Labour Leadership Candidate Long-Bailey Says Idea That Britons Rejected Socialism is ‘Bollocks’

BRIGHTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 24: Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Ind
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Kurt Zindulka

The far-left candidate to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, Rebecca Long-Bailey, said it was “bollocks” that the British people rejected socialism in last month’s general election.

In a leaked audio recording of remarks given at an event on Saturday, Ms Long-Bailey refused to blame Corbynism for the Labour Party’s historic electoral defeat, even though she admitted that the results of the election left her “crushed”.

“We had a few wobbly people on the doorstep because of Brexit, but I thought everything was going to be alright,” she said per HuffPost UK.

“I was in a state of shock and it was as if everything I believed [was] being ripped up before my very eyes, that everything we fought and we’re so proud of was suddenly invalidated, [that] no-one wanted us, no-one wanted socialism,” added the MP for Salford and Eccles.

“And then I pushed that thought out of my head because I thought ‘that’s bollocks’,” she surmised.

Long-Bailey was tacitly endorsed by Jeremy Corbyn at the same event, who said: “It’s an absolute pleasure to be here alongside Becky Long-Bailey, our candidate for leader.”

“I’ve known Becky since we came into parliament and we’ve worked very well together. She has done the most to develop our trade union policies,” Corbyn added.

Ms Long-Bailey, who is being groomed by the hard-left activist group Momentum to continue the failed socialist policies of Jeremy Corbyn, has described the performance of the outgoing Labour leader as “ten out of ten”.

Earlier this month the Labour Party leader hopeful wrote: “We need a proud socialist to lead the Labour Party, driven by their principles and an unwavering determination to see democratic socialism in our lifetime.”

She currently trails Sir Keir Starmer in the race to replace Corbyn; however, she remains ahead of Emily Thornberry and Lisa Nandy in the latest polling by YouGov.

The new leader of the Labour Party will be announced on April 4th.

Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka

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