The deeply worrying determination of our alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, aided and abetted by his chief polecat Dominic Cummings, to run down the clock on the UK’s membership of the EU and therefore expose the country to the economic trauma of a no-deal Brexit, has been focusing minds among opposition parties.
The latest action from the leader of the largest of those parties should focus minds rather more: Jeremy Corbyn has now written to the leaders of other opposition parties, along with Tories who have voiced their forthright opposition to a no-deal Brexit.
“The Government has no mandate for No Deal, and the 2016 EU referendum provided no mandate for No Deal. I therefore intend to table a Vote of No Confidence at the earliest possible opportunity when we can be confident of success” he has told. And there is more.
“Following a successful vote of no confidence in the government, I would then, as Leader of the Opposition, seek the confidence of the House for a strictly time-limited temporary government with the aim of calling a general election, and securing the necessary extension of Article 50 to do so … In that General Election, Labour will be committed to a public vote on the terms of leaving the European Union, including an option to Remain”.
There has been the predictable moaning from those forever opposed to Jezza - Ian Austin, Mike Gapes, Chuka Umunna, Anna Soubry - as well as Jo Swinson, who now claims to be the leader of the Liberal Democrats. But Corbyn is on the soundest ground here.
As David Allen Green has explained this morning, one way of preventing a no-deal Brexit “is for those opposed to a No Deal Brexit to take control of the executive … The Corbyn letter sets out a practical and plausible way how [this] can be carried out … Anyone whose opposition to a No Deal Brexit (or to any Brexit) is an absolute priority must find this proposal attractive”. You can see the full text of his argument HERE.
The problem of irrational opposition to Corbyn was considered by Shaun Lawson, who observed “Who can stop No Deal? Labour. Who can fix the vast injustice which triggered the vote to Brexit in the first place? Labour. Which is the only party with a platform that can actually drag Britain away from the abyss? Labour. And look how Labour and its leader are treated”. And he had a message for those being easily swayed by hostile propagandists.
“This is a country which has lost the plot more than any First World nation I've ever known. It attacks good people as bad people. It hails bad people as good people. It enables the powerful and punishes the powerless. Its media doesn't hold truth to power; it parrots power's lies”. Corbyn has outlined the way forward; we should get real.
That was also the message from Owen Jones: “Labour won 40% of the vote two years ago, nearly the same vote share as the government; its leader is twice elected … A temporary government should be led by the politician with the biggest democratic mandate … Do you oppose Corbyn as PM more than No Deal? Really?”
If not now, when? If not Corbyn, who? There is no credible alternative for anyone looking to defeat a no-deal Brexit. It is time for the games to end, and reality to be faced.
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9 comments:
Jeremy Corbyn has turned out to be a much more astute politician than anyone - me included - thought him capable of. Which is delightful.
Now, shorn of sophistry, he invites unity, a stop on no-deal, a referendum on details, and a decisive general election. Given the situation, nothing could be more democratic.
So who does the BBC invite as its first commenter? Who else but perennial loser Anna Soubry, her face twisted with its usual bitter hatred and her words close to rabid spittle. A woman who wouldn't go back to the people after she shafted them by changing parties mid-term.
No wonder this country, its political system and its corporate media are fucked.
If Corbyn genuinely wants this to work he should let Keir Starmer be the leader of such a coalition. Love him or loathe him Corbyn is as divisive as Thatcher or Farage to the average voter.
Blackmail should be called out for what it is!
Essentially this is "choose me or you will get no deal" - though in fact if he is the 'chosen one' we will get no deal anyway because no Tories will back him.
AS has been commented on Twitter, Corbyn - with an insistence that there must be an opportunity for Labour to (try & fail to) negotiate a deal (with an EU who have said there will be no more negotiation) is essentially like a doctor or nurse deliberately poisoning the patient so that they can then treat them.
That's called *Milne*chausen Syndrome by proxy - or something similar - isn't it?
Anonymous...
The EU have said that they will reopen negotiations with a new Government.
Nice pun on Milne though.
Ah, yes......The Keir Starmer Move.
Not unexpected after war criminal Gordon Brown kicked it off recently.
Stay alert for more pro-righty Starmer propaganda. It's inevitable after everything else has failed the Blair-Brown gang.
Meanwhile, Bomber Benn skulks under the nearest rock......
Jo Swinson is such a pathetic opportunist. This is all.
Just watched Swinson disappearing up her own arse on C4 News. Too funny for words.
Not to worry. Umunna will stab her in the back soon. It's what he does.
Swinson is morphing into a hysterical arm-waving idiot.
It doesn’t matter whether pro right or left, it is only meant to be a temporary arrangement so Hard Brexit no deal is defeated.
Someone who can command the respect of the “no to no deal” Coalition would be paramount. Unfortunately Corbyn doesn’t have that at present and It would possibly be better anyway to have a respected back bencher, without election policy programmes to promote or oppose, just for the period of the “interregnum”.
Corbyn has run rings around three hapless tory PM dopes. All by ignoring their personal attacks on him and their third form "debating" methods, including the tory dimwit perched on his arse on the last aisle step while trying to stare Corbyn out. They've all come and gone like a fart in the wind.
Which is why tory corporate media attack him so hysterically. That, and, of course, the prospect of Leveson 2.
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