On New Year’s Day, the SKWAWKBOX published a Twitter thread by writer and academic Shaun Lawson in which he dismantled, brick by brick, the perverse misdirections used by the ‘FBPE’/remain-obsessive arm of the Establishment to try to pin the blame for the government’s Brexit chaos on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Lawson has now posted a follow-up thread to fill in a gaps, answer questions posed and, even more crucially, to lay out the realities and prospects of a Labour-led post-Brexit future.
It’s just as much a must-read – and a must-share – as the first one. The Mike Hind thread linked in tweet 14 is well worth a read and share too, while tweet 37 shows why GDP-based scare stories about Brexit don’t mean the vast majority of us would be worse off.
It’s not merely a must-read for now. Both threads are a vital resource to bookmark and return to whenever the false arguments of those who don’t want to see a Corbyn-led government are regurgitated. The new thread is reproduced below with Shaun’s kind permission:
THREAD: Well, yesterday's thread went unexpectedly viral. Massive thanks to all those who shared it – and for such a positive response. I want to deal with some of the questions it prompted here. Hopefully this won't prove as long as yesterday's – but y'know, famous last words…
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
1) Negative responses more or less broke down into three categories: a) Ad hominem attacks (folks – what do you think you achieve with that? Nothing) b) Those who wanted answers to things the thread already answered c) Questions on things it didn't fully answer. Fair enough.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
2) These questions revolved around both Brexit and Corbyn himself. So that's what this thread will focus on. To begin with, Brexit.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
3) I honestly think Jeremy Corbyn is the first political leader in history to be denounced as a 'liar' for… implementing the manifesto he stood on. A manifesto which supported Brexit; just a softer one than the Tory version. A manifesto which respected the referendum result.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
4) Since then, Labour have continued to respect the result – but at Party Conference, their position evolved into a) Vote down the deal if it didn't meet Labour's tests b) Seek a general election c) If this fails, all options are on the table. That remains the case now.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
5) Theresa May's failure to allow a vote on her deal is what's led to the current impasse – which happily, won't last much longer. Once the meaningful vote happens, if it's lost, Labour will call a confidence vote. If that's lost, all options are on the table. ALL options.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
6) The motion at Party Conference was passed by the membership. Who, sorry folks, are NOT being ignored – and if all options do become open, won't be ignored then either.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
7) Given all this, the argument of the most vociferous Remainers (I don't want to label them as FBPEers: I erred there yesterday. None of these labels are helpful) seems to be: 1) Ignore the referendum result 2) Ignore Labour's manifesto 3) Ignore the LPC motion. Extraordinary.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
8) I've heard of In Place of Strife – but this is In Place of Democracy. Not once, not twice, but THREE times over – and people attack Corbyn for respecting it?! Are you having a laugh?
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
9) Then there's the question of Labour's apparent imminent 'collapse' or 'split' and 'doom' at the next election if Brexit happens. People – there's a pro-PV party in the UK. It's called the Liberal Democrats. Why are the Lib Dems not so much waving as drowning in the polls?
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
10) Hovering around 6, 7, 8, 9% if they're lucky: well below where they were for the first half of 2017. And MILES below where they were for a good 30 years or so. This is a party which spent much of my life at around 15-20%: peaking, of course, during the 2010 GE campaign.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
11) Whereupon it committed political suicide. Put a gun to its own head and pulled the trigger, betraying millions. It has never been forgiven since: including by the young people so many insist will abandon tuition fee-scrapping Corbyn if Brexit happens.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
12) So often, the claim is "these people only lent Labour their vote temporarily". I don't think so. And why? Because on values, they're fully aligned with Labour, and with Corbyn. And in British politics in 2018, values count as maybe never before.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
13) Which leads me to a broader point. Apparently, all those of us who support Labour are a 'cult'. That's a 'cult' – with 13 million voters. A 'cult' – with the largest party membership in Western Europe. A 'cult', which has transformed the prospects of the left. Some 'cult'.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
14) Though on the subject of 'cults' – and while I'd never suggest for a moment that this is representative of all or most Remainers – so many stones are being thrown from glasshouses, we'll all be subject to a great clattering from the sky at any moment. https://t.co/UGICbhYwfj
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
15) Remainers do, though, have a question to answer. As well as "why are the Lib Dems doing so badly?", it's "why did some of you vote for Cameron in 2015?" Because some/many of you undoubtedly did. And you complain that Labour is a different party nowadays?! What do you expect?
