Wednesday 16 November 2016

Rank Alongside

Durham County Council was the first local authority of which Labour ever won Overall Control. That has never been lost, in over 100 years. The Labour Group on that authority is the largest in local government, with a whopping 94 members, out of a total of 126. But this coming May, that council can be, should be, and, I believe, will be taken to No Overall Control.

Via certain institutions that had better not be named due to the involvement of Labour Party members, the Teaching Assistants, who are complete political novices, have established from scratch the connections on the wider Left necessary to bring that about.

If the immediate beneficiaries include Lib Dems, more or less Tory Independents, and even a few overt Conservatives, then so be it. The Hillary Clintons in County Hall will have been Trumped. The several former striking miners who have scabbed for them will have got what scabs have always got.

Whoever the new Leader and Deputy Leader of Durham County Council are going to be, they are not going to be members of the Labour Party. That council is no longer going to be the Mike Ashley of the public sector. It is no longer going to be the twenty-first century reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher's National Coal Board. The Teaching Assistants' flag will fly from County Hall every day for the following four years, at least.

This victory will rank alongside the election of Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London in 2000, the election of George Galloway (a strong supporter of the Durham Teaching Assistants) as MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005, and his election as MP for Bradford West in 2012.

This victory will rank alongside the election of Jeremy Corbyn (a strong supporter of the Durham Teaching Assistants) as Leader of the Labour Party in 2015, his re-election as Leader of the Labour Party in 2016, and his election as Prime Minister in 2020.

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