Jeremy corbyn

Jeremy Corbyn’s much-awaited appearance at the weekly meeting of the parliamentary Labour party didn’t go particularly well this evening, which means that for the group of increasingly determined MPs trying to oust him, it was a hugely successful session. MPs were reminded that the meeting is off the record at the start, before being given a lecture by the leader about the importance of message discipline. They were told that there would be weekly messages that MPs should stick to. A number of MPs found this ‘unpalatable’, and some left. There was also a ‘dismal’ PowerPoint presentation from Jon Trickett which apparently promised a great deal but revealed little, telling

Jeremy Corbyn is this weekend campaigning against Labour Party policy. A year ago, it would have been quite unremarkable for the then obscure backbencher to turn up to the CND rally and give a speech against nuclear weapons. But now he’s the Labour leader, Corbyn will be speaking against the current official policy of the party he heads up. This has obviously annoyed the many pro-Trident MPs in Labour, though some of their public frustration includes feigned surprise, given their party elected a man who sticks to his principles like glue, and who has hardly snuck those principles up on his party after election. He’s been going on about them

David Owen said it was time for Britain to leave the EU. Speaking this morning, the SDP founder said Brexit was a way of restructuring Europe in the way it needed to be. Owen went on to say there was no need for Britain leaving behind the EU to be a damaging process: Dame Janet Smith published her review into Jimmy Savile at the BBC. She said the management structure of the BBC was deeply referential. Janet Smith – whose report was criticised as an ‘expensive whitewash’ – said staff didn’t speak out ‘because they felt it was not their place’: The BBC’s Lord Hall said it was a ‘grim

Ed Miliband has been keeping a low profile since stepping down as Labour leader, but could he now be angling for a return to frontline politics? Miliband was spotted engrossed in conversation this lunchtime with Team Corbyn. A beady-eyed spectator snapped a photo of Ed having a coffee with Seumas Milne — Corbyn’s director of comms — and Kevin Slocombe — head of Leader’s media — in Portcullis House. Can you get me a meeting with @jeremycorbyn please @SeumasMilne? pic.twitter.com/JA2I6YuKD4 — Eye Spy MP (@eyespymp) February 23, 2016 Watch this space…

Although the Conservative party is currently divided over the EU, some Tory MPs are still managing to remember to attack the opposition party — rather than their colleagues. Today the Commons returned firmly to ‘Punch and Judy’ politics following Cameron’s EU statement in the Commons. As Jeremy Corbyn gave his reply, Chris Pincher — the MP for Tamworth — couldn’t resist having the last laugh. The incident occurred as the Labour leader discussed his recent trip to Brussels: Jeremy Corbyn: Last week — like him — I was in Brussels, meeting with heads of government and leaders of European socialist parties, one of whom said to me… Chris Pincher: Who are you? While Corbyn insists this is

Back in 2009 Damian McBride had to step down from his role as Gordon Brown’s advisor after leaked emails revealed that he had been part of a proposed sex smear campaign against the Tories. The emails showed that McBride was embroiled in a plot to damage the reputations of senior Tories with smears relating to their private lives. While Ed Miliband took steps to distance himself from McBride during his time as Labour leader, it appears there is a space for the disgraced spinner in Corbyn’s ‘straight talking, honest politics’. McBride has been hired as Lady Nugee’s media advisor. The Huffington Post reports that the disgraced spinner applied for the job serving

Michael Fallon has used his visit to the Falklands to pinpoint Jeremy Corbyn – not Argentina – as the biggest threat to islanders. During his trip to the Falklands, the Defence Secretary insisted that Argentina wasn’t the main worry for the Falklands – it was actually the Labour leader and his party. He said: ‘The biggest threat at the moment isn’t Argentina, actually it is Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party who seem determined to override the wishes of the Islanders. That is the immediate threat.’ His comments are a clear attempt to politicise both his visit to the Falklands and the islands themselves. It’s hard not to blame Fallon

This month saw the release of Rosa Prince’s biography of Jeremy Corbyn. While Corbyn refused to assist the former Daily Telegraph hack with the unauthorised tome, Prince spoke to a number of his close friends and family for Comrade Corbyn. While the book depicts Corbyn as a kind hard-working man, it also includes a number of previously unpublished stories including the claim that Corbyn ‘showed off‘ a naked Diane Abbott to his Labour friends back in his youth. However, Corbyn has not taken kindly to Prince’s work. In an interview with the Islington Tribune, Corbyn has hit out at the author, accusing her of a lack of courtesy: ‘I’m pleased she notes my

When Seumas Milne — the Guardian associate editor and columnist — was hired as Jeremy Corbyn’s director of communications, Labour released a statement in which they made it clear that Milne would remain on ‘indefinite leave’ from the paper while he worked for the party. The arrangement raised eyebrows at the paper and proved to be a point of contention as Milne has made it clear that he takes issue with the Guardian‘s political coverage. Now it appears that things are coming to a head. The Times reports that senior executives at the Guardian are to urge Milne to step down from his role. They want him to take voluntary redundancy, as they seek to make 100 journalists redundant in

‘Anybody here got any student debt?’ asks Bernie Sanders halfway through his speech at a rally in a small university on Monday. He then starts conducting a fake auction. ‘What are some of the numbers you got? You? 35,000. You? 55,000? Who else? A young lady here… 100,000 dollars. You win! I don’t know what you win, but you win!’ The students all hoot and chant. ‘Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!’ Sanders cracks an avuncular smile, then starts talking again about how rich the rich are. It’s hard not to like Sanders. It’s hard not to ‘Feel the Bern’, as the mantra goes. He is 74 years old, and angry at the

Housing is Jeremy Corbyn’s second favourite subject (after drainage lids). Back in the 1970s the grateful proletariat hailed his long years of service as Commissar For Council Accommodation in the People’s Republic of Haringey. At his retirement, chanting school-girls tied garlands of lilies around his brows and presented him with a commemorative Rent Book in a frame. Marching bands played. Fireworks fizzed and thundered. Private landlords were burned in effigy. What Corbyn learned from his housing career was to grind his enemies into submission with tedious blasts of numbers. But Cameron likes a good statistic himself and when Corbyn accused the government of building one new council house for every