Backing Rosie but fearing Corbyn

This election has raised the question: “Who or what am I voting for? Am I voting for a Member of Parliament for Canterbury or for a party or for a Prime Minister or for a policy?” This is a vital question in Canterbury. Rosie Duffield is widely respected but many people who are very happy to have her as their MP do not want to put Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street.

The situation has been simplified by recent polling data. The Labour Party cannot win the 318 seats needed to form a majority government. If Boris Johnson fails to win 318 seats, Corbyn will be unable to form a government that can survive the vote on the Queen’s Speech. Our parliamentary system can cope with no party having a majority in the Commons. If in 2019 the nation denies both Corbyn and Johnson a majority, by early 2020 a Prime Minister acceptable to the Commons will take office.

We need to mend our politics. Our parliamentary system works best with united parties offering competing coherent programmes that even those who do not vote for it accept when legitimised by an election. Does anyone in Canterbury think that either big party meets this test?

Rosie represents the social democratic tradition of Attlee and Callaghan, prime ministers who proved themselves more than mere party leaders. The restoration of their kind of Labour Party cannot take place unless the Commons contains MPS of the integrity and calibre of Rosie. Her fight against antisemitism in the Labour Party shows that she is no time-serving toady but an example of decency and principle. I joined the Conservative Party 50 years ago and stood as a parliamentary candidate in 1992. That party has become the Brexit Party. I do not trust its leader further than I could throw Bell Harry. I remain a One Nation Tory but I no longer have a party. I will be proud to vote for Rosie Duffield on December 12.

Joe Egerton