Corbyn

Jeremy Corbyn has come under pressure this week to back a second referendum after a YouGov poll found that seven in ten Labour members wish for it to be party policy. So far, Corbyn has resisted such calls for a so-called People’s Vote. In this week’s Spectator, I explain why the Labour leader is reluctant to go near one – at least for the time being. With the Tories in turmoil over Brexit, it’s quite possible — some cabinet members believe probable — that the government may soon collapse with a new general election called. This is Labour’s great hope – and Corbyn hopes to trigger a snap poll by

After an afternoon of will-they-won’t-they over Labour’s threat to table a motion of no confidence, Jeremy Corbyn has told the Speaker he will do just this. However, where earlier reports suggested the no confidence vote would be in the government, it will now be in Theresa May herself. This is important because a confidence motion in the Prime Minister personally has no legal or constitutional force – were May to lose it she would not need to resign. It is also up to the government whether they make time for it – they don’t have to. Given that Labour have no opposition day debates left to set the agenda, it

Anyone observing or participating in the continuing collective trauma of Britain’s Brexit debate should pay more attention to Jeremy Corbyn and some of the most important — and to some people, surprising — things he has done as Labour leader. Here’s a short list: 1. Promised big handouts for the middle class. Mr Corbyn ran his 2017 general election campaign offering huge middle class subsidies from the state. Scrapping tuition fees and offering “free” universal higher education would be a gift to the better-off, whose kids still dominate university entry. (Just look at Scotland.) And the gift would be funded by non-graduate workers’ taxes. 2. Defended unearned wealth Mr Corbyn

Oh dear. Theresa May’s confidence and supply agreement with the DUP is on very thin ice – if not already dead – after the party’s MPs abstained on a range of amendments to the finance bill and even voted en masse for a Labour amendment. This is in breach of the party’s deal with the Conservatives – the row has been triggered by May’s Brexit deal. However, it’s not just May who has been caused a headache by last night’s Commons antics. The DUP voted for a Labour amendment to the finance bill calling on the Treasury to produce impact assessments of the budget on inequality and child poverty. Yet

The 2015 Conservative Party conference in Manchester stood out for its ugly scenes – with protesters hurling eggs at attendees. Jeremy Corbyn inflamed tensions further by attending a rally on the eve of that conference which called on Tories to be ‘thrown out of Manchester’. Is a similar series of events on the cards this weekend when members gather in Birmingham? Corbyn notably stayed away from subsequent conferences in 2016 and 2017 which coincidentally were much quieter affairs. But this year the threat of an angry horde of SWP sorts is concerning both CCHQ and the Birmingham police. Mr S is informed that Conservative HQ are aware of the fact PM-in-waiting

In his speech today at Labour conference, Jeremy Corbyn confidently set out his vision for government. The Leader of the Opposition promised that a change was coming – and said that this change would benefit the many. On Brexit, however, he disappointed some pro-EU MPs by refusing to soften the party’s position and explicitly back a Leave/Remain second referendum. A glimpse of why that was can be found in the party’s latest broadcast. Following on from that speech, Labour has released ‘Our Town’. The short video is centred on the message that a Corbyn government would ‘restore pride in British towns and bring our high streets and communities back to

It’s Labour conference and the party is supposed to be setting out its plan for government. Only when it comes to Brexit, no-one is quite sure what that is. In the interest of clarity, Mr S will be running a live blog with the latest twists in the party’s apparent Brexit policy: 11am: Keir Starmer says remaining in the EU is an option The shadow Brexit secretary tells Labour conference: ‘Nobody is ruling out remain as an option.’ 11am: Dennis Skinner frowns The Beast of Bolsover doesn’t seem too impressed by Starmer’s intervention: Looks like Dennis Skinner really enjoyed Keir Starmer's speech pic.twitter.com/ltoPXTnyYt — Alain Tolhurst (@Alain_Tolhurst) September 25, 2018 11.40am:

Jeremy Corbyn’s relationship with the MSM has long been a strained one. When the Labour leader isn’t bad-mouthing hacks, he’s telling them that he will ‘democratise’ their publications. So, perhaps it should come as little surprise that journalists have found themselves left out in the cold at this year’s Labour conference. Hacks arrived to find themselves not in the main building but in a tent outside in the cold. Adding insult to injury, to find it one must follow the ‘dog exercise’ area signs. To borrow the words of Chuka Umunna: won’t Corbyn ‘call off the dogs’?

Mike Amesbury hoisted Corbyn into the air and patted him on the head. The shadow employment minister was at the 2018 Westminster Dog of the Year competition with his Cockapoo (who his son named Corbyn), and had just won the so-called ‘pawblic vote’. However it was Alex Norris, another Labour MP, who finished on the top of the podium with his dogs Boomer and Corona. Andrew Mitchell’s Scarlet came second, and Cheryl Gillan’s recue dog Goosebury came third. The annual event is hosted by Dogs Trust in Victoria Tower Gardens. Adrian Burder, Chief Executive of the charity, explained that the event provides an opportunity to ‘raise awareness of key dog

Will the latest anti-Semitism row damage Jeremy Corbyn? The row over the Munich memorial rumbles on for another day following the Labour leader’s refusal to apologise for attending a wreath-laying ceremony for members of the terrorist organisation behind the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. Although there are photos of Corbyn holding a wreath near those gravestones – and he previously said that he laid a wreath at the ceremony – he says there were multiple wreaths and multiple people moving wreaths. His wreath was for the victims of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation base in 1985. Not helping matters is the fact that Corbyn appears to have changed his story a number

Labour’s anti-Semitism row and Theresa May’s no deal Brexit woes have had to take a back seat this morning thanks to talk of a good old fashioned Blairite coup. The Daily Express reports that 12 Labour MPs – including Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie and Liz Kendall – are embroiled in ‘secret plot to oust Jeremy Corbyn’. In order to do this, they have – naturally – been holding secret meetings, some of which have taken place at a luxury grade II listed farmhouse complete with Aga. The topic of discussion at the meetings is how to take back control of the party. If Labour manages to win the next election, they

Oh dear. The Labour party is one of the loudest cheerleaders when it comes to giving 16-year-olds the vote. At PMQs in January, Emily Thornberry was particularly keen to push the cause. The shadow foreign secretary accused the Conservatives – who oppose such a move – of being in a ‘coalition of cavemen’, before going on to list all the things 16-year-olds could do: leave home, start a family, marry, work, pay taxes and join the army. But there is one other thing that she is not able to add to that list: Labour Live. Mr S was surprised to learn of the ticketing rules for the upcoming Labour Corbyn-tastic Jez-fest