Yesterday was probably the most surreal day ever for British politics. First Charles Kennedy announces that he's an alcoholic and calls a leadership election, then George Galloway enters the Celebrity Big Brother house!
So what does this all mean? Well, the subtext underneath the controversy around Kennedy's leadership of the Lib Dems is the battle between the neo-liberal "Orange Book" MPs in Westminster and the more left wing rank-and-file members in the country. If the MPs win, as they probably will eventually, then the gap between the three main parties will narrow even further and it will become even more difficult for critics of the neo-liberal concensus to make themselves heard in mainstream politics.
As for Galloway, his move into the BB house shows just what a money grubbing scumbag he really is. His excuse for not showing up at the important anti-terror votes was that he needed to raise money to pay for his election campaign, but how much is he getting paid for this? Everyone knows that the contestants in celebrity reality shows get paid hefty fees, and what "charity" will benefit from his phone vote money and any prize funds that he might win? One can only hope that Respect will have it's image severely tarnished by George's antics, but I think that the SWP will continue to make excuses for him.
It would be nice to think that the Labour left will benefit from the decline of these supposedly left wing paties but I'm not holding my breath. Still, I intend to get right behind champion heckler Walter Wolfgang in his campaign to get elected to the LP NEC.