Jeremy corbyn

Tuesday

Sebastian Payne

Behind the scenes with Momentum: what are they up to?

From our UK edition

On Saturday evening, the Eastern Pavilion Banqueting Hall was taken over by Momentum for a curry after a cold and very wet day of campaigning for the Oldham West and Royton by-election. Momentum is a political activist group, founded in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s rise to the Labour leadership. As with most things under his watch, it has received a bad press. Critics in and outside of the Labour party say Momentum is trying to be a party within a party — an effort by hard-left activists to infiltrate Labour as Militant did in the 1980s and make it their own. Everyone I spoke in the Eastern Pavilion vigorously denied this charge, simply telling me they were enthused by Corbyn’s victory in the leadership contest and want to keep the spirit going.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Corbyn survives ‘balanced’/‘ferocious’ meeting of Labour party

From our UK edition

Tonight’s meeting of the parliamentary Labour party could have been a lot worse. It was full of very concerned MPs, many of whom had complaints they wanted to air. A senior Labourite did say it was the most ‘uplifting’ meeting he had attended because of the ‘ferocity’ of attacks on Corbyn. Jack Dromey gave an angry speech about Ken Livingstone’s comments about the 7/7 bombers, which colleagues leaving said was ‘brilliant’, while others expressed concerns about Corbynite grassroots group Momentum, arguing it was going to divide the party. David Winnick described the group as a ‘party within a party’.

Isabel Hardman

Corbyn free vote decision calms Labour frontbench – for now

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn seems to have left Shadow Cabinet meeting with a reasonable result, given the warfare in the Labour party over the past few days. It was what one frontbencher describes as ‘rather lively’ and others felt was ‘totally embarrassing’, but the agreed position is that there will be a free vote, a call for a two day debate and that official party policy will be that set out by the Labour party conference. This is the statement on the matter: ‘Today's Shadow Cabinet agreed to back Jeremy Corbyn's recommendation of a free vote on the Government's proposal to authorise UK bombing in Syria.

Steerpike

Seumas Milne causes problems for the Guardian

From our UK edition

Covering the upcoming Syria vote is proving to be a challenge for hacks at the Guardian. Steerpike understands that the paper is having a difficult time deciding its editorial line on the issue which is currently undermining Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. Meanwhile, the little fact that Corbyn's head of comms Seumas Milne -- the Guardian columnist and associate editor -- is on leave from the paper only complicates matters further. Now the New Statesman's George Eaton reports that the Guardian are even having issues when it comes to their insider briefings.

Isabel Hardman

Is Hilary Benn about to become Labour’s very own Aung San Suu Kyi?

From our UK edition

Labour's shadow cabinet meeting is now over, with members scuttling past a hungry pack of journalists in Portcullis House without comment. Frontbencher sources seem to think that Corbyn told his shadow ministers that they could take their own line but not speak in the Commons about that line if it contradicted the party line (confused? Welcome to the Straight Talking Honest New Politics). This would potentially mean that Hilary Benn can't speak in the Commons as shadow foreign secretary if he decides that what he said last week was a 'compelling' case worth supporting. Party sources suggest that this would make him the Aung San Suu Kyi of Labour, which would not benefit Corbyn in the long run.

Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Corbyn grants Labour MPs a free vote on Syria

From our UK edition

The Shadow Cabinet is now holding its (delayed) meeting on Labour’s stance on Syria, and members have been told that they will get a free vote on the matter. Sources say that Jeremy Corbyn will also ask David Cameron to delay the vote, which is expected on Wednesday, in order to respond to MPs’ concerns, and that the party will still take a position that frontbenchers won't necessarily have to follow. This is a way of avoiding the mass resignations and fury that Shadow Cabinet members were threatening. But it is also a sign that Labour as a party no longer falls within the accepted definition of a political party. Frontbenchers can now take a range of views on a matter of war. They might as well not bother holding Shadow Cabinet from now on. UPDATE, 2.

Isabel Hardman

Labour claims 75 per cent of members oppose air strikes in Syria

From our UK edition

Just minutes before the crunch Shadow Cabinet meeting about the Labour stance on air strikes in Syria, the party has released figures showing an overwhelming majority oppose UK bombing in Syria. This is the statement: 75 per cent of Labour Party members responding to weekend consultation oppose UK bombing in Syria A sample of this weekend's consultation of Labour Party members, carried out in response to an email from Jeremy Corbyn, issued Friday 27th November, has shown that 75 per cent of Labour party members who have responded oppose UK bombing in Syria. 107,875 responses were received of which 64,771 were confirmed as full individual Labour Party members. The remainder included affiliated supporters and registered supporters.

