Although Owen Jones was once Jeremy Corbyn’s main cheerleader, in recent months his relationship with the Labour leader has cooled as his former Guardian colleague Seumas Milne has usurped him in Corbyn’s trusted circle.
Still, Jones is now at least on good terms with other members of the party. Today the Guardian columnist has interviewed the outspoken Corbyn rebel Jess Phillips for his YouTube channel. During the friendly exchange, Phillips — who previously told Diane Abbott to ‘f— off’ after they clashed over Corbyn’s shadow cabinet appointments — discusses Corbyn’s pros and cons. Phillips also promises to ‘knife Jeremy Corbyn in the front’ rather than the back, should it become clear to her that he is not up to being leader.
Unfortunately for Corbyn, she adds that while she is happy to support him and make the most of his positive attributes, she does need to have ‘something to work with’ in order to do this. As for his cons? Well, she reminds Corbyn of his shortcomings on a regular basis:
JP: I would do whatever I could to make Jeremy Corbyn more electable but you know, you’ve got to give me something to work with mate.
OJ: If you were going to grab him by his lapels…
JP: I do frequently
OJ: Do you?
JP: I do. I’m not one of those people who sits in the background and plots in the background. I frequently go up to either him or his staff and just be like ‘what are you thinking?!’ why is there no-one in your office literally screaming ‘put the red book down’.
OJ: what.. the red book yeah
While it is a sentiment Jones can surely agree with, it’s not just Corbyn and his comrade John McDonnell who have had a PR stunt backfire in recent weeks. Phillips has attracted some unwanted attention of her own with her comments in the interview. A number of Corbynistas have opted to take her comments about stabbing Jeremy Corbyn in the front quite literally:
Bitterite Labour MP tells Corbyn she will 'knife him in the front'. Disgusting specimen. pic.twitter.com/wnuwK9XT91
— RIP Aaron Bushnell (@TheBirmingham6) December 14, 2015
Twitter – where metaphors go to die pic.twitter.com/gE7LsNABXm
— Asa Bennett (@asabenn) December 14, 2015
Another day, another fake MP death threat.
Update: Jess Phillips has confirmed that contrary to speculation on Twitter, she has no plans to attack Jeremy Corbyn with a knife.
I am no more going to actually knife Jeremy Corbyn than I am actually a breath of fresh air, or a pain in the arse. Please look metaphors
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) December 14, 2015
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