Sometimes it’s pretty easy to know how to vote for those of us on the left. You have a clear task at a specific election and a candidate who represents those aspirations. It’s not always the most left-wing candidate but it’s frequently the candidate most of the left are backing. Such are these sad times that UK elections can be far more muddled.
Sometimes there is no left candidate or worse there are simply too many of them, and not a one of them viable. In Croydon today the revolutionary zeal of the masses has been held in check by just such a dilemma so, as polls have closed, I thought I’d take a look at how the left might be voting.
The candidates
Of twelve candidates just four are even remotely tolerable choices for your vote. I discount the “9/11 was an inside job” candidate, and if you need to ask why please leave the premises.
The leftist menu today includes Labour (for the old fashioned types), Communist (for the *really* old fashioned types), the Greens (who like their leftism freshly picked) or Respect (for those who… no, I’ll leave it there I think). This is actually a real choice in that you don’t have near identical Marxists standing against each other and the candidates’ platforms are certainly distinct.
Labour’s Steve Reed is leader of Lambeth Council where he has been taking the lead in the difficult decisions that funding cuts have created. He fell foul of a conduct hearing recently for publicly disclosing that a former colleague had fallen into arrears in her council tax – confidential information he only knew through his position. Reed beat London Assembly Member Val Shawcross for the selection by only three votes (96-93).
Reed will win the seat, which has a very comfortable majority, so there’s no “must beat the Tories” argument at play here. He’s a Labour tribalist but there’s no reason that you have to be, particularly for a candidate who appears entirely uninspiring.
Bizarrely Socialist Worker (right) came out in favour of the leader of a council that they would almost certainly have condemned for implementing cuts. However, while the print edition calls for a Labour vote, Socialist Worker changed the line online to a plague on all their houses, so that’s all right then.
Next up we have Ben Stevenson who is a big wig in the Communist Party of Britain despite his tender years. The CPB is the worst possible name for a Social Democratic party you could devise, but they’ve had that nae for years so they’re sticking to their guns.
His program seems very light on invading Hungary or locking up dissidents which is always a plus – in fact he seems pretty levelheaded about most political questions and his own prospects. He’s also guaranteed to get less than 1% of the vote so, unless you have a picture of Uncle Joe in the loo, I’m not entirely sure what purpose voting for Stevenson serves – although he does seem quite nice – and who says niceness does not deserve a cross in a box?
I’m very tempted by Lee Jasper (right), veteran anti-racist and an articulated advocate of basic left-wing politics. He’s standing for Respect, an organisation prone to crisis and fall outs, which makes me slightly more hesitant. While I wouldn’t be lured in by Yvonne Ridley, Respect’s candidate in Rotherham, Jasper has an energy and record one can admire.
Jasper is a controversial London figure, mainly because the Evening Standard had him in its sights during Livingstone’s tenure as Mayor (Jasper worked for the lovable newt lover for many years) – but without grit in the oyster you’d never make a pearl so that’s fine by me.
My concerns, if I had any, would simply be that Respect is a dying organisation that really does have some dodgy views, and I wish Jasper had stood as a well known independent. I’ve no doubt he would be a hard working MP, if veering a little towards the self-publicist and I’d give him serious consideration as I’m sure he’ll win a creditable vote.
Lastly we have Shasha Khan of the Green Party, a very amiable and committed local campaigner who has stood several times before for his party and is a regular in the fights around the incinerator and local library closures. Ian Bone recounts some brilliant by-election adventures in which poor old Shasha was caught up and it highlights concerns that his campaign has not been overly robust and the Greens will essentially deliver the same result as they always do in Croydon.
I’m also uninspired by his leaflets with “I will fight for lower fuel bills” as his headline message. Appeals to my wallet leave me cold, and not because it’s full to bursting with fifty pound notes but rather because politics needs passion and commitment, something this kind of promise lacks in droves. It hardly does his record justice or give voters a reason to vote for him.
Having said that This is Croydon has an excellent hustings report where they seem very impressed. Even UKIP’s Winston McKenzie said “he’s the Green man. At the end of the day, I’d go with the green man. He’s got the right idea”. And if it’s good enough for Winston who are we to disagree?
It comes down to two candidates
When it comes down to it there are only two candidates worth voting for in my opinion. That’s the old war horse Jasper, who knows his socialist onions and is not afraid of a fight, for good or ill, or Khan who has a quieter, more collaborative and less ideological approach but has a real track record as a campaigner over public services and the environment in Croydon. Which you prefer is really a matter of taste I guess – and anyway I don’t get a vote, and the polls have closed.