1) Thread - why do #FBPE peeps attack Corbyn so much?
Many Labour supporters ask, perhaps with some justification, "why do FBPEers go after Labour? This is a Tory problem!"
Here's my personal reasons. I'm guessing however they probably resonate with others
2) firstly, practical, and this is unfair but just how it is.
There is little traction to be gained by attacking the Tory #Brexit position because a majority of Tory voters will simply not care, they support Brexit blindly and won't change their minds easily
3) Labour support however has always been & is increasingly pro remain. Therefore in terms of changing a major party's position on #Brexit (vital to softening or stopping it) it was always going to be far easier attacking Labour Leadership prevarication on #Brexit than Tories
4) second reason is anger at Corbyn's piss poor #Brexit referendum performance. I know he's a brexiter, and I know he was faking it during the ref campaign.
It may be unfair to blame him as the reasons Remain lost were complex, but remain lost by a few percent.
5) all the excuses of "he campaigned more than anyone, he had 100s of appearances" etc simply don't wash. He was described as Leave's greatest asset during the campaign & large numbers of Labour voters simply didn't know Labour's brexit position
This was no time for "7 out of 10"
6) if Corbyn had been honest, stepped aside & campaigned for Leave (which aligned 100% with his historical beliefs) leaving the way clear for a strong pro remain Labour figurehead, Remain would likely have gained that crucial 2% and this #Brexit mess would all be behind us
7) I passionately believe this. I strongly believe that Corbyn was exactly the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time re the Remain campaign & this is why claims around his integrity & honesty are so personally galling.
You can't start something good with a lie
8) the final reason however I suspect resonates with a lot of FBPEers. We simply expected better than Labour. The following is personal but I suspect not unique.
9) Liberalism is my position now but I come from a leftist tradition. Whilst I respect the Conservative world view as being valid I've never agreed with it.
The only functional, worthwhile, "one nation" government I've lived through was the Labour one from 97 onwards
10) the current Tory party repulses me however I've always thought that the Tory world view was too simplistic & short termist.
The fact that modern Toryism spawned #Brexit doesn't particularly surprise me
But being "centre left", I just expected better from Labour
11) I may not have agreed with all Labour policies but I always assumed Labour was basically honest & basically on the side of "the people"
I never thought Labour would tacitly support something so destructive as #Brexit, and I've found it personally shocking
12) I knew the hard left could be destructive & inward looking, I saw it first hand with Militant in Liverpool in my youth, but I thought the modern Labour party was immune to slash & burn ideology
12) so that's it.On a practical level Labour is the more productive #Brexit target,that's just how it is. I'm also angry at Corbyn personally, and that likely won't change,but fundamentally, I expected this from Toryism, I just thought better of Labour. It's deeply disappointing
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1) It's still Hard #Brexit - thread
Couple of things to point out as we head to "Canada ++++"
A) it suits the EU as a fallback but
B) as far as the UK is concerned, its still damaging, draining, hardest of hard Brexits & nothing to be celebrated
Here's what we've forgotten
2) firstly, yes the EU27 would prefer we remain & if not they'd prefer a close arrangement - but at this point they'd settle for the island of Ireland being protected & an orderly exit
They're not going to save us from ourselves
They can minimise the damage of UK leaving SM
3) so let's not kid ourselves that the EU27 will make sure we get a good deal or one that has minimal damage to the UK, they will look after each other, they have to.
All the ++ means is cooperation in certain areas, not untold riches or a "special deal"
1) Thread - Labour, dodgy right Brexit activities & missed opportunities
Today I was a bystander in a discussion between @OwenJones84 & @JolyonMaugham around tweeting on Vote Leave's illegal spending, which I think is part of a bigger missed opportunity on #Brexit for Labour
2) Lets just be honest - the Tory party & #Brexit has always been dodgy. Charlatans who misled people given high government office and all that. But the last few months have had some significant revelations of dubious practices, only one of which was Vote Leave illegal spending
3) I wont't even get a complete list here but some highlights are:
- Cambridge Analytica "harvested accounts" scandal
- Links with AIQ & the Trump campaigns
- Vote Leave overspending
- Lack of clarity on Leave.EU funding
@RichardElwes@sjwrenlewis 2) (sorry, 2 "either"s there....)
As with Richard, this is not about my beliefs but public perception
Soft Brexit = Betrayal/Vassal state portrayal from Leavers, instant political cost
Hard Brexit = economic cost, which obviously leads to political cost in short order
@RichardElwes@sjwrenlewis 3) the public are fickle, and even if for example lucrative Free Trade Deals were out there the leaver vote is as likely to be more protectionist in nature.
Many leavers may see Free trade as "everyone else buying our stuff, with no downside on our industry in return"
1) Corbyn, control & democracy
The attempt to crush the #PeoplesVote initiative from Corbyn's team should ring alarm bells for anyone who values democracy
& transparency, inside Labour or outside. He is and will always be an authoritarian
2) you can argue back and forth on whether a #PeoplesVote is strategically good, bad or horrendous for Labour, or that Corbyn's offer to work with the Tories on #Brexit is "political theatre". The fact is the new Labour position is the exact opposite of what the members wanted
3) the reality is, 150 local parties submitted motions and the overwhelming majority supported a people's vote with an option to remain.
That has somehow completely transformed into a Labour offer to compromise the 6 tests for a Tory led Brexit
2) let's just look at the chronology
I) Starmer (but no one else in Leadership) talks occasionally over last 2 years about "exact same benefits" 6 tests
ii) privately, @BarryGardiner describes them as nonsense
@BarryGardiner 3) iii) in run up to conference, probably because they know there is a huge influx of CLP motions asking for an early vote, Corbyn & others start talking about the 6 tests really for the first time.
1) Great article on why #Brexit is insoluble
We can rail about respecting the vote, the EU being stubborn,May being incompetent etc all day long. The fact is it cannot be negotiated successfully, and anyone who believes otherwise is mistaken #Lab18