Labour MP Jon Cruddas declared that Labour is facing the biggest crisis in its history, prior to apologising for the way the party has been behaving over recent weeks.
Addressing the annual conference of the National Justice and Peace Network at Swanwick last weekend, Cruddas suggested the party could fragment if the present damaging conflict between much of the Parliamentary party and members continues.
He predicted that leader Jeremy Corbyn could lead one part of the party, whilst the right went off in another direction. He warned that UKIP could then transform itself into a worker’s party sweeping up the working classes. “Neither Corbyn or the right of labour are appealing to the working classes,” said Cruddas, who said he had no truck with the Parliamentary parties vote of no confidence.
The MP outlined how the party had experienced an emptying out over the Blair and Brown years, leading to a preoccupation with money and transactional relations between people. “We had a compact with the bankers to skim off some of the money and give that back to the poorer parts of society,” said Cruddas. “In 2008, the music stopped, and we were culpable in creating that system.”
The Dagenham and Rainham MP declared that Labour has “lost its soul” and “ethical base of approach.”
Cruddas called for a new virtue based model of politics grounded in the common good. This would look to a more holistic vision of a person living in society, as part of community – rather than simply a commodified being judged almost entirely on a transactional basis of money exchange.
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