Don’t go, Jeremy we need someone as useless as you
NOT long after the unconditional surrender of Germany in 1945, Winston Churchill addressed a huge, jubilant crowd in central London. “This is your victory. It is a victory for freedom,” he declared to resounding cheers. The same words could now be used about the EU referendum.
Brexit represents a triumph of democracy over bureaucracy and of nationhood over federalism. Above all, it is an inspiring win for the loyal British people. Despite a relentless barrage of scare stories, the majority of voters had the spirit of national pride to save our country from the destructive embrace of the Brussels regime.
The referendum campaign has proved that most of the political class is hopelessly disconnected from the electorate. Our rulers thought that they could impose their fashionable ideologies, especially uncontrolled immigration, on the public without any consequences or mandate. Now the voters have had their revenge.
The establishment is utterly shell-shocked, unable to comprehend the scale of the uprising. Already the tearful Prime Minister has announced his resignation, prompting a sulphurous leadership contest, while Chancellor George Osborne, once so ubiquitous with his alarmist forecasts, has disappeared.
Labour is in an even worse state than the Conservatives, because the referendum highlighted the mass desertion of the party’s traditional workingclass supporters. The crisis has been compounded by the hapless leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, whose mix of internationalist, pro-immigration dogma and chronic lack of authority has alienated millions of core Labour voters.
IN THE wake of the Brexit result, around half the Shadow Cabinet have now resigned in protest at Corbyn. Tonight, if he is still there, he faces a motion of no confidence from the Parliamentary Labour Party, which he is expected to lose badly.
Even with the huge mandate from the party membership in last year’s leadership contest, it is hard to see how he can long survive.
But anyone who really cares about Britain’s future should hope that Corbyn stays in place. The unrivalled uselessness is exactly what the nation requires from its official Leader of the Opposition at this moment of historic change.
One of the greatest myths of British politics is that our democracy must have an effective Opposition to function successfully. Like so much conventional wisdom this is nonsense. The finest administrations, such as Margaret Thatcher’s from 1979, were confronted by divided opponents. Indeed, the greatest modern government of all, Churchill’s wartime coalition, had no real opposition at all.
Today, as the process of Britain’s departure from the EU starts, we do not need a partisan Labour Party in Parliament that seeks to thwart the popular will with opportunistic grandstanding, pointscoring and nit-picking. On the contrary, Corbyn’s spectacular ineffectuality would be an ally of the Brexit cause by making Labour a complete irrelevance.
Alternatively, the best government to implement the referendum decision would be one headed by enthusiastic Brexiteers who are determined to uphold our national interests. That means a premiership of Boris Johnson supported by Nigel Farage.
In this new political era of British freedom, Johnson deserves to be prime minister, partly because his charisma was central to the Leave victory, partly because he is the only senior Tory who commands a following beyond his party and partly because he has already proved himself a surprisingly effective administrator as Mayor of London.
But Farage, as the real architect of victory, should be at his side throughout the Brexit process. If it were not for him, Britain would still be trapped inside the EU. Not since Churchill has any politician been so instrumental in shaping our national destiny.
So far he has received nothing like the credit he deserves for his colossal achievement. In fact, some Leave campaigners have argued that he should be left out of the negotiations. That would be a travesty. No one better understands the inner workings of the EU. At the very least he should be given a peerage so he can act as the Minister for Brexit.
The process of negotiating our withdrawal will be far easier than the Remain camp pretend or the EU claims. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said yesterday, “It is not an amicable divorce.” But we are not going through a divorce.
ON THE contrary, we are just leaving a mismanaged club that keeps changing the rules, putting up fees and bullying the members. All we need is to pass legislation that enshrines the supremacy of Parliament and British law, while also creating a free trade zone.
But we need Farage there to ensure this happens and to prevent the continuation of mass immigration. Some of the more liberal Leavers talk of keeping free movement from the EU. That would make a mockery of the referendum.
A Johnson-Farage alliance would not only revive our national self-confidence but would also realign our politics. The division would no longer be between Left and Right but between patriotic democrats and globalist progressives.
That is another reason for Corbyn to stay. Worshipping every country but his own, he can keep the metropolitan chatterers in the wilderness, while Boris and Nigel get on with rebuilding Britain as an independent country.
‘Corbyn can help keep Left in the wilderness’