Emily Thornberry will tonight address Labour MPs at the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour on her Trident policy review. It is the first discussion the party has had on the matter this year. As I reported last week, the Shadow Cabinet briefing on Trident ran out of time, and will take place tomorrow.
I understand that Jeremy Corbyn will not be at tonight’s meeting, but a number of MPs are very keen to hear from Thornberry, not just about her thinking on the review but about who she is consulting for it, including whether she will use the evidence being gathered by John Woodcock’s backbench defence committee review. MPs are also interested in how Labour will approach votes in the Commons, with a series of votes expected on the Main Gate decision on the size of the fleet and so on. There is a push within the Conservative party to at least start these votes before the end of March so that the SNP can call a vote on the matter in the Scottish Parliament in order to embarrass Scottish Labour ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
Some are annoyed that Thornberry is being sent on her own to the meeting. Jamie Reed, the MP for Copeland, is threatening to defy his party’s official position at the 2020 election by standing on a pro-Trident platform if it has abandoned its support for the deterrent. He thinks Corbyn should be more responsive on the matter, and tells Coffee House:
‘It demeans the office of the Labour leader when the incumbent refuses to answer for a signature policy that will ensure electoral defeat. Blair, Brown and Miliband all endured difficulties, and everyone had the backbone, intellectual certainty and self belief to face the PLP. Sadly, letters now go unanswered and important meetings go unattended.
‘Forget policy; this level of professionalism and accountability isn’t simply inviting defeat but collapse. Every single member of the Labour Party – new and old – should know that the Labour leader refuses to take questions from Labour MPs. They can draw their own conclusions.’
Thornberry will need to reassure MPs that they will have a chance to put their views to Corbyn himself, and that in the meantime, she will be listening to the pro-Trident faction as well as those who agree with the leader that it should be scrapped.
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