Jeremy Corbyn addressing thousands in Sheffield in August. But the local Labour Party fielded an anti-Corbyn candidate in the Mosborough by-election – and lost.

Here’s another post in support of This Blog’s article speculating that the broken office window at the Labour regional office for Yorkshire and the Humber is about the Mosborough by-election in Sheffield.

Penistone and Stocksbridge MP Angela Smith said Labour’s candidate – who lives almost as far away from Mosborough as Doncaster is from the Sheffield ward – was “brilliant” and inspired Labour members to help her campaign.

But her inflammatory comments about Jeremy Corbyn may have angered one or two too many people. She said “traditional Labour” voters refused to vote for the party with Mr Corbyn at its head, because he was “weak”, and “out of touch”, and untrustworthy.

This Writer has an opinion on some of these words. For a start, Mr Corbyn’s policies are the most “traditional Labour” that the party has put forward in decades. It seems inconceivable that he should be attacked on those grounds.

So they are strong words. Strong enough to spark vandalism in Wakefield?

We had a brilliant candidate in Julie Grocutt, a former police officer and trade union rep. She’s a town councillor in Sheffield with a well-deserved reputation for community service. She’s a phenomenal campaigner too, putting petrol in her car to campaign across Sheffield and Barnsley for Labour.

Her years of hard work meant Labour members came out to help her campaign. We knocked on more doors and delivered more leaflets than in most council by-elections I can remember.

Anyone who knocked on doors in Mosborough will tell you very clearly why we lost. Traditional Labour voters refused to vote for Jeremy Corbyn. I knocked on door after door and heard the same message. Even yesterday, as we were knocking up to get people to the polls.

Too many residents told me they thought he was weak. They think he is not capable of leading the Labour Party, let alone the country. They can’t imagine him on the doorstep of Number Ten welcoming an American President – let alone negotiating with Putin.

Others told me he was out of touch on issues like welfare or immigration and that they wouldn’t trust him with the economy or the country’s defences.

Source: Angela Smith: The message from Mosborough is very clear | LabourList

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