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
16) Ed Miliband's defeat was what led Labour to look deep inside itself and Corbyn to emerge. Those of you who helped defeat him (not me: I loved Labour's 2015 manifesto and campaign) only have yourselves to blame. So own it. Take responsibility. Ditto for Remain's defeat.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
17) Remain's defeat – which had been decades in the making. Not just because of the right wing media – but because so many of you ignored what was happening to working class people across the UK. Millions upon millions of whom were abandoned. How many of you cared?
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
18) Well, the shoe's on the other foot now. "We are politically homeless!", cry many of those who voted for actual homelessness in 2010 and 2015. "We have no-one representing us!", wail those happy to leave so many millions totally unrepresented for almost 40 years.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
19) And with regard to them: if they're betrayed YET AGAIN, what will they make of British 'democracy'? That's not something which can just be shrugged off – least of all with an attitude of "we know better than you what's good for you". Not a good look, folks.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
20) Incidentally, I'm perfectly well aware that all sorts of people voted for Brexit: including rich right wing Tories. But the vote broke down more than anything on educational lines – with Britain having so many have-nots that they gave the establishment a well-deserved kicking
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
21) When a country has so many poor people, so many it's just left to rot, its system has failed. When there are no prospects for those who don't enjoy the quality education others (including me) had, its system has failed. Stop sneering at Brexit voters and start empathising.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
22) Which, of course, brings us to the crux. The point I made which incurred most criticism was where I suggested a Labour Brexit is infinitely preferable to a Tory one. "He's deluded! He's swallowed the kool aid! Magic Grandpa has melted his brain!" Er, no.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
23) If there's a Tory Brexit, Tory austerity will continue apace. The entire project is about shrinking the state and rewarding their super-rich friends. It's about destroying the welfare state too. But hang on – how was that welfare state built in the first place?
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
24) After the war, unlike the disgraceful nonsense spouted about us "turning into Greece" in 2010, Britain really WAS bankrupt. Or at least, as close to bankrupt as it's possible for a sovereign state controlling its own money supply to be. So what did we do?
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
25) We only went and built the entire welfare state – above all, the NHS. We only went and built homes, homes and more homes too. Despite being almost bankrupt. Remarkable. Thank God for that government; heroes who built a nation fit for their fellow heroes.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
26) So what's the plan now? It's for some latter day equivalent to that – because by God, does Britain need to be rebuilt from the bottom up. And it CAN be. Even after Brexit.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
27) For 40 years, Britain has laboured under a myth. "Running a country is like running a household budget". Well, it's not. It couldn't be less so. For businesses to grow, they borrow to invest. For a family to buy a home, they borrow too. Well: investment is what we must do too
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
28) We are a rich sovereign state who control our own money supply. For over 300 years, like every other major nation on the planet, our debt has grown. What happened to all those nations? They developed, they progressed, they innovated, they prospered. So can we.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
29) "But inflation!", cry naysayers. Where was that inflation when we printed money like it was going out of fashion for Qualitative Easing? So we can print money for banks – who caused the crash in the first place – but not the people, who've been punished ever since? Baloney.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
30) For those of you who've not heard about Modern Monetary Theory, read up on it. It'll shock you, I promise. Better still: get thee to @graceblakeley's Twitter page and buy her book when it comes out. She knows what she's talking about; she knows what a scam Tory economics are
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
31) Everything that's happened in Britain since 2010 is a result of deliberate government policy. Almost everything that happens after Brexit – assuming it happens – will again be a result of government policy. Tory policy… or Labour policy.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
