So, what of the central charge that that Jeremy Corbyn did not do enough to support the remain campaign?
Here is one of Angela Eagle's comments, which has been doing the rounds recently:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/live...navigation (also
here):
"
Jeremy is up and down the country, pursuing an itinerary that would make a 25-year-old tired, he has not stopped. We are doing our best, but if we are not reported, it is very difficult." [13th June 2016]
That's quite a strong endorsement which seems to contradict the rhetoric that has been thrown at Corbyn since. Certainly, it seems he embarked on a 100 town bus tour that launched in May, as reported here:
https://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/n...weighs-too
Nonetheless, at the time, there was some sort of question being perpetuated in the media of Corbyn not being enthusiastic enough and keeping a low profile, with voters being uncertain as to Labour's position on the EU
But going by the comments by Eagle above, the concern was that the media were more interested in framing a story on Tory division than presenting the Labour remain campaign. This has been borne out by research by
Loughborough University, on which Professor John Downey comments:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/to...b4f2541108
"
Over the last month of the campaign there has been sustained, almost ‘presidential’ focus on a handful of senior Tory party politicians. The dominance of the Conservative party and a select group of key figures has overshadowed the coverage of all other party representatives and other groups and institutions." [13th June 2016]
John Mc Donnell, appearing on Peston On Sunday echoed a similar sentiment:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jo...514369cf89
"
[McDonnell] said the Labour argument had been “squeezed out” by the media’s focus on the “punch-up” in the Tory party involving David Cameron and Boris Johnson." [12th June 2016]
However, this is telling - in another article
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016...tim-roache Tim Roache, general secretary of the GMB, thought Corbyn should be “bolder and braver” in making the positive case for immigration [1st June 2016]
I suspect that on the trail Labour found themselves contronted with a strong sentiment on immigration that they were simply in no position to respond to - and this was the fundamental cause of their dilemma. Much was made of his day-before statement on Sky News that free movement of people was not something that could be changed. But yet Hilary Benn made similar points on the issue:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016...-benn-says
"
“Immigration into Britain will continue whether we stay or go, as the leave campaign have now admitted,” he said, urging the leave campaign to be more honest about the necessity of immigration."
Where as Gordon Brown preferred sideshifting the issue onto one of illegal immigration, and accusing the BBC and the Sun of having an agenda: "
“Norway and Switzerland, outside the European Union, have higher rates of immigration … the real problem we’re dealing with is illegal immigration.”"
[amoff]http://twitter.com/craigawoodhouse/status/742371455527231488[/amoff]
Craig Woodhouse @craigawoodhouse — "
Rather than answering my question on Labour worries around immigration, Brown just accused The Sun of having the same "agenda" as the BBC" [8:02 am - 13 Jun 2016]
And in regards to his 7/10 rating on 'The Last Leg', it must have been clear to anyone that as a life long euro-skeptic, Corbyn would have had a difficult time being an unreserved champion of the EU - so why then, and I think this is an important question, was another recognisable figure not chosen to cheerlead the campaign??
Alan Johnson was supposed to be in charge of the Remain, yet look at the stats on the media appearances:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/519949641...431605135/
No, more simply it's clear that after the defeat many were going to be highly motivated to shift and point the finger of blame - such as
Welsh Remain and
London Young Labour - with the obvious target being of course, Corbyn. Clearly this was a line adopted by Johnson - from his letter to the PLP:
http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/west-hull...story.html
"
“Everyone needs to make their own assessment as to whether more could have been done to prevent this disastrous result. I will certainly do this, as I hope will the Leader's Office. At times it felt as if they were working against the rest of the Party and had conflicting objectives.”" [27th June 2016]
and in his letter to his CLP:
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/...84811.html
"
“There is no doubt in my mind that at least three of his closest associates in the leader’s office were actively undermining the party’s efforts. They wanted ‘Leave’ to succeed and at best Jeremy could not control them; at worst he was sympathetic to their views. Either way his performance in the campaign was risible and a taster for what to expect in a general election.”" [30th June 2016]
And a so-called dossier was put together, proving the guilt of Corbyn on this issue, as of course reported by Laura Kuenssberg, but as far as I'm aware its not been made available and is based on innuendo & suggestion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36633238
"
The documents show concern in Labour HQ and the Labour Remain campaign about Mr Corbyn's commitment to the campaign - one email says: "What is going on here?" Another email from Labour Remain sources to the leader's office complains "there is no EU content here - we agreed to have Europe content in it". Sources say they show the leader's office was reluctant to give full support to the EU campaign and how difficult it was to get Mr Corbyn to take a prominent role." [26 June 2016]
This was not lost on everyone. In this article here, the writer points out
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/06/ala...-campaign/
"
However, it’s worth bearing in mind that this could also be viewed as an exercise in damage limitation on Johnson’s part. While the former Home Secretary admits that he needs to take his ‘share of responsibility’ too for the way the Labour campaign was run, he fails to mention how much responsibility that should be. In the final months of the campaign, a number of broadcasters claimed to be exasperated over the difficulties they encountered getting Johnson on air to discuss the Remain campaign." [27th June 2016]
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