WE know what Jeremy Corbyn is supposed to have called Theresa May during Prime Minister’s Questions – “stupid woman” – but what should we be calling the Leader of the Opposition? The euphemistic word might be ineffectual, but there will be others who will go much further and say Mr Corbyn has utterly failed to live up to his responsibilities to the country.
The problem for Mr Corbyn is that it often looks like his heart is not really in fighting Brexit. Earlier this month, he said the EU’s support for what he called failed neoliberal policies paved the way for the Brexit vote, which rather exposes the truth: Mr Corbyn is an old-school Eurosceptic of the Labour left which is why there was little delay in him moving from publicly supporting Remain in 2016 to his commitment to deliver Brexit.
Mr Corbyn’s Euroscepticism may also explain why he has mishandled the anti-Brexit campaign. After days of pressure, he finally attempted to move a confidence motion in Theresa May rather than her Government, which was doomed because the Government did not have to put it to a vote. This then led to the SNP and others tabling a no-confidence motion, but the Government only needs to give time for such a motion if it is tabled by the official opposition – therefore, it too was doomed to fail.
It is hard to avoid the impression in all of this that Mr Corbyn does not really want a no-confidence vote for a simple reason: the Government would probably win it, meaning a General Election would be off the table, and Mr Corbyn would be left facing an option he has tried hard not to support: another referendum.
The Labour leader may think that in behaving in this way he is sticking to his manifesto promise in 2017 to implement Brexit. But in failing to hold the Government to account, he is failing his responsibilities as Leader of the Opposition. He is also frittering away the little time we have left to resolve this profound and troubling constitutional crisis.
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