Instead of trying to woo Tory voters, Jo Swinson should be getting behind Corbyn
The Lib Dems are refusing to back Jeremy Corbyn as caretaker prime minister in an alternative to Boris Johnson’s government. And should they stick to that position they’ll be remembered as the party that brought no-deal catastrophe and further austerity suffering to the UK. Clearly, this is something the British people will never forgive them for. Particularly when they realise the Lib Dems are putting their own political interests ahead of the British people.
Why we need an alternative government
As Johnson’s hard-right Conservative and DUP minority government appeared ready for a no-deal Brexit, opposition MPs decided to act. And in doing so, they supported the EU Withdrawal (No.2) Act, known as the Benn Act.
The Benn Act requires that:
If MPs haven’t approved a deal in a meaningful vote, or approved leaving the EU without a deal by 19 October, then the prime minister must send a letter (specifically worded in the Act) to the president of the European Council which seeks an extension to Article 50 until 31 January 2020. If the EU agrees to the date, then the prime minister should also agree.
But if Johnson decides to ignore the Benn Act, a caretaker government would become necessary.
Lib Dems bear the responsibility
If that government is necessary and the Lib Dems maintain their hard-line opposition to Corbyn, they’ll be remembered as the party that brought catastrophe to the UK. Such catastrophe could lead to shortages in food, medicine, and fuel as well as civil unrest. Jo Swinson would then go down in UK history as the politician who allowed all this to happen. So it seems quite an irrational position for her to take.
Lib Dem MP Chuka Umunna attempted to show that Corbyn didn’t have the numbers to become caretaker prime minister. But he was quickly reminded of the Lib Dems’ responsibility:
Read on...
— The Daily Politik (@DailyPolitik) October 7, 2019
The real reason
If we look a little closer, it appears as if Swinson’s motives are in fact much more self-interested. Because it could be part of her strategy to take Tory seats at the next election. So, rejecting Corbyn might be an attempt to woo those Tory voters. After all, Swinson believes she can do the impossible at the next election.
Swinson gets called out
Labour MP Jon Trickett called her out on this:
Swinson's LibDems put more effort into preventing a socialist interim-Prime Minister than preventing no deal. This is not surprising- their top 100 target seats are largely Tory, and in the last election they did not win a single seat from Labour. 1/2https://t.co/flbSWtJ7lm
— Jon Trickett (@jon_trickett) October 7, 2019
And other people were quick to express their disgust and bewilderment:
Well they did help the Tories screw the poor and disabled , bunch of opportunists
— David Shaw (@DavidSh61239871) October 7, 2019
And some reminded us of what Swinson stands for:
— RD (@RPD_Bear) October 7, 2019
— Pam Ryan #JoSwinsonIsATory #CorbynOutrider (@1liesalot) October 7, 2019
Another person highlighted a more recent uncomfortable truth for Swinson:
— #helenwebackcorbyn (@helenhatessmear) October 7, 2019
They won’t get away with this
People are on to the Lib Dems, so they won’t get away with sacrificing the British people for their own political ends. In any case, the Lib Dems have been on a downward spiral since 2005. And the number of pro-austerity Tory defections to Swinson’s party, with a record of austerity, only underlines this.
So the choice is simple for Swinson and her party: back Corbyn and the British people or go down in history as the party that let the hard right bring chaos to the UK.
Featured image via YouTube – Good Morning Britain / Flickr – Eneas De Troya
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This article is unfair and misleading.
Corbyn has been a strong supporter of brexit throughout, and has done much to help the Tories over the last 3 years. His consistent refusal to hold the leave campaign to account and refusal to allow the people to have their say through a confirmatory referendum have helped bring us to this position.
Yes, they got it wrong on many things (tuition fees), but the Lib Dems have consistently been the voice of reason over Brexit where Corbyn has failed. To come in with this last minute U-turn is disingenuous.
Corbyn should do the right thing and agree to have Margaret Beckett as interim PM, for purpose of a snap people’s vote. The majority are sick of Brexit and want it gone, and a vote would clearly show that. Then we could have a GE on the real issues.
How is this article unfair? How is it misleading? Where is your proof of what you claim?
Oh yes, right, Austerity is Jeremy Corbyn’s fault. I somehow forgot that it was Labour who introduced Austerity, Labour who pushed us all into a deliberate sham of a referendum, Jeremy Corbyn (not Cameron, May, or Johnson) who put forward the referendum on whether we should leave the EU, and J.C. who has continually pushed this country towards a UK-damaging trade deal with the USA (TTIP remember?).
