The other explanation - that he secretly always wanted to leave but backed Remain - has similar flaws to it though.
Jeremy Corbyn - Not Not Labour Party(?), not a Communist (BBC)
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The other explanation - that he secretly always wanted to leave but backed Remain - has similar flaws to it though.
The idea he was unsure, was talked in to supporting remain but was unwilling to campaign in a way that would be hugely more pro-EU than he felt, seems a bit believable, to me.
Perhaps, but it doesn't reflect well on him if that is true.
That's why it is interesting to see if Corbyn will set the record straight and come clean with his thinking on Brexit finally. It will be a test of his leadership if the young voters who backed Corbyn so vocally will still support him. If they do, then who can oppose him?
Indeed but then I'm not sure there was an option that would've reflected well on him, if that was his feeling.
You can't come out and say 'I dunno - there are good things and bad things - up to you'.
You can if you're the President-elect. 
Yes... yesYou can if you're the President-elect.
I'm not suggesting that. Corbyn is a known Eurosceptic, thats not really disputed, but that doesnt mean that he would have voted Leave necessarily, even if he were a backbencher. However it's given him a tin ear on Europe in a way that he doesnt have on austerity where his position is clear and undiluted. It means he simply doesn't see Europe as a fight worth having.
Put it this way, if we'd just voted in a referendum by 52:48 on a 75% turnout to switch to a fully privatised healthcare system, do you believe for one moment he would be so relaxed about waving it through?
Not sure about that. If he campaigned for Remain, he should support Remain unless something fundamentally changed since Brexit vote.
That works, if he ever really agreed wholeheartedly with 'remain'. I'm not sure he did, nor, alas, gave such an impression, during the campaign.
Then it definitely goes against his image that he's not like other politicians.
To be fair, i don't mean it as a 'Bash Jeremy Corbyn' at all costs, but it definitely adds a intriguing subplot on Labour Party's role on Remain and as well as Jeremy Corbyn's young voter support.
Not really.
It goes against the idea he is perfect. It doesn't go against the idea he is considerably more driven by his views, rather than their assumed popularity, than any leader of a major political party for a very long time.
On the contrary, doesn't it do exactly that? He campaigned for Remain during the Brexit vote. If he's following his own views now, then he didn't follow them during Brexit vote. You can't have it both ways, that he is driven by his views and he campaigned for Remain and now will tell his MP's to vote for Article 50. As somebody said before, if it's a vote on the nuclear weapons or healthcare, would he just put up with the 'British people has decided'?
He exhibits strong views where he has strong views. He isn't very good at faking strong views when he's meant to.
Please let the PLP pick Jess Philips to run against Corbyn. Please, please, please.
She won't have to attack the Tories and she'll get herself on TV all the time, there is no way she'd turn that opportunity down.
She won't have to attack the Tories and she'll get herself on TV all the time, there is no way she'd turn that opportunity down.
Hadn't seen this before. The suppressed laughter on his own front bench is brutal.
I had a big, awkward argument at a family do last night, with a son of a family friend of a family friend. He thought Trump was preferable to Hillary because "at least America now has a fittingly evil figure head that we can righteously oppose"...Suffice to say it almost ruined the entire evening.
His outlook was basically "destroying the current system is the only way we'll progress" which while I partly understand, I found suicidally naive. Its relevant here because was a huge Corbyn fan as well, and wouldn't counter any notion of his unelectability, because apparently Trump had proved that centrists are now political poison. As someone that's largely sympathetic to Corbz, I found his attitude faintly terrifying. This is how we've allowed the right to seize power IMO, by letting the left become so divided, that elements of it would happily risk the world descending into fascist madness, to justify being righteous in opposition. It all but killed my dwindling support for Jezza (whom I still think is a decent man) because anyone who wants to burn the world just to be "right" is clearly more of a problem than a solution...Also, he had a pony tail. A top knot one too. Which I think we can all agree is the very worst kind.
His outlook was basically "destroying the current system is the only way we'll progress" which while I partly understand, I found suicidally naive. Its relevant here because was a huge Corbyn fan as well, and wouldn't counter any notion of his unelectability, because apparently Trump had proved that centrists are now political poison. As someone that's largely sympathetic to Corbz, I found his attitude faintly terrifying. This is how we've allowed the right to seize power IMO, by letting the left become so divided, that elements of it would happily risk the world descending into fascist madness, to justify being righteous in opposition. It all but killed my dwindling support for Jezza (whom I still think is a decent man) because anyone who wants to burn the world just to be "right" is clearly more of a problem than a solution...Also, he had a pony tail. A top knot one too. Which I think we can all agree is the very worst kind.
I think your overestimating what is a very small group and something that is nothing new to Left wing politics
If we look at some of the recent work such as The World Transformed workshop done by the Cobryn campaign group Momentum or The Sanders Campaign(Both which are political efforts by left wing protest group from the past 10 years). Then this type of politics is for me completely optimistic and forward looking, more than anything that been offered by the Right Wing or Centrists anyway. Jacobin(A socialist magazine) put an event together on Inauguration day, it's well worth a watch and a good summary of this new Left politics.
