(30 Apr 2020, 2:40 pm)solsburian wrote [ -> ]When Corbyn got the leadership I was going out with a member of Conservatives. While mine and their different political viewpoints was the source of friendly banter, they did make a good point; a good government needs effective opposition to keep it in check, and we wouldn't get that with Corbyn. They were absolutely right of course.
It is unlikely we will win the next general election, and I'm doubting we will regain many seats, though hopefully it will be a start of getting Labour back on track to being an effective opposition and a more palatable party to the general public.
There are a couple key reasons (IMO) that the Conservatives won with such a majority in the last election, the number one for me was personality. Say what you want about the policies, there's no denying that people just like Boris, whether they're a Tory or not, and people just didn't like Corbyn.
I think the problem was Corbyn went all in on the student vote and 'forgot' about the core Labour voter, and for the first time in a while Conservatives had a likeable leader. To me, it was less about the politics, and more about having somebody they could tolerate in Number 10.
The other reason was obviously Brexit. Everybody already knew that Boris was a 'leaver' so the Conservatives quite easily marketed themselves as the Leave party.
I feel fairly confident in saying that Corbyn, at heart, was also a 'leaver', but the audience he'd been campaigning to, as well as a large number of Labour MPs, were very much 'remainers', so he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The only thing he could really do was be neutral, and that never ends well.
What ended up happening was the hard Leave voters went Conservative, the hard Remain voters went with Lib Dems, and for those who were frankly sick of it being dragged on there was one simple choice, vote for the one that would 'Get Brexit Done' (one of the best bits of political marketing I've seen in a long time).
By sitting on the fence, Corbyn lost those on both sides of the argument, and was left with the students, and those who would vote Labour even if they were the next Nazi party
I think with Corbyn gone, people will feel less 'embarrassed' about voting Labour, I saw a hell of a lot less Labour signs in people's window this election than previously!
Obviously we haven't seen much of Starmer yet, but from what I've seen so far he seems to be acting more like a politician and less like an activist!