Corbyn

Corbyn has all but declared class war with this manifesto

I am not sure if it is class war exactly but something very like it is back. Perhaps it is a hybrid of a class, eco and generational war. In that Labour is planning to sting those earning £80,000 a year or more with an additional tax burden just short of £20bn from higher taxes on income, capital and dividends. As for businesses and financial institutions, they are being whacked for almost £50bn, in a dizzying array of increased levies on profits, assets and financial trading, and – eccentrically perhaps for a party saying it wants to encourage a green high-tech economy – a reduction in allowances for spending on

Sunday shows round-up: Jeremy Corbyn- There will be a great deal of movement

Jeremy Corbyn – ‘I want a close relationship’ with the EU The Labour leader was Andrew Marr’s chief guest of the day. Marr began by asking for Corbyn’s personal stance on Brexit, something which has proved highly elusive since the referendum result in 2016. Corbyn happily gave the Labour party’s position, but once again refused to be drawn on the issue:   AM: Do you want this country to leave the EU or not? JC: We’re going to put that choice to the British people, and they will make that decision… I want a close relationship with the EU in the future. ‘You don’t know’ who I’m going to negotiate with If

Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Corbyn refuses five times to answer Brexit question

On the Marr show this morning, Jeremy Corbyn was asked – and refused to say – five times whether he would campaign for Leave or Remain in a second referendum. Referring to himself in the third person, Corbyn said the only thing Corbyn could reveal was that we would have a close trading relationship with the EU. Mr S. says that Mr S. thinks this is a bit of a cop out. Here is a clip of part of the discussion: Andrew Marr: If you become prime minister, when you become prime minister, do you want this country to leave the EU or not? Jeremy Corbyn: We’re going to put

Boris Johnson is repeating Churchill’s campaign mistake

In one of Boris Johnson’s opening salvoes of the 2019 campaign he said of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party: ‘they detest the profit motive so viscerally…they point their fingers at individuals with a relish and a vindictiveness not seen since Stalin persecuted the kulaks.’ Boris Johnson is no Winston Churchill. But in making that claim, the Prime Minister evoked one of his most illustrious predecessor’s greatest campaigning mistakes. For in a radio broadcast during the 1945 election campaign Churchill claimed a ‘socialist government’ led by Attlee, aimed to control ‘the entire life and industry of the country … [and] would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo’. Churchill’s speech

Corbyn makes the most of Boris Johnson’s misfortune

The Supreme Court ruling has provided Jeremy Corbyn with his most positive outing at Labour conference. On hearing the news that the Prime Minister’s prorogation of Parliament was unlawful, Corbyn took to the stage in a dramatic point of order – to rapturous applause. He called on Boris Johnson to ‘in the historic words, consider his position’. The Labour leader said the judgment showed the Prime Minister’s contempt for Parliament and promised to get in touch with House of Commons Speaker John Bercow immediately so that Parliament could be recalled (although the ruling suggests there is no need as in effect Parliament was never prorogued). Speaking to members and delegates,

What Corbyn’s Brexit policy means for a general election

Jeremy Corbyn has dashed the hopes of certain members of his shadow cabinet this morning with a Guardian op-ed in which he sets out his party’s Brexit position in any forthcoming general election. Rather than explicitly back remaining in the EU, Corbyn says a Labour government would pursue a softer Brexit deal with Brussels before letting the public decide between that deal and Remain in a second referendum. He goes on to say: ‘We would then put that to a public vote alongside Remain. I will pledge to carry out whatever the people decide, as a Labour prime minister.’ This is being read as Corbyn saying he personally would not take

Does Macron grasp what Corbyn would mean for France?

I had supper on Saturday with an old friend. She’s a committed French socialist, a schoolteacher in the Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, the most impoverished department in France. She’s relatively new to the profession, having decided in her late thirties that teaching was her calling. So she went back to university and upon qualifying she asked to be sent to the most challenging suburb in France. Earlier this year I accepted her invitation to address her pupils on the subject of writing and journalism. It was a good day out. I went not knowing what to expect but left having met two classes of teenagers who were attentive and appreciative.

