Tory candidate defends Labour MP from her own party

The newly re-elected MP for Leeds West Rachel Reeves has never got on particularly well with the far-left wing of her party. When Corbyn was elected as Labour leader back in September 2015, Reeves announced she would not be serving in his shadow cabinet. Since then, she has regularly criticised Corbyn, suggesting that he should have 'learnt the lessons of the 1980s'. Given Labour's catastrophic election result, Mr S would have to agree...

So when the PLP met last week following that disastrous result, Reeves surely felt a degree of vindication when she told the outgoing Labour leader that he was to blame for the result and that the party had sounded 'economically illiterate' during the campaign. Predictably, the Wirral Momentum group took umbrage with the suggestion, replying to a report of her comments saying:

That'd be the same Rachel Reeves that is an MP for a constituency that had a turnout of less than 60%, 3% down on 2017. I think there is a strong case that the "real problem" is Rachel Reeves and politicians like Rachel Reeves who take the northern electorate for granted.

— Wirral Momentum (@WirralMomentum) December 18, 2019

More insults were then thrown by a supposed 'Life Long Socialist'. who tweeted that the MP was, in fact, a 'right wing shill for the Apartheid state of Israel'.

Reeves was paruchuted in by New Labour and is a right wing shill for the Apartheid state of Israel.

She and her cronies do not have the interests of their constituents at heart. It's only ever been about deposing JC#SackLabourTraitors

— GraceForSocialism (@novasgran) December 19, 2019

At which point Reeves' Conservative rival in Leeds West decided he had to step in to defend his former electoral opponent. Mark Dormer replied to both the Momentum account and 'GraceForSocialism', calling their claims 'inaccurate and ignorant':

I was the @Conservatives candidate for Leeds West, I spent five weeks knocking on doors and was repeated told how much @RachelReevesMP did for the area.

Your views are inaccurate and ignorant and your abuse and vile anti-semitism has no place in politics or society as a whole.

— Mark Dormer (@MarkCDormer) December 23, 2019

Mr S commends Dormer's sense of compassion, even after he was roundly beaten by Reeves less than a month ago. Given the time of year, it only seems appropriate to extend the hand of goodwill and kindness. Who knows, perhaps we can all go into the new year with a renewed sense of sympathy towards our fellow man (and woman). Perhaps, but Mr S wouldn't bet on it...