In 2017 Chris Renwick wrote a Facebook post that went on to be the most shared article of the General Election.
In it, he lamented people who had criticised the establishment for years but then failed to back a movement that sought to genuinely change it.
He said:
“All I’ve ever heard from people, for years, is:
“bloody bankers and their bonuses”
“bloody rich and their offshore tax havens “
“bloody politicians with their lying and second homes”
“bloody corporations paying less tax than me”
“bloody Establishment, they’re all in it together”
“it’ll never change, there’s no point in voting”
And quite rightly so, I said all the same things.
But then someone comes along that’s different. He upsets the bankers and the rich. The Tory politicians hate him along with most of the labour politicians. The corporations throw more money at the politicians to keep him quiet. And the Establishment is visibly shaken. I’ve never seen the Establishment so genuinely scared of a single person.
This week, amid genuine changes that would radically alter British society, the Labour Party is on the verge of splitting.
Even though the party has moved to slash banker’s bonuses, abolish privilege in the education system and move to a green economy, most of today’s papers have chosen to focus on divisions in the party and Jeremy Corbyn’s apparent fragility as its leader.
And there’s a good reason why.
As Renwick wrote two years ago, when the establishment gets confronted with policies that will disrupt their status quo they go into overdrive.
They say “he’s not a leader”, he “can’t even control his own party” and “he’ll ruin the economy”.
Policies like a four day working week get laughed out of town even though it has been proved to lower stress and increase productivity.
And the move to abolish private schools gets lambasted even though the top universities in the UK continue to be the worst performers when it comes to social inclusion.
So the next time you read a headline that suggests Corbyn would wreak havoc on the UK, I suggest you consider this; wreak havoc for whom?
Put simply, Labour is in the process of delivering one of the most radical political agendas in a generation – and the establishment don’t like it.
