It's no surprise to anyone that I am NOT Owen Jones' biggest fan, nor am I one of his biggest haters either. In todays world I find him rather boring, and extremely predictable.
However, he did shock me when he decided to write about the troubles Corbyn and his team went through, whether that be self-inflicted wounds or internal sabotaging, or the (as Owen put it) "right wing press." especially so soon when I am sure the wounds are still healing.
So, I decided to read it (I haven't actually bought it, I downloaded it with a credit on my Audible).
Owen speaks of the late Tony Benn, with great passion, how his vision of a socialist Britain could have saved Labour in the 1970's from the "Winter of Discontent", and subsequent disastrous defeat, leading to Britain's first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
However, Jones' love for Benn I find quite blinkered. Benn was a socialist in his words, but not in his actions. For example, selling his private diaries. The ONLY reason someone would sell their private diaries is for money, capitalising, and profit. (It's OK to live like a capitalist so long as you talk like a socialist.)
Also totally bi-passes the fact that Benn used a tax avoidance scheme so that those who inherited his £5 million fortune didn't pay too much inheritance tax.
Then there is love to shout down the "right wing" presses denunciations of Corbyn from the moment it was clear the backbencher was going to win the leadership contest.
"Terrorist Sympathiser" Jones reads as one of the many headlines that followed Corbyn's victory in 2015. Yet he does nothing to squash that headline, nothing to contradict it, mainly because Corbyn had snuggled up to many terrorist organisations, for example befriending ex IRA leader Gerry Adams in the 80's (possibly 70's I haven't a clue as to how long the two have known each other.), or even inviting terrorist organisations like Hezbollah to parliament "for tea."
Of course not ALL of Jones' denunciations were as briefly mentioned and I found he had purpose for his annoyances, however, not many.
I also found his argument of the "war from within" extremely one sided. He interviewed many people who were close to Corbyn, or at least a sympathetic ear to Corbyn, but not once did he go to the other side to hear their version.
Instead Jones' took the words of his fellow "comrades"(?) as gospel, and didn't bother properly investigating.
For example, saying that Alan Johnson told one pro-Corbyn Labour MP to "Fuck Off". Never once did he go to Johnson to ask if it were true, or any reasonings behind this outburst if it were.
As well as "outing" a former Labour MP as possibly gay, extremely risky, and not at all fair, why he felt the right to publish this information is beyond me.
When it came to him writing about Corbyn's leadership skills, I found that he was grasping at straws. Corbyn, the man, the myth, the avoider.
The way Jones' writes about Corbyn's approach to issues, is almost like listening to my sister describe her 7 year old avoiding doing his homework, or the left try and describe Trump taking any criticisms.
Ignoring anything issues that cropped up by not answering his phone, wearing a deliberate suit to let everyone know he wasn't happy (WTF?!), or just losing his temper like a toddler. Not turning up on time to prepare for interviews, and TV debates because he found them boring. Making tea whilst in the middle of an extremely important meeting.
Never once does Jones describe Corbyn as taking control of anything. Not pushing particularly hard on Iain McNichol (the then Labour chairman), regarding the process of investigating anti-semitism into the party.
Jones' obviously has a whole chapter dedicated to the anti-semitism crisis that Labour faced under Corbyn. Which I was pleasantly pleased to see.
Then when the chapter ended I was shocked, again not once did Owen go to the JLM, or an individual former Labour Jewish voter and ask why they felt unsafe with Corbyn at the helm.
Instead he tries to indulge us with the fact that Corbyn himself was "shocked" at being labelled as such, and in his shock decided to IGNORE all good advice as Corbyn's mind, that made him look guilty of anti-semitism himself, and almost tried to ignore the issue.
Now, I watch enough crime documentaries to inform you, it's almost like someone refusing to do a lie-detector test, it automatically (wrongly or rightly) makes you look guilty, more so than ever before.
It feels, through Jones' writing, that Corbyn tried to make himself look more guilty, or that he genuinely isn't that sharp and didn't understand that he was harming his own political future as leader, or indeed Prime Minister.
In summary, Corbyn did nothing to help himself, it comes across as though he relied on everyone else to do it all for him, because he either found it boring, or he didn't like what he was hearing so instead of dealing with it he ran away.
Thank god he never won a general election. He, according to what I've read in Jones' book, wasn't ever fit to lead Labour let alone Britain.
And as for Jones' account, extremely one sided, so much for equality!
