Why I am supporting Owen Smith 2016
This is my response to the Corbyn Camps e-mail asking why I am supporting Owen.
Jeremy
I have lost all faith in your leadership. I was happy for many of the PLP to try and make it work, it was the right thing to do and many did despite what your supporters now say. There have even been some successes along the way, but only with help from the lords, rebel Tory MPs, the SNP and other groups; it is not as you have claimed solely from your own efforts. Indeed many of the PLP who resigned were instrumental in this work, whom your supporters now smear whilst you claim their work as your own.
Electorally there have been some successes, but nothing to indicate we are winning outside of safe seats. We need 100 seats in 2020 and the majority are conservative with many majorities above 3000. I see no strategy to engage or target these seats or voters. From friends who have been canvasing and friends or family who do not vote labour all I see is them turning away. Many are not even listening anymore and in Yorkshire I sense something akin to what happened to Scottish labour in the air, all it will take is a more palatable UKIP leader. You do not understand how dangerous this situation is, but also I worry that you do not care.
The accounts of incompetence , disregard and worse for peoples hard work is just too much. Your leadership Jeremy has been by all accounts one embarrassing own goal after another. Yes you care about solving inequality, tackling poverty, social justice etc, but we all do. Hell, many Tory MPs do, so I see no reason why just caring about these issues makes you capable of leading. You pretend these principles are exclusive to you, thereby creating a straw man to argue against and smearing the rest of us as some unprincipled grotesque caricature. I have been a labour member for 7 years, with only a short break. I have volunteered before and when I lived in Manchester always attended my CLP events. It was a great welcoming place where lots of people worked their socks off for a labour government; from the accounts I hear now that environment is gone with bitterness and abuse in it’s place. For this unfortunately I blame you. I don’t think this was done maliciously, but I think it cannot be fixed unless you go. I see so much abuse going both ways, but particularly from your supporters. In response to this all I see is hollow condemnations, but with no action plan to tackle it. Furthermore from what I hear Mcdonell even wanted to close the compliance unit down, making your condemnations of abuse seem even more hollow.
If you had resigned you could have influenced members on whom your successor could have been, or even policies following your resignation. By staying you have launched us into a bitter battle in which the party looks like it will split or be destroyed in 2020, just when it is needed most. I find this heartbreaking and hope with all my heart it does not happen.
I will still vote Labour if you win. Of course I will, but it will be with an incredibly heavy heart.
Sam
