Rebecca Long-Bailey knew perfectly well that she was being kept on in order to be purged. More fool her for going along with it. But purged on what basis?
As a good Morning Star MP for a Leave-voting constituency, she was to be purged in order to make it clear that Labour was now as anti-Brexit as it was pro-austerity, and openly glad to be rid of a very broadly defined North.
Now that she has been, then everyone who is cheering her dismissal is cheering that. They are cheering an Official Opposition that still regards Brexit, which after all has not been concluded, as an open question. Think on.
Strong support from the three Corbyn Shadow Cabinet members other than Corbyn himself who definitely vote Leave: Ian Lavery, Jon Trickett and Richard Burgon.
ReplyDeleteLavery and Trickett have done sterling work on why Labour lost the Red Wall, by moving from the pro-Brexit and anti-austerity party that only its own staff could stop from winning in 2017, to being the anti-Brexit party that went down to a catastrophic defeat in 2019, and which is now reverting to its pre-Corbyn support for austerity as well.
DeleteNobody in Labour is listening, though. Whereas the other side seems to know exactly who brought it to the dance, merrily implementing the economic programme that Corbyn and McDonnell could never quite get past Labour's committee system.
Since nobody in the Government has expressed the ludicrous view that The Independent might have published Maxine Peake's original words without checking them, perhaps Rebecca Long-Bailey should seek some sort of consultancy role with the Government? Its economic programme is much more in line with her views than Labour's is, and it is on course to condemn the impending annexation of the Jordan Valley.