Corbyn Coup; Hilary Benn is Sacked for Disloyalty

Written By: - Date published: 2:52 pm, June 26th, 2016 - 129 comments
Categories: Europe, International, Jeremy Corbyn, uk politics - Tags: , ,

In a extraordinary 1am phone call, UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has sacked his Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Hilary Benn.

It had been reported a few hours earlier that Benn had been canvassing fellow shadow cabinet members about an immediate coup against Corbyn. It’s understood that the majority of the shadow cabinet want Corbyn gone and that some were considering resigning their posts if Corbyn could not be convinced to quit.

Corbyn confidant John McDonnell is set to run as the candidate for the left, should the Labour leader stand down. He will almost certainly face Benn, whose speech on the Syrian intervention was widely regarded as the best piece of rhetoric heard in Parliament in years.

It is looking more and more likely that Corbyn will not see out the week. The possibility of an early election has emboldened his opponents in caucus, who fear losing even more heavily against a Boris Johnson led Tory Party.

It will be a shame if Corbyn goes, but he hasn’t steadied his party in the way Andrew Little has here in NZ. And the real shame of it will be that at a time when the British right are at each others throats, the UK Labour Party will be launching into yet another round of self harming in fighting.

129 comments on “Corbyn Coup; Hilary Benn is Sacked for Disloyalty ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Paul 1
    26 June 2016 at 3:02 pm

    The Guardian is Blairite to the core.
    Does anyone know of more unbiased sources to follow this story?

  2. RedLogix 2
    26 June 2016 at 3:09 pm

    The electorate will rightly read this as rank opportunism by a pack of traitors.

    If they do dump Corbyn, UK Labour will finish well behind UKIP in the coming election, handing the UK a Parliament totally dominated by the right. And an extreme right at that.

    I mean FFS what are they thinking! A General Election is on the cards within months if not weeks; there is no new leader in the cards who has the slightest chance of establishing themselves in this time. Indeed you have to ask yourself who would be deluded enough to stand?

    • GregJ 2.1
      26 June 2016 at 3:34 pm

      They thought they would have 4 more years to undermine his leadership – now the prospect of an early election has got them rattled they want to act. The Guardian has been running post Brexit anti-Corbyn pieces in the last 2 days.

    • Lanthanide 2.2
      26 June 2016 at 3:42 pm

      I’d say a GE wouldn’t be until the start of next year at the earliest. Brexit and Cameron resigning doesn’t mean they need to have a GE.

      Anyway, if brexit goes ahead, and Scotland leave, Labour won’t have a chance of getting back into government anyway.

      • RedLogix 2.2.1
        26 June 2016 at 3:48 pm

        I agree the timing is a big unknown. Another de-stabilising factor.

        Yes it doesn’t constitutionally force an election, but Boris Johnson taking over the Tory’s, Labour in terminal disarray, and UKIP on a gloating ascendancy, so re-shapes the landscape that it may become a political necessity.

        • Colonial Viper 2.2.1.1
          26 June 2016 at 4:32 pm

          It’s clear that the Shadow Cabinet consider their own the true enemy, not the Tories. So many similarities between UK Labour and NZ Labour.

          The Guardian – now thoroughly compromised by the Deep State – has always hated on Corbyn.

    • Richardrawshark 2.3
      26 June 2016 at 5:50 pm

      A general election? Which they just had, we know their penchant to hang onto power. They will try for a leadership election and the right to carry on under the new leadership now Cameron has resigned. They had to really.

      A general election. Only if they have to.

    • Wensleydale 2.4
      26 June 2016 at 8:22 pm

      What they’re thinking is probably something along the lines of, “If I can’t lead my party, I’ll see it burned to the ground.” Labour is fucked. If they knife Corbyn in the back, they’re terminally fucked. It’ll take them the rest of forever to resurrect themselves from a political apocalypse of their own making. They’re absolute fools and wholly deserving of the electorate’s contempt because they quite obviously hold democracy and the will of the people in contempt. Some of them are barely able to disguise their loathing for Jeremy’s unsophisticated, cardigan-wearing ways, but the thing is… Jeremy won. So suck it up and take one for the team you rapacious, narcissistic shits.

  3. Ad 3
    26 June 2016 at 3:10 pm

    Keep going Corbyn.
    Good to see your nads finally drop.

    no way back now.

