Why is the Labour leadership contest so vile? It has been the bitterest, bitchiest battle that the party has experienced for a good long while, even though the last contest involved two brothers standing against each other in a very ill-humoured manner. Labour MPs are smarting that after years of fighting in the trenches for their party, they are being accused of being secret Tories – though some Blairites who experienced the misery of the wars between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown confess to a feeling of karmic satisfaction that Gordon Brown is also being described as a ‘Blairite’ by some on the left. One Labourite says: ‘The fact that Gordon himself is now a Blairite is excellent.’
One of the reasons for the increase in hostilities is surely that social media plays a much bigger role in this leadership election than it did in the 2010 contest, allowing any foul-mouthed Tom, Dick or Harry to abuse the candidates and their supporters, even if they themselves aren’t Labour members.
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