logo
Chancellor: Public will reject Corbyn's new party like they rejected him before

Chancellor: Public will reject Corbyn's new party like they rejected him before

The Chancellor launched an attack on the former Labour leader personally as well as his new party, saying 'the bloke's got a big ego'.
Ms Reeves told an audience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that Mr Corbyn had 'tried to destroy my party' during his leadership in which he lost two general elections, one in 2017 and one in 2019.
She was asked about the left-wing party during an appearance on the Iain Dale All Talk show on Saturday.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves took aim at Jeremy Corbyn's new party (Yui Mok/PA)
Mr Corbyn launched the new political party with former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, which still does not appear to have a name but is marketed as 'Your Party'.
Mr Corbyn vowed it would 'take on the rich and powerful'.
Asked about whether the new party could eat into Labour's support by becoming a 'Reform of the left', the Chancellor said: 'Jeremy Corbyn has had two chances to be prime minister and I think the country gave their verdict, most recently in 2019 when Labour had its worst result since 1935.
'If he wants to give it another go, be my guest. I think the voters will have the same reaction.'
Asked by Mr Dale if Labour was being complacent about the new political group, she said: 'It's not being complacent. He tried to destroy my party and he can now go set up his own party.
'The country has rejected him twice. The bloke's got a big ego. He can have another go but I think the country will have the same verdict.'
The Chancellor's comments saw some of the biggest cheers of her chat with Mr Dale, which lasted around one and a half hours.
Mr Corbyn has said that more than 500,000 people had signed up to the movement in less than a week.
The figure was dismissed by Ms Reeves who told the crowd in Edinburgh that her sister Ellie Reeves, a serving Labour MP, had received an email stating she had signed up to the party.
Speaking at the same event, the Chancellor said Reform UK was now Labour's main rival, describing the Tories as 'irrelevant'.
But she warned that Nigel Farage offered 'simple solutions' that amounted to a 'mirage'.
Mr Corbyn has been approached for comment.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Risk and reward, Trump's Mini-Me and planting trees for the planet
Risk and reward, Trump's Mini-Me and planting trees for the planet

Metro

time28 minutes ago

  • Metro

Risk and reward, Trump's Mini-Me and planting trees for the planet

Three readers (MetroTalk, Thu) debate why migrants run the risk of crossing the Channel in dinghies to get to Britain. To answer one point, migrants do claim asylum in safe countries in Europe, but if they are rejected they try again in the UK as we are no longer subject to the EU Dublin III agreement to automatically reject them. Others come as they speak English so have a better chance here. Single young men come – as they have throughout history – as they are most likely to survive dangerous travel, intending to settle and then send for their family. Allowing applications in France and a more thorough removal of failed claimants would discourage crossing attempts. Lewis Gibson, Birmingham I totally agree with Guy Wilkins (MetroTalk, Thu). Nigel Farage is Donald Trump's Mini-Me from the Austin Powers film and follows him without question, even wearing his 'Morons And Gormless of America' hats. Farage, like Trump, will make ridiculous promises with no possible way of achieving them. Facts and the truth are totally irrelevant to him, he incites fear and loathing of various groups and fails to condemn violence by the far right. They both live for publicity and adoration from the media. Farage would go to the opening of an envelope if a camera was present and without constant unjustified newspaper articles he would crumble as Dracula in sunlight. A Lloyd, Liverpool In response to my point that Jeremy Corbyn's new party will score an 'own-goal' by splitting the far-left vote and benefiting Reform, James Freeman (MetroTalk, Tue) and Brian Dooley (Wed) insist Labour could have avoided this by catering more for the leftist voter. However, neither mention that when Labour did this previously, they quickly became unelectable. As party leader, Corbyn's aspirations reduced Labour to its worst General Election defeat since 1935, giving Boris Johnson a landslide victory in 2019. Labour's previous experiment with socialism under Michael Foot resulted in Labour's 1983 pre-election manifesto being described as 'the longest suicide note in history' and gifted a huge majority to Margaret Thatcher. Labour has little to fear by losing the niche hard Left and should let Corbyn and his disciples get on with it. Labour must stop terrifying the wealth creators in this country with counterproductive policies and focus on gaining centrist support while masses of the electorate feel uneasy about the rise of Reform and exasperated by the deficiencies of Conservative and the Lib Dems. Robert Hughes, London We hear much about the catastrophic effects of carbon on our climate but few people talks of the effect of expanding deserts. More Trending Expanding deserts are a threat to many countries – but there are signs of a fightback. The Great Green Wall is a project by the African Union to restore degraded land across 22 countries in the Sahel region. But its great success in planting trees – which will also act as a carbon sponge – will not help us as much as benefit the southern Sahara. Italy has recently suffered temperatures as high as 45C, which can be fatal. This heat comes from northern Africa. The way to reverse climate change in Europe is to emulate the Great Green Wall scheme by planting trees in northern Africa. Such a project would be more beneficial to us than the futile net zero programme, which is destroying whole industries and thousands of good jobs. Mark Hardinge, Worcester There can be no excuses for the levels of violence carried out by Mohammed Fahir Amaaz at Manchester Airport against the police and a member of the public (Metro, Thu). The guilty verdicts were correct and I look forward to robust sentencing shortly. You cannot attack any emergency worker just because you don't like them doing their duty. I look forward to the retrial Amaaz and his brother face after the jury could not reach a verdict on the charge they assaulted a male PC causing ABH. Robert Boston, Kent MORE: Oasis fan dies after falling from stands at Wembley Stadium concert MORE: Rat the size of a dog found as monster vermin run riot in Yorkshire village MORE: Police continue to hunt 'brutal' killers of mum, 22, shot dead with toddler upstairs

