Jeremy
Corbyn & The Battle For The British Labour
(U.S. 'Labor') Party Leadership
I
had taken up a long-standing invitation to visit ********* at his
beautiful quaint home – **** Manor – in Cambridge.
I
decided to let the train take the strain as we were intending to get
some pub grub and pork belly at one of his favorite local dens.
It
was a very beautiful Summer's day.
He
collected me from the station and we spent the sweltering morning
walking the lengths of his inner courtyard and gardens while he gave
a few tips on elementary botany for the layman and introduced me to
his treasured plants and flowers, each by nomenclature.
As
we strolled through the gardens I recalled a similar residence in
Malta I had, many years ago, been invited to lunch at. The one in
Malta was likewise breathtaking and I remember that the proprietor of
the property told us that Her Majesty The Queen had actually stayed
at this residence when she once visited the island. I cannot recall
whether it was a stay for a few days or just a visit to the property
to marvel at it's equally beautiful gardens.
(What
I can now say is that our visit to Malta was hosted by Frank Salt
Properties and this is the first opportunity I am taking to say thank
you to Frank and his Staff for being such wonderful hosts, providing
the warmest of hospitality and personal guides during our stay on the
island.)
The
setting for ****** residence in Cambridge could not have been more
perfect.
For
many years ******* had been trying to persuade me to move to
Cambridge on the grounds that there are a better intellect class in
residence here (and maybe one more to my liking?) than 'the jungle'
where I was residing. He even had somewhere in mind for me to
reside.
Sadly
when you get too used to 'jungle life' it's very difficult to adapt
to 'normality' and I think I would have ultimately found myself
infinitely bored in the beautiful picturesque settings I was now
enjoying (!)
Over
lunch we discussed politics and some issues which did not appear in
two of my books nor interviews but were nonetheless very topical.
After
that we drove to see his primary and secondary schools, all hallowed,
oaked and silent in
the blistering heat of a very lazy day, with not a soul in sight just
a few lovers strolling by the banks of the glistening and sparkling
undulating waters.
I
am not one of the world's greatest botanists but I think they were
willow trees lightly dipping their boughs into the slow-flowing
streams, hardly a gust in sight.
I
will not give the exact circumstances nor location where I met Jeremy
Corbyn just suffice to say that he had just come from seeing his son,
then a Cambridge undergraduate. (His son graduated about two years
ago.)
We
spend the better part of an hour - just us - nobody else – chatting about
everything.
Out
of respect, I did not draw him into a discussion about any major political
issues but we talked a lot about education in general and the (then) topical issue of climate change, the ongoing drought in Cambridge and it's effects on local farming.
This
was not my first encounter with Mr Corbyn. Many years ago - perhaps as
many as ten - I was debating with the same on BBC World Television about
terrorism in the Philippines.
As
I recall there was a third person partaking that BBC Panel debate.
I
never agreed with Mr Corbyn's politics - which I am familiar with over
many years - but at least he stands for something he believes in.
There
are very few (perhaps a handful) of British politicians who are but
'party lackeys' - and all his rival contenders for the Labor Party
leadership fit into this bag - with lots of room to spare for many many
more of them.
They
are all so dull and so predictable - the Socialist 'Nomenklatura' 'Class'
in British Politics.
Jeremy
Corbyn is the Socialist equivalent of Margaret Thatcher (and I did
meet Margaret on many occasions.)
He
is feared by the Labor Party nomenklatura because he actually stands
for 'genuine' Socialist values – as opposed to their sham and
deceitful politics - all carefully managed to fool the general public
into believing that they represent 'the ordinary' folk.
I
would not vote for Jeremy - but I respect the fact that he actually has
something he treasures and genuinely believes in contrast to the
'Judases' now desperately seeking any and every nefarious and
perfidious means to scuttle his bid for the Party's leadership.
In
one sense he represents the political antithesis of Margaret Thatcher
but in another he likewise shares her 'conviction politics' and is
motivated toward a grander (utopian?) vision of mankind's existence,
under a (rainbow) socialist umbrella.
Perhaps
that is what British politics desperately needs - a real genuine
alternative so that people can at least have a real genuine choice to
vote on at a general election.
The campaign against Mr Corbyn has almost reached hysterical levels - with
the end of the world being predicted if he is elected Labor Leader.
They
have even dusted down the ghosts (and literally, guns) of old,
rehabilitated Mr Blair and put him in the sparring ring to add the
'coup
de
grĂ¢ce' as
Corbyn lies pummelled and bleeding on the ropes from the blows and
the knife wounds inflicted by Brutus et al.
It's
unlikely that he will succeed in his bid for leadership of the
British Labor Party as every political 'hitman' (or 'hitperson' as
the politically correct Socialists would prefer to say) from the four
corners of the British Isles has been press-ganged into service to
'get Corbyn' at any and at all costs.
As
all those plotters against Corbyn, without exception, 'lie with dogs'
(as the saying goes) I
have no doubt they will all, ultimately, 'get up with fleas' (!)
©Patrick
Emek, July 24th, 2015