Tag Archives: jeremy corbyn

Caron Lindsay

Could train-gate derail Corbyn’s leadership campaign?

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 23rd August 2016 - 5:36 pm

I travel up and down to London pretty frequently. I haven’t often had a problem getting a seat on the East Coast mainline – and when there has been an issue, it’s usually because there has been some extreme weather issue and two trains worth of people have been decanted into one train.

So when I saw that Jeremy Corbyn had had to spend a journey to Newcastle on the floor of a train, I was a bit surprised but didn’t let it distract me from enjoying my holiday.

Today’s development in that story is worthy of some comment though. It appears that the Labour leader could have had a seat on the train after all. Virgin’s media people have ridden a convoy of coaches and horses through his claims.  In an unusual step, they have released CCTV footage and said:

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Bernard Aris

Corbyn and NATO

By Bernard Aris | Mon 22nd August 2016 - 2:57 pm

 

That an absolute neophyte at serious politics like Donald Trump becomes the first American presidential nominee (from either the Democratic or Republican Party) to question Washingtons NATO article 5 obligation of “Collective Defense” shouldn’t surprise anybody.

But that a sitting Labour party leader fighting to continue in that job, and hoping to win the next general election, does the same is absolutely incredible. And the fact that he did so only a couple of weeks after flip-flopping over EU membership (from a very conditional “Remain” before, to a “get out now” the day after the Referendum)  creates the impression that he thinks the UK can go it alone, without the support, let alone the trust of European partners, on all foreign policy issues.

At the Birmingham hustings for the leadership elections last week, Corbyn said that when Russia threatens to attack or invade any NATO country, he hoped to avoid that by diplomatic means, and that he “doesn’t want to go to war”. But any historian can tell you that diplomacy can only speak softly if you carry a big stick for people who don’t respect any other kind of argument.  To put it in a Marxist metaphor: without the material fundamentals the political superstructure won’t function.

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The Voice

Sal Brinton on Jeremy Corbyn

By The Voice | Tue 9th August 2016 - 2:31 pm

 

Over the weekend Jeremy Corbyn said he would not be prepared to overturn Brexit. He said:

I think we’ve had a referendum, a decision has been made, you have to respect the decision people made. We were given the choice, we after all supported holding a referendum so we must abide by the decision.

In comparison Owen Smith has committed himself to offering a second referendum if elected as Labour Leader.

Sal Brinton, President of the Liberal Democrats, has has responded to Corbyn’s comments:

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Iain Roberts

What next for moderate Labour?

By Iain Roberts | Fri 8th July 2016 - 8:55 am

Corbyn has won. It’s clear that he will come out victorious in any leadership contest and the Chilcot report has put the final nail in the coffin of a serious challenge.

And more importantly the left of the Labour Party has won. Their project – to seize control of the levers of power within Labour and change the rules to turn it into a true hard-left socialist party – will take another couple of years, but it will almost certainly happen.

So Labour as a party of government is gone and Labour as a party of protest is here to stay. Despite my many and frequent disagreements with my political opponents in the red corner, I have to say that is a tragedy for our country.

The question moderate Labour members – including the vast majority of their MPs, all their MEPs and a large proportion of their councillors – are asking is, of course, “what next?”

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David Thorpe

With his Trident stance Corbyn shows himself to be no fan of ‘new politics’

By David Thorpe | Thu 11th February 2016 - 10:01 am

Few words stir the heart of the politically interested than ‘a new politics’, and quite right too, for who on earth wants the status quo?

But the utterer of that rather normative phrase is immediately pitched a political challenge, to keep on board those who are the bedrock of their support, while also delivering something challenging enough to be new.

Jeremy Corbyn is a man with far less personal ambition than he has integrity and honour, and that may be ‘new’ for a politician in the UK right now, but it is not enough to qualify as ‘new politics’.

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George Potter

Farron’s strategy to tackle Corbyn is all wrong

By George Potter | Mon 18th January 2016 - 10:10 am

 

Recently Tim Farron responded to Jeremy Corbyn’s economic strategy by saying “Unfortunately Corbyn’s anti-business policies will ensure that no company has the budget to pay the wages their employees deserve”.