Friday

Steerpike

David Icke comes to Jeremy Corbyn’s defence

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn is not having a good day. A large number of Labour MPs are uniting against him over his stance on Syria, while the news that the Labour party has lifted its suspension of his aide Andrew Fisher has been met with hostility by Caroline Flint and Siobhain McDonagh. With the knives out for the Labour leader, happily Corbyn can at least rely on the support of one man at this testing time. Step forward David Icke. Yes, the purple-tracksuit-wearing-lizard-conspiracist has tweeted his support for Corbyn, sharing a charming clip art picture urging him to 'stand by your principles'. https://twitter.com/davidicke/status/670230963167739904 While Corbyn needs all the friends he can get right now, he may need to treat his new cheerleader with caution.

Sebastian Payne

Labour MPs furious at NEC’s decision to let off Corbyn aide

From our UK edition

The Labour Party has lifted its suspension of Andrew Fisher, a political aide to Jeremy Corbyn, following an investigation into some controversial comments. Prior to his employment with Corbyn, Fisher encouraged voters not to back Labour in Croydon South during May's general election — which would normally result in an expulsion from the party — as well as describing Tony Blair and Alistair Campbell as 'scumbags' and Jack Straw a 'vile git'. After an investigation into these remarks, Labour's National Executive Committee has let Fisher off with a warning. This isn't a surprise, given that NEC member Peter Willsman blogged earlier this week that the Fisher matter would be 'satisfactorily resolved very shortly'.

Douglas Murray

It’s all over for the ‘decent left’, and they have only themselves to blame

From our UK edition

Two weeks after Paris we finally have some clarity from the political left. The current stance of their leadership (as expressed in the Parliamentary Labour party) is that while there is no justification for bombing ISIS, there are many reasons to bomb London. On the same evening that Jeremy Corbyn told his party that he could not support airstrikes on ISIS his old comrade (and head of the Labour party’s new ‘defence review’) Ken Livingstone shared his view on Question Time that the 7/7 bombers ‘gave their lives’ in an act of supremely selfless objection to the 2nd Iraq War. Now I know that there are a few people still on the left who object to this line of thought or try to resist it.

Sebastian Payne

Will Labour’s civil war over bombing Syria cause problems in Oldham West?

From our UK edition

Is Labour taking its eye off the Oldham West and Royton by-election? Next week, the party will be focused on whether it will back bombing Syria, but the by-election following the death of Michael Meacher is also being held on Thursday. Today’s papers are full of headlines proclaiming Labour is at war with itself, so you can understand this statement from Corbyn's office: ‘Regrettably Jeremy Corbyn is not now visiting Oldham because matters to do with Syria mean he must return to London’ As Isabel has been reporting over the past few weeks, jitters are growing about whether Labour is doing enough to stem the flow of working class voters to Ukip.

Thursday

Stephen Bayley

The bicycle may have triumphed but it’s far from perfect

From our UK edition

It’s extraordinary that it took civilisation so very long to discover the benefits of putting little wheels on suitcases. We knew how to fly before we realised it was no longer necessary to huff-and-puff baggage by hand. Even odder, steam and electricity were well understood before anyone got around to developing the ingeniously simple pedal-and-crank mechanism, an invention of decisive importance, which turned the ludicrous, wobbly old hobbyhorse into today’s smooth and sensible bicycle. Its eventual triumph over all our sensibilities can be seen today when, at some practical cost to the general mobility of the capital, London is being effortfully retrofitted with cycle lanes while oil-fired traffic is perpetually stalled in a noxious smog of its own making.

Isabel Hardman

Hilary Benn didn’t see Corbyn’s Commons speech on Syria before he gave it

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn didn’t show his Shadow Foreign Secretary a copy of what he was going to say in response to David Cameron’s statement on Syria, Coffee House understands. Sources have told me that Hilary Benn was spotted sitting outside Corbyn’s office this morning before the Prime Minister made his Commons statement. Benn appeared to be waiting for something. When I asked his spokesman whether Benn had been given advance sight of Corbyn’s planned response to the Prime Minister, the spokesman said ‘no’.

