Ian Austin came to Brighton to embarrass Jeremy Corbyn. He embarrassed nobody but himself.

Ian Austin and Jeremy Corbyn
Peadar O'Cearnaigh


Independent MP for Dudley North Ian Austin came to the Labour Party conference in Brighton to launch a campaign “to shine a spotlight on extremism and racism”. He also used this as an opportunity to, once again, attack and try to embarrass Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

But unfortunately for Austin, the embarrassment was all his. It also seemed to be a contradiction of a previous position he’d adopted.

The launch

He tried to embarrass Corbyn by displaying, on a portal billboard, the slogan:

Jeremy Corbyn: Unfit to Lead the Labour Party. Unfit to Lead the Country

And just like his last failed attempt to smear Corbyn and the Labour leadership in the House of Commons, this attempt also failed.

Related articles

The shock

Not long after he launched his new website on that same mobile billboard, people took to social media to express their shock:

The parody

Rather than engage Austin’s nonsense, one person responded by video, showing praise for the very man Austin was attacking:

The hypocrisy

In his speech, Austin claimed he was launching a campaign “to shine a spotlight on extremism and racism”. So one person reminded him of a position he once held on immigration:

Time to move on

Austin quit the Labour Party in February 2019. So it beggars belief that, in addition to sitting in the Labour benches in the House of Commons, he continues to follow the party around. You’d hope he gives the same time and energy to the good people of Dudley North.

If he has a message worth bringing to the British people, then he should do this under his own steam. But it’s time he gave up this litany of failed and embarrassing attacks on his former colleagues and did something useful for the people he’s supposed to be representing.

Featured image via Twitter – MainstreamUK / Flickr – Garry Knight

We need your help ...

The coronavirus pandemic is changing our world, fast. And we will do all we can to keep bringing you news and analysis throughout. But we are worried about maintaining enough income to pay our staff and minimal overheads.

Now, more than ever, we need a vibrant, independent media that holds the government to account and calls it out when it puts vested economic interests above human lives. We need a media that shows solidarity with the people most affected by the crisis – and one that can help to build a world based on collaboration and compassion.

We have been fighting against an establishment that is trying to shut us down. And like most independent media, we don’t have the deep pockets of investors to call on to bail us out.

Can you help by chipping in a few pounds each month?

The Canary Support us

Related articles