The Labour Leadership Contest: Who’s Voting? The Party Members Or The Tory Media? | Guy Debord’s Cat

Last Updated: May 20, 2015By

Read this:

I always thought the members decided by secret ballot who becomes the next Labour leader. It seems the media gets in on the act too.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard the word ‘modernizer’ prefacing a candidate’s name.

For example, James Landale, the BBC’s Old Etonian and contemporary of David Cameron, will claim that “Yvette Cooper is a modernizer” and Chuka Umunna is known as a modernizer”. It seems to me that the word ‘modernizer’ is a euphemistic way of claiming “this is a candidate who has the approval of Britain’s Tory-dominated media” but which also suggests “they won’t be beholden to the unions”.

It means “this is a Plastic Tory”, doesn’t it?

Source: The Labour Leadership Contest: Who’s Voting? The Party Members Or The Tory Media? | Guy Debord’s Cat

latest video

news via inbox

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

5 Comments

  1. Catherine Cooper May 20, 2015 at 2:27 pm - Reply

    An enjoyable and informative article. Who am I going to vote for? Certainly no “moderniser”. Suggestions please.

  2. jim May 20, 2015 at 2:43 pm - Reply

    they should put a stop to this pay £3 and you get to vote for the next leader of the labour party I have heard that both tory and ukip activists are paying the £3 to vote and more or less taking the piss I dont want that lot voting for our leader and deputy I have emailed the labour party to complain what do you think mike?

  3. Joan Edington May 20, 2015 at 5:18 pm - Reply

    I wish some of the UK media would stop this rediculous American spelling of “modernizer”. Wouldn’t want anyone described as either. Mind you, I no longer have my union vote.

  4. Ian May 20, 2015 at 7:03 pm - Reply

    ‘Moderniser’ (sorry, ‘moderniZer’ :-) )… This is a very subtle way of saying ideas such as equality, a day’s pay for a day’s work, fairness, justice, worker’s rights, human rights etc are old fashioned and not needed any more and we should all get with the capitalist programme. Modern = good, old = bad.

    As time passes you realise just how right Noam Chomsky is.

  5. Florence May 21, 2015 at 11:58 am - Reply

    The “modernisers” are all the rump of the Blairites = Blue Labour. It is the insidious use of repeated phrases to infiltrate peoples minds that is the hallmark of all propaganda to corrupt the actual meaning or intent. (Like their useless *apprenticeships* that were actually table cleaners in Coffee shops.). We already know all this, but it doesn’t mean it won’t be effective in the wider world.

    So the Tories control the media, and they control the behaviorist (Nudge Unit) messages. If the message is “put a Blairite in” then we know they ain’t up to any good. They know that only a strong return to Labour traditional values will provide a real threat to them. They want a Blue Labour candidate because they know that only the Tories can out-Tory the Tories!

    (I agree with your earlier endorsements of Andy Burnham, Mike, even though his past actions were a little questionable, I think he could provide the experience for the return to Labour values. He will need a good deputy though.)

Leave A Comment