Politics

Corbyn warned 'for years' that party’s Brexit policy was heading for electoral disaster


The Labour leader was warned by one of his most senior aides every week for three years that the party’s Brexit policy was heading for electoral disaster.

Shadow Cabinet Secretary Jon Trickett has revealed a catalogue of errors that led to Labour ’s core voters catastrophically rejecting the party.

He said: “It was mistake after mistake. I warned Jeremy privately and in meetings every week for three years it would go wrong. But he wouldn’t listen.”

Leave supporter Mr Trickett, who is launching an inquiry into what happened in the party’s traditional“red wall” safe seats, opposed the drift towards a Remain stance and a second referendum.

But he says he was outflanked by Shadow Cabinet Remainers such as Keir Starmer, Emily Thornberry and John McDonnell, and mocked.

He added: “They used to say, ‘Oh, here’s the Yorkshire man again’ whenever I said we were in trouble in the North.”

Shadow Cabinet Secretary Jon Trickett had revealed a catalogue of errors that led to Labour ’s core voters catastrophically rejecting the party

Mr Trickett held on to his once-safe seat of Hemsworth, Yorks, by a slim 1,180 votes.

Once one of Mr Corbyn’s closest confidantes, his warnings led to his exclusion from the leader’s strategic policy group earlier this year.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mirror, Mr Trickett revealed that Mr Corbyn ignored pleas over tackling anti-semitism claims, the four-day week and national security.

“Anti-semitism was a large difficulty. But Jeremy didn’t listen. It could have been dealt with if tackled clearly and early, but it wasn’t.”

Moving to a Remain position on Brexit “betrayed” the party’s 2017 promise to voters to deliver the referendum result, said Mr Trickett, who had the support of party chairman Ian Lavery at Shadow Cabinet meetings.

John Trickett says he was outflanked by Shadow Cabinet Remainers such as Keir Starmer, Emily Thornberry and John McDonnell, and mocked

“It looked like we were finding any way to prevent Brexit. The policy was confused, especially when John McDonnell said he would vote Remain in a second referendum. I warned Jeremy again that it would not go down well with the working class in the north.”

But his ringing alarm fell on deaf ears.

By the time the campaign strategy changed to focus on a more pro-Brexit position, it was too late.

On the campaign generally, Mr Trickett, who was canvassed to stand as leader in 2015 but declined, said: “There was no convincing case for how we were going to raise all those billions of pounds of spending that were piling up.

“People just didn’t believe what we were saying in the end.”

In the main, he believes, Mr Corbyn’s “weak” personality was at fault

In his searing analysis he also said the party’s pledge to create a statutory 32-hour working week looked like Labour was taking money out of the pockets of people who rely on overtime.

The campaign also put out the wrong message on security, and people were left confused about the party’s commitment to terrorism after Mr Corbyn objected to lethal use of firearms by police, particularly in Northern Ireland, Mr Trickett said.

In the main, he believes, Mr Corbyn’s “weak” personality was at fault.

But he still praised the out-going leader for his work. “Much was achieved under Jeremy in shaping the party and its policies.

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“But unless we learn the lessons of this election we will not be able to carry on the work he started.

“That’s why we need an open and honest debate about what went wrong, in order to build a stronger party to win back the trust and votes of our core communities.”

And Gloria De Piero, former Shadow Justice Minister, said the disaster was “entirely predictable”.

The ex-MP for Ashfield, Notts, said: “In 2017, some of the biggest Labour-to-Tory swings were in our post-industrial towns and former coalfield communities. It was clear we were losing the trust of our working-class base.

“I begged them to let me and others… get out there and listen to people who felt we were no longer the party of the working class.

“Predictably, I never heard back.”





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