The polling evidence for Labour’s defeat in the general election last week is pouring in as I type. And while more knowledgeable people than me are working out the full reasons behind the result, it’s obvious that a big factor is the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are several reasons why people took against Corbyn, but the must standout is his attitude to his own country. He is notable for having backed Britain’s adversaries in many conflicts since he became an MP, most damagingly by inviting IRA members to parliament after the Brighton hotel bombing, which killed several people linked to the Conservatives, and might have claimed the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
As a rule I suspect most voters are unlikely to elect someone who supports their countries’ enemies. Opposing a government is distinct from opposing a country or its people, but terrorists and armies often blur the distinction by targeting civilians and sending troops back in boxes. The Parachute Regiment’s use of Corbyn\u2019s image for target practice<\/a> made the point well, even if the constitutional implications were troubling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corbyn’s anti-British foreign policy views, which have been detailed by others, are notable for such political effects. But they are also a Cold Warrior\u2019s expression of a modern phenomenon: some people dislike their own country, or even hate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My intuition is that it is more natural to like or love your country than to dislike or hate it. Most countries have displays of patriotism and cultural pride, and the evolutionary benefits of championing your tribe are obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For somebody to grow up to dislike their country therefore deserves more explanation than the opposite. In Corbyn’s case I’d guess his dislike of Britain, America and the West is linked to his egalitarian, anti-capitalist views. For Corbs the capitalist, \u201cimperialist\u201d West is something to be opposed, especially when it uses violence to defend its interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (An alternative explanation is that Corbyn is a pacifist, but his pacifism is selective. As the leftwing journalist James Bloodworth said<\/a>, Corbyn \u201cis against war and imperialism, yet can barely bring himself to condemn the Russian bombing of civilians in Syria. Hypocrites of this stripe are ten a penny in his party and they do not enthuse me one bit.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n