RIP Michael Foot

Michael Foot, campaigning journalist and former Labour leader has died. He was 96, and perhaps the last socialist leader the Party ever had, despite his occasional shifts to the right (by my standards, anyway).

Was he a successful leader? No: he never won an election and saw his party riven by left and rightwing splits. He was constantly, appallingly attacked by the usual newspapers who criticised his clothes (pathetic: they falsely claimed he wore a donkey jacket to the Remembrance Day ceremony), claimed he was an agent of the USSR and all the other smears applied to threats to the establishment. Perhaps this was related to the fact that as a serious journalist, he really, really hated Rupert Murdoch.

He was right about everything (Suez, Vietnam, the Prague Spring, Korea, Rushdie, Serbian aggression, republicanism - he refused all honours) except on Europe: I think a USSE is possible, he thought that it was inevitably a capitalist plot.

However, I admired him hugely as a great journalist and author in the 1930s, and as a Cabinet Minister under Wilson and Callaghan. He was a great constituency MP from 1945 until 1992, and was at the heart of the leftwing intelligentsia which used to be such a prominent part of this country's intellectual life. He was also, under the pseudonyms of 'Cato' and 'Cassius', author of two Left Book Club publications, which I collect.

And, of course, he was a co-founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, of which I am proud to be a member. He was a thoughtful, intelligent and gentle man who had the misfortune to be active in a period in which these qualities were perceived as weaknesses.

His 1983 Labour Manifesto caused the biggest Labour defeat in its history - and one rightwing Labour MP (and notable expenses hoover) called it the 'longest suicide note in history', yet most of its ideas are now being implemented, it having taken 25 years for New Labour to realise that market forces are inherently evil (still waiting for disarmament, but we're getting there):

The 1983 Labour manifesto, strongly socialist in tone, advocated unilateral nuclear disarmament, higher personal taxation and a return to a more interventionist industrial policy. The manifesto also pledged that a Labour government would abolish the House of Lords, nationalise banks and leave the EEC. Among the Labour MPs newly-elected in 1983 in support of this manifesto were Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. 

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha bye bye Blears

Maybe this makes me sound bitter, but Hazel Blears' resignation is one of the happiest days of my life - like all my graduations rolled into one - because I'm a socialist and a Labour Party member (I know, these things are mutually exclusive, but I exist in a state of cognitive dissonance). I hope that my constant acid attacks on her has helped foster in her the sense that the people don't really like her - but I doubt it.

True to form, she's resigned in a way designed to make herself look good and Brown look useless. He is, of course, but she's a deserting rat keen to inflict as much damage as possible. He should have sacked her a long time ago: it would have been good for the government of this country, good for the party and good for his reputation: he'd have looked decisive.

She said that she wants to

"help the Labour party to reconnect with the British people, to remind them that our values are their values, that their hopes and dreams are ours too".

But the Guardian is, thankfully, less impressed by her low cunning:

In a move that seemed deliberately hostile, Blears confirmed her departure publicly 90 minutes before prime minister's questions.

Obviously she's talking total bollocks. She represents nobody except careerist rightwing political obsessive class traitors, despite her incessant whinging that she's working class (because her brother drives a bus). Let's hope she's consigned to the dustbin of history for ever, and that New Labour goes with her.

As to the leadership, I maintain my record of opposing every Labour leader since Clement Atlee (and he drifted sharply to the right). I hated Blair when he was Home Office shadow minister and saw Gordon as his capitalist fixer - and a man who betrayed his Maxtonite roots. I see no reason to re-evaluate that position. I'd like John McDonnell to take the leadership, out of romantic socialism. If not, Alan Johnson would appeal to the electorate but not to me. Perhaps Rhodri Morgan (or in English) should be invited in: he's the leader of Wales's 'Classic Labour', which has made that country a socialist paradise, he's a heavyweight intellectual and a populist speaker and organiser. Michael Foot's still alive too.

I almost forgot: meanwhile, Labour HQ has dumped Dr Ian Gibson, for selling his flat to his daughter. Ridiculous: most of the cabinet have behaved corruptly, whereas he hasn't. Of course, it couldn't be because he's a sane, rational, thoughtful and occasionally rebellious independent thinker. He's particularly good on science. The country will certainly miss his contribution to public life.