Corbyn failing ‘because he doesn’t watch Mrs Brown’
JEREMY CORBYN is doomed to electoral failure because he and his supporters are not amused by bawdy programmes such as Mrs Brown’s Boys, a Labour MP declared yesterday.
Stella Creasy said a cultural split between the party’s ‘intelligentsia’ and average voters would prevent Corbyn from winning a General Election.
The Walthamstow MP made her remarks after another calamitous week for Mr Corbyn, during which he was rocked by the Commons resignation of former leadership hopeful Tristram Hunt, and was forced to abandon a shambolic New Year relaunch.
Ms Creasy asked a conference of the Fabian Society – a talking shop for highbrow liberals – whether anyone in the audience watched Mrs Brown’s Boys, the BBC’s hit sitcom starring the Irish comedian Brendan O’Carroll. When she was greeted by laughter, she pointed out that it had been among the most popular programmes at Christmas, attracting more than eight million viewers. ‘It beat the Queen’s Speech and yet the intelligentsia are horrified,’ she said. ‘They don’t get the joke.’ Ms Creasy, a moderate who has faced criticism by Left-wing supporters of Mr Corbyn, said the fact that the party’s hierarchy failed to watch the programme highlighted ‘the cultural divisions’ which stymied attempts to devise progressive, election-winning policies.
Former Education spokesman Mr Hunt, who resigned from his Stokeon-Trent Central seat, was once tipped as party leader. He has quit his seat for a job as head of the V&A museum after despairing of the party’s electoral chances under Mr Corbyn.
Other moderate MPs are expected to follow his example in an attempt to destabilise Mr Corbyn through a series of by-election defeats.
The by-election at Stoke, where Labour holds a majority of 5,179, will be fought between Labour, secondplaced Ukip and the Conservatives.
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn declined to comment on whether he watched Mrs Brown’s Boys.