  4. Greg 4
    26 June 2016 at 3:14 pm

    Managing management rules 101,

    1 Dont embarrass the Management (or partner!)

  5. mickysavage 5
    26 June 2016 at 3:23 pm

    Weird. This sort of careerist type back stabbing is the thing that puts people off politics. Dumping Corbyn will only reinforce the impression.

    • RedLogix 5.1
      26 June 2016 at 3:36 pm

      Two probable outcomes; if the plotters win Labour will be reduced to a rump Party of no consequence, and they will be irrelevant.

      If they lose … mass sackings. Corbyn offered them their opportunity to work with him and they clearly spat on it. There is no second chance now; regardless of how illustrious their name.

      Either way it’s lose-lose. The kind of madness called hubris.

      • Colonial Viper 5.1.1
        26 June 2016 at 4:34 pm

        Scottish voters will take this as another sign that Labour should be kept out of Holyrood for a generation.

        And after Scottish independence, UK Labour is over anyway. They will never come close to a majority again without Scotland.

        • Paul 5.1.1.1
          26 June 2016 at 5:18 pm

          Wonder if Newcastle will vote to join Scotland?

        • Richard McGrath 5.1.1.2
          27 June 2016 at 7:34 pm

          Would be great to see Scotland break away. They are so different to England. The Scottish economy would likely go down the toilet rapidly as they become the next Venezuela, and England would finally rid itself of the tartan albatross around its neck.

          • Kiwiri 5.1.1.2.1
            27 June 2016 at 7:40 pm

            Post-Elizabeth I, England came together with Scotland, united into One Kingdom.

            Compare and contrast a scenario after Elizabeth II, …

  6. Draco T Bastard 6
    26 June 2016 at 3:28 pm

    I’m pretty sure that Corbyn will be returned as Leader of the party by the membership if he stands for it again (which he should do). The people who rebelled against him won’t be but I’m sure that they’ll find good employment in Big Business to continue their undermining of the people for the benefit of the rich.

  7. mosa 7
    26 June 2016 at 3:36 pm

    If the neo lib labourites move against Corbyn who won by huge numbers a short while ago then the hopes of millions of britons that want REAL CHOICE and a roll back of this cruel system that has a gun to the head of millions of innocent people worldwide incl here will be a serious set back to real change that Bernie Sanders and others have been articulating.
    These so called Labour members should question where they fit in the Labour party in the UK.
    The speed in which this BREXIT vote has played out and the huge financial fear campaign it has unleashed incl the response of the guardians of the Free Market should concern but not surprise anyone.
    They are not used to people rejecting the status quo.

  8. Stuart Munro 8
    26 June 2016 at 4:38 pm

    The really stupid thing is that the Tories are in disarray – this is the time when a united Labour party could seal the election.

    • Colonial Viper 8.1
      26 June 2016 at 5:27 pm

      To reframe: the BREXIT vote has left the British Status Quo Establishment in “disarray.”

      That includes both the Tories and Labour. Two sides of the same coin.

      • Stuart Munro 8.1.1
        26 June 2016 at 6:32 pm

        Yep – I’m seeing them (UK Labour) as being a mixture of liberals and neo-liberals, the latter being less abundant. The working class is simply not represented even as unprecented numbers of lower middle are precipitated into it through income insecurity. Hope Corbyn survives – but like Cunliffe, the blighters are after him.

      • Bill 8.1.2
        26 June 2016 at 10:45 pm

        Aw c’mon CV!

        It’s not as if ex -Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling shared a platform with current Tory Chancellor George Osborne, as though he’d learned nothing at all about the consequence of sharing platforms with the Tories during the Scottish Independence referendum, now is it?

        I mean, Jeremy (allegedly useless) Corbyn got that much…

        Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been careful to avoid making any cross-party appeals during the campaign, repeatedly insisting that he would like to see very different reforms to the EU to those negotiated by the prime minister.

        But Osborne has already appeared alongside another of his former sparring partners, ex-shadow chancellor Ed Balls, to campaign for remain, with Balls arguing that the issues at stake in the 23 June referendum mean party politics should be put aside.

        http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/02/george-osborne-alistair-darling-unite-against-vote-leave

    • The Pink Postman 8.2
      29 June 2016 at 12:58 pm

      I agree, there is also a split in the Tory party . Who would know this ,according to the Right -Wing press and media here and in the UK one would believe that only the LP is in trouble.My understanding is that the rank and file of UK labour support Corbyn.
      As the Chinese say we live inn interesting times.