Like Clement Attlee, Keir Starmer must rise to the occasion
Like Clement Attlee, Keir Starmer must rise to the occasion

The Guardian

time2 hours ago

  • The Guardian

Like Clement Attlee, Keir Starmer must rise to the occasion

Martin Kettle rightly says Aneurin Bevan is the one politician other than Clement Attlee whom Labour leaders regularly invoke (Critics say Starmer is no Attlee – and they're right. Labour must look to the future, not the past, 31 July). Keir Starmer has drawn on Harold Wilson for inspiration, but more pertinent to Kettle's argument is David Lammy claiming a role model in Ernest Bevin. Made minister of labour in 1940 and foreign secretary in 1945, Ernie Bevin dominated the decade. Bevin sought a continued US military presence in Europe but had no illusions about the 'special relationship'. The 1956 Suez crisis was a calamitous reality check, confirming the White House's prioritising of US self-interest above any presumed obligation to an ally, however close. Larry Elliott's pessimism over Trump's trade deal with Europe is understandable (This trade deal is the EU's Suez moment – its subservience to Trump is on show for all to see, 31 July), but the EU can take heart from how France responded to the United States torpedoing its joint effort with the UK to regain control of the Suez canal: a renewed commitment to pan-European economic collaboration saw the swift confirmation of a six-nation common market, and a determination that French foreign policy would never again be subject to transatlantic pressure saw the Fourth and then the Fifth Republic develop its own advanced weaponry, both conventional and nuclear. Had Attlee, not Eden, been prime minister in 1956, we can be certain that he would never have sanctioned collusion with France and Israel to invade Egypt, and then repeatedly denied having done so. Attlee's greatest quality wasn't succinctness – it was SmithEmeritus professor of modern history, University of Southampton I do not feel Martin Kettle is entirely fair or correct to say that Clement Attlee, on becoming prime minister, 'pulled Britain out of India as fast as he could'. Attlee had been closely involved in India for more than 20 years, going back to the Simon commission, which had been established in 1927, specifically to consider the possibility of Indian independence and self-rule. As an MP and a member of the commission, Attlee visited India several times before the war (no mean feat in those days), understood the issues and knew the leaders of the political parties and factions. He did not underestimate the problems that independence might bring (although certainly not the violence and bloodshed), noting that partition would 'necessarily leave minorities in both states' but emphasising that his Labour government was 'in earnest in seeking to implement the promises made by Britain'. Eighty years on, another Labour prime minister now faces similar challenges over Palestine. I am sure Keir Starmer, like his distinguished predecessor, will rise to the EvansFormer chair of the south Asia delegation, European parliament Martin Kettle's interesting article on Clement Attlee referred to his wife driving him to Buckingham Palace to meet King George VI on his historic 1945 victory over Churchill. Mrs Attlee was apparently a notoriously bad driver. My late father told me Mrs Attlee once collided with his car when driving the prime minister on a foggy night in London. Fortunately, no one was ArnfieldVancouver, Canada Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Jackie Baillie on abuse of women and where Labour can win
Jackie Baillie on abuse of women and where Labour can win