Now this is absolutely true and it’s very much Tim Farron’s approach to Corbyn and Labour at the moment. But it’s also absolutely the wrong approach to take.

The thing is, the public already thinks Labour aren’t economically competent and the Tories keep on ramming home that message. But since the public think that the Tories are economically competent then any attacks we make on Labour’s economic competence will just drive voters to the Tories.

In a nutshell, attacking Labour on the economy does nothing more than to annoy Labour voters who we want to win over while helping to turn undecided voters to the Tories.

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Joe Otten

Sincerity on both sides of air strike vote

By Joe Otten | Wed 2nd December 2015 - 10:51 am

For me, the arguments for and against air strikes against Daesh in Syria are finely balanced, and there is no surprise that reasonable people have come to different views. I am stunned that with the SNP against, Labour split down the middle, and (the BBC predicts) 15 Conservative rebels, we might be the most hawkish party.

I am very glad that Erbil was saved in August 2014 with help from US air strikes when Daesh were rampaging across northern Iraq. Had the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, population 1.5 million, fallen, the death toll and consequences for the region would have been horrific.

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Paul Walter

There’s more than one reason why defence chiefs shouldn’t criticise politicians

By Paul Walter | Thu 12th November 2015 - 5:55 pm
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Caron Lindsay

Women not going to husband’s work event? Dear Telegraph, this is not a story

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 15th October 2015 - 9:31 am

There are very many reasons to criticise the Labour Party at the moment. The way they fell into George Osborne’s political trap when they should have tied him up in knots is just one. And while I’m at it, John McDonnell, if you’re going to get a bit passive aggressive with people in the Chamber, don’t immediately apologise. Either don’t do it at all, or do it with confidence. His responses to James Cleverly and Lucy Frazer show that he’s far too easy to wind up. You just can’t give that sort of ground. The lack of front bench experience is really showing here.

There is more than enough political carnage in which the right wing press can rub Labour’s nose. It really, really doesn’t need to make a story out of Jeremy Corbyn’s wife, Laura Alvarez,  not going to the state banquet for the Chinese President. She has her own life. Why should she be obliged to go to her husband’s work event? It’s not the first time something like this has happened. A couple of years ago, one of the BBC team mentioned in censorious terms that Miriam Gonzalez Durantez had not been at Liberal Democrat conference all week. She’d gone back on Sunday night and only returned for Nick’s speech. Well, blow me down, she actually went to work? What a scandal! I complained to the BBC about that one and got precisely nowhere.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron: Cameron and Corbyn stance on Brexit “downright pathetic”

By NewsHound | Wed 14th October 2015 - 12:32 pm

Tim Farron has put up a stonking case for Britain to remain in the EU over on Politics Home and denounced the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition for their stance on the issue:

On my mantelpiece there is an old black and white photo. It’s of my Uncle Morris at 14, the same age as my daughter is today.
It was taken in 1934 and in six years, he was dead, shot down over Beachy Head.

A generation ago there were nuclear weapons pointed at Britain on the soil of countries that today are our partners in the EU. Now we are sitting round a table together.

If these were the only reasons for staying in the EU they would pretty much clinch it for me.

What is the European Union? I’ll tell you – it is the most successful peace process in world history.

As such events show we toy with European disunity at our peril. Being a supporter of the European Union is not always easy. Some of the institutional structures and decision-making are hard to defend – indeed in many cases I wouldn’t want to.

But the case for Europe isn’t about institutions. It’s about partnership with our neighbours. It’s about a vision of how we address the great challenges of the 21st century: economic globalisation and protectionism, resource depletion and climate change, terrorism, crime and war.

After making the case that this is no world for isolationism to be a good idea, he then criticises David Cameron for effectively putting party before country:

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Tim Farron: It’s Theresa May, not immigrants, who is really damaging Britain

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 6th October 2015 - 4:21 pm

The unpleasant rhetoric of Theresa May’s speech this morning has given every liberal what we Scots call “the dry boak” Her remarks were not measured, not reasonable and entirely designed to win over that small proportion of the population who are members of the Conservative Party.

