A Tale of Three Parties: Shorten Labor vs Corbyn Labour, and what Hillary and Bernie supporters can learn

(While this piece is regarding three leftist parties, rightist parties can equally benefit from this lesson, I believe)

The British Labour Party is in deep crisis. Jeremy Corbyn won't step down as leader despite most of his MPs wanting him to go, and even if he faces an actual challenge, he may prevail, making the whole situation unworkable. The controversies over foreign policy won't just go away, even as most domestic voters really don't care. They can't even decide if Tony Blair is a hero or a villain. Nobody is expecting them to win in 2020.

The Australian Labor Party, on the other hand, is much happier. Bill Shorten may not be PM yet, but, in his own words, 'Labor is back'. Analysts on both sides have suggested that Labor has a good chance at the next election, due in 2019, on the back of their strong performance this year. Obviously, there is no leadership controversy there. Shorten was warmly welcomed by his MPs, and was re-elected unopposed as leader.

Why the big difference? Whilst Australian Labor has been focussed on addressing what people really want and focussing the message on what people care about, such as health care, education and marriage equality, British Labour seems to have lost focus, fighting over issues that matter only to the political elite. Whilst Australian Labor is clearly united, British Labour is clearly not. Most people don't want to elect a divided government, no matter what they stand for.

Whilst the picture is clear for both Australian Labor and British Labour, their US counterparts could really go either way now. Hillary Clinton may have won the Democratic nomination, but many Bernie Sanders supporters still hate her. The fate of the US Democrats, and whether Clinton or Trump would be the next US president, may rest largely on the choice of Bernie's supporters.