Solid Workers

Owen Jones asks why are groups of hard remainers refusing to acknowledge the victory their marches, campaigning, and consistent pressure have won. If you go back to the so-called People's Vote demonstrations, many a speaker called on, nay demanded Labour ditch its ambiguous Brexit position. "Where's Jeremy Corbyn?" went the mischievous chants. Well, Jeremy Corbyn is where you wanted him: calling for a second EU referendum with an option to remain. But it's not enough, never enough. Some have moved the goal posts and now only revoking Article 50 will do. Others have vowed to never vote Labour with Corbyn as leader, even if the only discernible route to their political objective is through a Labour government. You can fantasise about the hard positioning of the Liberal Democrats winning a majority, and I can dream of winning the EuroMillions jackpot. We've spoken about Corbynphobia plenty of times . The very prospect of Jeremy Corbyn entering Number 10, if o...

We've heard the declaration . The Liberal Democrats are now the unambiguous party of remain, having junked any pledge for a second referendum for an outright revocation of Article 50. Since getting wrong-footed by Labour , they had to pirouette into Brexit denialism to keep their coveted - and they believe election-winning - title of the most remain of remain parties. Obviously, I think this is wrong. Simply setting aside 17 million votes is not just anti-democratic, it's potentially dangerous. It does have one virtue, though: simplicity. As Jo Swinson has herself said multiple times in multiple interviews, it's about clarity and understanding where the LibDems stand. And yet. One LibDem MP always guaranteed to fluff her media appearance was your friend and mine, Angela Smith. Taking time out from servicing private water interests, she spoke on Victoria Derbyshire this morning . According to her, the LibDem position is still holding a second referendum on a deal versus rem...

A guest post from David Osland Last weekend, The Sunday Times opinion pages carried an article arguing that comparisons between Boris Johnson and Hitler constituted ‘hysteria, hyperbole and mass bed-wetting’. This weekend, the Sunday Times opinion pages carried an article arguing in all apparent seriousness that Jeremy Corbyn in office would seek to channel Robert Mugabe. Double standards from the Murdoch press will hardly surprise anyone on the left. Some of us remember the routine attacks on the Labour Party from the very same publications back in the 1980s, known in the slang of the day as ‘monsterings’. But at a time when an unelected Tory prime minister has just suspended parliament, and the salami-slice erosion of democracy in Britain is self-evidently emanating from the right, the gravity of the charges demands more than tenuous linkage on the back of a couple of anecdotes from any given journo’s student days. The recently-deceased Zimbabwean dictator may not have been in the ...

Just when you thought it was safe to enter the water, it appears. The sea empties with panicked bathers scrambling as far away from the waves they can. They turn and what do they see rising from the foam? Not the jaws and fins of a Great White, no. For bobbing out of the waves is that wretched beast, much-hyped, defeated, and now split into three. Undaunted it keeps coming back, no matter how many times Roy Schneider dynamites the bleeder. It can only be one thing: your friend and mine, another centrist party fantasy . Following hot on the heels of, um, Gavin Shuker's call for a new party , Kate Maltby the sometime Tory is demanding Labour MPs jump ship. "We're not far off a general election", she wails, "and time is running out to stop Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson!" She does at least acknowledge one aspect of political reality: the Labour leader has the confidence of the party membership and is not going anywhere this side of Brexit. She says MPs spendi...

Panorama , the BBC's premier investigative journalism show comes in two flavours. You have considered pieces, usually but not always focusing on allegations of wrongdoing, that sifts through evidence and builds a case for or against that episode's object of scrutiny. And then you have the lazy hit job that sees testimony and documentation arranged without due space for the right of reply, nor the consideration of evidence that flies in the face of the case. Can you guess which way tonight's Panorama alleging leadership interference in anti-semitism complaints went? This isn't the first time a political target has been roughed up this way. Indeed, not long after Jeremy Corbyn came to prominence the BBC used Panorama to suggest he was chillaxed with the Iraqi resistance attacking British soldiers, because in December 2003 Stop the War was present at a conference in Cairo that urged resistance to the US/British invasion, and the declaration of said meeting was published...

In this episode of #RedHacks for Politics Theory Other, Joana Ramiro speaks to Juliet Jacques about her time writing for the liberal and centrist media and how their indulging of transphobia ultimately closed down these avenues for trans and non-binary writers. As ever, a fascinating and thought-provoking listen. The podcast does need your support so please consider donating here .

As the contestants were whittled down from 13 to six, the competition to be the next Prime Minister has hardly improved the quality. The leader of the pack, Boris Johnson, is practically in hiding and refusing to debate his fellow candidates on Channel Four. When the mover and the shaker has ruled out all but the absolute minimum , it is natural media attention should go elsewhere to fill the coverage vacuum. And the beneficiary is Rory Stewart. Looking like an extra from a Jane Austen adaptation, unlike his non-Johnson opponents he is running the nearest this contest has seen to a guerilla campaign. Barred from the usual outlets in the Tory press, Stewart has used social media intelligently and is travelling the country speaking to ordinary people. Think of Jeremy Corbyn circa 2015, but without the crowds. He has successfully managed to bypass the gatekeepers of what passes for Tory thought and is engaging with a wider audience. Unfortunately for him very few of this public have a vot...

Brexit's not going well, is it? The right wing press give voice to the tortures of the Tory backbenches. Imagine their pain, feel their agony. They achieved their heart's desire, a vote affirming their dream of leaving the European Union. And for the best part of two years, their Prime Minister has strung them along. At the height of her powers in 2016 she declared for a hard Brexit, and the Brexit hardcore squealed with glee. And immediately after the election, Theresa May gave her parliamentary party all the assurances that nothing had changed. Brexit was about "controlling our borders", kicking the European Court of Justice out of UK law, dark blue passports, back off Brussels, and signing new trade deals . These fantasies all appeared within reach and, well, May kiboshed them. Not only does her deal cede a great deal of leverage to the European Union should the UK fall into the backstop arrangements, parliament has repeatedly reminded the ERG that their favoured s...