James Millar: Stars Wars and Labour show that old ideas never die

IT was supposed to end in 1983, attempts to revive it since are best forgotten but now it’s back and bigger than ever.

Not Star Wars, but the left wing ideology that’s taken over the Labour party this year.

Jeremy Corbyn’s one of the few MPs who was in Parliament when the first films were still playing in cinemas.

Like his lookalike Obi Wan Kenobi hiding out until Luke Skywalker needed him, Corbyn’s been in the wilderness in the meantime.

Many of his MPs are hoping, like the aging Jedi, he’ll meet a sticky end before the end of the second reel.

The new movie, The Force Awakens, is set to show that isn’t enough to kill off an ideology, a force one might call it.

The trouble with drawing parallels between the political and space sagas is that it’s not really clear if Corbyn’s insurgency represents the evil empire or the virtuous rebellion.

Is Corbyn in fact the Emperor exerting his wicked grip on a once noble institution, or is he a Jedi battling with his little band to overthrow the existing order?

One of the messages of all Star Wars films is that it’s a fine line between the two. The Force Awakens brings back lots of the old Star Wars characters like Han Solo, Chewbacca and C-3PO and sends them into battle once more.

Corbyn too has dusted down the likes of Ken Livingstone, Dianne Abbott and John McDonnell.

Reaching into the past has so far worked out a lot better for the film franchise than the Labour leader.

Abbott lost face after another MP swore at her, McDonnell quoted Mao in his budget response and Livingstone has gone off like a malfunctioning droid firing insults in all directions.

What’s more interesting is the new characters.

Male lead Finn says “I was brought up to do one thing.”

That’s true of Chuka Umunna who seemed destined to lead Labour until he bottled his bid last year. But, like Princess Leia forced to rough it with the rebels, he’s finding a new role.

Last week he clashed with Theresa May at a Select Committee hearing, telling her: “You’re not some Nigel Farage tribute act.”

Farage, of course, could pass as a tribute act to Return of the Jedi fish alien Admiral Ackbar.

Poe Dameron seems the action man of the new film and Dan Jarvis would certainly fulfil that role. The former soldier once took on a mugger and, despite deciding not to tilt at the Labour leadership last year claiming it would impact on his young family too much, he’s now let it be known that should a vacancy arise he’d be interested.

To back that up he’s been touring local Labour associations giving well- received speeches at fundraisers. He knows that even the best-resourced operation doesn’t necessarily succeed without the help of an army of unheralded Ewoks in support.

Most intriguing is female lead Rey.

The trailer for The Force Awakens begins with a disembodied voice asking her “Who are you?”

“I’m no-one.” she replies.

But in the Star Wars galaxy it’s the nobodies who eventually rise up and become heroes.

There’s plenty of nobodies in the Labour ranks to choose from right now.

Rey seems to keep her head down and salvage stuff from the past to put to good use.

Wirral MP Alison McGovern is avoiding attention but quietly putting something together. She’s taken over as chair of the Blairite Progress group and is trying to pick the best bits left over from Labour’s electoral glory years to create something new.

For now she’s no-one.

Like Daisy Ridley’s character in The Force Awakens, though, she could emerge as the most interesting character in the Labour saga.

And given there’s at least two Star Wars sequels to come, both could be around and worth watching for years to come.