The priority now of the political “elite” is to ensure voters never again get the chance to make a choice the political class do not want. Jeremy Corbyn is the thing the political class want least.
Do you remember when 184 Labour MPs refused to vote against the Tory benefit cuts that ruined lives and caused suicides? They did so on the grounds that their focus groups showed the public wanted benefit cuts, and so it would be wrong to oppose the Tory Welfare Reform and Work Bill.
Well, I can promise you that the 172 Labour MPs who voted to no-confidence Corbyn are exactly the same people who would not oppose welfare cuts. The net effect of the Corbyn year has been that 12 Labour MPs have decided that they have a purpose in politics which is not just personal gain. The vast majority would vote to push the unemployed off a cliff if they thought it would get them career advancement. Or adapt the John Mann anti-immigrant agenda.
Make no mistake. If Corbyn is deposed, the people of England and Wales will be back to having a choice between two colours of Tory. Labour will go full on anti welfare, anti immigrant and pro-nuclear weapon. Because Jon Cruddas will tell them that is what will get them elected.
In the UK, 78% of people do not know the name of their MP. With Labour MPs it was 82%. The idea that they have a “personal mandate” is rubbish. People vote for the party. In Blackburn I stood as an Independent against Jack Straw and all the main parties, and got 5% of the vote. Not one of those 172 Labour Party MPs would get 5% if they stood as an Independent.
The SNP has mandatory reselection for every MP and MSP for every election. It is a fundamental democratic need. The mainstream media are now trying to generate horror at the idea that the Labour MPs should be accountable to their local members, in whose name they wish to stand again. It is a ridiculous argument that people who have behaved like Simon Danczuk should have the right to represent the Labour Party for life. Yet it is the democratic alternative which the media are seeking to demonise.
“The SNP has mandatory reselection for every MP and MSP for every election. It is a fundamental democratic need.”
Precisely. It is fundamental to democracy.
These traitors to Labour Party principles who are only interested in feathering their nests and bending over backwards (or forwards) to please their pimps are too devious to put their names to this act of cowardice against Corbyn. The alleged 172 MPs voted in a secret ballot giving themselves anonymity. We know a few of them from the resignations. This is the new democracy.
What about the traitors who supported and belonged to parties opposed to Labour at the last election who now want to lecture us on how our representatives should and should not behave. When you vote Labour and are a legitimate Labour Party member then you might be entitled to some say.
Labour Party principles are not consistent with those of Marxist Leninism or Putinism, both of which are very clearly antithetical to democracy.
“The SNP has mandatory reselection for every MP and MSP for every election”
That is an excellent rule. Perhaps after Corbyn has easily secured the party leadership in a democratic contest, conference could introduce a similar rule for the Labour Party with immediate effect.
“Well, I can promise you that the 172 Labour MPs who voted to no-confidence Corbyn are exactly the same people who would not oppose welfare cuts.”
It is a promise you will have little difficulty in keeping.
https://www.facebook.com/ukuncut/photos/a.160375260677077.31376.141516115896325/1042516039129657/
Thanks John – Without sucking any eggs we need to spread this link far and wide…
A tenuous comparison granted but It feels like a Stalin type coup by the right in the Party.
How bizarre.
The Blairites are the new Militanat tendency.
I suspect the reason they cannot field a candidate is that nobody watns to volunteer to be their hostage, to be deposed by a repeat of this stunt the first time they do something the PLP doesn’t like.
“The Blairites are the new [Militant] tendency”.
You can’t get much more militant than by killing a couple of million Iraqis, as well as countless Afghans, Libyans and Syrians, while destroying their national governments, infrastructures and cultures.
Come to think of it, even the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS indulged in less pure destruction for its own sake.
And the war in Yugoslavia
that was Anthony Blair’s first NULABOUR war
one of his first targets was to bomb their equivalent of our BBC
apparently he said they were war criminals.
You hit the nail on the head there.
I am glad you have written this. I think it and many other pieces like it are needed. The political assault on Corbyn is so pervasive and relentless that it may well be dispiriting even his most resolute supporters. The media is continually pushing the line that even the left is turning against Corbyn. As a matter of fact I don’t think his support in the PLP has gone down at all. The vast majority of these 172 MPs never wanted him in the first place and clearly their views have not changed. Well and good – do things in a proper and democratic manner.
