Registered to Vote

These are strange days indeed, that we find ourselves living through.  The sort of days when I find myself receiving e-mails from Jeremy Corbyn, for instance.  The latter, of course, is a direct consequence of my having become a Labour Party registered supporter, in order that I can vote in the forthcoming leadership election.  Obviously, it's just a form letter, sent out to welcome all new registered supporters.  Its arrival does mean that I pass muster as a registered supporter - as I should, as I've never been a member of any other party, nor have I been involved in any of those far left organisations which are now banned from involvement with the Labour party.  Pity their checks weren't so strenuous last Summer, when all those Corbyn-supporting entryists from the likes of the SWP were allowed to join up - if they had been, we wouldn't be in the disastrous position we currently find ourselves in.  I mean, really, how can the Corbynites keep deluding themselves that his leadership is good for the party when its support amongst the electorate continues to tumble?

But to get back to that e-mail, interestingly, it gives you a choice of links to click on depending upon whether you intend voting for Corbyn, for Owen Smith or you are still undecided.  I'm assuming they take to you to the relevant pages on the party website for the candidates, but I haven't clicked on any of them.  I can't help but suspect they are simply a covert way for the Corbyn camp to gauge support for their man among us newly signed up registered supporters.  A suspicion reinforced by the fact that the corresponding e-mail from Owen Smith (yes, I've had a form letter from him, too) lacks any such options.  So, I've decided to keep Corbyn guessing as to who I'm giving my support to, hoping to give him and his cohorts a nasty surprise when I don't pledge my vote to them after allowing them to think that I might. (Obviously, if he ever reads this blog, then he'll know that I'm voting for Smith on the basis that he isn't Corbyn).  God, what a Machiavellian bastard I am!