  9. AmaKiwi 9
    26 June 2016 at 4:44 pm

    “These so-called UK Labour MPs should question where they fit in the Labour party in the UK.”

    The working class know where they fit in. Half a step to the left of the Tories.

    Same problem here. If NZ Labour MPs do not speak out unequivocally against the myriad of failures and injustices, someone else will fill that void.

    “Thank you, AmaKiwi. The caucus will consider your opinion and maybe in a few years the caucus can publish a meaningless statement all the caucus members can accept.”

  10. weka 10
    26 June 2016 at 5:15 pm

    “It is looking more and more likely that Corbyn will not see out the week.”

    What does that mean? I thought that the leader of the Labour party was voted in by membership, one person/one vote. Which presumably takes time to organise. So how can Corbyn be gone in a week? Or are you saying he will stand down until a leadership vote?

    • Colonial Viper 10.1
      26 June 2016 at 5:25 pm

      It’s wishful thinking by the UK Labour careerist/right wing/Blairite/Third Way caucus factions.

    • GregJ 10.2
      26 June 2016 at 5:34 pm

      Corbyn has already said he would run again if the Parliamentary Labour Party tried to force a Leadership election.

      http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/im-going-nowhere-jeremy-corbyn-vows-to-stay-on-as-labour-leader-a3280796.html

      • weka 10.2.1
        26 June 2016 at 10:05 pm

        ta, so how does a leadership vote get triggered?

      • Bill 10.2.2
        26 June 2016 at 10:48 pm

        Been reading wee bits and pieces that the kids of ‘New Labour’ will try to prevent him standing again by ensuring he doesn’t get enough endorsements from the caucus.

        Which just means, I guess, that he won’t resign and seek re-election, but will stand against any challenge as the incumbent leader.

    • Grantoc 10.3
      26 June 2016 at 10:10 pm

      There is apparently growing pressure on him to resign if he loses a probable no confidence vote next week amongst MP’s.

      If he does or if he doesn’t, it seems inevitable that civil war is about to break out in the British Labour Party.

      Brexit is stimulating the breakup of seemly solid institutions – the British Labour Party may be next.

  11. adam 11
    26 June 2016 at 5:17 pm

    Am I the only one reading this as the radical centre crushing any whiff of a working class voice?

    This faction of the centre has proven itself over and over to be incredibly destructive. We need not look far to find similar figures who represent this radical centrist position in NZ politics – Mike Williams and Josie Pagani come to mind without much thought.

  12. Nic the NZer 12
    26 June 2016 at 5:32 pm

    Why does it have to be Labour parties which engage in this foolishness?

    • stunned mullet 12.1
      26 June 2016 at 5:35 pm

      Not just Labour, fuckwittery is well entrenched in all political parties, it’s just that Labour in NZ and the UK have raised it to a special type of performance art for the masses.

    • GregJ 12.2
      26 June 2016 at 9:35 pm

      Well in fairness the whole Brexit referendum only came about because of factional politics within the Tories.

  13. Chris 13
    26 June 2016 at 5:33 pm

    “It will be a shame if Corbyn goes, but he hasn’t steadied his party in the way Andrew Little has here in NZ.”

    More like he hasn’t steadied his party by clinging desperately to the neo-liberal model in the way Andrew Little has here therefore is paying the price.

    • stunned mullet 13.1
      26 June 2016 at 5:37 pm

      Yes a leap to the far left will have the proletariat coming back to Labour in droves.

      • Colonial Viper 13.1.1
        26 June 2016 at 5:41 pm

        If your spouse has cheated on you half a dozen times, their sudden heartfelt vow of future faithfulness isn’t exactly going to bring you running home, is it.

        • stunned mullet 13.1.1.1
          26 June 2016 at 5:44 pm

          The thing that amuses me is that the politicians still think that when they’re espousing their cak that anyone is listening to them rather than looking at another talking head on TV or the radio and thinking quietly to themselves “shut up you dozy cunt” and proceeding to change the channel.

        • Hanswurst 13.1.1.2
          26 June 2016 at 9:13 pm

          Of course, your spouse is unlikely to be able to change their head and constitution in order to underscore their claims.

