Arnie Graf: Corbynmania feels like student politics, not people trying to form a government

Arnie Graf was, for a little while, the man who was supposed to rebuild the Labour party after its 2010 defeat. He was a famed community organiser from the US, brought over by Ed Miliband to have a go at revitalising is party. Graf didn’t last, but last night he spoke about his experiences with the Labour party, and what he thought of the current surge in membership under Jeremy Corbyn.

This was his first brush with proper party politics, and while Graf had clearly enjoyed the work he’d done in building up the party in small local areas with community meetings, he said ‘I wouldn’t come back to it where the party is now’. But surely the surge in membership was exactly what someone like him, keen to organise groups of people, was after? Graf didn’t agree:

‘It feels more like a, well I’m free to speak now, I don’t work for the party.