Jeremy Hard Brexit Corbyn is a secret hero of the eurosceptic movement
When Tory eurosceptics gather in basement bars to compare Margaret Thatcher tattoos, it has become standard practice to begin the evening’s festivities with a quiet rendition of the “ooh Jeremy Corbyn” song.
Eurosceptics don’t want this information to get out. For the truth is they are massive secret fans of Jeremy Corbyn. Brexit might not have happened without JC. He did the minimum during the referendum campaign last year and was so half-hearted that his parliamentary party tried to remove him afterwards.
Corbyn is a Bennite. He is Bennite Number 1. The Bennites hate the EU, regarding it as a capitalist club. Corbyn has since the referendum made nonsensical noises about keeping the supposed general niceness of things such as the single market. But when it comes to it he whips his party to leave the EU single market.
This infuriates Labour Remainers in the Commons. As many as 49 Labour rebels voted against Corbyn’s line today. They demand to stay in the single market, that is within the EU. St Jeremy is now, it seems, firing those frontbenchers who took part and defied him. This is all consistent with Corbyn being pro-Brexit. It explains why he behaved as he did during the referendum. At one point, he even went on holiday! Brexit was aided by Corbyn’s lack of effort.
Here, I defer to no-one in my admiration for Professor John Curtice. We worked together decades ago at Scotland on Sunday. But his analysis that Corbyn’s lukewarm position made no difference to the Brexit result is for once wrong because it overlooks the political dynamic and an imponderable. If Corbyn had believed in Remain and campaigned last year with the same energy and enthusiasm as he did in the general election he could have galvanised turnout in those aged below 45 and maybe even won over traditional Labour voters who went for Brexit.
He did not. Labour Remainers despaired and complained that they could not get him to do anything meaningful on the Remain campaign. Truly, Jeremy “Hard Brexit” Corbyn is one of the architects of Britain’s departure from the EU. As one of the key people in Vote Leave put it to me a few weeks ago:
“Jeremy has been absolutely brilliant for us. So useful. And his young supporters think he is against Brexit.”
I’m not sure that is true. Corbyn has the halo effect, for now. What he actually believes or even says doesn’t seem to matter. It is all priced in. Supporters of the Labour leader just think he is good. It’s almost cult-like. I said cult.
This is confirmed by the horrified parents of trendy affluent Corbynites, whose newly radicalised off-spring are currently “resting” at their parents summer houses in Italy before embarking on a year finding themselves in India paid for by their parents. They sort of knew Jezza was for Brexit, say their parents. “But hey,” as the youth say, “you’re such a breadhead dad, can I have another glass of your nice wine in the kitchen of the house you and mum paid for while I lecture you about how you should both pay higher taxes and give me the money for a fortnight at a yoga retreat in Somerset?”
One more time… oooooh Jeremy Corbyn.
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Iain Martin and the team make sense of the news, providing commentary and analysis on the stories that matter in politics, geopolitics, economics and culture.