          • Colonial Viper 13.1.1.2.1
            26 June 2016 at 9:20 pm

            Lipstick and a new dress

            • Hanswurst 13.1.1.2.1.1
              27 June 2016 at 3:25 am

              Possibly in this case. It’s too early to tell, and Brexit means that all bets are off, in any case. My point still proves that yours is a very poor analogy, however.

    • Colonial Viper 13.2
      26 June 2016 at 5:39 pm

      If Little doesn’t win in 2017 he’s gone. His support in caucus is a mile wide and an inch deep.

      • Chris 13.2.1
        26 June 2016 at 5:52 pm

        Yes, probably more accurate to say Little’s created the illusion of steadying his party, but even then is not much an illusion. Ipredict should run a stock on Robertson trying to knife Little before 2017.

        • Colonial Viper 13.2.1.1
          26 June 2016 at 5:56 pm

          Robertson’s best bet is to stay well in the background and give Little ample space to fail in 2017. Then challenge for the leadership as per the constitution.

          • mosa 13.2.1.1.1
            27 June 2016 at 9:10 am

            Robertson has said he wont run again after the last ballot.
            i hope he changes his mind because the party made a mistake not selecting him.

      • locus 13.2.2
        26 June 2016 at 9:05 pm

        – which of course is going to be increasingly tough for Little given the amount of propoganda and sneering levelled at him by not only right wing shills, but also those who purportedly represent the left

  14. Bill 14
    26 June 2016 at 5:49 pm

    Benn tells Corbyn he has no confidence in him as leader…but doesn’t resign on the spot?!

    Point is, I’m not seeing how that makes Corbyn’s call “extraordinary”.

    The one person/one vote scenario for the leadership makes it pointlessness times absurdity for caucus to temporarily remove him.

    • Colonial Viper 14.1
      26 June 2016 at 5:58 pm

      So what the hell are these Labour Shadow Cabinet Ministers thinking? Surely they know the constitution as well as anyone can.

  15. Richardrawshark 15
    26 June 2016 at 5:59 pm

    Blair and Cameron both went to Oxford. Tin hat time. I wonder which professors had the most influence on these two during their time at Oxford.

    I bet it was during the greedy wall st years and Neo lib is the answer period.

    • Colonial Viper 15.1
      26 June 2016 at 6:03 pm

      Was Blair also a member of that spedcial undergrad club?

    • TheSocialDemocrat 15.2
      26 June 2016 at 6:57 pm

      You’re forgetting that Blair regarded himself as a Marxist, or at least a socialist, when he entered Parliament in 1983. His drift to Blairism (duh) occurred from around 1988-1992. Before then he was (as I said) a socialist or from the ‘soft left’.

    • miravox 15.3
      26 June 2016 at 7:35 pm

      I wonder which professors had the most influence on these two during their time at Oxford.

      As far as I’m aware, Blair was converted to his Third Way politics by Anthony Giddens some time after he left university.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Giddens
      “the overall aim of third way politics should be to help citizens pilot their way through the major revolutions of our time: globalisation, transformations in personal life and our relationship to nature”

      Make of that what you will…

  16. Paul 16
    26 June 2016 at 6:11 pm

    Sounds like it’s getting worse…..

    Hilary Benn seeks shadow cabinet backing to oust Corbyn
    Shadow foreign secretary plans mass resignation following EU referendum result’s ‘existential’ threat to Labour

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/25/hilary-benn-jeremy-corbyn-labour-leadership-eu-referendum-brexit

  17. Peter Swift 17
    26 June 2016 at 6:18 pm

    For me, the most pertinent points in that piece are these, and like Shearer over here, the mps there are saying ‘we can’t win with him. Get him out’.

    “The development comes as leaked internal Labour party polling of people who voted for Labour in 2015 reveals that nearly a third (29%) would support a different party if a general election was held today.”

    “Leaked internal Labour party polling suggested that Labour would attract nearly 3 million fewer votes than it did in the 2015 general election if one were called today.
    It shows that just 71% of those who voted for Ed Miliband’s Labour party in May last year say they would vote Labour now, and this drops further – to 67% – among working and lower middle-class C2DE voters.”

    • Colonial Viper 17.1
      26 June 2016 at 6:34 pm

      Fuck the MPs.

      Like Labour here, they don’t get the biggest say in choosing the Leader.

      Labour MPs have gotten too cosy into the habit of shafting the general membership.

