Labour's Comic Indecision
Tony Blair hits the nail on the head if you ask me, with his withering assessment of Labour's performance in the 2019 general election.
Jeremy Corbyn's attempt to hold himself out as a neutral 'honest broker' in the biggest political decision of modern times was laughable to both Remain and Leave voters.
The Labour leader called for Article 50 to be triggered the day after the 2016 referendum and spent the next three and a half years promoting his ridiculous 'jobs first' Brexit.
Jeremy Corbyn also failed to champion the case for voters to have the final say on Brexit by demanding that Theresa May or Boris Johnson's deal to put to a democratic People's Vote against Remain - even though the vast majority of Labour supporters backed the idea of a final showdown once the final terms of Brexit were clear.
Facing both ways was a dumb strategy, as was the Lib Dems policy of revoking Brexit without a People's Vote, but at least Jo Swinson has taken responsibility by resigning immediately whereas Jeremy Corbyn is hanging around in a desperate effort to install a 'Corbyn clone' as the new Labour leader.
"The result has brought shame on us"— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) December 18, 2019
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair says the Labour party "let our country down" in the general election https://t.co/He17QuSVJ6 pic.twitter.com/Qw002mG29V
Corbyn's Cunning Plan Backfires (14/12/19)
The Labour leadership is grasping at straws by trying to blame Brexit for the party's disastrous defeat in the general election.
I heard John McDonnell on TV earlier today saying that Labour were on the horns of an impossible dilemma over Brexit because of the competing views of Remain and Leave voters.
But this pathetic excuse-making completely ignores the dire performance of Jeremy Corbyn who:
- failed to campaign convincingly for Remain in the 2016 referendum
- called for Article 50 to be triggered the day after the 2016 referendum
- refused to campaign for a People's Vote on the final terms of any Brexit deal and make the case that a second, confirmatory referendum was fair and democratic
- Corbyn's preferred solution of facing both ways and being an 'honest broker' was completely mad
The latest Opinium poll confirms the main reason voters did not back Labour was their concern about the party leadership, but when it comes down to Brexit the two issues are inextricably linked.
Labour's 'Pushmi Pullyu' policy was designed by and for Jeremy Corbyn - a lifelong leaver who found it impossible to stand up for the views of the vast majority of Labour members and supporters.
Corbyn's Cunning Plan! (28/11/19)
All we need now is for Jeremy Corbyn to change his name or self-identify as Dr Doolittle!
Labour to leave voters: "the party leadership is not opposing Brexit"
Labour to remain voters: vote for us to stop Brexit
The new strategy briefed here might be tricky to pull off bbc.co.uk/news/election-…
Corbyn Supporter Explains Brexit (12/12/19)
Slight confusion in the Labour Party?
Here's what @MikeHillMP had to say about a second referendum. Who is right, him or @jeremycorbyn? #GE2019
2,766 people are talking about this
On Your Marks. Get Set. Go! (12/12/19)
Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP all agreed to an early general election which always seems like a terribly high risk strategy to me.
Not least because the much smarter move was for the opposition parties to refuse to budge without securing the right of voters to have the final say on Brexit - by holding a democratic People's Vote between Remain and Boris Johnson's deal.
The Times cartoonist, Peter Brookes, captured the pre-election mood rather well, I thought, but we will know how things turn out later today.