Corbyn’s Brexit offer puts Jo Swinson under pressure

The recurring story of the summer recess is the plot to form a government of national unity in order to thwart any No. 10 plans for a no-deal Brexit. Anti no-deal MPs have discussed voting down Boris Johnson’s government when Parliament returns in September and then using the two week grace period that follows to form a government of national unity. There are several catches to this plan – one potentially big flaw is that people in No. 10 believe Johnson can simply refuse to stand down, wait the two weeks out and then decide the date of the election that would follow. However, the biggest problem is that to

The myth behind Corbyn’s plan to transform Britain

This week, The Sun instructed Remain Conservative MPs to unite behind Boris Johnson or see Jeremy Corbyn’s desire to ‘turn Britain into an experiment in 21st century Marxism’ become reality. It need not have bothered: the threat of a ‘Marxist’ Corbyn government is one of the few things about which all Conservatives agree. But what kind of a threat does Corbyn really pose? Keen supporters of the Labour leader speak of their hopes for a ‘transformative’ Corbyn-led government, one that will eventually lead to socialism. This government will permanently change Britain because, they say, it will disperse power to the people. Under John McDonnell’s plans, industries will be renationalised but run

The Spectator Podcast: the latest plot to oust Corbyn

When Labour moderates tried to oust Jeremy Corbyn in 2016, their attempt only made him stronger, protected by swathes of loyal members. But this year, is the tide turning for Corbyn, as even supporters begin to doubt him? First, there were the abysmal European Election results, which for many Corbynites were particularly painful because they disagree with the leadership’s ambiguous stance on Brexit. Then, last week’s BBC Panorama brought out a dark side to the leadership – the press team’s defensive response to the programme, accusing whistleblowers of being ‘disaffected’, disheartened many most loyal to the project. One high profile Corbynite I spoke to told me that they were disappointed

How would Labour’s proposed tax grab affect your home?

At first glance you could be forgiven for thinking that Labour’s publication ‘Land for the Many’ is a set of policy ideas that solves the housing crisis. Increasing the supply of affordable housing and freeing up land to build, improving access to existing stock and transparency sounds fair, right? Yet tucked away inside the report, you’ll find a range of measures that could pull the market as we know it to pieces; it’s the most radical sets of property proposals since the mass building plan after the Second World War. The report’s editor, George Monbiot, has not thought through the unintended consequences of the proposals. Just one example and perhaps

Corbynistas turn on one another over EU election meltdown

There’s a lot of soul-searching in the Labour party after Sunday’s abysmal results in the European elections. On Monday, Corbynista commentator Paul Mason was one of the first out of the blocks, with a lengthy autopsy of Labour’s electoral failure. He placed the blame squarely on Corbyn’s Brexit-leaning advisors, and urged those responsible to be fired. ‘Three point plan for Labour. 1. A members ballot on Remain/Reform as the new line. 2. Sack the officials responsible for this fiasco. 3. Defend Corbyn against the inevitable coup. More from me tomorrow – sign our petition here https://www.left2030.org/petition/ ‘ https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/1132940829335654400 Unsurprisingly, the column didn’t go down well in all quarters of the hard

Corbyn under pressure to change Brexit stance after disappointing Labour result

It’s been a disappointing night for both main parties in the local elections. As predicted, the Conservatives have suffered serious losses and could be on course to lose around 800 council seats by the time all votes have been counted. Perhaps more surprising is Labour’s bad turn. The party has suffered a net loss of seats taking a hit in Leave areas like Sunderland, Ashfield and Bolsover. This is not the performance one would expect from a party on course for a majority in a general election. Labour councillors and politicians have been quick to start the blame game. After Labour lost ten seats in Sunderland, the party’s council leader Graeme

