In a better world, Labour’s leader would whip all of his caucus to reject the rotting corpse. In this world, we have a delusional and power-hungry old man lost in nostalgia for a go-it-alone People’s Republic of Great Britain of the 1970s that never was.
Sadly, the UK is stuck with him as opposition leader until this is resolved. The last thing that’s needed is an intra-party fight now that the clock is ticking again. After that, one way or another, the party needs to kick his bony arse to the kerb and give whomever in the party called loudest for a second referendum his spot.
I’ve given a like for part of what you say but i don’t believe he is power hungry really. I know he’s very much a euro skeptic but i do believe he has strong socialist principles, i mean he’s spent his political career fighting for nuclear disarmament, public services, anti-fascism and all the rest of it. I certainly do not agree with the bbc coverage of him being portrayed as some kind of russian stooge as owen jones called it.
“Power-hungry” in the sense that he wants a long-term majority to enact his dream policies (like any other politician) instead of addressing the horrible crisis at hand. He needs to stop pushing a Labour Brexit deal that will never get support as long as the Tories and their allies have the majority, and just call for a People’s Vote on whatever broken deal May manages to get through in the coming months.
I obviously don’t think he’s a Russian stooge and I agree that he’s fought the good fight on a lot of issues in his career. But he’s not Yesterday’s Man, he’s 40 Years Ago’s Man. He needs to get out of the way of people who are focused on the future instead of pining for an alternate past.
May’s deal includes her very special “Red Lines”, concerning things the right wing faction of her party care deeply about that she sells as “the will of the people”.
Strangely one of them (Leaving The Customs Union) was not even mentioned by the Vote Leave group. In fact they said the opposite and more.
But somehow that’s a red line - But to pass she needs EVERY single Conservative and all the DUP to vote for it - because she doesn’t have a majority in parliament. With government ministers defying a three line whip to reject it, you can see how likely that will be.
Remove the red lines, and we can get a better deal.
Good summary. For everyone’s reference, here’s the EU’s summary of the red lines:
Basically, everything to the left of Ukraine on that chart is a no-go for May because the xenophobic bigots who form the hardcore Leaver contingent don’t want free movement of people. Meanwhile, without free movement of people thoughout the EU, the UK runs into the serious problem of having to re-instate a border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
And as you note, she’s making it even more difficult for herself by placing red-lines on Ukraine and Turkey scenarios, too. That basically leaves the UK in WTO-land vis-a-vis the EU while it scrambles to create brand-new trade treaties with Canada and S. Korea.
So each country in turn gets to hold the UK over the barrel under threat of voting no on the extension and throwing the UK out immediately. The UK isn’t negotiating from a position of strength here.
Corbyn is set on letting the Tories make themselves and their policies so unpopular that they will be voted out at the next general election, allowing Labour to take power and usher in a radiant future. If, in the process, the Tories destroy the UK economy and sell off the NHS during the subsequent austerity, that is regrettable collateral damage.
In practice, Corbyn is likely to make himself and Labour even more unpopular, allowing the Tories to win the next election anyway and stick the UK with PM “Bloody Stupid” Johnson for the foreseeable future.
