Jeremy Corbyn – Slugger O'Toole

The backtop is back in business after Johnson’s denial is nakedly exposed

Brian Walker on December 6, 2019, 1:06 pm

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It’s not actually news that there will “be a border down the Irish Sea” if Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreement is passed. But if the document Jeremy Corbyn has been waving this morning is an authentic Treasury paper, it shows that Johnson is lying or at best or in denial. He will surely be pressed to explain himself in tonight’s BBC debate with Jeremy Corbyn. Taken at face value it means Johnson will denounce his own withdrawal agreement as soon as …

The Labour left have won the party battle but with ammunition like this, they look like losing the war

Brian Walker on December 3, 2019, 4:17 pm

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Andrew Murray Andrew Murray is an easy man to demonise. Born to Scottish gentry, he’s a Unite official and former Communist, joining Jeremy Corbyn’s team only in 2016. Accused of being a Russian spy, he claimed he was a victim of the British “deep state.” Nevertheless the Financial Times has paid Murray the compliment of objectively reviewing his new book “The Rise and Fall of the British Left. “ Like it or loathe it, the Left critique of post-recession capitalism …

For Northern Ireland and the Union, the choices after the election are all to play for

Brian Walker on November 18, 2019, 11:54 am

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Peering into a crystal ball however cloudy is as irresistible for the curious voter as the compulsive gambler. Favourable predictions for the Conservatives range from an overall majority of over 100 to fewer MPs than May won in 2017 but still the largest party. Serious hopes of a Labour majority are round about nil. They are likely to need the support on some basis of minority parties, the SNP, the Lib Dems and who knows? – even the DUP. Johnson’s …

The Supreme Court decision may be momentous but does it change anything over Brexit? Can a ” government of national unity” unite the country around a New Deal altogether?

Brian Walker on September 24, 2019, 1:02 pm

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Supreme Court President Lady Hale The Supreme Court decision is a constitutional big deal, but has it changed anything in the Brexit timetable? The Conservative party with most if not all of the dissidents included will not overthrow Boris Johnson and plunge themselves into another leadership crisis. The DUP will endorse that. If Johnson wants to continue slash’n burn, he challenges Corbyn to an immediate general election tomorrow. This means he’s compelled to abandon withdrawal “ no if’s not buts …

Basic flaw in Labour’s referendum plan makes it unworkable

Brian Walker on September 22, 2019, 1:22 pm

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We have arrived at one of those moments when something that’s agonising lots of clever people for years has a basic flaw which people caught up in controversy have been more or less blind to. Corbyn’s fence sitting has been well and truly exposed as absurd. Why should the EU offer Labour a Brexit deal if most of its members want to campaign against it? But if they somehow succeed, how could the leadership stay neutral on the deal they’ve …

Johnson and Corbyn will compete for power by selling out the Union

Brian Walker on August 7, 2019, 7:00 am

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All the hooh- hah from Polly Toynbee and others about forming a government of national unity to stop No Deal – forget it. Boris Johnson won’t even have to bother committing the constitutional crime my constitutional expert friends have been deploring. It’ll never get to that. Their best hope now is a general election but one called pretty much on Johnson’s terms and timing. Robert Peston’s trenchant piece saves me the bother of explaining. It’s so good I quote it …

Preview – Mayday! Making (even more of) a drama out of Brexit with Rosemary Jenkinson (Accidental Theatre at the end of May)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 14, 2019, 2:11 pm

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Playwright Rosemary Jenkinson is turning her satirical pen away from Stormont and is dipping her nib in the dark ink pot of Westminster with her latest rapid response work – Mayday! – a one woman show with Jo Donnelly playing Prime Minister Theresa May.

Tory and Labour splits widen as Parliament gropes its way painfully towards a soft Brexit. Guess who might be about to hop on board?

Brian Walker on April 4, 2019, 1:33 am

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A Twitter blizzard, floods of Live updates and lurid headlines convey the pace and drama of events. Tory Brexiteer fury as May is seen as recruiting Corbyn to pass a soft Brexit. A secret ballot on Theresa May’s leadership *will not* be granted by 1922 committee of all Tory backbenchers – the feeling is it will only add to instability. They can’t hold a formal process because December’s vote gives May a one year grace period. Asked one rhetorically: …

Things fall apart… but if a new centre is forming, it’s more like a rough beast at the moment

Brian Walker on February 14, 2019, 8:46 am

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As Mrs May faces another defeat … on the Conservative side.. Hardline Brexit supporters are threatening to inflict yet another Commons defeat on Theresa May because they fear the government is effectively ruling out leaving the EU with no deal. Members of the Tory European Research Group are unhappy with the wording of a No 10 motion because it endorses parliament’s vote against any Brexit without a withdrawal agreement. The motion for debate on Thursday simply affirms “the approach to leaving the EU” backed …

Theresa May must do business with Jeremy Corbyn. So is it goodbye DUP?