Why all the antics? Because they want Corbyn to resign. Why do they want him to resign – after all, if he’s that unpopular then they could mount a leadership challenge equally well with him still there. They want him to resign because there’s a much better chance that way that he will be unable to get on to the ballot. Why don’t they want him on the ballot? What’s it matter, if he’s done such a rotten job that even the rank and file are turning against him? They don’t want him on the ballot because they fear that if he is on the ballot then he will win.
Hence all these damaging and absurd goings-on. And that says everything that needs to be said about their attitude to democracy within the Labour Party.
And today we see the unsurprising sight of Cameron and the Blairites putting on a united Establishment front against the one man standing up for ordinary people.
Speaking of Diane Abbott, here she is talking robust good sense.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/29/labour-mps-vs-corbyn-war-party-members-tories-brexit
“Colleagues have contrived a “vote of no confidence” that has absolutely no basis in the rule book. There was no notice. It was tabled on Monday and the vote held the following day. No institution would run an important ballot in this way. And it was a secret ballot.
All this was necessary because some Labour MPs expressly did not want any time to consult with ordinary party members. On the contrary they were terrified that their members might actually find out how they voted.”
Good article. Totally agree with your assessment of Labour MPs.
However Corbyn is exactly what the establishment want and the reason why is happening right now. The (planned) destruction of the Labour Party as a credible opposition.
Corbyn is also the gift that keeps on giving for the corporate media (even The Guardian) who wake up every morning, get on their horses, gather the hounds and hunt him down.
“Make no mistake. If Corbyn is deposed, the people of England and Wales will be back to having a choice between two colours of Tory. Labour will go full on anti welfare, anti immigrant and pro-nuclear weapon. Because Jon Cruddas will tell them that is what will get them elected. ”
I agree 100%.
This is a very crucial time for citizens of UK (and the world) sadly.
I understand the Blair government changed the selection rules… if correct it is evidence of a long term project to redefine the Labour party and it’s source.
Craig, your blog is a refuge away from the madness of the mainstream media, thank you so much for your continued rationality and insight.
I recently sent the following email to my local MP Vernon Coaker, one of the PLP who resigned their Shadow Cabinet position, i linked your piece ‘It’s Still the Iraq War, Stupid!’..
I await his reply, he has engaged twice before, it’ll be interesting to see what he has to say about this.
————-
I have recently learned that you are one of the many Labour MPs who have resigned from their shadow cabinet position in a coordinated attack on the elected Leader Jeremy Corbyn. It has been a sad week for Labour and not because of the Brexit result, but because of the self serving and short sighted and frankly pathetic coup attempt.
Corbyn was elected by the biggest majority and by the largest number of Labour supporters in history, the PLP should respect this support and should be dedicating themselves to fighting for the people of this country. The Tories are in turmoil and have no idea what to do next, Corbyn and his team have a plan of action and an idea of what to do in these uncertain times, and he should have support from his party to enact this plan. A show of solidarity now would have been a massive boost to the party, but instead, the old guard of Blairite Labour MPs seem to be circling the wagons around their idol Tony Blair. It is obvious what is happening, you and the rest of the resigned front bench are trying to limit the damage that is bound to come from the Chilcot Inquiry. You don’t want Corbyn to be in the chair when that report comes in because then he will have the chance, and rightly so, to finally denounce Blair’s lies and deception around the Iraq War. He promised not to officially apologise until after Chilcot, and its coming soon, and the Blairites are worried. That seems to be the only logical explanation for this exodus, since no sane person could ever try to blame Brexit on Jeremy Corbyn. He has lead the Labour remain campaign with integrity and insight. He has not lied nor made impossible promises like the Tory Leave campaign did, nor has he mixed his messages by revisiting old critiques of the EU, instead he lead with a simple and clear message – lets stay and reform. The people of England know that there are huge problems with the EU and decided that we should try life outside of it, as many other countries manage, perhaps we can manage too.
