If I was the leader of the Labour Party I would not ask Diane Abbott to go on TV programmes to represent my party.
She appeared on The Andrew Marr Show, today. to be interviewed by Nick Robinson. One of his first questions was straightforward. Are you in favour of Brexit or are you in favour of stopping it?
A straightforward question, but a convoluted answer. Like all politicians who oppose leaving the EU she starts of by paying lip service the decision of the majority in the referendum. “We are in favour of respecting the votes of the 17 million people who voted for Brexit.” Like all mealy-mouthed pro-European politicians, the deference to the referendum vote is asserted first, followed immediately by a statement which is just a disguised way of saying they are NOT going to respect the majority decision. Abbott’s version of the twist is to say, ‘We are also in favour …. of getting the best possible negotiated deal’. Not exactly a clear statement of policy.
So Nick Robinson decided to put the question to her even more directly. He asked her if the Labour Party would block Brexit in parliament if the government does not approach the negotiations in a way approved of by the Labour Party. Her answer? “We are not going to block it in a trivial way. But there are really important issues for the British economy.” So reassuring to hear thet Labour are not going to block leaving the EU “in a trivial way”. So we can presume they will block it, but in a non-trivial way.
She did not like the word “block”. “Block makes it sound as though we are being wilful.” But she went on to say we will make the case for what is right for the British economy. In other words, we will block it.
The plan of Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and other Remain campaigners is clear. They want what they call a soft Brexit. What it means is NOT leaving the EU. Stay in the single market, accept the free movement of capital and labour, pay whatever the EU demands. In fact, stay in the EU in all but name.
So there you have it. Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet have climbed on the anti-Leave bandwagon. They are going to respect the decision of the electorate – by trying to overturn it.
The Labour Party under Corbyn is fully committed to running a capitalist economy in the interests of capitalism. Hopefully they can get a few concessions out of the ruling class, so they can try and sell their shameless pandering to Capital as socialism. But they are adamant that British capitalism retain its membership of the capitalist club that is the EU. And they are not going to let a little thing like democracy stand in their way.