Also, let’s not forget It was Labour who reneged on the tuition fees, Labour who sided with Tories in a coalition government, Jeremy Corbyn who bailed out the banks … twice, JC who continually lies to Parliament and The Queen, J.C. who prorogued Parliament, shot down flight MH17, colluded with Vladimir Putin, Stalin, and Hitler, interfered with the 2016 U.S. Elections, making him solely responsible for Trump.
Of course as Jeremy Corbyn is our Prime Minister, he should get all the blame for not giving us a highly popular second referendum as he had within his power to do, and let’s not forget that it was Conservative Winston Churchill who created the NHS and The Welfare State, something Labour and Jeremy Corbyn have been undermining for 40+ years, whilst also being personally responsible for both World Wars.
I also think that Jeremy Corbyn and Labour are guilty of the original sin … yes it was Jeremy who got Eve in a choke hold while forcing her to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. Therefore Jeremy Corbyn must be the original Devil (obviously he shaved his beard, horns and hooves off to fool us all).
Thank you so much for setting us straight with your empirical evidence, and unassailable logic.
So why is Beckett unacceptable as an interim PM? She is a labour MP. The Lib Dems have confirmed they would support her as interim PM. Why is that not acceptable?
The Lib Dems? The voice of reason? So it’s reasonable to side with a government who has demonstrably proven their corrupt credentials is it? Look back over the last 40 years and it is self-evident that Tories hate the welfare state, and particularly the NHS, and have continually lied to us about their intentions towards what LABOUR created.
It is Tories who have continually pushed for us to come out of the EU, the Tories who consistently undermine the NHS, the Tories who want the UK to be a money-driven, profit before people nation, and we are supposed to believe that the Liberal Democrat’s siding with this monstrous party is a good thing?
Liberal Democrats have done nothing but help our nation descend into chaos. They are more interested in growing their own power at a time like we are in, than helping to save our nation from the mess the Tories keep putting us in, in their drive to make us a vassal state to the USA., and turn us all into good little neo-liberal, capitalist slaves.
It is delusional of Liberal Democrats to think that they have any hope of power in the state they are currently in, and utterly dishonest in their dealings with the British Electorate. Siding with the devil as they have done, does not make the Lib Dems any better or trust-worthy than the devils they suck-up to.
It is noteworthy that in their desperation to keep their own party alive, Liberal democrats have done nothing but prove they will happily lie and sell-out our nation for their own self-interest, they don’t care about the nation any more than the Tories do. It’s party and power, before country and queen with these deluded fools.
Evidently you are no fan of either the Tories or Lib Dems, and I’m not going to argue with that.
But JC was such a vocal supporter of triggering A50 before a plan was put before parliament, and in my view that was irresponsible. Whipping the party to abstain from supporting a people’s vote on 14th March 2019 was also radically against the public support for remain that has consistently been shown by polls, petitions and protests since 2018. It’s not correct to claim that Labour has been a remain party all along and didn’t contribute to keeping brexit alive.
I’m no fan of any of our political parties, they have all sold us and our nation down the river over the years.
It is clear you are no fan of Jeremy Corbyn, and I won’t argue about that as that is your human right. However, I will say that Beckett is not in the running, she’s not the leader of the Labour Party. If she’s so suitable for the post, then why is she not leading The Labour Party, and why is Jeremy Corbyn being treated by you and others like he is an extremely right-wing fascist intent on driving us into war? It seems to me that that is what you want. You want the UK to ‘Kick ass and take names’, you want the UK to sign a disastrous trade deal with the USA, and you want the UK to be a defacto vassal state to the USA.
You seem to be so focused (like many others) on the result of the EU referendum being a ‘democratic’ right, when in fact referenda are not legally enforcible. Why is it that you care so much about a vote that very few people, including yourself, actually understood what is really going on?
I never claimed Labour was a remain OR brexit party. What I am very aware of however, is that Jeremy Corbyn MUST play the political game to achieve the needed end to this utterly undemocratic debacle. You are taking the position that the referendum was sacrosanct, that we all had plenty of time to know the real facts, and that there weren’t a whole bunch of lying arseholes on both sides, with their own undemocratic agendas to serve.
The very fact that so many UK voters have had the wool pulled firmly over their eyes, is a sad testimony to our joint education, and our complete lack of care as to what is true and right for our nation. So many UK citizens are being led by the nose, by a corrupt Media, politicians, and corporations, that few have the time to ask and pursue the right questions.
