Brexit and leadership

Another nice mess they have gotten into turns on the great contest for the Labour leadership which has also been rattling along.The media, to a luvvie, have nothing but total contempt and loathing for J Corbyn and his 'socialist' policies (tackling 'inequality' ,opposing the renewal of Trident, and maybe renationalising the railways [impossible under EU rules of course]). However, to their shock and horror, these policies seem to be reasonably popular, and there has been vocal support for Corbyn,and even some for the Party in terms of local election results so far.

Corbyn used to oppose the EU but changed his mind and campaigned in favour of Remain, so they couldn't blame him directly for Brexit. But -- hang on -- did he campaign hard enough? He wasn't very visible on TV ( but that was because the whole debate was seen by the media as Tory Leave vs Tory Remain,probably to keep out UKIP as well as Labour). With a bit of imagination, Corbyn's relative obscurity and lack of success in persuading the proles to vote Remain was generalised. Corbyn lacked leadership qualities. Just on that point, the new Tory Prime Minister Theresa May also campaigned for Remain and was even less visible and successful -- no question of her leadership abilities though.

And so the whole Labour attempted coup unfolded, with Angela Eagle then Owen Smith all accusing Corbyn of lack of leadership.They were wise  to insist they had no quarrel with the policies. The media swung behind them even to the extent of not sneering at the policies! Eagle showed her leadership qualities by withdrawing. Smith was unknown to most people and we could scarcely associate the champion of real socialism with the little nerdy Welsh opportunist who suddenly appeared on our screens.

Not only that, but hundreds of thousands of people joined or supported the Labour Party to take part in the forthcoming leadership election. The last mass intake had been Corbynite. What if the new lot were as well? The Party did its best to disqualify these newcomers by making them pay £25 for supporting, and setting a cut-off of last January for eligibility to vote, but it still looked really good for Corbyn.

There were threats of Labour splits or permanent isolation, of course, especially in the early days of the coup when it looked like Corbyn might be forced to resign after losing a massive vote of no confidence by his own MPs.

Then a straw to clutch.Some London Labourites had spoken to the BBC and said they would now be opposing Corbyn and knew lots of others who would. What had upset them? Brexit.There seemed to be a  link between those constituency parties who supported Smith and a London location where most of the Remainers lived too. Blame Corbyn for Brexit it seemed, and vote Smith,who promised to lobby for another referendum. Leave any other considerations aside.

Early days for results of constituency votes but the BBC was delighted with its new correlations, dubious as they might be.  Since many voters in the North had opted for Brexit AND voted for Corbyn (who campaigned for Remain, remember), there was only one possible outcome -- a split in the Labour Party again!