Anyone who knows anything about the immigration system will know how difficult it is to actually get into this country. Married couples often have to endure years of separation before (and it’s not inevitable that they will be) they can live together in this country. The strain put on families is intolerable. People who have endured unimaginable hardships and abuse are often turned away when they come here seeking sanctuary.

Tim Farron has spent the day standing up to May’s inaccurate, misleading and shocking speech. He’s written an article for Politics.co.uk in which he says there is someone damaging Britain – and it is not immigrants:

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Paul Walter

Jeremy Corbyn and the emperor’s new clothes

By Paul Walter | Mon 5th October 2015 - 2:14 pm

The outgoing executive director of CentreForum, Nick Tyrone writes an interesting blog post about Jeremy Corbyn and the nuclear button issue:

The crucial moment of this year’s Labour conference came not via a speech or indeed anything that happened inside of the hall. It occurred in an interview Jeremy Corbyn gave to the BBC yesterday morning. When asked, if he were prime minister would he ever use nuclear weapons, he gave a straight answer: “No”.

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John Abrams

It’s time to take on Labour

By John Abrams | Fri 2nd October 2015 - 8:55 am

I recall a local by-election in an inner London area many moons ago. No names no pack drill although a few might work it out.

In that by-election we extensively campaigned by leafleting and knocking on doors. Our canvass was comprehensive and our campaign, by an excellent local community campaigner, was superb.

On the day there we had so many people that there wasn’t enough work to go round – thus, two people were telling on each polling station and knocking up was done by rota. Sounds brilliant doesn’t it – we must have won, mustn’t we? Well we came a strong 2nd behind Labour.

Who was the agent? Piers Corbyn brother of Jeremy.

It was similar to another national byelection. Again the same conditions prevailed. Again we came third to Labour.

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Caron Lindsay

Jeremy Corbyn’s kinder, more caring politics in action #1 Tom Watson

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 30th September 2015 - 4:03 pm

Well that didn’t take long.

Barely 12 hours after I wrote last night that Jeremy Corbyn had given us something to throw back at any Labour nastiness, Corbyn’s own deputy Tom Watson took a right pop at us in his speech to Labour Conference.

From PoliticsHome:

I did go too far though when I compared the Lib Dems to a Banarama tribute band. Some people were angry, and I accept that I crossed the line. What I said was demeaning, unjustified and wrong. Siobhan, Sara, Keren – I should never have compared your tribute acts to that useless bunch of lying sellouts, the Lib Dems and I’m sorry.

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Caron Lindsay

Corbyn: No horses were scared during delivery of a speech full of Liberal Democrat policies

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 29th September 2015 - 10:32 pm

For the first time in a long time, I watched a Labour leader’s conference speech this afternoon and didn’t cringe with horror. To be fair, that’s because he kept name checking Liberal Democrat policies. He even said that the agreed with Paddy Ashdown over airstrikes on Syria.

Many people,including some in that Brighton hall, wanted him to fail terribly today. Indeed, the Blairites were desperate for that to happen. Labour spin doctor Lance Price was quick to condemn the speech as one of the worst he had ever heard. Was he listening to something else? For sure it wasn’t an example of oratorical excellence, with perfect construction, but Corbyn did what he had to do today. No horses were scared in the delivery of the speech. The entire nation wasn’t petrified by the thought of  revolution coming to a street near them any time soon as the more excitable of our friends in the press have made out.

He clearly wasn’t used to having an autocue, but that added to the sincerity of what he was saying. We would be very foolish to underestimate Corbyn. As Gareth Epps reminded us, we tried underestimating the SNP and look where that got us in Scotland.

