Corbyn snubs Queen and country
New Labour leader refuses to sing the national anthem at Battle of Britain anniversary service
JEREMY CORBYN was yesterday accused of being “disloyal” for refusing to sing the national anthem and faced chaos within his own party when one of his shadow cabinet ministers threatened to resign after just two days.
The new Labour leader faced heavy criticism for standing in silence while
God Save the Queen was sung during a Battle of Britain remembrance ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral attended by the Prime Minister, the Defence Secretary and scores of military leaders.
Former military commanders as well as Labour and Tory MPs said Mr Corbyn was “dishonourable” for refusing to sing. David Cameron was among those who suggested that Mr Corbyn should have sung the anthem.
Mr Corbyn, a staunch republican who has called for the monarchy to be abolished, later insisted that he “stood in respectful silence” during the remembrance ceremony. His failure to sing came a day after he was accused of hypocrisy for accepting a place on the Privy Council – which will require him to kneel before the Queen and kiss her hand – despite his republican views.
It was the low point of a shambolic day for Mr Corbyn in which:
He saw his most experienced minister – Blairite Lord Falconer – threaten to resign after just two days in post.
He forgot his lines during the first major speech of his tenure.
Sources close to Hillary Clinton attacked Mr Corbyn’s views on Nato and his description of Osama bin Laden’s death as a “tragedy” after one of her US presidential rivals welcomed his appointment.
He learnt that 100 Labour MPs were preparing to defy him by campaigning publicly for Britain to stay in the EU “with or without” the new leader’s support.
He became embroiled in a row over his pacifism after refusing to rule out wearing a white poppy on Remembrance Sunday.
Mr Corbyn yesterday travelled to the TUC conference in Brighton where he delivered a rambling speech that called for people to be given unlimited benefits. Just before he took to the stage, the string quartet played a rendition of Hey,
Big Spender, an apparent reference to his “people’s quantitative easing” policy.
Mr Corbyn also said the unions would write his manifesto for the next general election, and compared the Government to the fascist leadership of General Franco in Spain.
He today prepares to face David Cameron at Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time. He has “crowd sourced” his questions to Mr Cameron by inviting members of the public to submit their ideas via the Labour website. Labour said that more than 30,000 people had submitted questions in recent days.
Mr Corbyn last night issued a statement responding to the strong criticism over his decision not to sing the national anthem. A spokesman said: “Jeremy attended [the] event to show respect for those who fought in conflicts for Britain.
“As he said … the heroism of the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain is something to which we all owe an enormous debt of gratitude.
“He stood in respectful silence during the anthem.”
In contrast to other leaders and dig- nitaries at the event, Mr Corbyn wore a mismatched jacket and trousers and his top shirt button was undone.
Asked if Mr Cameron was surprised Mr Corbyn had not sung the anthem, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The importance the Prime Minister attaches to the national anthem is visible – every time he’s at one of these services or a state or national event, he is very proud and willing to join with others in singing the national anthem.”
Admiral Lord West of Spithead, a Labour peer and former security minister, said: “Singing the national anthem is a sign of loyalty to the United Kingdom and British people. I cannot
wearing a vest. He’s been teased for having a beard. In both cases, the teasing is unfair and irrelevant. But to see him like this, at a formal ceremony to honour the heroes of war, was jarring.
Earlier, he’d released a statement to say the nation owed “an enormous debt of gratitude” to the Battle of Britain pilots. So why dress in a way that made it look as if he didn’t take the service seriously? Had he forgotten the grief Michael Foot got for wearing what looked like a donkey jacket to the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday?
This wasn’t merely a question of respect. It was a question of political judgment.
To be a leader requires sensitivity to public feeling. As an obscure backbench MP for 32 years, Mr Corbyn didn’t have to worry much about what people thought, for the simple reason that most people didn’t think of him at all. Now, for the first time in his career, he needs to think about how he comes across to the nation at large. It’s not entirely clear he’s realised.
Afterwards he went to Brighton to give a speech to the Trades Union Congress. Now the tie was off, the collar lay open, and he was surrounded by trade union leaders. Yes, this was more like it. These were his people. During his leadership campaign, Mr Corbyn showed himself to be a fluent, if not entirely gripping, speaker.
Here, however, he kept meandering into incoherence. He would leap, without pausing for breath, from one seemingly unrelated subject to the next, as if his notes had got mixed up on the train.
Still, it must have made some kind of sense to him, because he didn’t sound flustered; on the contrary, he seemed confident and secure. Recent Labour leaders have viewed the Trades Union Congress as an irksome duty they can’t get out of, like a visit at Christmas to a sour-tempered aunt. In 2006, shortly before he resigned as prime minister, Tony Blair said that “the next TUC conference will be my last – probably to the relief of both of us”.
For Mr Corbyn, however, this was home territory, an easy win in front of cheering fans. When he told his audience it was an “honour” to address them, you knew he meant it.
“I have always been, and will always be, an active trade unionist,” he glowered. “That’s in my body!” His audience applauded furiously.
It was, I suspect, a telling day. At ease in his comfort zone; awkward out of it.