My God, the Labour Party is in a mess. It’s useless leader Corbyn is tacking from the right on issues as wide part as Syria, Ukraine, NATO, the EU and immigration, as usual in opposition to his own party policy. On the EU, he now favours ending free movement (a Ukip essential), leaving the single market (a Ukip essential) and stopping those ghastly Europeans coming to work her (a Ukip essential). Some agree with him, not least the Ukip and Tory right, as well as the basket case hard left in and around Labour, but many don’t. By his own bungling incompetence, he has made Labour as divided as the Tories.
Some in Labour, like the normally sensible Caroline Flint, argue that Labour cannot remain in the single market if we leave the EU. Instead, she argues, we need to have access to the single market. D’oh. Which part of the pillars of the EU do you not get, Caroline? Meanwhile, the Wales first minister Carwin Jones, recognising the impending cliff-edge we face, says we must remain in the single market. Even the author and broadcaster Owen Jones, who is all over the place as usual, was arguing this in tweets he has now deleted: “It’s critical that Labour say: we’ll keep Britain in the single market, the Tories will take us out. Give Britain a choice on a Brexit deal” and “Unless Labour say “We’ll keep Britain in the single market and protect jobs, the Tories won’t”. Voters won’t see a choice”. To put not to fine a point on it, the Tory chancellor has a milder, more moderate view on Brexit than Labour. How can it have come to this? Simple. One word. Corbyn.
In the recent election, as we have observed Britain return to a two party state. The Tories did pretty well, Labour did pretty well too and everyone else did badly. Corbyn has what folk call a good campaign, not least because Theresa May had such a bad one. But make no mistake: nothing has changed about Corbyn. He is still hopelessly out of his depth as Labour leader, despite any misleading suggestions to the contrary. The reason Labour is getting into such a mess about Brexit is because of his inability to lead. Labour could and should have had a coherent strategy on Brexit, but now Corbyn, who still thinks he won the general election, bathes in the adulation of his cult following and, overflowing with over-confidence, Labour begins to implode. And what’s worse is that the comrades don’t care.
This is the silly season for politics when everyone is on holiday and parliament isn’t sitting, but this would have happened anyway. Piss poor leadership costs the Tories the general election, even though they emerged the biggest party and now piss poor leadership will drain public confidence way from Labour.
Leadership matters and it is plain that good, strong leaders are currently in short supply. Drifting as we are to a disastrous hard Brexit, regardless of which party is nominally in charge. The electorate hasn’t worked out, yet, that Labour are hugely divided but when they do, there will be hell to pay. Corbyn has had his day in the sun and his uselessness over Brexit will be the death of Labour.
