointed successor, is the favourite to succeed him as party leader. Her election would be the public statement that Corbyn has gone but Corbynism lives on,” former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Roy Hattersley wrote in The Guardian.
Rebecca Long-Bailey’s courtship of the far-left in the Labour Party also took shape when she hired Alex Halligan to serve as the manager of her leadership campaign.
In 2017, Halligan was pictured wearing a badge that read “Good night Trotskyite” and depicted a man holding an ice pick above another, a clear reference to the assassination of Leon Trotsky ordered by Joseph Stalin, according to The Times.
The term “Trotskyite” is a derogatory insult in far-left circles for those deemed too moderate in comparison to the more ardent socialists willing to do anything for the cause like Stalin, the Soviet dictator responsible for tens of millions of deaths.
Mr Hannigan is also a prominent activist for far-left groups in the northwest including Unite and Momentum.
Momentum was founded by Jon Lansman after Jeremy Corbyn became the leader of the Labour Party in 2015, in order to provide the socialist leader with a grass-roots network of supporters.
On its website Momentum sets out three main objectives:
1. Redistribute wealth to properly fund public services and infrastructure
2. Strive for equality and empower the many not the few
3. Roll back privatisation and make services accessible to all
The group was slammed on ITV’s election broadcast by former Labour Party Home Secretary Alan Johnson.
“I want them out of the party. I want Momentum gone. Go back to your student politics and your little left-wing… I’m saying what I want,” he said.
“People like Jon and his pals will never admit this. But they have messed up completely and it’s our communities that are going to pay for that,” Johnson concluded.
Speaking to the New Statesman ahead of the election, Jon Lansman said that “Momentum is a permanent feature of the Labour Party. We’re not going to be marginalised again, we’ve got half a million members and they are committed to the transformative programme we’ve got.”
Adding that Momentum will be around “long after Jeremy Corbyn and I are both dead”.
Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka
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