Corbyn's Labour Party
A timely reminder from Theo Bertram via Twitter on just how ineffective Jeremy Corbyn has been as leader of the Labour Party for the past two years.
Corbyn's Clean Sweep (13/02/17)
The latest YouGov poll gives Jeremy Corbyn a clean sweep in the popularity ratings - the Labour leader achieves the near impossible feat of a negative rating across every single category.
Even more Labour voters have an unfavourable perception of Mr Corbyn (46%) compared to those who regard the party leader in a favourable light (44%).
Real Fight Starts Here (10/02/17)
The internet has been having a great old time with Jeremy Corbyn's claim that 'the real fight starts here' over Brexit after failing to lay a glove on the Government and its Leave supporters for the past six months.
I think my favourite is this one of Captain Quint from the movie 'Jaws' as he leaves the giant shark in absolutely no doubt about who's calling the shots.
King of Comedy (09/02/17)
Jeremy Corbyn has a promising career ahead in stand-up comedy ahead once he stands down from his current job of destroying the Labour Party.
The Labour leader famously called for Article 50 to be invoked 'immediately' on 24 June 2016 the day after the great EU referendum and yesterday the House of Commons finally fired the Brexit starting pistol.
Under orders from Jeremy most Labour MP's rooted through the voting lobby with their Conservative colleagues before Corbyn issued the following defiant statement:
"Real fight starts now. Over the next two years Labour will use every opportunity to ensure Brexit protects jobs, living standards & the economy."
Now Jezza's brave words come more than six months after his call for Article 50 to be invoked 'immediately' during which time he has failed to lay a glove on the Tories or their leader Theresa May.
No one believes this for a minute, of course, and a stream of funny memes have appeared on the internet mocking Corbyn's vainglorious claim that he will 'fight to the death'.
Now that is funny - and some wag on Twitter illustrated the point with a video of a cat and a lizard in bathtub.
The Corbyn Effect (08/02/17)
On 24th June 2016, the day after the EU referendum, Jeremy Corbyn suddenly announced (without consulting Labour's shadow cabinet) that Article 50 has to be invoked 'now".
Here's more of what the Labour leader had to say more than six months ago:
“The British people have made their decision. We must respect that result and Article 50 has to be invoked now so that we negotiate an exit from European Union.
“Obviously there has to be strategy but the whole point of the referendum was that the public would be asked their opinion. They’ve given their opinion. It is up for parliament to now act on that opinion."
No wonder Labour is in such a mess - the leader doesn't know what he's doing and more than six months on the party still has no strategy for Brexit other than mouthing empty slogans about 'getting the best deal possible'.
Which is what Theresa may and the Conservatives have been saying for months, of course.
Corbyn's Labour Party (03/02/17)
The Labour Party is in a dreadful mess, not least because Jeremy Corbyn clings to the delusion that he is doing a great job as a leader with a 'big mandate'.
Well mandates count for nothing when the party is falling apart as it did the other day over the Brexit vote which had Labour facing more ways than the town hall clock.
Not just that one of the party's senior figures and close friend of Jeremy Corbyn failed to turn up for the vote in the House of Commons after claiming she was ill.
Here's what The Times reported about Diane Abbott's mysterious absence:
"Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, missed the vote through illness. Cynical Labour MPs who turned out to back Brexit joked that they were organising her a get well card and that they were sure that she would be back next week for the third reading vote. It is worth noting that she spoke in a Westminster Hall debate which ended only three hours before the vote."
And here. rather less charitably, is what the Guido Fawkes web site had to say.
Well done to Diane Abbott for struggling through this contribution to the Westminster Hall debate on Prevent yesterday, just hours before the Article 50 vote, despite being “unwell“. What a trooper.
Car Crash Corbyn (13/01/17)
I enjoyed Michael Deacon's sketch for The Telegraph in which he describes the latest Labour party own goal as Jeremy Corbyn being 'at war with himself' over freedom of movement in the European Union.
