Prime minister Rishi Sunak characterised Keir Starmer as a Jeremy Corbyn ally at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on Wednesday 17 April:
He tried to make his predecessor Prime Minister. Despite him opposing NATO and Trident, ignoring antisemitism, and siding with our enemies.
The tools used to secure Corbyn’s defeat
But Starmer undermined Corbyn through pushing a second referendum while Shadow Brexit Secretary. He said in June 2019:
There are many in the Labour party who feel we need to be very clear about a second referendum and about making the case for Remain.
That’s certainly what I’m advocating, discussions are going on at the moment, I hope we can resolve it pretty soon, and that will be a material step in the right direction as far as I’m concerned
Then in the 2019 election, almost all the seats Labour lost in England and Wales were Brexit voting seats.
A party of government cannot ignore the result of a referendum. A majority of people wanted the result respected at the time.
Labour’s position handed Boris Johnson the argument he needed to win the election – incredibly it painted Johnson as the one protecting democracy.
Starmer later lied his way to the Labour leadership with his broken pledges. He then reversed his position on a second referendum, instead whipping Labour MPs to vote for the Tory Party’s Brexit trade deal in 2020.
Starmer certainly changed his tune:
It is about being a serious, responsible opposition. At a moment of such national significance, it is not credible for Labour to be on the sidelines.
This demonstrates Starmer only supported a second referendum as shadow Brexit secretary to ensure Corbyn lost.
The Labour leader has also tried to cement the antisemitism smear campaign against his predecessor. He purged Corbyn through suspending him from the party and blocking him from running for Labour.
That’s despite a content analysis from the Media Reform Coalition concluding that media coverage on Labour and antisemitism was a “disinformation paradigm”.
The Labour right, meanwhile, pushed the party to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism in full, which conflates antisemitism with criticism of Israel.
PMQs: Sunak also telling lies
Contrary to Sunak’s comment at PMQs, neither Labour’s 2017 nor 2019 manifestos under Corbyn pledged an end to NATO or Trident.
The 2019 manifesto actually stated:
- Introduce a War Powers Act to ensure that no prime
minister can bypass Parliament to commit to conventional
military action.- Conduct an audit of the impact of Britain’s colonial
legacy to understand our contribution to the dynamics of
violence and insecurity across regions previously under
British colonial rule.- Invest an additional £400 million in our diplomatic
capacity.
It’s also warmongering nonsense when Sunak suggests Corbyn sides with enemies through taking a negotiation-based approach. For instance, while the government was still centred on violence in the North of Ireland, Corbyn worked towards a peace process.
Diplomacy is the right way to approach conflicts such as the Troubles.
Corbyn was right on a lot – but Starmer ensured he lost, paving the way for the former shadow Brexit secretary to lead the establishment recapture of the Labour Party. We must oppose this.
Featured image via Sky News – YouTube