It is a shame that the EU has become something of a failed project, but this email is not about that. I have to register my abject disappointment with you as my MP for your decision to resign your position in this uncertain time. Instead of getting on with the job of exposing Tory lies, you have turned on your elected leader and with absolutely no credibility. The 10,000 people who stood in Parliament Square with 24 hours notice as you backed a no confidence vote is testament to that lack of credibility. Your record of voting for War is a common with all of the other resigned MPs. I would refer you to the following blog post from ex Diplomat Craig Murray, who has put it more succinctly that i could. (link- It’s Still the Iraq War, Stupid. – Craig Murray)
When I vote for Labour in a General Election, i do not vote for you personally, i vote for the Labour Party, I am delighted to see Labour finally lead by a person of principles and decency, Corbyn is a consummate professional who has reacted with grace and wisdom even in the face of an onslaught from the establishment media, the Tories and his own PLP, many of which are still bitter that their Blairite tory-lite ‘vision’ has been compromised. I suppose in the end it was a good thing for these resignations to happen, Jeremy will now be able to form a team around him that shares his vision and who are more concerned with helping this country to heal, than they are with covering their own backs for the bad decisions they made in the past. Chilcot is coming, and this pathetic coup attempt will not save your reputation or the reputation of Tony Blair. The general public is not as stupid as you think it is. Corbyn will win a leadership challenge with ease, and you will be left looking like the sulking bully who has left the party.
It is absolutely disgraceful that you would try to 1) blame Brexit on Corbyn, and 2) seek to disrupt your own party in this uncertain time, rather than focus on fighting the Tories.
I will vote Labour in the next election, and if you are still my MP at that time, that means i will put a cross by your name, but it will be a vote for the Party, not for you.
sincerely……
——————————
I urge everyone reading this to do the same if your MP was one of the resigned..
MPs who resigned – http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/labour-resignations-jeremy-corbyn-brexit-8294813
contact your MP – http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/
Excellent letter Benjamin, thanks for sharing it with us, something tells me that he might not respond this time. His time is up, just as all the others. They wanted to purge, little do they know thast they have turned the fire on to themselves.
Push the unemployed off a cliff… or vote to invade Iraq rather than resign a cabinet post/damage their career crawl. If Corbyn is deposed then we just need a new candidate to follow in his footsteps… someone like Diane Abbott.
Couldn’t agree more. Diane Abbott for Leader.
Hold your horses… IF Corbyn is deposed…
Yes, hopefully Jeremy will hang on for a bit longer. But in the event that he is deposed, Diane Abbott would be the best candidate for the job.
Any challenger for the leadership must be nominated from within and by the PLP. Diane Abbott is a Corbyn loyalist and is most unlikely to put her name forward. Sorry.
MJ… we know she’s a Corbyn loyalist – that’s the point. IF Corbyn is deposed – by resigning, or not mustering the necessary support to stand again – then we need someone to challenge Angela Eagle/Tom Watson/whatever other Iraq-war-voting-disaster candidate there is.
How do they all have the gall to stay in office? Anyway… with Corbyn’s endorsement and another convincing landslide – they’d find it hard to pull these tricks a second time.
You’re only saying that because you support private schools.
CM,
The way things are looking, and anger on the ground in the depressed regions of much of England and Wales would indicate perhaps its best if progressives types just up sticks and move to Scotland, whilst all pushing for full Scottish Independence from Westminster.
My own nation state, Wales, seems addicted to handouts from Westminster, rather than determining its own destination – although Plaid Cymru has once more made independence noises, but despite gains in the Assembly election, faces an almost impossible task in changing the voting habits of those who vote tribally.
Having rejoined Labour yesterday with a sense of purpose, I now feel all purpose shattered and wish I’d save the time and effort to renew my membership of the Green Party, which at least cares about what its membership thinks and engages fully with them, instead I have paid into a rightwing Party machinery that basically has scant regard for democracy, despite valiant efforts by Corbyn and his many supporters to change this sad fact.
Wait and see.
“Having rejoined Labour yesterday with a sense of purpose, I now feel all purpose shattered”
Why, what’s happened?
MJ,
Read my posts from last night on this Blog, most depressing – if the feedback is true – hence my enthusiasm and hope more or less shattered.
Well, at least you’ll now have a chance to re-elect Corbyn!
If J.C. is so very popular in the country,
when there is a general election ( bound to be one in much less time than four years)
if they make J.C. fall on his sword, who do these Blairist scum think will vote for them?
This is the cast iron proof that these people are not acting in good faith.
If Corbyn is unelectable, let him lose the snap election this year, and then all the membership that currently support him will accept the need to find someone else. The party will move on as it has every time it has lost an election and changed its leader.
By acting in the way they have, they have both guaranteed that the Tories will win an increased overall majority in this forthcoming election AND brought the party to such a state of irreconcilable conflict between the MPs and the members that it is doubtful it can survive.