Is Corbyn's brother a bit unhinged? He retweeted this yesterday:
All I've seen on him was the segment on This Week where he argued humans aren't responsible for climate change, so, possibly.
I'm looking forward to when trump comes to the uk...
No doubt corbyn and hid folk will be briefing about how he is going to tell trump off
And trump will decide to break with conventional protocol and not take the meeting choosing instead to tweet about how much of a looser corbyn is
I only hope corbyn takes the bait and ends up in a twitter war with him
No doubt corbyn and hid folk will be briefing about how he is going to tell trump off
And trump will decide to break with conventional protocol and not take the meeting choosing instead to tweet about how much of a looser corbyn is
I only hope corbyn takes the bait and ends up in a twitter war with him
His brother is a liability.
A reporter would inadvertently record Trump saying "who are you?" to Corbyn, after which Corbyn's team of experts that are definitely experts would release information that Jeremy's next move is to dye his hair to get noticed more. Just another bold step by the Labour juggernaut.
It's old left wing Labour politics pre New Labour. They see the EU as corporatist and pushing down wages.
He's seeing the Brexit result as affimation to follow his ideals, which he couldn't previously because none of his party wanted it.
On PMQs before Brexit, the special PMQs to discuss Brexit so it could be conveyed to the public, Corbyn asked about phone hacking as his first question.
Burnham is gunning for his job though and would happily stab him in the back tbf.
Is Corbyn's brother a bit unhinged? He retweeted this yesterday:
He's completely deranged. Believes every conspiracy theory going and makes a living out of denying climate change.
He is like a geography teacher that everybody takes the piss out of because he simply does not know how to react
Looking at his Twitter he is a Trump supporter too.
Oh dear. He really is fecking barmy. Has to be damaging to his brother's reputation to have such a complete mentalist as his sibling.
Ive encountered a few people making the same kinds of arguments and I dont agree with it either - the idea that Trump is preferable to Clinton. But as far as looking for silver linings goes, I think he has a point. As you point out, the left IS massively divided, especially as the centre has been drifting rightwards for years. That wasnt going to change under Clinton. So no, I would never have voted for Trump, I wouldnt have even voted for an independent for fear of letting him in via the back door. But perhaps we will now see the left unite in opposition to the terrible things Trump will do in coming years, and maybe we will see a a stronger, more energised and more progressive candidate than Clinton running in 2020. And if (hopefully when) that candidate wins, maybe (s)he will do more to tackle the real problems we see in the US (and across the West) than Clinton would ever have done.
No that wont undo the damage that has been done in the interim. No I would not have wished for it to play out that way before the US election. But like I said, we are where we are and at this stage looking for silver linings is all we have.
Im also not sure I follow your logic in terms of how this applies to Corbyn. I presume you disagree with the conclusion that the centre is now political poison but you havent really explained why - not in this post anyway. To me it does seem like a reasonable conclusion, if you look at what has happened to Labour in this country and what has happened to the Dems in the US. This whole corporatist, Tory / Republican-lite position New Labour and the Democrats have taken, or been perceived to have taken, has not been working out for them at all. It is people like Corbyn and Sanders that have provided what energy the left currently has. And I am speaking as someone who would have identified with the centrist wings of those parties.
You might think that kind of hard left position is a recipe for disaster and that is definitely a worthwhile debate to have, but that doesnt seem to be the point you were making. Either way, believing those views to be naive isnt going to unite the left. I dont think the right has become as fragmented as it is because of the likes of Trump, anyway. The left has been fragmenting since it reinvented itself under Clinton and Blair, and maybe longer, and what we are seeing on the right is the response to it, not the cause.
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Dunno about Sanders, but if that was ever true for Corbyn it isnt now. I've never known a time when the Labour Party had less ideas, less energy, less talent on show or less to say on the big political issues of the day.
Yeah to be fair I agree with that, I see ideas on the left but they don't seem to come from him.
But Corbyn has energised the left. Even if it's more what he represents, rather than him or his ideas themselves.
Sanders certainly seems to have more about him than Corbyn, both in terms of charisma and policy ideas.
I might as well post some stuff from the Momentum event - TWTF(The World Transformed)that was put on last year.
As bad as Corbyn has been, him being Labour leader has really energised a lot of people who are trying to really change politics in this country.
As bad as Corbyn has been, him being Labour leader has really energised a lot of people who are trying to really change politics in this country.
He has an easier job, in a way, because of how right-wing the US is there is a lot of room on the left for a basic social-democratic platform. Combine it with pretty decent personal honesty and it made a popular candidate.
Yep, the secret recipe is a big responsibility.
He really needs to go. But the Labour party blew it last year by launching a challenge fronted by Smith or Eagle, and before he'd had time to completely cock-up opposing Brexit.
He's a idiot - he even had May say her bit first which would have corrected him that the officer isn't dead.
Some might dismiss this is a minor gaffe but it's a pretty big tell of someone who can't be arsed to do his homework and is just going through the motions.