Jeremy corbyn

Friday

Steerpike

Coffee shots: Cocktails for Corbyn

With the registration period now closed, Labour members are sitting tight, waiting for their ballot papers to arrive. A period of quiet, sober reflection now begins, as members decide who they want to see face off the Tories. But not everyone is seeing it that way. The Scottish Labour Young Socialists – who say they are ‘fighting for a new, subversive politics’ – are holding an event in honour of comrade Corbyn. Forget champagne socialism; for young Corbynites, the tipple of choice is a cocktail. Marxtini anyone?  

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Andy Burnham: We should/shouldn’t attack Jeremy Corbyn

At least Andy Burnham is keeping us all on his toes with his leadership campaign. If you’d stopped paying attention to the Labour leadership election for a couple of hours, you might be forgiven for thinking that the Shadow Health Secretary thinks it is a bad idea to attack Jeremy Corbyn. This is what he had to say on the matter yesterday: ‘I would say the attacks we’ve seen on Jeremy I think misread the mood of the party because what people are saying is they’re crying out for something different, they are fed up with the way politics has been, particularly the way Labour has been conducting politics in

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The Tories can start celebrating the Labour leadership result now

The Conservatives are naturally very much enjoying the Labour leadership contest, and are starting to make use of it in the press, with Matt Hancock warning that Jeremy Corbyn would cost every working household £2,400. It’s the sort of thing the Tories were doing in the general election, slapping often rather arbitrary price tags on Labour’s policies, but Corbyn does make it rather easier for these attacks to gain purchase with voters. Hancock does say that any Labour leader will cost voters money. And it is not right that the Tories will only benefit if Jeremy Corbyn wins. It is too late for any leadership candidate to put the Corbyn

Thursday

Alexander Chancellor

Long life | 13 August 2015

I’m going off Jeremy Corbyn. He seems more and more pleased with himself by the minute. But I understand why he is so popular with Labour supporters. It isn’t just his perceived authenticity in a field of machine politicians — the same attribute that has thrust Donald Trump to the fore in the race for the Republican nomination in the United States. It is something of which I have been reminded this week by the news that Silvio Berlusconi is planning to sell his preposterous Sardinian villa to a Saudi prince, and this is the shame felt by so many party members over their long servility to Tony Blair. For

Dot Wordsworth

Taleban

Toxic virus or Taleban: it’s funny how the mild-mannered Liz Kendall has attracted for her Blairite associations the most violently pejorative terms. Hardly had the Labour leadership contest begun before her allies were being called ‘Taleban New Labour’. No one thought New Labour was really much like the Taleban. That’s why the metaphor was effective: it suggested generalised maleficence. Many people presume that the Taleban is some immemorial movement within Islam, like the Hanbali school or the Wahhabi sect. But it dates back no more than 20 years, to the exiles who returned to Afghanistan having developed strict practices while students of Islamic law in Pakistan. Talib, more fully talib

A.N. Wilson

Diary – 13 August 2015

Should we have celebrated VJ Day? Hearing the hieratic tones of the Emperor Hirohito on Radio 4 the other day, announcing the unthinkable — the surrender of the great imperial power to the secular, gas-guzzling, unheeding West — seemed like a profanity. So much came to an end with that surrender that it is not possible to celebrate it, particularly since the method chosen to defeat Japan was nuclear-fuelled genocide, not once — which would have been unforgiveable enough — but twice. Surely the Japanese who survived that monstrous pair of bombings, both of which were without any military or moral justification, were staring at what motivated Guy Crouchback —

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 13 August 2015

Home The Metropolitan Police encouraged people to celebrate VJ Day despite reports in the Mail on Sunday (picked up from an investigation by Sky News) of plans by Islamic State commanders to blow up the Queen. The RMT union announced two more strikes on the London Underground for the last week in August. Network Rail was fined £2 million by the rail regulator for delays in 2014-15, many of them at London Bridge. A tanker carrying propane gas caught fire on the M56 motorway near Chester. England won the Ashes series after beating Australia by an innings and 78 runs at Trent Bridge; Australia had been bowled out for 60