This must have been obvious to them, and therefore it can only be concluded that they must have intended this outcome.
As the incumbent leader he needs no nominations to stand again. He’s not going to resign. Only the Labour Party members as a whole can “depose” him, ie vote for someone else in sufficient numbers.
If Corbyn is deposed, the main benefactors will be UKIP and that is the most galling of all. The Euro-fascist Blairites will have succeeded where Farage failed, doing the banksters bidding in creating a race war to avoid having a class war.
Really good piece at OffGuardian about the current bid to shut down democracy
https://off-guardian.org/2016/06/28/did-the-uk-independent-actually-say-democracy-isnt-working/
Perhaps more accurately renamed OffMedia.
Yes! It’s a great site. Not sure if the editors are ex-Guardian journalists, but they can do some terrific takedowns the Guardian’s “star columnists”.
In labour, you don’t have to re-contest your preselection! What a fascinating rule. Where did this come from and how has it stood so long? I’m so puzzled by parties, how they came to function like they do.
A brief clip of Labour MP Frank Field showing total contempt for the voters…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8teGYcwwrg0
I don’t fucking believe this twat, I will pan the bastard if I lay so much as an eye on him, who the fuck does he think he is? Fucking Kim IL Sung?
Thanks Rob this clip needs to be played on a continuous loop in any general elections.
It is essential that anyone with a Labour MP write them the most reasonable and detailed letter immediately, setting out exactly why they cannot expect any further support from you if Corbyn is removed. I’ve done so already for what it’s worth.
The group mania of Westminster is it’s own direction of travel but this is extraordinary. They felt the anguish of their shiny toys being taken away in May last year, now they’ve pissed in their chips while while believing they have deals on the table which make it seem worthwhile. Not even Murdoch could deliver them this time. So what do they believe they have?.
Really this begs the question WHO exactly is/are this “elite” orchestrating ALL this? So who rang up the Beeb and had milliband,mendevilson,umunna turn up on our screens first thing, and on whose instructions? Was there a meeting of these devils during the earlier night, if so where? But enough surmising.
So was it Prince Phillip? Was it the Queen? Was it the Muslim Council of Great Britain? Was it the Board of Deputies? Was it the US Ambassador? Was it the Head of MI5? Was it the highest Freemason in the land? Was it habba?!
Did the culprit plan these intrigues as an individual or with a think tank, if so where do they meet? Or is there a sole banking mastermind, like a Nate Rothschild? Are they working for God or are they working for Satan? Or is there just a harmless habba behind it all !
In this age of high tech miniaturisation, isn’t there a whistle-blower with a tiny camera under his lapels. Really we can easily have names of this “elite” mastermind in this day and age, all it takes is for a millionaire (and there are too many now) to look around and do something with his/her money, realising there will not be enough space for it in the grave. Another unique but unheralded Bill Gates ferreting out the “elite” devils, just as Bill in service of mankind.
More details emerge with regard to who’s behind Tom Mauchline. Don’t know if there’s anything new for you guys and I haven’t fact checked yet:
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/06/28/truth-behind-labour-coup-really-began-manufactured-exclusive/
From that link:
“But go higher up the food chain at Portland, and the links are even stronger.
Its advisory council is made up of three members: Alastair Campbell, Blair’s infamous spin doctor; Jimmy Leach, Blair’s former head of communications and previously executive editor at the Guardian, and Kitty Ussher, former Labour MP for Burnley, parliamentary private secretary to Margaret Hodge and a writer for Peter Mandelson’s “Policy Network”.
And at the top of the Portland tree are the likes of Tony Ball, former CEO of BSkyB and Fox; George Pascoe-Watson, former political editor of the Sun; Jim Rosenberg, former head of communications for the World Bank, Lisa Shields, vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Sir Stephen Wall, former EU adviser to Tony Blair.
Furthermore, Laura Kyrke-Smith (formerly of Portland) is currently head of communications for David Miliband at the International Rescue Committee, was previously chair of the Labour Campaign for International Development (LCID) and a speechwriter for Glenys Kinnock.
To spell it out in layman’s terms, Portland Communications is a company organised, fronted and controlled by a plethora of apparatchiks of Tony Blair and the centre-right of Labour.
But how does all this directly tie-in with the current attempted coup against Jeremy Corbyn?
As The Canary reported, it would appear that 15 of the shadow secretary of states and nine of the shadow ministers who resigned were affiliated to the Fabian Society. And it still appears that the Fabians are at the heart of this.”