Corbyn might win office, but he’ll struggle to win power | 31 March 2019

The vote of no confidence in Dominic Grieve shows the Tories are, like Labour, vulnerable to bolshiness in their own local associations. In fact, the Conservatives might turn out to be more effective at purging MPs because, for all of the noise, the Corbynites have not done much. And if Jeremy Corbyn ends up in No10 after a snap general election, he may soon wish that he had done more. Two polls in the past 24 hours have been pretty good for Labour. Opinium has them level-pegging with the Tories on 35 per cent while Delta gives them a five-point lead (though this falls to three points when respondents are

Corbyn’s strategy for a softer Brexit

Probably the most important event at yesterday’s shadow cabinet was a presentation by Labour’s campaigns director Niall Sookoo of polling that purported to show that ‘our support has fallen because we back a People’s Vote’ – according to a frontbencher. The party’s chairman Ian Lavery, who opposes Labour backing a Brexit referendum, was thrilled and crowed ‘I told you so’, according to my source. The shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, who backs a People’s Vote, ‘ripped it to shreds’. Another source said: ‘There was a presentation to the shadow cabinet updating on the local election and the impact of support for a second referendum on our levels of support, including

Did Corbyn really just move closer to backing a second referendum?

After Theresa May appeared before the Commons to reveal that her Brexit Plan B looks an awful lot like her Brexit Plan A, MPs now have a chance to try and force the Prime Minister to change path. Next week, MPs will vote on May’s Brexit motion – along with a series of amendments submitted by MPs. A range of amendments have so far been submitted, with Labour’s Yvette Cooper attempting to take No Deal off the table (meaning Article 50 would be extended until a deal had been agreed upon) and Hilary Benn calling for indicative votes on four Brexit options. However, the amendment that has caused the most

Katy Balls

The message behind Labour’s latest party broadcast

When Labour released the party political broadcast Our Town, it was enough to worry aides in No.10. The slick video saw the party zone in on voters in towns that had voted heavily to Leave. Filmed in areas including Mansfield, the video sent a clear message: Jeremy Corbyn is on a mission to appeal to the Brexit voters on whom the Tories now rely. Last week, the party released the next video in that series, Our Country. Although Corbyn’s confidence vote against the government stole the limelight at the time of release, the video does shed some light on how Labour plans to fight the next election (ideally this year):

Watch: Labour supporters heckle the media

You would think that after being Labour leader for three years, some of the shine would have worn off Jeremy Corbyn. But among the devoted, ‘JC’ is still an object of veneration who can do wrong, which means of course that any criticism of him is considered blasphemy. The Corbyn cult were in strong form today, when the Labour leader gave a speech in Hastings to set out his Brexit policy. While the crowd were initially quiet, at the first sign of a journalist asking Corbyn a difficult question (about why he would not talk with the Prime Minister about Brexit) they immediately sprang into action, booing the journalist and

Corbyn’s refusal to meet with May could backfire

Theresa May is riding on a temporary high after winning the confidence vote against her government by a majority of 19 – by this government’s standards that’s a comfortable win. However, as is ever the case May’s problems are far from over as she now has to come up with an alternative Brexit plan to present to the Commons on Monday. On winning tonight’s vote, May said that to do this she would invite opposition leaders for talks this evening. This is seen as a risky move in certain Conservative circles as if it looks as though May is working closely with Jeremy Corbyn it would test party loyalty. However,

Theresa May’s confidence vote problems will only get worse | 15 January 2019

Theresa May is in a peculiar position after suffering the largest government defeat in history. Her Brexit plans look dead in the water and even she appeared to admit that she would now have to reach out to members of other parties and consider her options. In a bid to capitalise on May’s misfortune, Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed that Labour will table a motion of no confidence in the government. The vote will take place tomorrow afternoon following PMQs. Yet for all the calamity of the evening, the Prime Minister is on course to win it comfortably. Both the DUP and the Tory Brexiteers who voted against May’s deal say they