32) Yes, Brexit will leave the economy a bit smaller medium term than it otherwise would've been. Thereby leaving us still one of the richest countries on the planet. So all the much smaller, much poorer economies CAN redistribute wealth – but we can't? Utter nonsense.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
33) No Deal will likely be a disaster, I quite agree – but Labour will do everything in their power to prevent No Deal. So will Parliament as a whole. What happens with Brexit beyond that, we'll just have to see. No-one can predict with confidence events between now and March 29.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
34) Then – whether we've left or whether we've not – what happens under a Labour government, if and when it's elected? At times of difficulty, smart countries spend themselves back to prosperity. Economy recovers and grows. The tax take rises. The deficit falls. Rinse and repeat.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
35) True, we no longer have Breton Woods nowadays – but Keynesian macro-economics still makes plenty of sense, especially when combined with MMT. And debt only becomes a problem if the interest on it can't be serviced. Interest rates, by way of reminder, remain historically low.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
36) Of course I expect some degree of economic shock if we leave. But what happens to the UK depends on the policy its sovereign government pursues. It's always been that way. And even the forecasts are all based on the same busted neoliberal model in any case.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
37) Have a look at this graph. It really ought to tell people something. Under neoliberalism, THIS is what happens when a country grows. GDP is rendered totally irrelevant. Under a different approach – offered by Labour – the proceeds are shared. Credit: @HighburyJD pic.twitter.com/aSNxb96Eyn
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
38) As the great Grace Blakeley says, growth has become completely decoupled from living standards. That's the Tories for you. They're not only disgusting; they're rubbish at economics and rubbish at capitalism. Labour can and will change that. https://t.co/4Ou84VqWGx
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
39) Finally – at long last, I know – what of Corbyn himself? 'Magic Grandpa', or 'Uncle Steptoe', as he's so charmingly referred to by the members of the How To Lose Friends And Alienate People faction on here? "Unelectable! Loser! You're all so deluded!"
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
40) This 'unelectable loser' a) Transformed a bankrupt party into a thriving one, with a membership towering over everyone else in Western Europe b) Faced down his mostly clueless Parliamentary Party c) Started 2017 campaign 20 points behind… and ended it with a hung Parliament
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
41) There is no precedent in British electoral history for a party to do that from 20 points back. There's very few in Western electoral history. For the crime of increasing Labour's share of the vote by more than anyone since 1945, and reversing 18-year-decline, he's a 'loser'?!
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
42) How did he do that? The most extraordinary thing about Jeremy Corbyn is how ordinary and modest a human being he is. Unassuming, natural, loves and is at home with people. In an age where voters are thirsting for authenticity, they identify with that. Rightly so.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
43) Not only that – but this is an underdog movement. For the weak against the strong. Corbyn embodies it: he's been an underdog throughout his whole political career. But on the two most important issues of our time – Iraq and austerity – he got it right, while most got it wrong
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
44) It's the symbolism he provides which is so compelling. Set-piece performances at PMQs, slogans and soundbites are nothing compared with what he represents. This huge, burgeoning movement which can change millions of lives for the better.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
45) Of course I see his flaws. He's got tons of them. So what? The public are sick to death of slick-haired chancers who'll sell them down the river first chance they get. Compare May's response to Grenfell to Corbyn's. He showed true leadership. That's who he is.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
46) What's my biggest concern about him? That he's not getting any younger. Labour need someone to emerge who can build on his legacy when – later rather than sooner, I trust – he steps aside.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
47) Not, in any case, that what happened in 2017 was entirely his work. Of course not. Thanks to him, Labour had built such a massive network of members and activists that they made a quite colossal difference. And at the next GE, they'll do so again.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
48) Labour's brilliant online activists – including so many on this platform – will do so again too. This movement is only going to grow, with or without Brexit. The idiots who ran the 2015 and EU referendum campaigns are long since gone. The new group of tyros really GET IT.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