      As for Labour struggling in the UK. These idiot MPs should start looking the the mirror. Their support of Blairite Third Wayism has fucked the Labour Party. Blaming Corbyn who has been Leader for 5 minutes is thoroughly disingenuous.

      As for your odious comparison with Shearer. At least Corbyn understands what Labour actually means. Unlike Johnny Come Lately Shearer who was gifted a safe seat after zero experience in the Labour Party.

    • Ad 17.2
      26 June 2016 at 7:35 pm

      Ever notice how MP’s who over-read polls are too similar to stockbrokers who over-read market patterns?

      They are the same kind of person.

      Corbyn is a medium term hold. Not a buy.Not a sell. Hold.
      (At least until after the Conservative conference).

  18. Peter Swift 18
    26 June 2016 at 6:47 pm

    Mps don’t get the biggest say, but they do get to initiate leadership elections.
    That you have personal issues with them here doesn’t change anything in my post, nor the facts reported from the article.
    Do calm down with the aggression, brother. Engage like a grown up or go off and punch a wall or something.

    What can be argued, however, is whether the 1/3 drop off of labour’s voters in those internal polls are down to Milliband’s labour permanently screwing it up, or as is being suggested by some parliamentary members, among others, that it is Corbyn who has further disaffected support and failed in winning over the electorate and more importantly the core voters, and should so be held accountable for his failings.

    With his lacklustre EU campaign adding ammunition to his list of negatives, criticism does look rightfully attributed. The third of vote losses does match with the number who rejected his ‘leadership’ during the Brexit campaign.

    As for Shearer, and far from being odious, it is the most relevant bit of all.
    I’m sure there were plenty on the standard who wanted rid of him for exactly the same reason I stated; he wasn’t ever going to win.
    Did you ever call for him to remain in the job because despite everything, you thought he couldn’t lose?

    • Colonial Viper 18.1
      26 June 2016 at 7:10 pm

      And then you have the shitty entrenched habit of Labour MPs and Labour staffers leaking a steady stream of shit to the media – like internal polling or other rumours – in order to undermine and back stab their Leader.

      Both Labour NZ and Labour UK have sick organisational cultures within the Parliamentary hierarchy and it is apparent for all to see.

      Unfit to rule.

  19. save nz 19
    26 June 2016 at 7:18 pm

    Shocking. More signs of politicians just putting their own careers and interests ahead of the party they belong to. Good on Corbyn his for sacking Benn. The Blairites have done enough damage with their war mongering (remember the tens of thousands of people who marched against the Iraq war around England). The Blairites have lost votes from Labour by being ConcervLite now they have helped BREXIT by having UK people so alienated by being paupers in their own country under neoliberalism, they just want OUT.

    • whateva next? 19.1
      27 June 2016 at 2:58 pm

      aye to that Save NZ, unbelievable behaviour, and shows me how out of touch they are with public, chance for Jeremy to show what he is made of.
      To all of those who are playing #regrexit now, stop wasting our time and get on with what needs to be done

  20. save nz 20
    26 June 2016 at 7:25 pm

    Yep this is an example of the Blairite foreign minister – wonder why Labour is out of power if this is the Blairite legacy of their reign.

    Battle to stop Jack Straw facing Libya rendition charges
    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/25/mi6-600k-legal-bill-block-libyan-couple-rendition-civil-case?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=179174&subid=13842748&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

  21. newsense 21
    26 June 2016 at 7:26 pm

    Yep. If only the British public would listen to the warnings of a main party about how bad Brexit would be. If only Corbyn had badgered them, told them they were stupid.

  22. Ad 22
    26 June 2016 at 7:33 pm

    ONe of the best things for us here that comes out of Brexit, is that the left can pay less attention to the left in Britain, and more attention to the left across Europe: Europe now matters more in every field in politics.

    The UK is still socialism’s spiritual home, granted. But the industry of leftie intellect is migrating to another town.

    The UK have chosen to diminish themselves; as goes their politics, so will go left political discourse.

  23. Paul 23
    26 June 2016 at 7:42 pm

    Heidi Alexander’s resignation

    Dear Jeremy,

    It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to you to resign from the shadow cabinet.

    The result of the referendum last week means that our country is facing unprecedented challenges.

    Those who will be hit hardest by the economic shock associated with the vote to leave the EU need a strong opposition, as do those communities who fear rising levels of intolerance, hatred and division.

