{"id":9957,"date":"2016-09-22T16:59:38","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T15:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=9957"},"modified":"2016-09-22T16:59:38","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T15:59:38","slug":"labour-mps-shape-up-and-unite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=9957","title":{"rendered":"Labour MPs: Shape up and unite"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At last Wednesday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (September 14) prime minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s question time (PMQs) Jeremy Corbyn heard a sound that up until then had been absent from the Commons chamber \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the sound of cheering from behind.<\/p>\n

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He had become used to jeering from the benches opposite. And silence around but it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t throw him off course. He just got on with it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now on the eve of the announcement for the Labour leadership Theresa May handed him a gift \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a return to grammar schools. This has all the makings of a touchstone policy that can unite Labour, upset some of her own MPs and provide a platform that will bring a short lived \u00e2\u20ac\u0098political honeymoon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to an even quicker end.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m always surprised at how politicians believe their own propaganda. She is prime minister because her predecessor, David Cameron, blew it in spectacular fashion.\u00c2\u00a0 He too made the same mistake after winning an, albeit small majority, at the last general election.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This was compounded in his head when he was on the winning side of the independence referendum in Scotland.\u00c2\u00a0 He patently believed in his own invincibility \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0 lacking as he did the voice that reminds leaders;<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Memento mori,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00c2\u00a0 roughly speaking,\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Remember that thou art a man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gove, Johnson and Leadsom didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how to maximise their chances following their win.\u00c2\u00a0 The campaign had played to prejudices and untruths with rhetoric devoid of rational argument.\u00c2\u00a0 And with no plan on hand they appeared to be so poleaxed by the result they had to go into a darkened room to recover.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No choice<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Cameron had no choice but to stand down as prime minister.\u00c2\u00a0 Calling the referendum on EU membership was foolish in the extreme.\u00c2\u00a0 We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had decades of blame shifting by the right-wing popular press and by euro-sceptic Tory politicians. Pre-cooking an already hostile environment gave those wanting out an easier ride.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We know how it went.\u00c2\u00a0 NHS underfunding then blame the EU for taking our money when it could be invested in health care.\u00c2\u00a0 A claim abandoned once the result was known.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We would be able to take back control of our borders despite the fact that we still had passport controls.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Outers blamed the EU for the fact that our steel industry couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be saved.\u00c2\u00a0 We couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bail out so called dying companies but we can bail out banks.\u00c2\u00a0 And the most mendacious of all blaming immigration for all the woes on housing, education and wages.\u00c2\u00a0 The Outers peddled their blatant anti-immigration propaganda heightening tensions to fever pitch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As it was we were already semi-detached from the EU\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s overarching project with its membership of the euro and the Schengen agreement. Outers knew they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t giving the full story. They knew they were playing on emotions and not rationality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course reality will out. If you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t catch Evan Davis interviewing Daniel Hannan Conservative MEP, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth watching.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Davis becomes totally exasperated by Hannan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s argument that we remain in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098common market\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for the free flow of labour.\u00c2\u00a0 Evans with head in hand put it to Hannan that one of the main planks of those wanting out was that immigration would be cut. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Davis was being unduly theatrical here it was just that the penny had dropped. Broadcasters hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tested the Outers claims rigorously enough.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We can hear Davis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 voice of despair when Hannan replied that the UK would have to accept free movement in order to remain in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098European common market\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe idea of staying within a common market but outside the political integration, I think that is feasible,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Mr Hannan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Free movement?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Evan Davis then asked whether that meant the free movement of people between a post-Brexit Britain and the EU?\u00c2\u00a0 And Hannan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reply, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt means free movement of labour.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His argument is perfectly understandable for a free marketer. Bosses used to rely on a pool of unemployment to keep down wages now they had a greater pool of skilled labour from the Eastern European countries to call on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So now we have a prime minister \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there by default when her opponent pulled out \u00e2\u20ac\u201c being handed a free pass by sections of the Parliamentary Labour Party to consolidate her premiership.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Instead of taking the fight to the Conservative government, when the Tories were at their most vulnerable they picked up their boxing gloves, donned on their hoodies and propelled Owen Smith MP for Pontypridd into the ring for a pummelling.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They should have left their hoodies behind. No one can strike a pose in an oversized coat with the hood up quite like Paralympic swimmer, Ellie Robinson.\u00c2\u00a0 She was the genuine thing and unlike those Labour MPs she went on to win.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the result is announced Labour MPs have got to shape up.\u00c2\u00a0 We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to stop this internal fight and unite.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article first appeared in Tribune September 15.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joy Johnson writes in a personal capacity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At last Wednesday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (September 14) prime minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s question time (PMQs) Jeremy Corbyn heard a sound that up until then had been absent from the Commons chamber \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the sound of cheering from behind.   He had become used to jeering from the benches opposite. And silence around but it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t throw him off course. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[464],"wps_subtitle":"Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let PM by default get settled, says Joy Johnson ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9957"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9959,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9957\/revisions\/9959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}