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Why all the Labour leadership candidates have failed to deal with Jeremy Corbyn

Even though Jeremy Corbyn has the Big Mo in this Labour leadership campaign, it is fair to say that Yvette Cooper has had a pretty good few weeks too. The Shadow Home Secretary managed to produce all her passion for her speech today in which she finally rounded on Corbyn, as well as rightly attacking the idea that only those at the hard ends of the political spectrum are the ones with principles. This evening she has bagged the endorsement of the Guardian. Andy Burnham, meanwhile, has not been enjoying the campaign since his bungled handling of the welfare bill. It was striking this afternoon to hear callers on his

Steerpike Steerpike

Is the dream over? Corbyn’s friend comes out against him

It’s safe to say that today has not been a great day for the Corbyn campaign. After Yvette Cooper gave a speech claiming her Labour leadership rival’s policies are neither original nor credible, Corbyn’s good friend Paul Flynn has come out against him. Despite being tipped for a plum role in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet should he be elected, Flynn — who endorsed Liz Kendall before he knew Corbyn was entering the race — says that he cannot support his like-minded colleague’s leadership bid: ‘My caller today asked why I have not declared support for Jeremy Corbyn. He is my closest friend among the candidates. I have spoken on more public platforms with him in

Robert Philpot

Labour’s losing instinct

It appeared the ultimate summer ‘silly season’ story: that Labour would choose an unrepentant, self-consciously unspun bearded leftie as its leader. But, as ballot papers for the leadership election are dispatched, the story is threatening to close with a nightmare final chapter for the party. This week the pollsters YouGov had Corbyn 20 points ahead of Andy Burnham, his closest rival, and in a position to win the contest in its first round. Labour thus faces the prospect of a defeat in 2020 that could make Margaret Thatcher’s 1983 landslide look small-scale. But while Corbyn’s rise may not have been predicted, it was eminently predictable. Labour has consistent form when

Wednesday

Ed West

Corbynmania has shaken my faith in my own loony right-wing opinions

I used to consider myself to be in tune with the general public on politics, by which I meant – on the loony wing of the Tory party. After all, I told myself, we have widespread public support on crime, immigration, Europe and most issues involving morality. Things had only gone wrong because a modernising clique based in Notting Hill wanted to reject true conservatism and embrace social liberalism, a liberalism that is neither popular nor especially rational or workable. But I have to say that Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership bid has rather shaken my confidence in the whole ‘authentic right’ thing. Seeing all the arguments being made by the Corbynites

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

What happens if Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t win?

Jeremy Corbyn is ahead in the Labour leadership race to the extent that it will now be something of a surprise if he doesn’t win. YouGov has published a poll putting Corbyn 32 points ahead of Andy Burnham on first preferences on 53 per cent and 21 per cent respectively, and 24 points ahead of Yvette Cooper in the final round voting on 62 per cent to 38 per cent. Corbyn is now the 1/2 favourite to win the contest according to Ladbrokes. He has had the Big Mo for weeks, and as ballots go out this week, he is sustaining that momentum at just the right time. In fact,

Monday

Steerpike

Corbynmania takes hold of the Tories

Forget Tories4Corbyn, a new craze is taking hold of Conservative politicians across the country. With Jeremy Corbyn’s popularity now at an all-time high, he has amassed a hoard of female fans who have described him as sexy in ‘a world weary sea dog’ sort of way. Now it seems the Tories too want in on the action. In a bid to look more like the man of the moment, David Gauke — who is the current Financial Secretary to the Treasury — has grown his beard out in the style of Corbyn. #Corbynmania reaches my chin. Temporarily. pic.twitter.com/C2OKJXlfNi — David Gauke (@DavidGauke) August 10, 2015 What’s more, he’s not alone; Ed Vaizey has also been

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Clause IV or not, Jeremy Corbyn wants to change Labour

Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters and spokespeople are fiercely debating whether or not he told the Independent on Sunday’s Jane Merrick that he wants to bring back clause IV. His quote to the journalist seems pretty clear: ‘I think we should talk about what the objectives of the party are, whether that’s restoring Clause Four as it was originally written or it’s a different one. But we shouldn’t shy away from public participation, public investment in industry and public control of the railways. ‘I’m interested in the idea that we have a more inclusive, clearer set of objectives. I would want us to have a set of objectives which does include public

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 6 August 2015

Home Tom Hayes, aged 35, a former City trader who rigged the Libor rates daily for nearly four years while working in Tokyo for UBS, then Citigroup, from 2006 until 2010, was jailed by Southwark Crown Court for 14 years for conspiracy to defraud. The government sold a 5.4 per cent stake in Royal Bank of Scotland, for 330p a share, against the 500p or so that it paid six or seven years ago to save the banking group; the government now owns 73 per cent of RBS. Monitor, the regulator for health services in England, sent out letters ‘challenging the plans of the 46 foundation trusts with the biggest

Steerpike Steerpike

Lynton Crosby offers Nigel Farage some career advice

In an interview with Sky News Australia, David Cameron’s former election strategist Lynton Crosby has today offered his thoughts on the Prime Minister’s rivals. Unsurprisingly, his conclusions are hardly flattering. However, the man who has taken the brunt of Crosby’s ire is Nigel Farage. Crosby claims that Ukip does not have ‘a long-term future’. Furthermore, instead of trying to win a Westminster seat again, Farage would be better advised to look for chat show work in Australia: ‘They are very reliant on the performance of their leader Nigel Farage and even he couldn’t win a seat. Sixth or seventh time he’s tried to win a Westminster seat. I think he might be

Steerpike Steerpike

Jeremy Corbyn appears to endorse Diane Abbott for London Mayor (again)

Last week Diane Abbott was caught in a sticky situation after her campaign sent out a text to supporters that was allegedly from Jeremy Corbyn. It claimed that the Labour leadership favourite is backing her to be the Labour candidate to run for Mayor. Although Corbyn and Abbott are close, Corbyn’s team were quick to distance themselves, claiming the ‘text wasn’t authorised’. It was then reported that Corbyn had decided not to formally support a candidate in the mayoral race. So Mr S can’t help but wonder if Abbott’s campaign leaflets have been ‘authorised’? Last night at the Evening Standard‘s Labour mayoral hustings, Abbott had her team hand out campaign literature which carried a

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

How Jeremy Corbyn could boost David Cameron’s majority

Tories tend to think that Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader will be fabulously useful for their party, returning them an even bigger majority in 2020 and pitching his own party into such turmoil that it struggles to work as an effective Opposition. But one benefit of his leadership to the existing Tory majority has been overlooked, which is the effect it would have on the Democratic Unionist Party. Sources in the DUP point out to me that given Corbyn’s friendship with Sinn Fein, they would be unable to work with Labour to exert pressure on the Conservatives in key votes. This may mean that the eight DUP MPs are more likely

Alex Clark

Man of many worlds

By the kind of uncanny coincidence that would tickle his psychogeographically minded friends Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd, Michael Moorcock’s publishers have recently moved offices to the same corner of London occupied by his latest novel, The Whispering Swarm; and just as their rather swanky embankment premises are called Carmelite House, so does the religious order provide Moorcock with one of his key characters. It is a Carmelite monk who leads the book’s teenage protagonist, one ‘Michael Moorcock’, from an ABC teashop to a mysterious enclave just off post-Blitz Fleet Street. There, behind a ‘battered oaken gate’, the precocious journalist and budding science-fiction writer is introduced to ‘Alsacia’, a secret

Matthew Parris Matthew Parris

If Corbyn wins, he could split the Tories too

‘Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?’ asked C.P. Cavafy in his poem ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’: Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come. And some who have just returned from the border say there are no barbarians any longer. And now, what’s going to happen to us without barbarians? They were, those people, a kind of solution. All through your and my life the Labour party have been at the gates of Downing Street, and often enough stormed them, only to be beaten back at a subsequent election. What might happen to the Conservative party if those barbarians disappear? We must not assume that Jeremy Corbyn will