Nu Labour Grudge Match: Penny Against Purnell

There can be few more wonderful things than watching two Labour party members sneering at each other. And when those two happen to be Penny "Would Be Radical" Red and James "Suddenly Socialist" Purnell - neither of whom will be strangers to regular readers of this blog - it is just delightful. And in this case, the exchange between the two perfectly sums up just how fucked the Labour Party is.

The story - from Penny rather than Purnell - is that during a meeting with the shifty former Cabinet minister, Penny snapped and told Purnell what was on her mind. It is quite interesting and worth reproducing in full. If only because it shows Penny Red is resolutely part of the Entitled Generation*:

"Look, James. You know and I know that the damage has already been done. There are hundreds of thousands of young people and people with disabilities out there whose lives have been entirely scuppered by a batting team of the recession and your damn stupid benefit policies. Sure, you're trying to guarantee jobs for one in ten of them now - but that's not enough, and we both know that. I'm not here to shout at you or to tell you how angry I am with you, and I'm not here to point out the massive hypocrisy in your personal behaviour over the expenses scandal -there wouldn't be a lot of point in that. I'm here to ask you, please, to listen.

Notice here how there are problems that have affected young people like Penny. The recession (which has presumably not allowed them to get jobs) and the Purnell Benefit reforms (which have presumably limited their earning potential whilst on the dole) are making life miserable for them. Which is understandable; but they are not alone in suffering from the recession or from Nu Labour policies. There is no sense within this of Penny and her friends trying to make the best of a bad situation. They expect the government to give them a job, rather than actually going out to find one. And when the government doesn't do so - and refuses to pay them for doing fuck all - they get angry about it. Which makes me a little angry. Mainly owing to the arrogance of it.

Now, I know it is bad form to post subjective anecdotal evidence to make a case; that said, I'm going to do it anyway. The government has never helped to find me a job. In all bar one case, I have found jobs through personal searches and direct application to companies. As for the one exception, I found that job through the personal contacts I built up through working. Disability isn't a hinderance either. I have worked with people who are disabled yet have worked very effectively in a variety of professions. The difference is between those who would go out and find a job, and those who want the job to come to them. And a job that comes gift-wrapped by the government. If you wait for a job to come to you, then you are going to be disappointed. Because - nine times out of ten - someone more proactive will have taken the role before it ever gets to you.

Oh, and it is positively startling to claim that you are not going to tell someone how angry you are with them at the same time as talking about their "damn stupid policies" and their "massive hypocrisy." Clearly a sense of self-awareness is still lacking in what passes for the Radical Left these days.

But Penny goes on with her odd mix of a plea and a rant:

"People are hurting, right now; people like my partner and my former housemates are in desperate situations and they are hurting. You're a highly ambitious, brilliant politician. There's not a small chance that by the time you're leader of the Labour Party or Prime Minister of Britain [note: neither Purnell nor his aide moved to correct me at this point] we will still be hurting, still be desperate, and some of us might still be unemployed. I want you to remember, please, that you owe us a voice. I want you to remember that our votes count, too, and that we are people just as much as people who are lucky enough to be employed. It's too late for some of us now; but we're good, bright young men and women who just want to earn our way, and our votes count as much as anyone's. So when you're powerful again, please remember us, and remember that you owe us. And that's all I have to say."

All this talk of hurting brings the music of Tears for Fears to mind. Although I do think that politicians - particularly those of the Nu Labour type - are immune to concepts like "hurting". So it is just as well that Penny mentions votes - the only thing the likes of Purnell could ever care about. Yet it is worth noting why so few politicians care about the young and the unemployed; the former often don't vote, and the latter often aren't registered. So Penny's vote is arguably worth less to Purnell than the vote of someone of middle age and the middle class; statistically, Purnell can rely on the middle class to turn out to the ballot box more than he can the unemployed or the young.

And why does he owe Penny a voice? Or even owe her anything? What the hell has she ever done, other than turn up to a meeting and hector him? Again, there is the pervasive sense of entitlement without justification. Penny just expects Purnell to represent her, her friends and her views. She doesn't explain to her readers or to Purnell why she should be listened to. Presumably because she doesn't have a reason.

Still, you have to hand it to Purnell. His response to all this is just gold:

At which point, Purnell said, "Thank you. That seems like a good point on which to end the meeting".

*Throws back head and brays with laughter.*

He doesn't give a fuck. Even in the face of Penny's self-righteous, self-serving indignation and pleading rage, he doesn't give a fuck. And in doing so he sums up perfectly what is wrong with Nu Labour politicians. They are so arrogant, and so self-absorbed, that they are perfectly happy to ignore the views and the arguments of their own party.

Which is how this post perfectly sums up why, for the foreseeable future, the Labour Party is fucked. James "Workhouse" Purnell represents the next generation of Labour leaders, and he doesn't really give a fuck about anyone other than himself. Not even those supporters he should be developing into party loyalists and activists. And the Labour generation after that can't do anything other than whine and tantrum over the grossly unfair government that doesn't deliver a job and/or a benefit cheque on demand.

Fuck 'em. Fuck the lot of 'em. They are on the way out, and good riddance.

*A concept I'll go into detail about in another, still to be written, post.