Sea Change

I know that many people rate Jeremy Corbyn’s conversion to ‘a’ customs union as tactically astute, although let’s get things in perspective. When we see Jez say something vaguely sensible, we’re inevitably left wondering who could possibly be behind it.   In this instance, t he veteran leftist has been under immense pressure from his backers in the trade unions and from fellow MPs to align with moderate Tories against the May government.  As a staging post along the way to a softer Brexit, his pronouncement should, I suppose, bring some modicum of comfort. But there’s plenty to provoke serious head-scratching too. As Lib Dem Leader Vince Cable pointed out, the UK doesn’t need to be part of ‘a’ customs union. It needs to be part of the Customs Union. The one that already exists. The one that the EU negotiators are prepared to talk about. Not the hypothetical, bespoke arrangement that probably only exists in the imaginations of wishful thinkers. And take this gem f...

At what point was the Labour Party actually lost? Historians may make an argument for the moment of madness in which Sadiq Khan, Margaret Beckett et al lent Jeremy Corbyn their charity nominations in 2015, allowing him on to the leadership ballot paper. Maybe it was the actual election of the veteran leftist a few months afterwards? Or perhaps it was when Jez won for a second time in September 2016? (This was my own personal watershed and when I decided I could no longer give money to the party for the first time in 30 years.) Everyone has their own lines in the sand. The disgracefully lacklustre campaign against Brexit. The whitewash over anti-semitism. The coup in Haringey against Labour’s most senior female figure in local government. But if anyone had any doubt that the party now belongs irrevocably to the far left, the departure today of general secretary Iain McNicol should clear it up. Whoever it is that ends up replacing the outgoing official, we can be ce...

The speed at which the hard left seized control of the Labour Party in 2015 took many by surprise. In one summer of madness, an unlikely veteran backbencher went from near-forgotten has-been to happening hero. Social media played an important part in spreading Corbyn’s message and supercharged the pace of the initially preposterous, yet ultimately remarkable, coup. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, activists in groups such as Militant and Labour Briefing would work tirelessly and painstakingly to control branches and constituencies, aiming to advance the revolution one resolution at a time.   Fast forward to the 21 st century and the takeover was achieved in just a few months, in no small part due to shared posts and viral memes. Many of the people involved in turning the Labour Party upside down three years ago had never attended a meeting and advanced Corbyn’s cause from the comfort of their front room. In this way, social media is the amphetamine of modern...