14 March 2019

Diary of a Corbynista

Nothing has changed

by Don Urquhart

7 March

Naz Shah, the MP for Bradford West asked the Leader of the House to schedule a debate on Islamophobia.  Instead Ms Leadsom advised her to seek the advice of Foreign Office ministers on the subject.  And while she‘s about it she might as well consult Larry the Downing Street cat.

8 March

The problem for nationalists generally is that they fall into the hands of ethnic nationalists.

Will Self on Politics Live.

As the Brexit resolution nears I have lost count of the Brexiteers who threaten “repercussions” if the June 2016 vote is not honoured.  In the last 24 hours I have seen Iain Dale, Dominic Raab and Mark Francois warning us of the dire consequences of betraying “the people’s will”.  On Politics Live there was a delicious moment when Mr Francois started to fill his boots with Labour anti-Semitism.  Will Self expressed the view that every anti-Semite and racist in the country had voted for Brexit.  Wonder if he is right?

9 March

It’s less than 3 weeks until we leave the European Union.

Exactly 15 months ago the Prime Minister reported the status of EU negotiations in the House of Commons:

This part of the report we agreed on Friday, like the rest of it, is also subject to the general reservation that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. This means we want to see the whole deal now coming together, including the terms of our future deep and special partnership, as I said in Florence.

To employ another of the PM’s favourite quotes: Nothing has changed.

It is fair to say that 33 months after the Referendum nothing has been agreed between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

10 March

Sophy Ridge had on Keir Starmer, Matt Hancock and Dominic Raab.  Andrew Marr had David Davis, John McDonnell and Jeremy Hunt.

All were asked about Brexit but not one of them mentioned the implications of possible outcomes for the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).

This despite the fact that the GFA is the main reason for the backstop and also why a no deal Brexit cannot be permitted.

11 March

I am not a fan of trial by social media but am intrigued by the claims of Racists4Rees-Mogg on Twitter.  He or indeed she claims to be forcing the Conservative Party to take action in response to accusations of racism from Baroness Warsi and many others.

Let’s see how the Tories react.

Here’s what Racists tweeted yesterday:

On Tuesday, the Tories were finally forced to suspend fourteen of their racist members based on my reports. But I’ve made ten new member reports since then, all collected into this thread @BrandonLewis won’t take action unless he has to, so please retweet!

12 March

Jeremy Corbyn has many enemies.  After all he wants to make radical changes to our country and if he is successful there will be winners and losers.  The well-heeled will pay more tax and the poor and vulnerable will lead happier lives.

You would expect Conservatives to use every weapon to destroy him.  One of these is the assertion that he is an anti-Semite and has enabled institutional anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.  They are joined in this by Labour MPs who attempted to unseat him in 2016 and see no future for themselves in a Corbyn-led Labour Party.  There are also those inside and outside Parliament who do not want to see a Palestinian state recognised by the UK and think a Corbyn government would do this.

I don’t expect to change anyone’s opinion but ask that you take the time to view Witch Hunt, a documentary film, and ask yourself whether Corbyn’s Labour Party is getting a fair shake on anti-Semitism whatever your political views.

13 March

Parliament has its evangelical remainers and leavers but I believe that they are outnumbered by those who just want a sensible solution to the impasse and will make compromises to achieve this.

Today our MPs will vote to take no deal off the table.  I hope against hope that Theresa May will not see this as an opportunity to bring her deal back for a third meaningful vote on the basis that her Brexit headbangers will see it as the only way of achieving their goal.

On Thursday Parliament is due to vote on asking the EU for an extension to Article 50.   This will pass.

But then what?

I cannot see any of the “customs union” proposals working because they will require heavy negotiations within the UK and with the EU.  I don’t think our neighbours have the appetite.  They apparently liked the Corbyn proposals last month but I have not seen Barnier & Co. talking them up since last night’s vote.  I hope I am wrong.

The EU has the whip hand and I suspect that their priority will be to avoid disruption to the elections in May.  And they will have no truck with another couple of months of Theresa May turning up every 5 minutes to turn them off their lunch.  This will dictate a long extension to accommodate a referendum or General Election.