Isabel Hardman

Shadow Cabinet members threaten resignations over Syria row in Labour

From our UK edition

Tonight Labour’s Shadow Cabinet is in uproar over what many of its members see as a fundamental breach of trust from Jeremy Corbyn in writing to the parliamentary party without telling them. ‘Why would you do that?’ asks one shadow minister in utter bafflement. They thought it odd that Corbyn had read from a printed statement about his position on strikes in the meeting, rather than addressing them directly, but odder still that he just hadn’t thought to tell them that he would be writing this letter. There is a suspicion that this evening’s letter is part of a co-ordinated effort with grassroots organisation Momentum to make MPs’ lives miserable over the next few days as they are subjected to furious lobbying from their local parties.

Isabel Hardman

Corbyn writes to Labour MPs to say he cannot support air strikes

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn has written to his MPs to say that he cannot support air strikes in Syria. In a letter sent to the parliamentary party this evening, the Labour leader writes that ‘I do not believe the Prime Minister’s current proposal for air strikes in Syria will protect our security and therefore cannot support it’. But the Shadow Cabinet will meet again on Monday, when we will attempt to reach a common view’. Now, there are a number of possibilities here. The first is that Corbyn will allow a fully free vote on the matter, having discussed this with the Shadow Cabinet.

Isabel Hardman

Corbyn won’t support intervention in Syria, but what will he ask his frontbenchers to do?

From our UK edition

It would be a great surprise if Jeremy Corbyn did personally back British air strikes against Islamic State in Syria. So the most interesting thing about his response to the Prime Minister’s statement was whether the Labour leader gave much of a clue as to what he would require his party to do when a vote comes to the Commons. The Shadow Cabinet will meet shortly to discuss this, and from the looks on the faces of some of his shadow ministers as he spoke, it appears that Corbyn will face some debate about the points he made. Corbyn did not rail against the Prime Minister’s desire for action, but asked for more detail on what he envisaged. His questions did sound a little familiar, though.

The Spectator

Full text and audio: Corbyn’s seven questions to Cameron on Syria

From our UK edition

I would like to thank the Prime Minister for providing an advance copy of his remarks. After the despicable and horrific attacks in Paris a fortnight ago the whole House will, I’m sure, agree that our first priority must be the security of Britain and the safety of the British people. So when we consider the Prime Minister’s case for military action in Syria, the issue of whether what he proposes strengthens - or undermines - our national security must be front and centre stage. There is no doubt that the so-called Islamic State group has imposed a reign of terror on millions in Iraq, Syria and Libya. All that ISIS stands for and does is contrary to everything those of us on these benches have struggled for over generations.

Nick Cohen

Far leftists do not laugh about Mao to mock communism. They laugh to forget communism

From our UK edition

Nothing about the crisis in the Labour party makes sense until you find the honesty to admit that far leftists have taken over its leadership, and the clarity to see them for what they are. Contrary to the wishful thinking of so many Corbyn supporters, these are not decent, well-meaning men, who want to take Labour back to its roots. Nor are they pacifists and idealists you can look on with an indulgent smile and say, ‘I wish they were right, but their ideas will never work in the real world, more's the pity’. To the delight of the Conservative Party, SNP and Ukip, they are genuine extremists from a foul tradition, which has never before played a significant role in Labour Party history.

Freddy Gray

Corbyn’s defence

From our UK edition

What strange people we Brits are. We spend years moaning that our politicians are cynical opportunists who don’t stand for anything. Then along comes an opposition leader who has principles — and appears to stick by them even when it makes him unpopular — and he is dismissed as a joke. Jeremy Corbyn has been ridiculed in recent days for the feebleness of his foreign policy. It is widely agreed that his positions on terrorism and Isis show how unelectable and useless he is. At the same time, we say he is a grave threat to national security. But what has Corbyn said that is so stupid or dangerous? In the wake of the attacks in Paris, he declared that Britain ‘must not be drawn into responses that feed the cycle of violence and hate’.

Hugo Rifkind

Get ready: these climate change talks might actually do something

From our UK edition

The Prince of Wales is right, and I appreciate that this isn’t something people say very often. Now and again, certainly, Prince Charles does turn out to be right about things, such as the need for interfaith dialogue or the horrors of some modern architecture, but the manner in which he tends to be right about them does rather have the feel of happy coincidence. In the future, as Warhol didn’t quite say, we will all be right for 15 minutes. Unless it’s about homeopathy. This week, you see, the Prince told Sky News that the war in Syria may be linked to climate change. Not, please note, that it was caused by climate change, let alone man-made climate change. His view is very much not that, if more of us drove electric cars, Raqqa would be at peace.