Sir Keir Starmer languishes in the polls, even after Dominic Cummings’ explosive claims about the inner workings of Downing Street during the coronavirus pandemic. This is a damning state of affairs for the leader of the Labor Party, who has taken the unprecedented decision to accept a deeply personal interview with Piers Morgan – which is due to air tomorrow night. Sitting down with the former host of Good Morning Britain for an episode of his ITV show, Life Stories, Sir Keir is trying to make himself seem easier to understand and engage with audiences after a series of disappointing election results.
He finds himself at the head of a political party going through an existential crisis after Labor’s beating in the last general election was followed by a defeat in the Hartlepool by-elections and a far from satisfactory performance in the local elections for an opposition party.
But Sir Keir is arguably the most tarnished by his stance on Brexit, as he’s widely seen as a key architect in Labor’s tendency to back a second referendum ahead of the last election.
Since the landmark 2016 vote, he has always maintained that the will of the people should be respected – but that hasn’t stopped Prime Minister Johnson from calling him ‘an advocate for the rest’.
This perception seems to have taken hold in Labor circles as well, as reported in Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire’s book “Left Out”.
Mr Pogrund and Mr Maguire note that as the Labor Party conference in 2018 approached, the ‘shadow cabinet was fragmenting’ on Brexit.
They write: “Mr. Corbyn’s position had been not to take one – to ensure that the shadow cabinet and its own inner circle were united around the same, whoever it was.
But as Prime Minister Theresa May finalized her proposed withdrawal agreement with the EU at the time, that approach was starting to wear off and “his oldest allies wavered around”.
The book continues: “Once a shrill Eurosceptic, Diane Abbott had mellowed with her time and taken the same line as another Europe and Labor voters and activists in her constituency: the 2016 Brexit vote was the result of ‘a right-wing racist project. that all good progressives must resist.
“The impact a Tory Brexit would have on migration weighed heavily on Ms Abbott.”
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This point appears to have been a view shared by other members of the Shadow Cabinet – Sir Keir included, according to MM. Pogrund and Maguire.
However, he met the wrath of the Corbynites who represented the Party constituencies in the Red Wall seats – notably Jon Trickett and Ian Lavery.
Mr Pogrund and Mr Maguire note: ‘At meetings of the Brexit subcommittee, she [Ms Abbott] argued alongside [Emily] Thornberry and Sir Keir in opposition to the axis of blokeishness of Mr. Trickett and Mr. Lavery.
“In one meeting, Mr. Lavery, who abided by the same working-class code of honor that had governed behavior at the Northumberland miners’ welfare clubs, was even pressured into breaking his order of abnegation to take the oath in front of women.
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“Mrs. Abbott had seemed to suggest that voters in the North were racist; Sir Keir nodded softly, apparently in agreement.
“Mr. Lavery exploded, declaiming at length Sir Keir, the only man available to absorb the shooting.
“‘If you’re okay with that, would you like to try again, my son?’
“His rage was making Sir Keir falter now; whose maneuvers before the conference would give his answer to M. Lavery.
Labor then passed a motion at the September 2018 conference that would leave the door open for the party calling for a second referendum.
As Mr. Lavery seemed to predict, this decision was a disaster.
Work was decimated in the Red Wall sieges – across Wales and the north of England – and, although Mr Corbyn’s lack of personal appeal was a big factor, Brexit was largely considered the key.
‘Left Out’ was released by Vintage in 2020, it is available here.
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This notice was published: 2021-05-31 17:10:00
