Frank Newman: Brexit exit for Corbyn

The UK Labour Party has been slaughtered in the recent election result. It's their worst result in 80 years. Electorates that had been Labour bastions forever have fallen as life-long Labour supporters held their nose and voted for Boris Johnson's Conservative Party - or didn't vote.  

Brexit was a crucial factor as was Labour's archaic socialist policies and its repugnant leadership. The Labour Party's position on Brexit was political rather than principled and their messaging was unclear. Were they for a Brexit exit or not? Voters simply wanted clarity and after years of political deadlock voters had had enough and pro-Brexit Labourites voted accordingly.

They also had had enough of Labour's unlikeable leader, Jeremy Corbyn. The only people backing him appeared to be a clique who had a vested interest in his success. The blindness of the self-interested back-slappers perpetuated Corbyn's reign as leader, when those within the party less attached to his coattails know he was disliked by voters and had policies bedded in failed ideologies and misconceptions about the role of government as a protector of the working class.  Clearly the Party has been captured by a hierarchy who believe in Animal Farm type government. It's a far cry from the more moderate views of Labour under Tony Blair.

Corbyn should have resigned on election night. He didn't and will now oversee a process to pass the leadership onto someone else - presumably someone who shares his world view.  He described the defeat as "disappointing", which suggests he lacks an appreciation of the significance of his contribution to the Party's defeat.

There is a message here for New Zealand's socialist politicians - and Winston Peters. Most people do not want government intruding in their lives. They can get along quite nicely without politicians making decisions for them that they can make themselves. Politicians who are so self-centred that they believe they are important to most people need to think again. Their importance is more their ability to obstruct rather than assist.

Another message from the campaign is that those who believe in the freedom of markets and individual freedom should stand firm to their beliefs, despite the negative press from the media and others that want to impose their views and personal agendas on others. Politicians need to remember that people do not believe everything they read in the media.

The final message is about Winston Peters - the man who after the last election appointed our Prime Minister and put socialists and radical greenies into Government. Giving this absolute power to a single man leading what is a minor fringe party is not what people wanted when they voted for MMP, and voters will have no hesitation in delivering that message via the ballot box.

Frank Newman, a writer and investment analyst, is a former local body councillor.