This is an astonishing performance, I’ve never seen the likes of it.
A referendum doesn’t go the way the Establishment wanted. It’s declared a disaster.
Who’s to blame? Why, the Leader of the Opposition, of course!
Did he campaign the wrong way? No, it’s just wasn’t enthusiastic enough, supposedly. So it’s all his fault.
Then the Tories, the press and a large number Labour MPs themselves all join forces, braying and heckling Corbyn as if the country’s going to fall apart if he doesn’t go immediately!
Popular support for Corbyn among the rank-and-file Labour party members be damned – the Establishment has decided, so Get Out! Get Out, you abominable moron! Doesn’t Corbyn realise everything will be alright again if he’d stop doing whatever it is he’s doing, and resign at once?
Unbelievable.
We really are seeing the most bizarre and transparent assault on democratic representation. Some of the invective around calls from the msm to bypass the referendum result is astonishing. When did it become ok for members of the political/media circles to spit the word ‘plebiscite’ with such venom? The naked Blairite putsch, with the obvious complicity/collaboration of of the liberal media, is far more an attack on the membership than it is an attack on Corbyn. The message is stark – the public are not welcome, their views are not valid.
Also special mention to The Guardian for it’s utter mendacity in helping to engineer this coup along with Portland Media, as reported in thecanary.co.uk. Now Katherine Viner has published a begging letter, for the public to fund the ongoing propaganda. There is something very culturally wrong at Guardian Towers for them to be so woefully out of touch. The Guardian, and its politico-media caste is in a state of total crisis, with the partisan editorial line being savage on a daily basis below the line by their disgusted readership.
That piece by Katherine Viner may be significant. Guardian may be in financial difficulty.
What’s know about the current editors owners? Is this intentional?
It’s always in financial difficulty. It should go the way of the Independent this year, leaving an e-paper and perhaps a freesheet floating where it sank. Unless it can find an oligarch, and even that’s no guarantee.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Trust_Limited
I know the Corbyn team are aware of procedures and will be ready for tactics to force him to step down but I’m thinking it may be time to call the re election before a dangerous critical mass of opposition is reached. If he has to step down or is deposed (in some bizarre way) he wont get on the ballot paper, as I understand it, as he would need sponsors. It has to be Jeremy on the ballot, no one else stands a chance of getting on if they’re allied to him, social/economic justice and democracy.
Timing is going to prove critical I think. Hope I am having groundless concerns in this area.
Replying to myself to ask, does a leadership election have to come from a formal leadership challenge? If this is the only way apart from Corbyn stepping down (due to some excessive force).
I wonder, as well as the “report” coming out soon, if this cabal to get rid of J.C. maybe to do with his intention to refuse the re-newal of TRIDENT.
David Cameron was ( after winning the Referendum) going to rush through Parliament the re-newal of TRIDENT.
You may find the CIA are behind this?
If speculation is to be believed, he’s digging in until Chilcot is released, in the hope that the name of Blair will then be a hissing and a byword even in NuLabour, and the Blairites can be put to the sword. Also, even if they do succeed in displacing their elected leader, some of the dissident MP’s will have to move out of first-class into the cattle trucks of the gravy train, come the next election. And this may well discourage the ones with minimal majorities from abandoning ship, (to mix a metaphor) so some at least will always remain nominally on side for Corbyn.
You said it! I stood as an independent too, and post a huge amount of zersetzen/zersetzung I barely brought less than three to four percent of the vote. As you say it is the party that people vote for and these red Tories have managed to hijack the labour party for their own ends. These unelectable 174 included the disgraced Tonykins would not have been getting one percent of the vote if they stood as independents and they are far too working class for the Tory party to consider them as parliament material, hence their third choice of joining the labour party to get into parliament.
The snake oil salesmen that they are, they have set the meme of the “strong leadership” that the beebeecee is busy voxpopping all over the land, from various everlasting know it alls who are repeating the meme parrot fashion! Fact that no other leader could have been put under such a sustained attack and pressure by his own side and still hold on to his guns, is going very much unnoticed!!
Also going unnoticed is the fact that if they want strong leadership then North Korean style dear leaders ought to be the order of the day! If people voted for Brexit it is ludicrous to expect the opposition leader to carry the can for the peoples’ choice, but ludicrous as it is the red Tories have made the case and are busy kicking out the only hope of change out of parliament, and wait for the next batch of the rabid psychotic members to be selected from the head office and foisted on the various back waters as a sure way of ending up in the parliament.
