Oddbean

@a8a3ca9d @0f342e77 @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 the main policy that seems to have caused Labour support to fall off a cliff in 2019 was the party saying it was supporting a second EU referendum in January. https://media.mastodon.nu/media_attachments/files/111/030/277/054/311/426/original/ac96198c93b4b2f6.png

@b870d4c8 @0f342e77 @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/12/starmer-should-apologise-for-labours-brexit-position-say-ex-shadow-ministers Terrible for #Corbyn 's #Labour party, but worked out pretty well for #Starmer 's Labour party. Funny that.

@a8a3ca9d @b870d4c8 @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 Ian Lavery Jon Trickett & Laura Smith? 🙄 Mate, please get serious! They were all complicit with Corbyn's disastrous reign! They've ALL been despatched from frontline politics, & now Labour's sporting a 20% poll lead. I wonder why? Who was party leader when the 2nd Ref was proposed? Are you saying #Starmer threatened #Corbyn & made him make it Labour Party Policy? 🤔 Well if Corbyn was that weak, he had no business being Labour Leader!😳

@b870d4c8 @a8a3ca9d @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 1/ If only we knew then what we know now about Brexit, & an 80% Remain #Labour Party wasn't led by a man who was a career-long Eurosceptic hey? 🤔 This was the dilemma #Corbyn faced. His party wanted one thing, but his heart was set on the UK being outside the EU. What a fuckin mess! 🙄

@b870d4c8 @a8a3ca9d @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 2/ So what effort did #Corbyn put into the Brexit Ref? What effort did he put into a 2nd Ref? He couldn't even say which way he'd campaign if he got a 2nd Ref! Don't you recall Corbyn's disastrous head to head TV debate? Well that's when Labour support totally collapsed in the polls. As for the 2nd Ref being #Starmer's fault? A 2nd Ref was PARTY POLICY! Corbyn was leader & made the final decisions, so how's that Starmer's problem? 🤔

@b870d4c8 @a8a3ca9d @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 Just before GE2019. Go to 20 seconds in. Prior to this Doris challenged him to confirm if he'd campaign for Remain or Leave if he won & got his 2nd referendum. He was asked several times, & REFUSED to answer, leaving himself looking like a disingenuous clown! This was the night Labour's election hopes died in front of a national TV audience! The day after, Corbyn came out & said Remain, BUT it was too late! 🙄 https://youtu.be/WblD51H5ggI?si=6qsV5x384UP3QWRr

@b870d4c8 @a8a3ca9d @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 Because of Corbyn's ambiguous flip flopping on Brexit since the referendum, Labour were already on notice. Theresa May knew Brexit would be a disaster, so trying to be sensible offered no clear differential between the #Tories & #Labour, hence her losing her wafer thin majority in 2017. Doris came along with 'Get Brexit Done' & put distance between the parties. Corbyn was all over the place, & support ebbed away to the charismatic Doris.

@b870d4c8 @a8a3ca9d @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 The night of that fateful TV debate, I felt something die inside of me! 😪 Labour activists were crushed & the stench of impending defeat never left us. All we could hear on the doorstep is "It's not Labour, it's Corbyn. Can't you get rid of him?" Blair Brown & Campbell warned him NOT to agree to an election, but because they suggested it, it seemed that's what pushed him over the edge into agreeing to have one. What a fuckin disaster!

@0f342e77 @a8a3ca9d @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 I think an election became inevitable when the SNP decided to vote for one. I remember doing the sums at the time. I agree going for an election was a huge mistake for all the non-tories.

@b870d4c8 @a8a3ca9d @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 No. It all depended on Labour votes. The DUP had a confidence & supply arrangement with the Tories. The SNP were on course to wipe out Labour, so agreed. Jo Swindon believed the Lib Dems could win so she too fell for the Tories demand for an election, but it still wasn't enough. After warnings from Blair, Brown & Campbell, this made Corbyn bite back & agree to the election in September 2019. It signalled the end for #Labour. 🤷🏾‍♂️

@b870d4c8 @a8a3ca9d @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 It all depended on #Labour mate. If you remember, the #Tories didn't even have a majority, & it needed a ⅔ parliamentary majority to change Cameron's 5 year fixed term parliaments. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-blair-idUSKCN1VN0RT

@b870d4c8 @a8a3ca9d @d4b01ab1 @ee4cb8b5 @02439a38 No worries mate. Like yourself, I'm here to share knowledge & to learn too. #Corbyn showed how useless he was for falling for the trap. What happened on 13th December 2019, is exactly as Blair predicted on 2nd September. Egged on by #Momentum & their belief they could mobilised the greatest election campaign force in history, they too believed Corbyn would win easily. In that moment, he proved what a naive political fool he was. 🙄