    More than ever, our country needs an effective opposition which can hold the government to account and which is a capable of developing a credible and inspiring alternative to an increasingly rightwing and backward-looking Conservative party.

    As much as I respect you as a man of principle, I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding and I believe that if we are to form the next government, a change of leadership is essential.

    I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve in the shadow cabinet.

    Yours sincerely,
    Heidi Alexander

    • Colonial Viper 23.1
      26 June 2016 at 7:47 pm

      The Labour third way truck is going to run Corbyn over

      • ScottGN 23.1.1
        26 June 2016 at 7:52 pm

        That may well be CV but Corbyn was pretty fucking useless for the Remain camp in the referendum. To a large extent he’s brought it on himself.

        • GregJ 23.1.1.1
          26 June 2016 at 8:57 pm

          Nah – the coup’s been in place for months. It was going to happen sooner or later. Brexit has just bought it to a head.

          • Colonial Viper 23.1.1.1.1
            26 June 2016 at 9:10 pm

            this sounds more like it

          • swordfish 23.1.1.1.2
            26 June 2016 at 10:26 pm

            Spot on, GregJ. Long-planned Coup … utterly fabricated pretext. Although I’d take issue with the idea that Brexit has brought it to a head. This Coup was scheduled to happen right now regardless of the Referendum result.

    • whateva next? 23.2
      26 June 2016 at 8:01 pm

      “The result of the referendum last week means that our country is facing unprecedented challenges.”
      ………And I (and some other flakies) am going to add to the chaos by reacting, rather than standing steady and showing strength and stability.

      • ScottGN 23.2.1
        26 June 2016 at 8:06 pm

        Chaos, for the moment at least, is all there is in the UK. I wouldn’t be surprised though, to see Nicola Sturgeon, standing on the top of heap when the dust settles.

        • whateva next? 23.2.1.1
          27 June 2016 at 2:16 pm

          I did wonder if the coup is BECAUSE they were worried Jeremy Corbyn was within reach of being PM, as opposed to him not being able to lead?? and yes, but when will the dust settle???

  24. ScottGN 24
    26 June 2016 at 7:42 pm

    Heidi Alexander, the Shadow Health Secretary has tendered her resignation to Corbyn in the wake of his sacking of Hilary Benn. Most of the Shadow Cabinet is set to follow.

    • Colonial Viper 24.1
      26 June 2016 at 7:45 pm

      Was she originally a true Corbyn supporter or someone he aimed to co-opt with a position?

      • ScottGN 24.1.1
        26 June 2016 at 7:48 pm

        She was considered a “loyal and pragmatic” member of Corbyn’s team (whatever that means) according to Anushka Asthana in the Guardian live feed.
        Things are moving fast now though.

      • GregJ 24.1.2
        26 June 2016 at 9:05 pm

        Supported Andy Burnham in the 2010 leadership contest and presumably in the 2015 one as well.

        As Shadow Minister for Health she’s been lukewarm on the Junior Doctor’s strike – actively keeping other MPs away from the picket lines and showing little support and is open to private involvement in the NHS.

    • Peter Swift 24.2
      26 June 2016 at 7:46 pm

      “More signs of politicians just putting their own careers and interests ahead of the party they belong to” apparently. lol

  25. Morrissey 25
    26 June 2016 at 8:07 pm

    He will almost certainly face Benn, whose speech on the Syrian intervention was widely regarded as the best piece of rhetoric heard in Parliament in years.

    Thanks, Te Reo, that was the funniest single sentence written by you, or indeed by anyone, this year.

    • Tim 25.1
      26 June 2016 at 8:23 pm

      You don’t think it was a good piece of rhetoric? It certainly made Corbyn seem weak and ineffectual.

      • Morrissey 25.1.1
        26 June 2016 at 8:48 pm

        I agree with you that he made Corbyn seem weak; such audacious disloyalty should have been punished with instant demotion. I don’t think a chickenhawk undermining his leader by cravenly appealing to the Murdoch press and the Conservative government—they were his loudest cheerleaders—is either inspiring or effective.

  26. Bill 26
    26 June 2016 at 8:16 pm

    Called it…

  27. Morrissey 27
    26 June 2016 at 8:58 pm

    U.S. version of heroic Hilary Benn tries
    to explain why he never served in the military

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwTUlWZb8ns

    Chickenhawk n., usu. derogatory a person who strongly supports war or other military action (i.e., a war hawk), yet who actively avoids or avoided military service when of age.

