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Corbyn may believe he knows how to campaign on other (vital) issues than Brexit, but the Brexit and anti-Parliamentary noise Johnson and Demonic Cummings can drum up at the moment will, I fear, drown his voice. No election should be held yet, that Johnson can come out of with a comfortable majority (and an agreement with the Brexit Party would be perfectly on the cards in order to ensure that). What we are not thinking much about is how he would use it over five years. Legislation to hobble Parliament (rather than reform it) and increase the power of the executive with plebiscitary backing would imo be the minimum.
So yes, a caretaker government is to be wished for, but the potential parties to it cannot or will not agree. Until they do, leaving the organisation and framing of an eventual referendum in Johnson & Demonic's hands would be utter folly, the result would be a greater manipulation even than 2016. Things are going to slide, slide in all directions Won't be nothing, nothing you can measure anymore L. Cohen
Labour frontbenchers discussed the timing of a potential election at a testy shadow cabinet meeting on Tuesday, with Corbyn loyalists Laura Pidcock and Dan Carden calling for the party to back an early poll. Carden told colleagues the "referendum first" approach espoused by some of his colleagues was a fantasy, which wouldn't win a majority in parliament and which the government would anyway refuse to implement. The deputy leader, Tom Watson, has argued publicly that it would be better for Labour to settle the issue of Brexit in a referendum and then contest a general election on a wider set of issues. At the shadow cabinet meeting, the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, clashed with colleagues over Labour's stance on a second referendum.
Carden told colleagues the "referendum first" approach espoused by some of his colleagues was a fantasy, which wouldn't win a majority in parliament and which the government would anyway refuse to implement.
The deputy leader, Tom Watson, has argued publicly that it would be better for Labour to settle the issue of Brexit in a referendum and then contest a general election on a wider set of issues.
At the shadow cabinet meeting, the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, clashed with colleagues over Labour's stance on a second referendum.
So Corbyn wants an early election. On his head be it. Things are going to slide, slide in all directions Won't be nothing, nothing you can measure anymore L. Cohen
The bluff is directed not at Boris, but at all those Independents and rebels who, along with Jo Swinson, would probably lose their seats if an election were called now, and to force them to support him as caretaker PM in order to avoid it.
For it to be fully effective he must wait until the drama has played out and we are at the point, post extension, of where the HoC is actually due to vote for it, either by two thirds majority or approaching 14 days after a VONC in Boris.
Then the choice will be clear. Either a caretaker government is formed or we have an election that Boris is well placed to win. If it happens before a second referendum, that means a relatively hard Brexit.
Which do they hate more, a hard Brexit or Corbyn as caretaker PM for up to 6 months with the sole mandate of organising a referendum on Boris' deal versus Remain? Index of Frank's Diaries
Never mind that it is not the job of the Leader of the Opposition to provide a PM with a majority he doesn't otherwise have. Never mind that Corbyn is trying to straddle a Leave/Remain divide in his own party and has the petty hatred of the rest of Parliament to contend with.
Corbyn may be playing an astute game tactically, but strategically he is losing the war, unless he can change the game somehow, and in my view, that means organising a second referendum. Index of Frank's Diaries
The more interesting question is what will the party lineup be after the Brexit or non-Brexit decision is finally taken (if we are still alive to see it). The Workers do not seem to be very enthusiastic about taking on The City at this point, so maybe the new alignment, or maybe even a third alignment, might persist--and the Labour and Conservative parties thrown onto the ash heap permanently.
If things seem bad now, imagine five years of Johnson running a party with a majority in Parliament.
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