tony nog Profile picture
Sep 29, 2018 15 tweets 6 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
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
4)
- Arron Banks, diamond mines & Russian "boozy lunches"
- Russian cyber warfare
- Collusion between campaigns
- Offshoring by leading Leave Figures
- and the latest - US based shadowy funding for right wing think tanks which then publish "Plans for Brexit"
5) Now, the reality is, this is a gift to a Labour opposition. It's a basket case of hidden money & agendas, dodgy connections, illegal activity, "what did you know and when did you know it?" - all of which is tied to the Tory party.
6) a moderately skillful opposition could have easily crafted this into a narrative, with each revelation building on the last towards a fatal undermining of the government.
The Heads of Ministers would be demanded, the scandals being exposed on a weekly basis
But Labour didn't
7) Why didn't Labour do this? To be fair Tom Watson is asking for a public inquiry but there doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm from the Leadership

But for example this latest story is explosive! The very think tanks producing Brexit proposals funded by US deregulation zealots
8) These are exactly the kinds of stories that would play to Corbyn's perceived strengths - NHS predators, "race to the bottom" deregulation experts.

By now the Tory gov. would be barely hanging on

There's a couple of reasons why Labour have missed this opportunity, none good
9) The first might be just plain incompetence - the Labour leadership just don't have the experience or vision to build this narrative and Corbyn is perhaps incapable of carrying it
10) The 2nd might be that this narrative undermines #Brexit, and the Corbyn leadership is so paralyzed by its northern seats that it is simply too scared to engage on this kind of narrative in case it is accused of being a "Brexit wrecker"
11) A 3rd, similar option might just be that Labour has painted itself into a corner - commentators like @OwenJones84 and the Leadership have spent so long saying "we must respect the result" that they are too embarrassed to point out why that result is actually flawed
12) The final option however might be a lot simpler - the Labour Leadership just want #Brexit, and would sacrifice an opportunity to fatally wound the Tories rather than risk Brexit being stopped.

After the attempt to squash the #PeoplesVote this is my pick
13) However, to answer that regular question "but what can Labour do about #Brexit, the Tories are in charge?"

They could have done this - highlighted all of the dodgy dealing & funding, *without explicitly opposing Brexit*

"we respect the result but look at this scandal!"
14) It literally does not get any better for an opposition - and the narrative of corruption, illegality, opaque funding & foreign influence would have been a powerful attack on the Tories

But it would also have undermined #Brexit, and we can't have that
end/
Stop Press - PS
I still think more should have been done, but this is very positive at least and shows this is starting to get some traction in Labour

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More from @tony_nog

Oct 7, 2018
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"
Read 5 tweets
Sep 29, 2018
1) Some excellent ideas being developed here by @RichardElwes and @sjwrenlewis

Will just add a few thoughts on the #Brexit trap for either party

There are no good #Brexits economically but neither are there politically, for either party
@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"
Read 6 tweets
Sep 28, 2018
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

#Lab18
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
Read 6 tweets
Sep 28, 2018
1) Was determined to back off Labour & Corbyn this week & support them going forward on #Brexit

But now this, following Corbyn's speech.

Corbyn's team want Brexit. They don't want to listen to the members on a #PeoplesVote & now it's been raised, they are switching position
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.
Read 13 tweets
Sep 26, 2018
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

blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/09…
2) reasons are very simple, and always have been. The deal that was promised & any feasible deal are so far apart as to be unrecognisable

Either Brexit will be so painful that it will destroy the party who implements or so meaningless that it would be embarrassing to implement
3) half the country do not want Brexit, the other half (apart from the hardcore) voted for the pain free, cake & eat it easy brexit that was promised.

There is *no* feasible Brexit that would gain a majority in the UK & non possible within the EU & UKs red lines
Read 4 tweets
Sep 25, 2018
1) Numerous Lexit commentators saying "Remain option will kill Labour"

*This* Brexit is a Tory program, just as austerity was. And austerity got a big vote in 2010 & an even bigger one in 2015.

If it's the wrong policy it should be opposed, even if it's "popular"
#Lab18
2) this Labour movement has criticised the last for being Tory-lite on austerity. Fair enough.
But how then can Labour be Tory-lite on #Brexit, which will also hit their voters as austerity did?
Because it won one dodgy vote?
#Lab18
3) "we can't fight austerity/repeal of gay marriage/the return of hanging/windrush deportations because they're popular in some key seats"?

The idea is ludicrous, so why is fighting for what you believe on #Brexit different?
#lab18
Read 4 tweets

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