While Corbyn supporters like to blame the mainstream media for the Labour leader's terrible public image, the truth is he's completely useless and out of his depth.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/10/day-jeremy-corbyn-slapped-jeremy-corbyn/
The day Jeremy Corbyn slapped down Jeremy Corbyn
MICHAEL DEACON - The Telegraph
Jeremy Corbyn gives a speech in Peterborough, during which he announces that he may or may not oppose freedom of movement - CREDIT: LEON NEAL/GETTY IMAGES
Ever since he became their leader, Labour MPs have been at war with Jeremy Corbyn. In the past 24 hours, however, the conflict has taken an unexpected twist.
Now, it seems, Jeremy Corbyn is at war with himself.
Put it like this. Until last night, Mr Corbyn was a staunch supporter of EU freedom of movement. Then his aides revealed to the press that he was about to give a speech saying he wasn’t. This morning, however, Mr Corbyn went on the Today programme to distance himself from his own remarks (“We aren’t saying anyone couldn’t come here”). And then, this afternoon, when the much-trumpeted speech was finally given – at a community hall in pro-Brexit Peterborough – he said the following.
“Labour is not wedded to freedom of movement for EU citizens as a point of principle,” he insisted. “But I don’t want that to be misinterpreted, nor do we rule it out.”
Labour's Pushmi-Pullyu (18/11/16)
Michael Deacon writing in The Telegraph suggests that Labour have achieved the impossible under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership by alienating both the Leave and Remain camps.
And it's true if you ask me, because while Labour MPs like Keir Starmer patiently build a a case which is trying to force the government into explaining exactly what Brexit might look like down the line - the shadow chancellor (John McDonnell) is encouraging us all to be more positive about leaving the European Union.
Not for the first time Corbyn's Labour is facing both ways at the same time when its job is to oppose and deny the government a blank cheque over what Brexit really means.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2016/11/15/well-done-labour-youre-alienating-both-the-brexiters-and-the-rem/
Well done, Labour. You’re alienating both the Brexiters and the Remainers at once
MICHAEL DEACON - The Telegraph
Corbyn's Dead Cat (11/01/17)
After months of dreadful opinion polls Jeremy Corbyn and his advisers have clearly decided to throw a 'dead cat' on the table, if the Labour leader's comments on Brexit and a national 'wage cap' are anything to go by.
Now I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't really care what Wayne Rooney earns from Manchester United FC
Because what I care about is whether Wayne Rooney and people like him pays their fair share of taxes.
If any Government were stupid enough to set an arbitrary limit on Wayne Rooney's wages, then everything above the new 'wage cap' would be lost to the Inland Revenue - and the end result in not one extra penny piece for the public purse.
In other words it's a piece of virtue signalling from a politician who is running scared from the electorate and because Jeremy can't think of anything better to say, his only hope is to throw dead cat on the table.
Ever since he became their leader, Labour MPs have been at war with Jeremy Corbyn. In the past 24 hours, however, the conflict has taken an unexpected twist.
Now, it seems, Jeremy Corbyn is at war with himself.
Put it like this. Until last night, Mr Corbyn was a staunch supporter of EU freedom of movement. Then his aides revealed to the press that he was about to give a speech saying he wasn’t. This morning, however, Mr Corbyn went on the Today programme to distance himself from his own remarks (“We aren’t saying anyone couldn’t come here”). And then, this afternoon, when the much-trumpeted speech was finally given – at a community hall in pro-Brexit Peterborough – he said the following.
“Labour is not wedded to freedom of movement for EU citizens as a point of principle,” he insisted. “But I don’t want that to be misinterpreted, nor do we rule it out.”
Corbyn as Trump (11/01/17)
Nothing else has worked, so Jeremy Corbyn's latest wheeze is to try and steal some of Donald Trump's clothes as an snake-oil selling, populist politician.
Not a good look, if you ask me but decide for yourself.
Here's how Jim Waterson on Twitter described the subtle difference between the version of Corby's big Brexit speech as briefed by his official spokesperson - and the one actually delivered by the Labour leader on the day.
Labour's Pushmi-Pullyu (18/11/16)
Michael Deacon writing in The Telegraph suggests that Labour have achieved the impossible under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership by alienating both the Leave and Remain camps.
