Corbyn’s in Brexit shambles on Day 1 of campaign
‘Screeching U-turn’
Jeremy Corbyn’s election campaign descended into chaos on day one yesterday after he was forced to rule out offering a second referendum on Brexit.
making his first major speech of the campaign, the embattled Labour leader sought to energise his supporters by delivering a Left-wing speech dripping with class envy.
But it was quickly overshadowed when both he and his ally John McDonnell refused to rule out holding a second vote on Britain’s departure from the EU. Shadow Chancellor mr McDonnell refused ten times to rule it out.
Within hours mr Corbyn had to perform a screeching U-turn as he issued a statement insisting that such a pledge would not be in the party’s programme for government after all.
mr Corbyn also faced dissent from a senior frontbencher over his plans to increase tax for 1.6million people earning more than £70,000 a year. Shadow Foreign Secretary emily Thornberry said many people on this salary were not rich.
Labour’s election launch was later thrown off kilter when an MP suggested mr Corbyn had no chance of entering Number 10 – just hours after the leader had claimed the result was not a ‘foregone conclusion’.
Helen Goodman said the election was not ‘about changing the Government’ – and that the best which could be achieved was stopping Theresa may from winning a huge majority. In other developments on a disastrous day for Labour:
The anti-Corbyn rival to hard-Left Unite leader Len Mccluskey was dramatically suspended from his job;
A senior Labour MP was forced to apologise to Costa Coffee after she accused them of tax evasion in a car-crash interview;
At least 12 Labour MPS said they would not stand at the election;
yvette Cooper and Chuka Umunna were said to be preparing leadership bids, even though the election is seven weeks away;
The party denied that mr Corbyn’s son Sebastian was being parachuted into a safe seat.
mr Corbyn, who launched his election campaign in Westminster, insisted that despite the polls which put him up to 24 points behind the Tories, the result was not in the bag for Theresa may.
The Left-wing speech revived the rhetoric of the michael Foot era, with mr Corbyn saying the election was a question of ‘the establishment versus the people’. He turned his fire on big business and the rich, and pledged to break up the ‘cosy cartels’ that run Britain.
But the event was overshadowed after mr Corbyn was forced to rule out a second referendum on the final Brexit deal.
Senior figures in the party had been considering following the Liberal Democrats and putting the promise in its manifesto, in a desperate bid to snatch the votes of remainers. Just a day earlier, mr Mcdonnell had called on Theresa may to ‘put the deal to Parliament and possibly to the country overall’.
mr Corbyn had refused to deny his party was planning a second vote after the completion of withdrawal negotiations with the european Union, but yesterday afternoon, he performed a volte-face – saying the pledge would not be in their programme for government after all.
Soon afterwards, Bishop Auckland MP miss Goodman acknowl- edged that Labour faced an uphill struggle ahead of the June 8 election. She told ITV News: ‘I don’t think that this election is about changing the Government.
‘I think this election is about preventing the Tories from getting such an overwhelming majority that there is no possibility of dissent in this country.’
Conservative chairman Sir Patrick Mcloughlin seized on the suggestions that Labour had con- sidered backing a second vote on Brexit, saying it would disrupt the negotiations.
‘This is yet more evidence of chaos from Jeremy Corbyn and Labour,’ he said. ‘It shows they can’t provide the strong and stable leadership Britain needs at this serious moment in our history.
‘It’s clear Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP are now lining up to disrupt our Brexit negotiations in a coalition of chaos. This can only
mean more uncertainty for britain, more risk and a future that is less secure.’
Tory MP andrew bridgen added: ‘This is exactly why we need a general election – because Labour can’t be trusted on brexit.
‘If Corbyn had gone along with this, it would have been a betrayal not just of the country as a whole but of the two-thirds of Labour con- stituencies which voted to leave. This chaos just proves that, as most Labour MPs believe, Corbyn is not fit to lead the party let alone the country. Jeremy Corbyn is looking like a less eloquent version of Michael Foot all the time.’
Mr Corbyn’s decision was attacked by Caroline Lucas, the Green Party co-leader, who said he was letting down britain by refusing to back a second referendum.
‘If they truly trusted the british people – and wanted to give them a real say over the future direction of this country – then they would have committed to a democratic vote on any final deal,’ she said. ‘It’s a real shame that they’ve sided with the Tories on this.’
JUST three days after the general election was announced, and the leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition proves why he is unfit for high office.
In a campaign speech riven with the politics of envy, Jeremy Corbyn – 34 years the MP for Islington North – risibly attempted to portray himself as an outsider challenging the establishment elite.
Like every Marxist before him, he claimed he would take on the ‘cosy cartels hoarding this country’s wealth’, but as ever with the Labour leader, his critique came without any explanation of his proposed solutions.
What we do know is his £10-an-hour minimum wage would destroy jobs. Paying for £500billion of spending promises would mean soaking not just the rich, but people on very modest incomes.
And on Brexit – the most important political issue of our time – we still don’t know where he stands. Ten times yesterday his menacing sidekick John McDonnell refused to say if Labour would hold a second referendum, before finally ruling one out hours later.
On the other great issue of the day, immigration, he has suggested free movement of migrants should continue unhindered post-Brexit – the very concern which drove millions of voters in Labour heartlands to vote Leave.
Meanwhile, his shadow cabinet is clearly split over tax policy, with shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry playing down Mr McDonnell’s suggestion of new taxes on those earning £70,000 or more.
The party is in chaos, so it is no surprise the exodus of Labour MPs continues apace, with 12 saying they will not stand again.
In one respect alone, the Mail and Mr Corbyn are in total agreement: the result of the election is not a foregone conclusion.
The more the polls show the Conservatives miles ahead, the greater the risk voters fail to turn out or – fearing an over-mighty government – vote for another party.
The result of this nightmare scenario could be the country waking up on June 9 with a bewildered Mr Corbyn on the steps of No 10, propped up by the Scottish nationalists with their incessant demands to break up the UK, and the Lib Dems, who will stop at nothing to halt Brexit.
Truly, that would be – as Theresa May said – a ‘coalition of chaos’. It would also be an unmitigated disaster for this country.