UK GENERAL ELECTION : 'EVERYTHING TO PLAY FOR'

Peter Moore is a Labour Party activist in the U.K. Two days from the general election, he says Labour has every chance of winning.

The obvious question. Can Labour win?

Not if you believe what the British media have been saying about us! They have consistently ran with the narrative that this is the Conservative Party's election to lose. Two days out from the election the Guardian is running articles speculating about who might replace Corbyn once we lose. The assumption is that Boris is safe for now, at least. That's the kind of stuff we've had to put up throughout this campaign. Its not surprising that the Labour have lodged a formal complaint about the obvious Tory bias in the reporting of the BBC.

But, look, I think we've got an excellent progressive manifesto and we've run a good campaign. Of course I would say that but I can't remember Labour ever having more people out in the community knocking on doors. People understand how important this election is. There's a helluva lot at stake. This is arguably Britain's most important election in the post war era. The choice is clear, the status quo and all that implies or a real progressive change for the country. This is not about austerity or austerity lite. This is about real change.

As well, Jeremy has been speaking to large and enthusiastic crowds up and down the country, although you wouldn't know given the lack of coverage in the media. But Boris has been avoiding public meetings because he can't be sure what kind of reception he'll receive. I think he's been pretty dreadful overall. So, yes, we've got everything to play for. We have to convince enough people that there is an alternative to neoliberalism and that inequality and poverty are not just the way things are. A lot of people have had the stuffing kicked out of them and I think many just can't conceive of anything different to what we have now. Our job throughout this campaign has been to convince people that there is another way. It boils down to that.

There is still a world to win, then?

Of course, otherwise we're just wasting our time.

Last time I looked The Daily Telegraph were claiming that the Tories had a 10 percent lead over Labour.

Yeah, but that's a Tory rag, the same newspaper that has been trying to smear Corbyn as anti-semitic while ignoring Johnson's racist and Islamophobic comments. It depends on you listen to. I've seen stuff that suggests the lead may of narrowed to as little as three to four percent. We're in margin of error territory. The polls are highly dubious. Remember in 2017 they were predicting a landslide victory for Theresa May and look what happened then. At one stage the Tories had a twenty-five point lead over Labour. So we ignore the polls and just get on with it. That's been Labour's position since the beginning.

What often gets forgotten is  that Labour, under Jeremy Corbyn, is now the largest left wing party in Europe. We've got over half a million members and polling cannot anticipate the work that such a mass membership can do.

But do you think people might vote against their own self interests because of Johnson's empty promises about 'getting Brexit done' and his appeals to nationalism and xenophobia?

That's a possibility. That's always a possibility. People will always vote against their own interests but we have to convince more of them that another five years of Tory rule will mean more economic hardship and more insecurity. But a lot of people remain unconvinced that their own lives will ever improve. We have to convince them otherwise and convince them that we mean it. Neoliberalism has torn apart the ties of social solidarity and we have to restore them. The Tories don't want that, the ruling class don't want that. But the face of British politics is changing. We've succeeded in radicalising many people, especially young people. They are talking about socialism again. You won't read about that in the Tory press but it is happening.

So you are cautiously optimistic?

This has much the same feel as 2017 except I think Johnson is in a weaker position compared to Theresa May. He hasn't run a good campaign and, significantly, a lot of Tory  resources now seem to going into their marginal seats. So they are worried. It has not been the cakewalk I think many of them expected.