Descent into madness

The Labour party's descent into madness and chaos continues.  Today thousands of people have been informed that they will not be permitted a vote in the leadership election because they are not supporters of 'Labour values'.  Some have impeccable Labour credentials you would think, such as being a trade union rep and Labour party member.  Out, out impure spawn! 

Just why someone has been denied a vote is hard to say, since those who have enquired are being told that they will have to become a full member and pay dues to find out. At least one thinks it's because she retweeted something by Ken Loach, presumably critical of the Labour party.  The witch hunts are in full swing, and none shall escape.  It really reminds me of Clypegate, where the social media accounts of 'cybernats' weree scoured for words like 'traitor' and denounced. Do we detect an influence from Blair McDougall/John McTernan here?

And what are the Labour values that people are being checked against?  It's anyone's guess.  My guess is that there is no checklist, just 'feelings'  or reports from other people that such-and-such might be a ringer.  And we all thought McCarthyism was dead.

This chimes in nicely with comments from Michael Kelly, the Lord Provost of Glasgow yesterday that the voters are acting irrationally in Scotland and need to come to their senses and listen to Labour again.  Nice.  If the people won't vote for you, insult their intelligence until they do.  That'll win them back.  Not.  Or, if you're UK Labour, just stop people who are intend to vote the 'wrong' way from voting at all.  Job done.

One of the problems Labour has is that they still haven't come to terms with the internet.  If this had happened a decade ago there might or might not have been a small story in the newspapers, which would have probably been overlooked by most people.  Nowadays, however, the rejected voters are taking to Twitter and other social media and finding our just how many of them there are.  Check #Labourpurge for details.

The vote rigging had now become unashamedly blatant. It's only a leadership election however.  Does it really matter?  Yes. Yes, it does.  The very principle of democracy is at stake.  Just how far down the slippery slope do we want to go?