And it's true if you ask me, because while Labour MPs like Keir Starmer patiently build a a case which is trying to force the government into explaining exactly what Brexit might look like down the line - the shadow chancellor (John McDonnell) is encouraging us all to be more positive about leaving the European Union.
Not for the first time Corbyn's Labour is facing both ways at the same time when its job is to oppose and deny the government a blank cheque over what Brexit really means.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2016/11/15/well-done-labour-youre-alienating-both-the-brexiters-and-the-rem/
Well done, Labour. You’re alienating both the Brexiters and the Remainers at once
MICHAEL DEACON - The Telegraph
John McDonnell, the Labour shadow chancellor, delivers a speech in London about the economy and jobs CREDIT: BEN STANSALL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
What Labour have achieved should be impossible. Yet somehow they’ve managed it.
They’ve convinced people who are pro-Brexit that Labour are anti-Brexit – and convinced people who are anti-Brexit that Labour are pro-Brexit.
Or, to put it another way: they’re alienating both the 52 per cent and the 48 per cent. And becoming the party of the 0 per cent.
On the one hand, they have Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, forensically probing for flaws in Brexit. And on the other, they have John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, who announced in London today that “It’s time we were all more positive about Brexit.”
What Labour have achieved should be impossible. Yet somehow they’ve managed it.
They’ve convinced people who are pro-Brexit that Labour are anti-Brexit – and convinced people who are anti-Brexit that Labour are pro-Brexit.
Or, to put it another way: they’re alienating both the 52 per cent and the 48 per cent. And becoming the party of the 0 per cent.
On the one hand, they have Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, forensically probing for flaws in Brexit. And on the other, they have John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, who announced in London today that “It’s time we were all more positive about Brexit.”
Corbyn's Dead Cat (11/01/17)
After months of dreadful opinion polls Jeremy Corbyn and his advisers have clearly decided to throw a 'dead cat' on the table, if the Labour leader's comments on Brexit and a national 'wage cap' are anything to go by.
Now I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't really care what Wayne Rooney earns from Manchester United FC
Because what I care about is whether Wayne Rooney and people like him pays their fair share of taxes.
If any Government were stupid enough to set an arbitrary limit on Wayne Rooney's wages, then everything above the new 'wage cap' would be lost to the Inland Revenue - and the end result in not one extra penny piece for the public purse.
In other words it's a piece of virtue signalling from a politician who is running scared from the electorate and because Jeremy can't think of anything better to say, his only hope is to throw dead cat on the table.
Equal Pay Day! (10/11/16)
Today is Equal Pay Day in the UK during and if this Twitter photo is anything to go by, all kinds of people including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will be keen to emphasise their public support for the concept of 'equal pay for work of equal point'.
But it's worth pointing out that despite all the windy rhetoric from 'leftist' politicians like Jeremy, the trade unions in the UK have never held a national demonstration, never mind a national strike, over Equal Pay during the past 30 years!
As regular readers know, Action 4 Equality Scotland has led the fight for equal pay north of the border and the trade unions have often been part of the problem.
In areas such as South Lanarkshire, for example, where local trade union leaders actively discouraged their members from pursuing equal pay claims against the local Labour-run Council.
Having A Laugh! (17/10/16)
The latest Labour Party poster made me laugh with its ridiculous image of Jeremy Corbyn 'calling time' on the equal pay waiting game.
Maybe Jeremy could find the time to send this poster to some of the many Labour council who fought so hard against equal pay for all these years?
South Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Councils are two of the more obvious ones that spring to mind.
In South Lanarkshire, of course, the local trade unions actively discouraged their members from pursuing equal pay claims against the local Labour-run council for many years - and if you ask me Jeremy Corbyn is of that same, old-fashioned, 'leftist' union mindset.
One that talks the talk, but fails to deliver time after time.
Maybe Jeremy could find the time to send this poster to some of the many Labour council who fought so hard against equal pay for all these years?
South Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Councils are two of the more obvious ones that spring to mind.
In South Lanarkshire, of course, the local trade unions actively discouraged their members from pursuing equal pay claims against the local Labour-run council for many years - and if you ask me Jeremy Corbyn is of that same, old-fashioned, 'leftist' union mindset.
One that talks the talk, but fails to deliver time after time.
