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As he admits the party’s Brexit policy is ‘b******s’, meet ...
ONE of Jeremy Corbyn’s senior frontbenchers has said the party’s Brexit policy is ‘b******s’. Barry Gardiner embarrassed Labour yesterday after a recording emerged of him saying its position on leaving the EU made no sense.
The international trade spokesman also faced criticism after dismissing the importance of the Good Friday Agreement. He initially said claims that he made the remarks about Northern Ireland were ‘nonsense on stilts’ when they were reported at the weekend.
But he was forced into a humiliating apology yesterday after a tape of him making comments about Brexit and the Good Friday Agreement at a think-tank event in Brussels last month were made public.
He mocked Labour’s ‘six tests’ on the final Brexit deal, which include a demand that Britain leaves the EU with precisely the same benefits as it has now from membership of the single market.
In the recording, obtained by the BBC, he said: ‘Let’s just take one test – the exact same benefits. B******s. Always has been b******s and it remains it.
‘We know very well that we cannot have the exact same benefits, and actually it would have made sense because it was the Tories that said they were going to secure the exact same benefits, and our position should have been to say they have said they are going to secure the exact same benefits and we are going to hold them to that standard.’ Brexit Minister Steve Baker said: ‘If Labour’s top team think Corbyn’s Brexit policy is rubbish, what confidence in him are the public meant to have?’
But Labour insisted Mr Gardiner ‘fully supports’ its position on Brexit. Asked what action he would take against Mr Gardiner for ‘denouncing’ Labour policy, Mr Corbyn said: ‘Barry Gardiner does not denounce our Brexit policies.
‘We have had a conversation with him. It’s quite clear he does support our strategy of holding the Government to account on the tests that have been put forward.’
Asked about the use of the word ‘b******s’, the Labour leader said: ‘Well, the conversation we’ve had with Barry more recently has been very productive and very positive.’
Mr Gardiner was forced to apologise yesterday over a suggestion that the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to Northern Ireland and governs its relations with the Republic of Ireland and the UK, was outdated.
In the tape, he argued that the Brexit row over the accord and fears of the effect of quitting the EU on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland had been ‘played up’.
He called the Good Friday Agreement a shibboleth, a Hebrew term for a long-held custom, principle or way of thinking that may be outdated. He said: ‘There are real economic reasons why people have played up the issue of the Irish border and the need to have the shibboleth of the Good Friday Agreement. That is because it is hugely in Ireland’s economic interest to make sure there is no tariff and no external border there.’
Lord Hain, Labour’s former Northern Ireland secretary, said Mr Gardiner was ‘ignorant’.
Apologising, Mr Gardiner said Labour was ‘committed to negotiating a customs union between the UK and Ireland as part of a Brexit settlement, which would play a key role in ensuring there is no hard border’. He added: ‘I am deeply sorry that my informal remarks led to misunderstanding, in particular that my use of the word “shibboleth” in its sense of “password” or “test of membership” gave the impression that I thought the Good Friday Agreement was outdated or unimportant. I absolutely do not.’
‘I am deeply sorry’