Will Corbyn seize the moment, just like I did when I saw him?
READ MORE: Jonathon Shafi: Meltdown over Jeremy Corbyn's new party exposed their fear
Labour betrayal, Palestine, Scotland, independence. We had a long chat, me apologising in case the coffees were going cold: they were. He introduced me to his two companions, both local councillors.
I could have been a disgruntled local about to assault him, even just verbally. But he had time to engage and it wasn't forced, not polite for politeness' sake. He seemed genuinely interested. We talked commonalities and differences. He asked about Scotland. I spoke about Edinwfi (cursing that I didn't have any of our leaflets!), I mentioned The National (honestly!), decried the BBC, talked up the grassroots movement, and when I left him and his councillors to their cold coffees (maybe the relieved barista reheated them) I felt, what? Enthused, energised, but very glad I'd seized the moment.
And now, has he? Seized another moment? After all, he's no stranger to making the headlines. Maybe he was bounced into public acknowledgement by that earlier announcement from Zarah Sultana, and some do say they might have been better to wait and organise the 'professional launch ' of a new political party. Their opposition have already done their best to dismiss this as a disorganised movement, not a party to be taken seriously: just the cult of Corbynism #2. Really?
Labour may try to spin this as 'evidence' of how Labour has changed, rebels out, but one year on, don't we live how it's changed? Changed to the detriment of the weakest in society: cowardice in the face of a genocide: supplicant to the USA and their unfettered support of Israel. So what can this party offer as the failures of Labour take root and Reform digs in?
READ MORE: Insider lifts lid on workings of Corbyn-Sultana project in Scotland
Will it attract left-wing supporters, looking for their idea of 'change'? Number-crunchers have highlighted MPs including Cabinet members with slim majorities, glossed over in last year's first-past-the-post victory.
Corbyn, Sultana and their colleagues have the years before the next General Election to organise, identify policies, talk down claims of only ever being in opposition, never having to actually deliver. Or would they and Reform become nothing more than spoilers gnawing away at Labour and Tories?
But it isn't just the left wing in England desperately seeking change, is it? Corbyn has pronounced on independence, and I don't just mean to me over cold coffee. The National notes the presence of a 'Scottish secretariat' for the new party. So was that opportunism, or pre-planning?
It's too early to speculate, but it just might be possible the newbies have no aspirations in Scotland, and would put support and solidarity behind indy supporters standing against the last of empire and its colonial stranglehold. Or would they be reminded of those billboard ads of Alex Salmond with a diminutive Ed Miliband in his top pocket?
On reflection then, whatever else, this is an interesting mix in the pre-planning for 2026 ... and we are planning for 2026 already, aren't we?
Selma Rahman
Edinburgh
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