‘Moderate’ Labour MPS who stand behind Corbyn are pure hypocrites
They talked tough and criticised his leadership, yet now are willing to put a dangerous man in No 10
It is not quite an exodus, and neither is it a stampede, but the flow of Tory MPS leaving Parliament is impossible to miss. In some quarters, the loss of MPS who disagree with their party’s future under Boris Johnson is causing a predictable wringing of hands. Yet the turnover within the Conservative Party is in many ways to its credit. For his part, the Prime Minister knows he needs a clean mandate to get Brexit done. For theirs, the MPS who disagree with him have chosen not to stand on a prospectus they oppose.
This is no purge of the moderates. Few members of the public would agree it’s moderate to cut spending further and overturn Brexit. In truth, it’s Boris who is the moderate: he recognises that the new political mainstream lies slightly to the Left on the economy and to the Right on culture. And he knows it requires him to deliver Brexit. We are witnessing the Conservatives regenerate, like the Time Lord in Doctor Who, into a form that should allow them to unite and win.
Compare this with Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s so-called moderates. The MPS who voted 172-40 against Corbyn’s leadership. Who denounce his ideological extremism. Who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Jewish community to protest against Labour’s institutional anti-semitism. Now is the time to judge whether they are serious about their opposition to Corbyn’s extremism. With an election upon us, they face a choice. Do they campaign refuse to campaign for Corbyn, or do they give power to an anti-semitic, pro-islamist, anti-british, pro-russian Marxist intent on cultural and economic revolution?
Take Bridget Phillipson, for example. She spoke for many Labour MPS when she told Corbyn: “You’re not fit to be prime minister and you’ve got to resign.” Yet when he refused to go, and won a new mandate from Labour members, Phillipson fell into line. Now she tells her constituents to vote Labour, promising that Corbyn will “build a country for the many, not the few”.
Plenty of Labour MPS complain that Corbyn has turned their party into a cesspit of anti-semitism. Stella Creasy, Liz Kendall, Stephen Kinnock, David Lammy and Wes Streeting were among the protesters last year when Britain’s Jewish community came together to say “enough is enough”. Yet all five are now campaigning to put Corbyn into Downing Street.
On the rare occasions this extraordinary position is scrutinised, they um and they ah, but they cannot defend themselves. When a radio listener called in to confront Lammy for supporting Corbyn despite his tolerance of anti-semitism, Lammy simply muttered: “We’ve had leaders with prejudices before.” Vote Labour, these “moderates” say, even if it means making prime minister a man they believe to be racist.
Jess Phillips is the Establishment’s favourite working-class hero, mainly because she isn’t working class and supports policies – like stopping Brexit and increasing immigration – that working-class voters mostly reject. And with statements like her threat to “knife Corbyn in the front”, she has won a reputation for plain speaking. Enjoying her own hype, Phillips has written a book called Truth to Power.
And she certainly talks the talk. In one angry intervention, she said: “If you abuse women in the Labour Party and you’re a friend of [Corbyn’s], you get away with it.” But now, with an election imminent, Phillips does not walk the walk. In a recent media interview, she gave Corbyn her backing, saying: “The thing about Jeremy Corbyn is that when under attack, the man rises to the challenge, doesn’t he? As he did in the [last] general election – he was so much better than people expected him to be.” Less truth to power, more pathway to power for an anti-semitic and misogynist bully.
On the economy, Labour MPS know that Corbyn would, in Liz Kendall’s words, “destabilise our currency, push up inflation, and harm the living standards of millions”. And they know, too, that he cannot be trusted with our national security. Last year, when the Russian state poisoned Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury using a military-grade nerve agent, Corbyn refused to condemn Moscow. Yvette Cooper went on the attack, saying Russia’s actions “should be met with unequivocal condemnation”. Others, including Ben Bradshaw, Chris Bryant and Anna Turley, joined in, criticising Corbyn’s failure to stand up for Britain. Yet now all of them are campaigning for a Labour victory and for Corbyn to become prime minister. Only Corbyn’s Labour, Cooper says, can “rebuild Britain and our precious NHS”. Only Corbyn’s Labour, Bradshaw says, somehow keeping a straight face, can stop “the election of a hard-right nationalist Tory Government”.
In a parliamentary democracy, voters are required to elect their local representatives. But in doing so, they also choose which party forms a government and which party leader becomes PM. In most elections, this does not cause much tension, because the values of most MPS tend to match the values of their party leader. But this election – like the last one – is unusual, because Corbyn represents neither the values of traditional Labour voters, nor many of his own MPS.
Last time round, many Labour MPS persuaded their constituents to stick with them because, they said, there was no chance of Corbyn becoming prime minister. They insisted it was safe to vote for a local Labour MP, and to limit the size of the Tory majority, which would help to hold the government to account. This time is different. We know the polls can be wrong. We know the Tories can rack up millions of votes, yet fail to win a majority. We know the Lib Dems and the Scottish Nationalists could put Corbyn into No 10.
There is, therefore, every chance of waking up on Friday December 13 to find Jeremy Corbyn is Britain’s prime minister. It is no longer sustainable for moderate MPS to campaign for Labour despite their leader’s extremist beliefs, despite their party becoming institutionally racist and despite its culture of intimidation and bullying. They have had the time, since 2015, to remove Corbyn, form a new party, or declare the Parliamentary Labour Party independent of the wider party. But they chose to stay inside Corbyn’s Labour Party. Now, they shame themselves for pretending they are not campaigning to put a dangerous man into Downing Street.