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Jenny Randerson

The future of the railways – a Liberal view

By Jenny Randerson | Mon 28th September 2015 - 9:50 am

Jeremy Corbyn’s proposal for a People’s Railway has sparked interest and support, tinged with more than a little nostalgia for a past that really didn’t exist. Those who hanker after British Rail were clearly not there. It was the butt of national jokes about punctuality, cancellations, strikes and stale sandwiches. It was also serving a transport market very different from today. Rail journeys in Britain have doubled since 1997 and are set to continue rising rapidly. Freight traffic increases every year too. Our rail lines are the busiest and most intensively used in Europe if not the world. Britain has the only growing rail market in Europe. So when people adversely compare our structure with that in France or Germany it is worth remembering that they are declining businesses while every aspect of Brtish railways is growing fast and needs to do so, because of our growing population and if we are to have a successful economy.

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Mark Argent

Defecting or coming home?

By Mark Argent | Thu 24th September 2015 - 2:20 pm

Jeremy Corbyn’s election has brought speculation about people on the right of the Labour party switching to the Liberal Democrats. Some of those comments make sense, but others don’t.

At its best, there are times when a genuine change of conviction makes a change of party into a home-coming. I think of the authenticity of Jacob Whiten, writing in Liberal Democrat Voice on his move from UKIP to the Liberal Democrats, and the enormous contribution of people like Shirley Williams, who came into the Liberal Democrats by moving from Labour to the SDP.

But defections can backfire, and the language of encouraging them can play badly, as in the case of a recent spoof email from Tim Farron to Chuka Umunna encouraging him to switch, written by Amol Rajan in the Evening Standard.

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Joe Otten

Jeremy Corbyn is not just unelectable

By Joe Otten | Mon 21st September 2015 - 3:20 pm

My Sunday at Liberal Democrat Conference seemed to dwell more on Jeremy Corbyn than might be ideal. In the Agenda 2020 session on spelling out our priorities and vision for policy development for the next 5 years, I may have derailed things a little with the following observation.

Corbyn’s election is certainly a challenge to liberal economics. If anybody else – ourselves included – had suggested price controls, printing money, and offering easy alternatives to austerity that (like Syriza) you can’t deliver, they would not only be seen to be wrong, but thought to be highly cynical, grubbing around for votes with populist messages that can’t be delivered or in the knowledge that they would do more harm than good.

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Paul Walter

Spin doctors urgently needed to manage an inspiringly authentic car crash

By Paul Walter | Wed 16th September 2015 - 2:45 pm

Yes, it’s another Corbyn post. Sorry about that.

But there’s the thing. Politics is absolutely fascinating at the moment. If Burnham or Cooper had won the Labour leadership, we would have had the same old Blair-like triangulating platitudes. Instead, we have inspiring authenticity from Jeremy Corbyn.

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Caron Lindsay

Man standing up and being quiet in top button shocker

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 16th September 2015 - 1:26 pm

What passes for news at the moment is pretty lamentable. Actually, it’s not just at the moment. The tabloid news agenda has its own way of taking our focus off what really matters in this world. Any responsible press would be highlighting the even greater hardship and poverty faced by those households whose tax credits are being slashed by the Government. Also this week trade unions face unfair and illogical restrictions which, if applied to the rest of our democracy, would mean we couldn’t have a legitimate government. Both those changes will make lives really difficult for the least powerful people in our society both at home and at work.

With all that going on, I can’t quite put into words how much I am struggling to give a nano-hoot, let alone two, to caring whether the Leader of the Opposition sings the National Anthem or not. As a liberal, I’m uneasy about enslaving anyone by conformity. Had he been playing Candy Crush (does that still exist?), I might have felt that was inappropriate behaviour for the circumstances, but if he doesn’t want to sing, why force him? Respectful silence is fine by me.  Of course, we do live in a world where Jeremy Corbyn can do no right, so if he had sung, the right wing tabloid press would have had a go at him for singing God save the Queen when he believes in neither a God nor a monarchy. Even less important is whether his top button was tied.  Maybe I should be pleased that a man has his appearance criticised for a change, but it is vacuous.

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George Turner

After Corbyn, what’s left with the Liberal Democrats?