Blunkett the adulterer sits there and orders the mentoum to go away and set up their own party, why on earth does he not heed his own advice and go and set up a neo Labour party and see how far will he get?
The fact that even “Olive on the buses” (Emma Lewell-Buck) the MP for South Shields has resigned her post just proves the degree of mendacity in the ranks of the PLP, the ex social worker can hardly string two sentences together and is the subject of pun in her own constituency, yet this character feels emboldened to come out with a knife to stab Corbyn in the back too. Fact the she even did not so much as knock on a door, and was shoved into the safe seat after the other war criminal come the CIA employee D. Miliband resigned his seat that he was parachuted into, has escaped her attention.
Finally the opportunity for the Iraq war debate in the commons now is gone and the war criminals have been yet again spared the shaming that they so much deserve!
I put the BBC news on for a short while today. Same old, same old. Perpetual, but unconvincing, attacks on Jeremy Corbyn, interviews with residents of Boston in Lincolnshire (which in fairness was fairly balanced) and interviews with farmers at a cattle-market in Enniskillen – where all those interviewed were really glad to be getting out of Europe. How does the BBC manage to find so many people speaking against the national trend? Have they got wind that Northern Ireland is considering joining with its southern neighbour in a united Ireland. Only the BBC could want to fuck up such wonderful news.
Please check my reply to Tony:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/06/continuing-eu-membership-indy-scotland-possible-special-eu-status-scotland-uk-impossible/#comment-608353
I found your comment Mark but the link did not take me to it, in fact it took me to page 2. I copied again but it appears to be the same as yours.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/06/continuing-eu-membership-indy-scotland-possible-special-eu-status-scotland-uk-impossible/comment-page-1/#comment-608353
Thanks Mark. I am sure the Yanks are behind it and Trident replacement is at the heart of trying to get rid of the Labour leader.
Mark “comment-page-1” has been removed from your link. How, I wonder!
Well Anon1 thinks they are dreadfully bias against Brexiters and only give airtime to those who wanted to Remain – you cannot both be right.
True news. I just wish more people were awake.
The media and the bosses of these fake Labour MPs have been out to get Corbyn from the start. It’s no coincidence that pathetic Cameron is joining in – he’s probably been told he’ll be spared his beating in the headmaster’s office for losing the EU referendum if he does so.
I am glad Corbyn is hanging on but I can’t help thinking he should confront the threat to democracy the real Labour Party and the country are facing head on, by speaking out about what is happening, obviously in careful terms. He has nothing to lose by doing so.
Jac – interesting, as usual. Though, apart from hating the smugocracy I fail to see the actual argument for voting Leave. I was hoping for a nationalist narrative. As a nationalist I’m totally knocked out … which of course is the whole point of the Brexit project – it’s a project against ‘minorities’ and that includes Welsh speakers, or rather, its to make sure advocates of a viable Welsh-speaking future are kept in their place. its the direct link with the Welsh Not. It’s a project for a unified British as English state.
So, now, Wales is effectively a part of Wales and we have David RT Davies AM saying budgets for Wales should be administered in London not passed on to the Assembly. Expect more of this, of course, all dressed up with the -Cymru suffix and cheering on the WRU egg-chasing games.
Your characterisation of the lumpen prol sticking two finguers up to the system is probably true. The Remain campaign was hopeless – not helped by the fact that the EU is not a perfect nor even loveable institituion. So, what happens now?
The UK, capitalism and trade will mean that the UK will not go to some medieval bartering system. Osbourne over egged that, however, i think he was right when he said taxes will have to go up or spending down. That’s hardly going to make things better. The EU economy which was starting to wake up will also be affected. So, I’m very fearful for the economic situation even if the weaker pound helps exports … but, wait, exports to where? We’re pulling out of the EU and we’ll now have to pay tarrifs, or £350m a week, to get free trade there.
The excellent article on the Scottish nationalists newsite, is very grim reading indeed http://newsnet.scot/archive/dire-economics-dodgy-assumptions-behind-leave-campaigns-supposed-new-trade-deals/
Having a sulk with the ‘establishment’ is great. But I’m very concerned for the economy, especially of Wales and for Wales. It will pick up and adjust to post-Brexit but not for 7 – 10 years. By then Wales will be decimated.
