As a general rule politicians should spend less time saying things they do not really believe. However useful such a strategy may be in the short-term it will, sure as eggs be eggs, backfire on you eventually. But there are also occasions when it is a mistake to talk about the things in which you really do believe. This is something Jeremy Corbyn has yet to understand.
So there was the gallant Labour leader speaking at a sparsely-attended anti-Trident rally in Trafalgar Square at the weekend, thereby reinforcing many of the back-to-1983 associations that will help ensure he leads the once mighty Labour party to electoral oblivion. I don’t doubt the sincerity of Corbyn’s opposition to Britain’s nuclear deterrent but this is a battle he has been fighting – and losing – all his adult life.
It is all very well and good being all very well and principled about these matters but the value of being a politician seen to say what he means is conditional on the people liking what you say and mean.
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