Owen Smith talks of Corbyn Labour party presidency

Via Twitter and in my opinion spot on

Op-ed: Unless any other Labour MP declares an intention to stand as the next potential leader of the Labour Party it will be a two-man race between Jeremy Corbyn the incumbent and Owen Smith the challenger.

But at time of writing Jeremy Corbyn appears more popular than ever.

Angela Eagle crash landed out of the race Tuesday as she withdrew hoping along with other members of the Parliamentary Labour Party that one challenger could beat Corbyn and become a so-called unity candidate.

The problem is many words have been exchanged face to face, online and in the mainstream media and although any person can apologise at any time words cannot be unsaid.

Unity in the Labour Party will not come easily and division allows the right-wing of politics to carry on their merry way.

It is basic common sense that united we stand divided we fall.

Apportioning blame continues but does not help.

Too many times it is one side's word against the opposing side.

Owen Smith only joined the leadership race recently but his reputation is being torn apart as things hot-up.

The Labour Party has weeks of unnecessary in-party electioneering that will leave us all bloodied and bleeding.

It will not be easy to forgive and forget in some cases.

Many people including this writer have voted Labour for decades but sometimes while holding their nose and admitting the vote has been for the lesser of the evils.

But it should not be like that.

The Labour Party has to stand for and represent something different or people may as well vote Liberal Democrat, Green or even Tory or Ukip.

There are many parties available these days in the UK and the rise of the SNP in Scotland has killed the two-party system.

Hell if the SNP were to field candidates in other parts of the UK even I might give them a vote.

Wednesday ahead of the leadership race Owen Smith has reached out to Corbyn and his supporters.

BBC News reports "Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith says he will offer Jeremy Corbyn the role of party president if he wins. Mr Smith praised his rival but said he was "not a leader", saying he had "sloganised" on austerity without setting out what he would do instead."

Who knows how that offer will be received by Corbyn, his supporters, Smith's supporters and the PLP.

Is it even possible?

Is it a genuine reach out or done because Smith knows Corbyn is still likely to win?

Then there are what I would say are the most important players in the Labour Party - the voters.

Without members of the electorate voting Labour the party can posture and procrastinate as much as it wants but it is finished.

In this report we will not go down the road of attacking Smith; that is not Jeremy Corbyn's modus operandi and as a supporter I will follow his lead this time.

There could still be another challenger throwing their hat in the ring and as they say in any crisis report the situation remains fluid.

But Labour, we the people are watching, and many of us do not like what we see.

Apparent self indulgent MPs playing games instead of doing their jobs is not a vote winner.

The sooner we are back to a functioning Labour Party the better.

Time and patience is after all running out.

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