Ok, there’s some rumblings of independence movements now, Plaid, at last, have seen that the Euro Left agenda is the cul-de-sac you and I and many others knew decades ago. But, Brexit has given legitimacy to UKIP and I wouldnt be at all surprise that the Welsh electorate will opt for British naitonalism not Welsh nationalism – and that’s not just Plaid’s fault it the fact when huge newspapers support a party and can crush an argument such as the Mail and Sun. There is a political culture now where any second question debate is closed down. We’re getting into poor white Americans voting against their economic interest such as with the Tea Party, Trump and Republicans. Or, maybe, people don’t want protection an want free market. Whatever it is, I’m failing to see a Welshness about it of any concept of trying, however weak ‘Valleys Welsh wasn’t mam and coal great Labour’ Welshness. It’s just free market which will alwasy knock out Welshness until we have our own state.
For all talk of Troika, and Brussels was a bankers union, it sure feels a lot kinder, democratic, aware of differences, than anything Westminster is likely to produce. And for all it’s EU is bad, we would not have won the Devo vote in 1997 without being a part of the EU. The EU made Welsh devo seem less threatening, less different, more normal within a Europe of different nationa, and, erm, regions. Well, that’s gone now. And probalby for ever.
You may be of the Trotskyist type tendency which celebrated Thatchers win in 1979 thinking that seeing the white teeth of unferrered capitalism would make the working class rebel. Didn’t happen did it. You may think that the Brexit vote may be some kind of carthartic act which will make Welsh nationalism wake up. Maybe. But today we don’t have those Welsh-speaking communities; the narrative of the Welsh working class, for all its faults, was at least a reference point and culturaly real. What do we have? The Assembly will be denied the kind of power which could make a difference and, of course we have 5 years of stagflation under Labour here.
So, you’ve had a laugh, but I’m not seeing a way forwad here (may not be point of article of course) but i’m not seeing a way forward at all. It#s a very very grim day for Wales, Welshness and I believe for the Wales is in its final chapter.
Idly wondering here, just cui bono “brexit”, conflabbed with the cruci-fiction of JC, and it seems to me that currently the only brexit winners are the Conservative Party who stand to win the next ten General Elections in a row, if no actual sensible policies evolve. Ukip is after-all just a fork-offshoot of the Cons?
Deep-state plot?? (comes back to the old malice/incompetence paradigm)
If the calculation of the plotters was to own the pie, that’s clearly off the table. The best they can do now is tear Campbell a new one for the disastrous tactician he’s become, swallow their pride and begin rapidly distancing themselves from anyone with the stench of Blair on their clothes.
Good post, Craig. I’d just like to add that the outlines of the Blairites’ plan are becoming clearer:
1. The vote of no confidence in Jeremy prepares the ground for arguing that Labour is too disunited to form the official opposition in the Commons.
2. Scottish Nationalists are encouraged to ask the Speaker to recognise them as the official opposition instead of Labour. As they are understandably anxious to make their opposition to Brexit very apparent, they need little urging to take up the idea.
3. The Speaker agrees, seizing the opportunity to sideline a dangerous anti-establishment radical.
4. Chilcot report: Jeremy Corbyn is prevented from leading the debate, hence muting the effect of his expected excoriation of leading Blairites as lying US stooges and war criminals, thus reducing pressure for the prosecution of Blair and Straw.
5. Having done their best to sabotage him, the Blairites will shamelessly attack Jeremy’s leadership on the grounds of his “ineffectuality” in the debate on Iraq.
Quote: “The ‘Brexit’ referendum vote, split 52% to 48% in favour of leaving the European Union, has been exploited by the ‘mainstream’ media to launch yet another assault on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. ‘Impartial’ BBC News, directed by former Murdoch editor James Harding, has been one of the worst culprits.”
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2016/822-killing-corbyn.html
Forgot to mention that Craig is cited in the above Media Lens piece.
(sorry Craig. It’s been a busy day)
I guess I am egregiously OT on 41 dead last night. Oh and the 49 other unsung dead…
Thank you for the reminder – it’s easy to get passionate about these issues and forget there is a world out there with people suffering and dying.
Remember Cameron was going to lead the Greenest Government, ever, then after he got rid of the idiotic Liberals he told his miniters
to ditch the green crap.
Cameron urged to ratify climate deal before quitting as PM ( EDSTONE MILLIBAND)
NO CHANCE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36654281