  28. fisiani 28
    26 June 2016 at 9:41 pm

    “It will be a shame if Corbyn goes, but he hasn’t steadied his party in the way Andrew Little has here in NZ.”

    Yep 28% is fairly steady with 2014.

    • swordfish 28.1
      27 June 2016 at 12:07 am

      “Yep 28% is fairly steady with 2014”

      Labour Party-Vote 2014 General Election = 25.1%
      Labour Average of last 4 polls = 29.5%
      = Labour Up 4.4 points

      Plus, of course, both the Greens and NZF up on their 2014 Party-Vote.
      Oppo Bloc Party-Vote 2014 General Election = 44.5%
      Oppo Bloc Average of last 4 Polls = 50.7%
      = Oppo Bloc Up 6.2 points

      • maninthemiddle 28.1.1
        27 June 2016 at 12:51 am

        If you really think a 4.4% improvement on Labour’s lowest election result is anything to crow about, then good luck. What’s really funny is the idea that you can count the ‘opposition bloc’ as some kind of legitimate government in waiting. NZF will never join a government that includes the Greens, so there goes your 50.7%.

        • Colonial Viper 28.1.1.1
          27 June 2016 at 1:04 am

          Oppo Block up 7 MPs mate, that’s National Govt all over.

          Depending on Winston, that is.

          • maninthemiddle 28.1.1.1.1
            27 June 2016 at 10:29 am

            Exactly. Depending on Winston. And he won;t support a government involving the Greens.

            • whateva next? 28.1.1.1.1.1
              27 June 2016 at 2:21 pm

              I didn’t think he would go with Bolger the first time he had to chose, but he did. Never say never with Winston, and he would sell his soul to get another cabinet position

              • maninthemiddle …
                28 June 2016 at 2:28 pm

                Not in government with the Greens. It isn’t just about the enormous policy differences, it’s also about ego. Peters won’t share the table with anymore guests than he has to.

  29. swordfish 29
    26 June 2016 at 11:36 pm

    The irony being that – if Corbyn’s personal style has sometimes been seen as a little disconnected from core Labour voters – Hillary Benn is even more in the mode of Duffle-Coat wearing, late Middle-Aged, Upper Middle Class, Pipe and slippers, Leafy London Eccentric. But without Corbyn’s anti-Establishment politics.

    Clearly sees himself as Leadership material but in reality he’s about as far away from a Populist – a dynamic, intuitive Man of the People – as you can possibly get.

    • Colonial Viper 29.1
      26 June 2016 at 11:46 pm

      The disconnection of the UK Labour caucus from the electorate appears to be the stuff of legend.

    • RedLogix 29.2
      27 June 2016 at 12:27 am

      Gone from Labour’s front bench today;
      Hilary Benn
      Heidi Alexander
      Gloria Del Piero
      Ian Murray
      Lilian Greenwood
      Lucy Powell
      Kerry McCarthy…

      Keep em rolling …

      • Tom 29.2.1
        27 June 2016 at 9:43 am

        Ouch, that is going to damage labour big time. In the UK its less about the leader and more about the leadership team and it looks like thats just taken a hit. What is it about leaders who want to hang on and damage their party?

        • Colonial Viper 29.2.1.1
          27 June 2016 at 9:51 am

          The entire Shadow Cabinet is supposed to be setting an example of good leadership. So much for that theory.

        • framu 29.2.1.2
          27 June 2016 at 12:29 pm

          what is it about MPs who refuse to work with the leader their bosses chose?

          (kind of ironic for a party that claims to represent workers)

        • whateva next? 29.2.1.3
          27 June 2016 at 2:23 pm

          “Ouch, that is going to damage labour big time” ……unless Corbyn is able to show leadership and calmly allow the self servers to walk away (good riddance) making room for people who are also (as Corbyn is) the people’s choice, and in touch with reality

          • fisiani 29.2.1.3.1
            27 June 2016 at 4:11 pm

            Corbyn and the Corbanistas would simply accelerate the path to oblivion. The Left wants ideological purity over competency , same illness here. Same outcome.

  30. whateva next? 30
    27 June 2016 at 5:47 pm

    well, we shall see