Brian Walker on February 8, 2019, 2:50 pm

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In her heart, Theresa May must realise that her desperate attempts to hold a Conservative majority together and avoid a crash out No Deal in fifty days’ time are on the point of collapse. She told Donald Tusk yesterday that her party would never unite behind Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit letter and that 30 of her MPs would never back her deal unless changes were made to the Irish backstop. To hear them all talk you’d think they had all the …

Brexiteers at bay after the first day of May talks widens internal party splits

Brian Walker on January 18, 2019, 12:23 am

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As Paul Waugh aptly says in Huffpost.. The lectern moment’ really is wearing thin as a useful dramatic device for Theresa May. She’s stood on the steps of No.10 so many times now that she’s devalued the currency of its impact. And after this week’s shattering defeat of her Brexit plan, more than ever it seems like her Downing Street announcements are all words and no action. May rightly said the nation needs to ‘come together’, but showed little flexibility or humility needed to make …

Excuse the dampener -don’t be surprised if the moment of truth is postponed – again

Brian Walker on January 15, 2019, 12:04 am

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To be fair, in her direct appeal to MPs “to take a second look,” Theresa May made a better fist at making the case for her Deal in the Commons than she did earlier at the Doulton pottery in Stoke. For the first time she was saying that the Scottish nationalists and the “Ulster” nationalists of the DUP would carry the can for a catastrophic result. As a proud Unionist, I share the concerns of Members who want to ensure …

Eastwood criticises Jeremy Corbyn over backstop claims

David McCann on November 21, 2018, 5:31 pm

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The SDLP Leader, Colum Eastwood has criticised the comments of the Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn about the Withdrawal Agreement potentially putting a border down the Irish Sea. In his statement he says; Jeremy Corbyn’s continued opposition to the draft Withdrawal Agreement, based on the myth that it would create a border down the Irish Sea, is not only wrong, it is disingenuous. “To be clear, this deal does not involve a customs border in the Irish Sea. There will be …

From Jeremy Corbyn, the chance of a Brexit breakthrough

Brian Walker on September 27, 2018, 12:12 am

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For some, Jeremy Corbyn had at last managed to deliver the usual old conference guff and sound like a leader. But for many others well beyond the hard Left, Corbyn’s speech took them out of the tight old Tory straightjacket, if just for a moment. The Brexit passage was particularly clever. Whether he entirely believes in or not, Corbyn made an offer to Theresa May that could be the Brexit breakthrough, one that’s compatible with her comments on the plane …

The media’s inability to tear Corbyn down is no surprise to people in Ireland. Our media has been failing to tear Sinn Féin down for decades.

Richard Gallagher on April 25, 2018, 12:22 pm

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In the UK, Jeremy Corbyn has come under an attack from the establishment media the likes of which we have never seen an opposition leader be subjected to before. Just about everything has been thrown at him, from IRA sympathising, colluding with Czech spies, anti-Semitism, to taking three hours to congratulate William and Kate on the birth of their third child. Importantly however, nothing has stuck. Corbyn continues to shrug it off, rise in the polls and remains on track …

The Conservatives have a mountain to climb to challenge Labour’s social media dominance

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on October 2, 2017, 11:37 pm

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In the wake of this year’s snap general election, it has become apparent that age, not social class, has become the new fault line in British politics. Analysis published by YouGov highlights the woeful electoral performance by the Conservatives amongst younger voters. Amongst 18 and 19 year old voters at the 2017 general election, Labour were ahead of the Tories by a staggering 47 points (66% to 19%), and were 40 points ahead of the Conservatives with voters in their …

Corbyn’s failure to close down the IRA story rests on some inconvenient truths..

Consigliere on May 30, 2017, 7:04 am

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In the purist world of the most starry-eyed Corbynistas, the saintly Jeremy has no time for spin or subterfuge. That’s what the evil Blairites did, after all. But when it comes to his past stance on the IRA, spin is exactly what the Labour leader and his fan base have been attempting. Not very well either. So let’s dispense with the myth-making. The blunt truth is that Jeremy Corbyn and his fellow Labour left travellers campaigned politically for an IRA …

Yes, Corbyn condemned the IRA. And the rest

Elaine Crory on May 22, 2017, 4:42 pm

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Yesterday Jeremy Corbyn allegedly refused to condemn the IRA when pressed multiple times during a television interview. This sent various media into a frothing overdrive, delighted Conservatives, and apparently set off the whataboutery alarm at DUP headquarters, who immediately and predictably declared Corbyn “beyond the political pale”. Except, of course, he did not refuse to condemn the IRA. Rather, he insisted on condemning the IRA and any other perpetrator of violence by condemning “violence on all sides”. James Brokenshire, who …

Shock horror EXCLUSIVE! MI5 had Jeremy Corbyn under surveillance into the 1990s, for “links to the IRA”

Brian Walker on May 20, 2017, 6:38 am

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Billed as “Exclusive, MI5”, the Daily Telegraph splashes with a predictable twist on an ancient theme, that Jeremy Corbyn had been under surveillance for having “ links” to the IRA. This is the flip side of the super-patriotic coin that supports army veterans in their campaign, backed by Theresa May, against prosecutions for illegal actions in Northern Ireland and now supported by the Commons Defence Select Committee. It’s so much easier than thinking to take sides and leave it at …

Like the Samurai, Labour faces the verdict of the machine guns

Kevin Meagher on May 7, 2017, 9:56 pm

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Labour Party in Northern Ireland

There’s a scene in the Tom Cruise epic, ‘The Last Samurai,’ where the main characters – noble samurai (as the film title suggests) – charge the battlefield against the Western-trained forces of the Japanese Emperor. One by one, these brave warriors are cut down by machine-gun fire. Their swords and bows and arrow useless against the latest military technology of the time. They know they face near certain death, but honour and belief drives them forward. This final battle signifies …