The Herald Scotland

time2 hours ago

  • The Herald Scotland

Jackie Baillie on abuse of women and where Labour can win

All the more curious then why she pointedly refused to support her party colleague, Joanna Cherry, after she'd received death threats and messages threatening sexual violence from a former SNP member over her sex-realist views. The former first minister was also silent when numerous female SNP politicians were subject to harassment and intimidation by male party activists for defending women's single-sex spaces. Jackie Baillie is no stranger to this treatment either. Scottish Labour's Deputy Leader is telling me about the selection of candidates for next year's Holyrood elections. There are fewer women than men coming forward and so the party has twinning arrangements in place to ensure parity. Kevin McKenna: 'This is the most Scottish moment in my entire life' Kevin McKenna: Misanthropic, be-whiskered sociopaths: cats are for the watchin' Kevin McKenna: As fake left of Labour and SNP condemn Trump, Reform keeps on rising Kevin McKenna: A room full of politicians and me: what could possibly go wrong? I tell her this isn't surprising, given the abuse and defamation of high-profile - mainly SNP-women from within their own party. She discusses the abuse that's been directed at her. 'Social media is quite shocking in its treatment of women,' she says. 'A lot of us have social media comments directed at us that come from a sewer. 'They comment on how you dress, your size and ask if you've got shares in Greggs. But they're just keyboard warriors who would never say it to your face. 'It'll take an effort by all parties to remove this, and I know some of our people do it to SNP people. We need civility in politics. You can disagree – and passionately – but you don't need to abuse people. 'You can grow a hard skin and ignore it as best you can, but I think it's about women encouraging other women. It's about giving them confidence and support. 'The Scottish Labour Women's Committee has been hosting events for women to come along and have a chat if they're thinking about standing.' Ms Baillie has already interviewed more than 100 prospective MSP candidates and says that the party has never previously been as exhaustive in its selection process. 'We're always thinking too about who we would want in the cabinet, if we gained power. They should have some expertise in their chosen policy area. "Sam Galbraith once suggested to me that cabinet secretaries ideally would have run a large organisation and not be scared of instructing the civil servants on how they want things done.' Ah yes: the civil service. A drone-class of dull-eyed automatons have emerged at the top of the Scottish government in the Sturgeon/Swinney era. They're easily picked off by better-educated civil servants who find it easy to impose their own luxury beliefs on them. The contagion has spread to Labour, while the Scottish Greens are little more than a flash mob of itinerant, middle-class flag-warriors. They turn up at the right meetings and get to carry a minister's Costa coffee: posh kids who want a short-cut to parliament without doing the hard graft. 'Your lot has them too, Jackie,' I tell her. 'So, how will you sort that out?' She's alive, at least, to the curse of the civil service as activists. She recalls a third-sector organisation's wretched experience of running into the Scottish civil service. 'They told me they had behaved like activists and that it had become clear they were trying to impose these beliefs on them before they could get anywhere near a minister. 'I watched the development of the National Care Service Bill, a process that involved 200 civil servants. What emerged just did not make any sense. This is why we need a Delivery Unit with partnerships on the ground at local level. People expect more from their government and want to see speedier delivery.' In the light of The Herald's revelations last week about the targeting of gender-realist women inside the UK's and Scotland's main civil service union, the PCS, you can see a potential area for improvement. 'We want to know how passionate prospective candidates are about their own communities. Look at Davy Russell [the recently-elected MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse]. 'I've spent 25 years getting to a point where if I walk down Dumbarton Main Street people will recognise me and say hello. Davy Russell had that from day one. He's a real local, born and brought up there. He knows everyone and they trust him because of that. 'The quality and calibre of prospective candidates I'm seeing is very high. We're getting people who are teachers, social workers, lawyers and at least one NHS consultant. These are people who can be our eyes and ears inside organisations that need to change.' She talks about Sam Galbraith again, the much-admired NHS consultant. "Sam was brilliant as health minister at the Scotland Office,' she says. 'Yet, the civil servants talked Donald Dewar out of putting him in Health in the Scottish Parliament and so he went to education. "That was a mistake. He knew more about Health than the civil servants, and I think they feared that. 'I always say to young people who come into my office: 'go and get a life first. Go out and experience life. Get a profession, do whatever you're going to do; then come and see me. I was 36 when I started in parliament. "I had a seven-year-old daughter. That was a hard juggling act. But it's life experience and it's better for your constituents. We want them to be more knowledgeable; to have done different things; to have interesting skill-sets. If we're fortunate enough to be the government next May, we want to have people who can hit the ground running. 'We'll also have a delivery unit. One of my major criticisms of the SNP is that they have loads of statutory documents, but they line the shelves of St Andrew's House and never get implemented.' I hear what she's saying and it all sounds tickety, but it'll help if you don't have – you know – too much socialism in your blood. In the Anas Sarwar era, a Star Chamber has emerged inside [[Scottish Labour]] which harries those deemed to be too left-wing. She describes this as 'complete nonsense' and says: 'Just look at the range of great candidates that have been selected to stand – people like Carol Mochan and Katy Clark – neither of whom could be considered right-wing.' This time last year, Labour might have been considered slight favourites to take Holyrood next year. But after Keir Starmer's first six months in power, not only the wheels came off, but the road disappeared in front of them. Consequently, Scottish Labour's hopes of power began disappearing faster than the OAPs' winter fuel payments. Jackie Baillie believes though, that Davy Russell's by-election victory is evidence that Scottish Labour are recovering the situation. 'Before that by-election, we were at a lower position in the polls than we are now. We knitted together a coalition of people who felt let down by the SNP and who remain horrified by the Tories. 'Former SNP voters were telling us of their disillusion that this was as good as it gets under the SNP. 'If we had a poll tomorrow, the undecideds would win. 'We've been doing some very careful polling and we're finding that people who aren't yet saying they've voting Labour are not gone back to the SNP. They're undecideds and are back in play. And there are a lot of them.' I tell her that Labour need to understand why a large cohort of traditional Labour voters are backing Reform. And that the extent to which Labour and the SNP acknowledge this may have a significant bearing on next year's election. Thus far, the SNP's response is to dismiss working-class people who back Reform as ignorant bigots. If Labour do the same then they're doomed. The political classes have driven voters into Nigel Farage's arms because they don't like to be falsely accused of being racists and transphobes by a class of people who couldn't find their neighbourhoods with a satnav. 'I'm careful about the Reform factor in Scotland,' she says. 'But I don't think it's as great as people are saying. 'But yes, we need to be in these communities and to be listening to their concerns in a way that the SNP aren't. This is where we can win.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store