By George Turner | Wed 16th September 2015 - 10:58 am

There has been a tendency in recent years for the Liberal Democrats to define the party in relation to others. We will give a heart to the Conservatives and a brain to the Labour Party. Look left, look right, then cross.

There will be those who will argue that the election of a left wing MP to the Labour leadership means that the Lib Dems will have to keep close to the the centre. Any temptation to reposition itself on the left wing of British politics after leaving the coalition should be resisted.

Immediate reactions of this nature should be avoided as should any crass remarks about the ‘economic illiteracy’ of ‘Corbynomics’. Corbyn’s approach is rooted in serious economic thinking. Whether people disagree or not is a different issue but illiterate it is not. To that end Sal Brinton’s response to Corbyn’s election was both disappointing.

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Laura Willoughby

Everything Jeremy Corbyn taught me about being a liberal

By Laura Willoughby | Tue 15th September 2015 - 2:18 pm

I grew up in Yate and Somerset, and my first job was in Kingston – so having lived in Tory facing seats it was a big change to really cut my political teeth in Islington where there has not been any Conservatives for a long time.

And where else to study Labour up close and personal than Islington. I did 12 years as a councillor and twice as a general election candidate against Jeremy. Political campaigns in Central London are tough. Activists in all parties work hard, Labour had great resources and tied us up in one standards board complaint after another – because they could.

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Joe Otten

I disagree with Jeremy

By Joe Otten | Tue 15th September 2015 - 12:01 pm

Jeremy Corbyn photo by lewishamdreamer1Jeremy Corbyn strikes me as someone who is still fighting all the battles of the 1980s and has not thought much about anything since.

Re-open the coal mines! Of course – they were closed by the Tories, so they must reopen. But ban fracking – because that is getting carbon-based fuel out of the ground, which is wrong. Now I respect people who want a total ban on fracking out of concern for the local environment, or to keep the carbon in the ground. I happen to accept the evidence that it can be done safely, and that the gas has an important role in replacing dirtier coal, running standby plant for wind turbines and weakening Putin’s influence in the world.

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Mary Reid

I agree with Jeremy

By Mary Reid | Mon 14th September 2015 - 12:35 pm

 

Higher taxation for the wealthiest – tick

Greater public ownership – tick

An end to private involvement in the health service – tick

A national education service – tick

An agenda of “growth not austerity” – tick

Should I be embarrassed at finding that I agree with all of Jeremy Corbyn’s core beliefs?

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Caron Lindsay

It’s the Tories, stoopid

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 13th September 2015 - 11:23 am

“Bye bye, new Labour”, “Death of New Labour,” “Red and buried,” (actually, that’s quite a good one, not often you find me saying anything complimentary about the Fail on Sunday). So scream today’s headlines. A casual assumption that the party is well and truly over for Labour, leaving the Tories in power forever.

I am not scared of socialist ideas suddenly being put into the public space. We need to have a grown up debate about them and as a liberal, I’ll utterly oppose anything that reeks of centralised state command and control, but it’s a perfectly legitimate discussion to have.

No, the most utterly terrifying prospect at the moment is the thought of the Tories getting a free pass. This lot make Thatcher look like a cuddly teddy bear. Another victory in 2020 and they could soon be making Sarah Palin look positively sensible. The Tories think they are going to walk the next election and that they will not have any credible opposition over the next five years and they will spend millions on demonising Corbyn in a manner which will make the Miliband puppet poster look like a puff piece.

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Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera

Liberal Democrats must demonstrate our “BaME consciousness”

By Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera | Sat 12th September 2015 - 3:23 pm
The election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader and Sadiq Khan as the Mayor candidate will enthuse many BaME voters who had previously been members or supporters of Labour to return, but not alone, but with their friends and families.

Visible BaME communities are not impressed, in fact they are turned off, by the ‘tit for tat’ inter-political squabbling, so I very much hope that our Party does not participate in such trivia against Jeremy Corbyn and his new team.  They are if anything a new ally against Toryism.

The Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) is here to continue to assist the Liberal Democrat Party to positively reform and progress, and we are hopeful that under Tim Farron’s leadership our repeated offers of support will now be firmly grabbed with both hands.

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The Voice

Sal Brinton and Willie Rennie respond to Jeremy Corbyn’s election

By The Voice | Sat 12th September 2015 - 12:23 pm

So, that was emphatic. Corbyn wins Labour leadership election with 60% of the vote and a massive lead in all three categories of the vote. The first Liberal Democrat reaction has come from Party President Sal Brinton:

The Corbyn style of politics may generate a lot of noise but only one thing keeps Government in check – credible opposition.

As Labour abdicates its responsibilities, the Liberal Democrats will offer the serious, responsible and economically-literate alternative this country badly needs.

We will find common cause with the millions of people who do not support this Government and need a party to represent them.”

She added:

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Caron Lindsay

Let’s not jump on the “castigate Corbyn” bandwagon

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 12th September 2015 - 10:00 am

Well, it looks like I’m going to have rivulets of egg yolk running down my face in a couple of hours. I have pretty consistently said through the Labour leadership contest that there’s no way Jeremy Corbyn is going to win. Labour members would flirt a bit with him but when it came to it, would plump for a safer option. They might get their ballot paper out with every intention of voting for him, but when it comes to actually putting that number 1 on the paper, some invisible force would make them bottle out of it at the last minute. It’s a bit like what a friend of mine calls “Ouija board voting.”

Yesterday’s London mayoral selection results show a pretty clear victory for a Sadiq Khan, a candidate backed by Ken Livingstone, so the logical conclusion is that Corbyn benefitted from their votes.

So how should Liberal Democrats react to a Corbyn victory? Well, seriously, we have our own house to put in order so we should get on with doing that. It doesn’t matter who leads the other parties if we can’t explain to the voters what we bring to the political smorgasbord. 

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Stephen Howse

A Corbyn victory means there’s not much chance of a realignment of the left

By Stephen Howse | Fri 11th September 2015 - 3:30 pm

It was Paddy Ashdown’s dream, and pre-1997 it looked to be tantalisingly within reach, yet with the imminent coronation of Jeremy Corbyn increasingly likely, the realignment of the anti-Conservative Left looks to be further out of reach than ever. Indeed, Corbyn’s happy band of followers have spent months labelling everyone else involved the contest as a ‘red Tory’, particularly Liz Kendall (whose father, let’s not forget, was a Liberal Democrat councillor) and including such known Conservative sympathisers as Harriet Harman and Neil Kinnock.

As Guido Fawkes has demonstrated, the Conservatives’ plan to deal with Corbyn is to paint him as a threat to Britain’s security, both at home (because of his views on economic policy) and abroad (because of his views on foreign policy). We have a real opportunity, if we want to take it, to own the acres of political space between a far-left Corbyn-led Labour Party and a Conservative government which will not be able to resist nudging further to the right (which would in turn put off that party’s own moderate supporters) – a space in which the majority of the British people have made their political home. We may have only eight MPs, but we are about to be gifted a huge opportunity to position ourselves politically between those two extremes and present ourselves as a moderate, sensible party which rejects both Corbyn’s reflexive ‘daddy knows best’ statism and the Conservatives’ love of taking away from those who have least to give.

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George Kendall

If left-wing is anti poverty, how is Corbyn left-wing?

By George Kendall | Fri 11th September 2015 - 1:50 pm

Most left-wingers I meet think of left-wing politics as being about reducing poverty. If that’s left-wing, then I regard myself as a left-winger.

They usually only believe in a bigger state, because they think the state is the best way to help the weakest in our society.

That can be true, but it depends how far you take it.

In my previous article “Is evidence-based policy losing out to populism?”, I argued that two supposedly left-wing policies, which Jeremy Corbyn has proposed, could actually increase poverty. Raising the national minimum wage beyond the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission will probably increase unemployment, particularly for the unskilled who will increasingly have difficulty finding work. And printing money to fund capital projects will risk a return of the curse of high inflation.

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