Caroline Flint - You’ve Been Conned

As alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson looks for likely patsies to get his Brexit deal through the Commons, he is inevitably looking to target Labour MPs in Leave voting seats. And wanting to believe Bozo, someone who has built a career on lying, is Caroline Flint, who represents the constituency of Don Valley.

Caroline Flint - fooled by the Bozo bonhomie

Ms Flint has done what so many others have done - she has taken Bozo at his word. She so wants it to be true, even though it is so obviously too good to be true. She has been lied to, conned rotten, done up like the proverbial turkey. Yet she cannot see this for herself.

“Labour MPs have secured legally binding protection on workers’ rights, environmental standards & consumer protection & a parliamentary lock on deciding our future partnership. Plus improving unfair dismissal protections & tackling TUPE anomalies” she declared yesterday. Steve Peers from the University of Essex was not so sure.

“Government offer to Labour MPs to support the revised withdrawal agreement. Falls short of enshrining existing EU employment standards in primary legislation, and the safeguards against a no deal outcome next year are very weak”. This was an understatement, as the BBC’s economics editor Faisal Islam has discovered.

“On the changes to Level Playing Field commitments - in original May deal legally-binding & required adherence to specific international or EU standards … Now deleted from WA. Short refs in PD … Labour/ Social: In old WA: - non regression on EU Labour standards re: fundamental rights/ health and safety/ conditions/ consultation … In PD - ‘should maintain social & employment standards at current high levels’”. SHOULD. Not WILL.

Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron tried to let her down gently. “During the coalition we put out statements like this sometimes to try and kid ourselves that we’d got some kind of meaningful concession before voting in a way we felt wasn’t right. We weren’t fooling anyone, and neither are you”. Emma Kennedy added “Except they haven’t Caroline”.

Paul Mason was not at all happy with Ms Flint. “You have secured nothing. The entire Labour movement is appalled at this spineless attempt to save Boris Johnson and deliver the programme of the racist right”. Nick Reeves noted “Caroline Flint, they are not legally binding … An ERG government will turn this country into a brutal deregulated tax haven in which the NHS, welfare state and worker's rights will become distant memories”.

Dawn Foster asked her “Are you embarrassed that even Tim Farron thinks you’ve been sold a clown car?” Priyamvada Gopal observed “Labour MPs voting for a union-bashing, worker-smashing environment-decimating deal is the natural triumph of Lexit. Let us begin the slow clapping. No need to blame it on hard right when sections of the left have long called for this despite being told repeatedly it's a nonsense”.

And Labour MEP Julie Ward nailed the idea that backing Brexit shores up the Labour vote in Leave-leaning areas. “THE EVIDENCE: [Labour] voters in LEAVE seats ARE majority ‘REMAIN’ - if Labour MPs in LEAVE seats vote for Johnson’s deal they are voting to keep Labour out of power”. Ms Flint is fooling no-one bar herself.

A Labour MP duped into backing the 1% against the 99%. Has it really come to this?

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