Labour MPs Now Accept Brexit Because Jeremy Corbyn is No Longer Their Leader
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JVL
JVL Introduction
Aaron Bastami of Novara Media skewers the hypocrisy of so many Labour MPs.
Hving castigated and pilloried Jeremy Corbyn for not having opposed Brexit enthusiastically enough they’re now queueing up to urge that we “get Brexit done”.
“The sad truth” suggests Bastami “is that these same MPs have since changed their tune on Brexit for the simple reason that Corbyn is no longer their leader.”
This article was originally published by Novara Media on Wed 16 Sep 2020. Read the original here.
Labour MPs Now Accept Brexit Because Jeremy Corbyn is No Longer Their Leader
On Sunday morning, Labour’s Rachel Reeves went on the Andrew Marr Show and argued we need to get Brexit done. This is the same MP who almost exactly a year ago told a rally in Leeds that there should be a second referendum “with Remain on the ballot”, adding she would campaign thereafter for Britain to remain in the EU “for jobs, investment and our NHS”.
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I agree entirely with Bastani in that some Labour MPs have manipulated what happened during 2016 – 2019 with respect to Corbyn. I feel though that the situation is more nuanced than is implied and the PLP are reluctant now to say anything about Brexit – at all.
In March 2017 virtually the whole of the Labour Party voted for Article 50 – that the UK should leave the EU in March 2019. I do not recall a second referendum being discussed either then or during the 2017 Election?
I am a committed Remainer but wished just for a decent Deal and felt uncomfortable at the growing enthusiasm for another referendum by the LP. I felt this was arrogance and would not be acceptable to the electorate – later confirmed by the dreadful results for
Labour in the May 2019 Local Elections. In the early hours afterwards the pleading by Labour Council Leaders that the second referendum policy was responsible should surely not be ignored – yet it was.
And yet … and yet … if the policy voted for in the 2018 Labour Conference
is carefully analysed what it comes down to surely is “We will have a referendum only as a last resort if there is a lack of consensus in Parliament”.
I feel that it was regarded that way by Jeremy Corbyn and after the 2017 Election this certainly seemed possible. There was a fear that by default the UK might “fall out” of the EU with no deal. May ignored the result and still persisted in her “red line” and fear of the Tory Right.
When Johnson was elected Prime Minister – the second referendum appeared the least of several evils .. The resulting shenanigans need not be described but he managed to cleverly manipulate the situation as a “People vs Parliament” confrontation and that he represented the people.
It was good though to see Miliband attacking Johnson – who for once did not get away with his bluster. The “forensic approach” does not really work on its own with Johnson – like pinning jelly to a wall… Miliband did better in emphasising that Johnson is supposed to be charge and is responsible for the ensuing problems. The PM cannot continue blaming everyone else: the scientists, the teachers, the opposition and of course with Brexit, the EU.
I would advise reading Peter Geohegans’ book “Democracy for Sale” There is plenty of evidence there to show the Referendum was fraudulent and should have been declared null and void. Brexit did no start off as a conspiracy but it was highjacked by the far right. Their outriders ; think tanks and others such as Aaron Banks got away with fake news and a tsunami of a false information. They were given huge amounts of money by American billionaires whose aim is to get rid of regulations and install a Small State. If that happens then nothing can be done about climate change Those wealthy individuals and institutions are climate change deniers .Money was funneled to the Leave campaign the DUP. A plethora of websites sprang up to pump out anti EU propaganda. Anyone can set up a website for the price of a couple of beers. The mainstream media then printed the same falsehoods This was a coordinated effort. One of the consequences of Brexit will be a Far Right ,populist government in the UK. The only organisation that could stop that from happening ,the Labour Party, is completely impotent. now. Democracy itself is at stake.
Do Mr Starmer and co not realize that with chopping and changing their political viewpoint on issues people worry about like Brexit for example, they do not gain people’s trust, rather the opposite. By focusing on ousting the best PM we never had, they have enabled an incompetent tory government to wreak further havoc on the country. And all stinks to high heavens.
This hypocrisy can be easily explained by the fact that some MPs are conviction politicians and some are careerists who will bend their views to upset the least number of constituents.
As to whether the Referendum was democratic, well that’s up for debate. How can any election be democratic when voters are lied to and do not have all the salient facts upon which to make a decision. Professor Micheal Dougan, EU law expert from the Liverpool Law School, described the background perfectly prior to the Referendum but because of the right wing bias in our media, the BBC and others kept it quiet.
The massive big elephant in the room that Aaron Bastani leaves out of his assessment is the influence of the corporate media and the semi-corporate BBC, and the power it wields itself, and to the ‘voices’ that disseminate their objectives. If Jeremy had been advocating to Remain in the months and years after the referendum, I have little doubt that his enemies within the party would have taken the contrary view.
To omit to mention and include the power and the influence of the MSM in any assessment of politics and political developments is to omit to include the biggest player in the ‘game’.
“these same MPs have since changed their tune on Brexit for the simple reason that Corbyn is no longer their leader. ” I would think there is much more to it than that. The strong evidence at the 2019 election of the gulf between the PLP and the voters on this issue would have made any other outcome very unwise. I voted Remain, I am deeply grieved by Brexit, and particularly Johnson’s Brexit, but I can’t see any other way forward than accepting it will happen.
Actually I’ve always thought Corbyn was a Left Leaver. Otherwise why was his immediate reaction to the 2016 vote a call for Article 50 to be triggered? I saw him say that on TV.
Corbyn gave more speeches during the referendum campaign than anyone else in the Labour Party – including Alan Johnson who was supposed to head up the “Labour for Remain” campaign. However they were never reported by the MSM – “If you were not on the Telly you did not campaign” was then the assumption. Granted – Corbyn campaigned on his own and did not (so far as I know) appear on the same platform as Remainers who belonged to (say) the Tories. This was as a result of a decision by the LP to NOT share a platform with other parties as they had done during the campaign for Scottish Independence.
(See report by a London University Research Group.)
I read that Corbyn went straightaway for Article 50 – due to a misunderstanding of the nature of the protocol for Leaving. I do not believe he voted to Leave ..
As for the nature of the campaign – I do not know about it being fraudulent but it was certainly ill thought out in every respect. The more extreme Brexiteers insisted “Leave means Leave” in the sense of leaving the Single Market etc. However this surely gives those who were happy with the Single Market etc. yet wanted to Leave [the EU] no effective vote. Where is the logic of that? There were many questions too concerning problems with the Northern Island border but every time the questioner was fobbed off.
Goodness knows what willhappen – we now have the worst prime minister I can ever remember. Max Hastings was his boss and judged him “unfit to be prime minister … the Johnson premiership could survive for three or four years, shambling from one embarrassment and debacle to another, of which Brexit may prove the least..” (Guardian, June 2019.)
The PLP is Blairs legacy to the Labour Party and we know from the internal report they prefer a Tory government
Not to be confused with members and supporters who fought day in day out for a JC government
What we need at this moment in time is for the class action to go ahead and to win every NEC seat up for grabs, including the unions in upcoming elections