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Pat Edlin |
Former MP’s aide abandons Labour for ‘more realistic’ Greens
A STALWART of Islington’s Labour group who was once an aide to former MP Chris Smith has quit the party, claiming it has sacrificed its principles in the quest for power.
Pat Edlin, who lives in Highbury, joined the Labour Party in 1981 but now intends to vote Green at the next election.
The 54-year-old said he had cancelled his membership in the wake of the Derek Draper emails scandal and the revelations over MPs’ expenses. He added: “There is a deep lack of philosophy and no one talks about ideas any more. The Labour Party has become desperate for power and winning in the now.”
Mr Edlin, a journalist who interviewed prominent left-wing figures while working for Channel 4 News, said the Green Party had widened its understanding of the environment to include what he describes as “industrial policies”. He said: “The Greens have become more realistic about the environment. They realise it is not just about saving the whales, but about the whole community – it is about jobs, production and manufacture too.”
Mr Edlin said he had met Mr Draper, who lives in Islington, a few times in a coffee shop in St Peter’s Street. He said: “Draper is arrogant. He has no ideas on how to change society. He is interested only in celebrity.”
Islington Labour Group was thriving when Mr Edlin joined in 1981 but he believes the shift towards the centre-right in the mid-1990s severed ties with the party’s grassroots.
“Having driven out the left they have got rid of the kind of people who would go out and deliver leaflets for them,” he said. “I am told they still have a huge membership but that no one turns up for meetings. I heard that only four people turned up for a local meeting, despite there being 200 members.” Mr Edlin has written to Islington South and Finsbury Labour MP Emily Thornberry, whom he admires, warning her that the party must change tack. He told her: “The local party is going to reap a whirlwind of discontent and anger at the polls and drive electors away as they no longer believe what is said.
“There are those in the party who feel this is the only moment to live for and abandon all our, and their own, principles to get their hands on power. Power for power’s sake smacks of tyranny.”
Ms Thornberry said: “When you look at the figures, there were lots of people that joined in 1995-97. You could say they joined to get the Tories out and then decided they had done their bit. But it is wrong to say we are an inactive party. I don’t like the idea of losing Pat. But the party will continue to renew itself as people come and go.”
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