Tories label Momentum video ‘offensive’ – for debating THEIR POLICIES

Last Updated: July 29, 2017By

Will Quince MP: “Hateful.”

It is interesting – if disappointing – that Tories have leapt up to berate the Corbyn-supporting organisation Momentum for its latest video on the social media.

The video satirises the attitude of middle-class voters who have achieved their life goals with the aid of government policies that have since been withdrawn, low house prices at the time they bought their home, and work opportunities that came their way because they knew the right people.

So we have a graduate who doesn’t want Jeremy Corbyn to end university tuition fees, even though he never paid any for himself; a homeowner who paid £20,000 for her house in 1981 – it’s now worth £1.5 million – saying people have to “work hard and save up” to get on the housing ladder without stopping to think that prices are much higher and wages are much lower; and a man saying people think they “deserve a job without doing the necessary work to get it”, adding, “Nobody ever helped me out”, even though he get his job through his father, who started the business with money from his father.

Here’s the video:

They are all valid criticisms.

This Writer was among the last generation able to benefit from student grants; the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher replaced them with loans, intending to put poorer students (who weren’t able to benefit from their parents’ money) into debt for the majority of their future careers.

I have never been able to consider buying a house; mortgage costs were already too high when I left school, let alone when I left college – and despite having been a newspaper editor, my salary was never enough to pay for that as well as all my other outgoings. My parents own their house, but if they become ill and need to go into full-time care, under current rules the value of that house will be used to pay for it.

And even in the 1990s, when I graduated, we all knew the power of the ‘Old Boy’ network (sorry ladies, it is a sexist term – although I think it may (still) stand for something that is dominated by men in real life). “It’s not what you know, it’s who!” – as I used to be told 38 times a day by my fellows at the temp agency. My first job was obtained via a tip-off… by somebody I knew.

Of course, the facts haven’t stopped Tory MPs from complaining bitterly about the video. The Guardian quotes these two buffoons:

If the cap fits, fellows, wear it.

It isn’t hateful to point out attitudes that people genuinely – and mistakenly – hold.

Perhaps the portrayals of the characters in the video are a little extreme (although people like that certainly do exist, James Cleverly) – but the video is asking an important question: Do the rest of us want to be identified as standing alongside them?

And it is true that Jeremy Corbyn’s son Seb has been criticised for taking advantage of the “Who you know” network to get a job working for John McDonnell. Doesn’t that support the argument that’s being made, though – that even an MP’s son had to rely on this system to get work?

But the most effective defence of Momentum’s video is probably the easiest.

If the assertions it makes are so offensive to Conservatives, then why are they based on Conservative policies of the past 40 years?


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11 Comments

  1. PJB July 29, 2017 at 12:02 pm - Reply

    The Tories are running scared because they know how stupid they really are and they have started to believe the lies that come from out of their backsides

  2. Anita Sturdy July 29, 2017 at 1:17 pm - Reply

    I thought it made some very good points. In people in my age group it’s prevalent and I frequently point them out to them. As you can imagine I’m not that popular with them!

  3. hugosmum70 July 29, 2017 at 1:27 pm - Reply

    60 years ago this week (26th july 1957) i left school. wasnt allowed to start work till i had tuirned 15 on 3rd august. but on 5th aug i walked straight into my first job, all organised by time i left school with help from the school careers officer. in the next 2 years whilst waiting to start my nursing training i had 5 different jobs in shops and offices.the office ones coming into play again many years later .the shop ones playing a part when i became a housewife in helping me budget etc.all grist to the mill. when i was nursing we got annual wage increments i think in line with inflation. poor pay at best of times but we managed, a few years after marriage we had the opportunity of buying the house we had rented for the previous 11 years. we took that opportunity but befgore we could sign the council fixed interest morgage we were told we were getting, the council changed things and in the next year interest rates rose 3 times .we couldnt afford that so sold the house. have been in private or council rented places ever since. think that was when things started getting bad for those on low wages . the thatcher years had started the year before.in1979.. now its so different i feel so sorry for those unable to pay university fees if theyve got a bright kid. sorry for those unable to find work and being subjected to the horrors of unemployment and the benefits system. was so easy in my day. but i can appreciate what its like now.

  4. Roland Laycock July 29, 2017 at 1:31 pm - Reply

    O’Dear is the truth so painful that he can’t stand it, lets have some more please

  5. Paul Rutherford July 29, 2017 at 1:39 pm - Reply

    As ‘they’ say… the truth hurts.

  6. Gaynor July 29, 2017 at 11:56 pm - Reply

    Excellent article. Those two tory naysayers shown in tweets are quite something aren’t they?! I’ve been having a look at the TL of Will Quince MP who thinks we should have citizens spying on eachother using their mobile phones and computer consoles in town centres for people to donate to the homeless. As opposed to having sufficient numbers of police and putting Govt money into tackling homelessness obviously!

  7. Zippi July 30, 2017 at 3:54 am - Reply

    “If the assertions it makes are so offensive to Conservatives, then why are they based on Conservative policies of the past 40 years?” The assertions that the video makes are so offensive to the Conservatives, BECAUSE they are based on Conservative policies of the last 40 years! The truth hurts!

  8. Graham Hindson July 30, 2017 at 8:55 am - Reply

    “And it is true that Jeremy Corbyn’s son Seb has been criticised for taking advantage of the “Who you know” network to get a job working for John McDonnell. Doesn’t that support the argument that’s being made, though – that even an MP’s son had to rely on this system to get work?”

    Are you seriously suggesting that there is no other work available for a 25 year old Cambridge University graduate than working for his father’s colleague?

    • Mike Sivier July 30, 2017 at 11:13 am - Reply

      No.
      I’m seriously suggesting that, in the current environment of zero-hours and short-term contracts, any parent worth their salt, who is able to give their child help to get something better, will want to do so.

      • Graham Hindson July 30, 2017 at 1:54 pm - Reply

        So “had to rely on this system to get work” was a bit of an exaggeration?

        But in any event do you not think your observation that ” any parent worth their salt, who is able to give their child help to get something better, will want to do so.” holds whatever the jobs market, whoever the parent is and whoever the child is?

        • Mike Sivier July 30, 2017 at 8:56 pm - Reply

          Again, no.
          You are failing to consider the nature of the current jobs market.
          And while my observation may hold true in those conditions, note that it is itself a conditional observation. So the parent must actually want to help the child, and be in a position to do so. That’s the whole reason why the “Old School Tie” network, the “Old Boys” club, the “Not what you know but who” situation is so unfair.
          Do we know whether Mr Corbyn (Jr) actually wanted to work for John McDonnell? What was his ambition in life? Without that piece of knowledge, it would be highly unfair to judge him, or his father.
          I can see that you are reaching a long way to find a fault with what I’ve said. Perhaps we should leave this here.

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