No matter what I say to you, you will stick to Corbyn-hating, ignoring (deliberately) the real facts that an election or referendum built on nothing but misinformation and lies, is the LAST thing we should ever be putting our national unity to death with. Labour is not pushing things the way you want, because you don’t understand the political manoeuvrings that are going on, or the game that is being played (there is no choice currently, the Tories are playing the dishonesty game to excess, and the rest (including us voters) are left to try and work out what the real plan is. It is NOT what you think it is.
You need to take a good step back from it all, and see the bigger picture. Start with the fact that 1 nation on Earth has over 800+ Military bases (more if you count the smaller ones below $3 million dollars), surrounding practically every nation on Earth. When that has sunk in, and the fact that no other nation on Earth has anywhere near that level of Military influence around the World (not even close or in the same ball-park), it should be logically apparent that one of our allies has very particular Global-Empire-creating goals, even though they have spent most of their existence claiming the opposite, and attacking anyone who gets in their way, friend or foe.
When you appreciate that global perspective, you need to ask how that affects us, and remember TTIP and who tried to force us into it without us knowing about it. You then need to ask how many nations signed a trade deal with The U.S.A., and what has happened since as a result, it does not make fun reading.
Brexit, Austerity, and much of what is going on in our country are not about us being independent (how can it be independence when we run from The E.U. straight into the arms of the one nation on Earth that desires us to have a) No Monarchy, b) No NHS c) No Welfare State d) A much reduced Military e) Utter reliance on The USA?).
What Brexit, and much of the shit our MSM/politicians/corporate interests foists onto us is really about, is dividing and conquering us, and they have succeeded. They have used these mechanisms, and made them as divisive as possible (they want us all at each other’s throats, literally), and caused them to fail by design in order to keep us running this way and that, whilst they get on with the job (basically unimpeded) of selling our nation, and our lives into corporate slavery, rebranding Democracy into something even less democratic, and creating the American Global Hegemonic Empire, an Empire without equal and particularly larger and longer lasting than The British Empire.
The above is merely the tip of the iceberg, and as I know you don’t like wordy pieces, I don’t think anyone would appreciate me laying out every detail of this American Global Enterprise on a comments section. I want to, but what is the point? Bigotry will win, prejudice will win, and Truth, Life, and Justice will lose.
You think it has nothing, or only a little to do with the USA, I know it has everything to do with the USA, particularly the deliberate meddling by the Americans in our democracy to get the results they want. Don’t forget they have publicly stated that they will prevent Jeremy Corbyn from becoming the UK’s Prime Minister, and should that fail, they will expend every effort to see his Minister-ship undermined and destroyed (regardless of what that is, and will do to our nation), all that whilst accusing Russia and other nations without any proof, of doing exactly what they have done for decades!
Jeremy Corbyn isn’t just a good candidate, he is The Only candidate who has the right mettle to attempt to free our nation from the iron will of Washington (and the far more powerful, US Military Industrial Complex). Margaret Beckett however is not in the right position to do what you seem to think she can. I detest this drive to have a female Prime Minister just because it ‘looks’ right, whomsoever is chosen, should be chosen on merit, not on gender.
JC is a vocal politician, which in his case is a good thing. He has consistently been a pro-peace, pro-worker, pro-social campaigner, who has a very good grasp of the current situation, something a great many people do not.
I do not accept the result of the referendum because the only people who knew what was actually going on, were the architects who designed it to fail us for their undemocratic purposes. The same people who have shown over and over, that they are only in it for the power they can get for themselves, not the country. They are traitors to our Nation, and The Queen, in the very real sense, and our legal system is so corrupt, they are getting away with it.
I want to see JC and Labour voted into Downing St., not because there are plenty of good choices, but because he is literally the only viable choice for our nation (to free itself from American hegemony). It is the Americans who continually interfere in our business and democracy, and the Tories, Lib Dems, and remnants of New Labour, who are complicit in selling us to them.
Labour is the only viable party at present, both the Tories and Liberal democrats have sold their souls to America, and the American Corporate Godhood, but I cannot vote for Labour anyway, as where I am there are only Conservative, and Liberal Democrat candidates available on the ballot. So I won’t be able to vote, my conscience won’t let me, and tbh I don’t know how I can legally get around that.
Personally I think none of the parties, nor our so-called democracy will save our nation because the Americans want what they want, and will use all their power to get it. We are not a sovereign nation any more, in fact we are a mere shadow of a nation compared to what we once were. It is time for our nation to have real, accountable democracy, and that has no room for political ‘parties’, which are oligarchical constructs in the first place. We need to vote in individuals of exemplary standing to the positions we need them in, and political parties should be banned, period, they are not the democratic entities people think they are.