49) "So why is he still behind in the polls?" The answer's simple. British politics is in a holding pattern until Brexit. Has been ever since June 2017. Everyone's just waiting for March 29. If the Tories are left holding the baby at/after that point, they'll never be forgiven.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
50) Not only that, but to once again repeat: since 2008, the left has collapsed across Europe. Only in Portugal is it thriving; Portugal and the UK, given the 40% Labour's been polling for 18 months now. And as a great man once said: it'll go higher.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
51) Apologies: there was one thing I forgot, and am going to cover now. It's been brought up by plenty of respondents – and fair enough too. Brexit: constitutional implications.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
52) First up, Scotland. Where Labour, of course, held a once impregnable position – but blew it through a decade and more of disgusting complacency and disgraceful neglect: economic, social, and political. The 'branch office' was a well-deserved title.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
53) But even then, I do not believe for a single moment that the independence bandwagon would've reached critical mass had it not been for Tory austerity. That was like a red rag to a bull: a scandalous level of democratic deficit. Tories being in suits the SNP, make no mistake.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
54) But here's what's truly remarkable. Since Brexit, has support for independence risen? Nope. YES can't break through the same 45% barrier it got stuck at on referendum night. https://t.co/0uWNgNQjBg
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
55) Scotland voted Remain. Scotland's being dragged out against its will. Yet NO is still comfortably ahead – and in one recent poll (admittedly with a question which changed YES and NO to Leave and Remain), it was NINETEEN points behind. Stupefying.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
56) But maybe the wording of that question provides an important clue. The Scottish public seem to be viewing the trials and tribulations of a country seeking to extricate itself from a long-established economic and political union and concluding: "Not for us thanks".
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
57) So fears of Brexit causing Scotland's departure are probably overblown on all available evidence. But what of Labour? How can it truly re-establish itself there AND ensure the UK stays together well into the future?
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
58) Remember how above, I mentioned that Remainers, especially the young, won't abandon Labour because their VALUES are so entwined? That's the key here. Values. Labour has to prove to the Scottish people that it understands their anger, and it has changed. Completely.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
59) That question of Values will also apply if, as the splendid @paulmasonnews argued recently, Labour does ultimately fall in behind a second EU referendum. Because it and Remain would need to prove to left behind working class voters that it gets it; that it truly understands.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
60) If Labour does ultimately come out for a 2nd referendum, there must not under any circumstances be euphoria or triumphalism. Its entire approach needs to be "look, we tried – we tried our damndest, but now we're going to fix things for you. Completely. Join us, and we will"
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
61) Finally, Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is why a deal MUST happen, or a 2nd referendum happen instead. The border is an intractable question. Do I think Labour could get a better deal? I doubt it – though this was very interesting indeed: https://t.co/2IIT7ZJSUm
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
62) Those comments from the Irish Foreign Minister – who knows the reality of all this better than more or less anyone – do at least suggest that Labour getting a better deal isn't impossible. But clearly, Article 50 would have to be extended first.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
63) Whether that's politically feasible, and whether all EU member states would agree to it, I don't know. Keeping Northern Ireland in 'a' or 'the' customs union is inevitable though. It MUST happen.
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
64) No-one knows what will happen between now and March 29. Entire British polity is in flux. I reiterate that on balance, I'd prefer to Remain. But unless there's No Deal, there'll be enormous opportunity for Labour in a post-Brexit UK. Its values can become Britain's values too
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
65) And that really, truly is it. Thanks to anyone who's stuck with it all the way through. My message: keep sticking with it, keep fighting, keep campaigning, and dream big. Very big. Because #ChangeIsComing. Sweeping the Tories away like a broom does dust. /FIN
— Shaun Lawson (@shaunjlawson) January 2, 2019
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