Rebecca Long-Baileyis now being asked about Ian Austin’s declaration that he is now urging voters to supportBoris Johnson. The Today program plays a clip from Austin’s interview with the same program earlier.
Long-Bailey says:
I’m very sad. Ian did great work as an MP … He doesn’t like Jeremy, that’s pretty clear.
She says urging people to back Johnson is “absurd”. She says she hopes that, if Jeremy Corbyn becomes PM, Austin will come round to backing him.
Q: Austin says Corbyn isn’t a patriot.
That’s wrong, says Long-Bailey. She says Corbyn is a patriot.
Q: Austin says you have not done enough on antisemitism.
Long-Bailey says initially the party could have responded more quickly, but a lot has changed recently, she says. She says rules have changes and there is now auto-expulsion for these cases.
Q: Are you worried that other people who support Tom Watson’s position inLaborwill join him in leaving?
I hope not, she says.
She says she does not accept that description that Watson and his supporters are “moderates”. She says she would like to think everyone in the party is moderate.
Andrew Sparrow
Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, is on the Today program now. She is explaining Labor’s plans for a £ 150 BN social transformation fund.
Asked if borrowing costs would go up, Long-Bailey says it makes economic sense for governments to invest in this way.
Q: But it also makes sense for government to maintain a reputation for fiscal responsibility . Some economists think this will be impossible now given the scale of your borrowing?
Long-Bailey does not accept that. She says Laborour policy would increase GDP (national wealth). Unlike the Tories,Laborbelieves in using the power of government to assist in this.
Updated
Senior Conservatives continue to highlight Ian Austin’s attack on Corbyn and endorsement of Johnson.
James Cleverly(@ JamesCleverly)
Ian Austin,LaborMP of 14 yrs says Corbyn:
💥 “completely unfit to lead our country”
💥 “economic policies would make our country worse “
put “put businesses & jobs at risk “
💥 “Brexit policy is a complete fantasy”
💥 “always picks our country enemies”
George Freeman(@ GeorgeFreemanMP)
When such a widely respected Labor MP as@ IanAustin 1965warns the nation that the Labor Party is now in the grip of a takeover by a hard left cabal of Corbyn McDonnell McLuskey Momentum, driving out moderates with toxic anti-Semitic Neo-Marxist extremism, we should all listen:https://t.co/ERD5BiN0AT
Theo Bertram, a former adviser to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, sees a pattern here …
Theo Bertram(@ theobertram)
Gordon’s advisers, who went into the Commons:
Ed Balls – lost seat, 2015
Douglas Alexander – lost seat, 2015
Michael Dugher – stepped down, 2017
John Woodcock- quit Labor July 2018
(Ian Austin – quit) ************************** (Labor) ************ (Feb)
Tom Watson – stepping down, 2019Ed Miliband
Jon Ashworth
Ian Austin has recorded a video for his local Express and Star on why he thinks Dudley North constituents should backBoris Johnson.
Ian Austin(@ IanAustin 1965)
After 14 years doing the only job I ever wanted as the MP for the place I love, I’m standing down from Parliament.
I want thank local people for giving me the chance to serve our wonderful town.
This explains whyhttps://t.co/BlQm9G3nXZNovember 7, 2019
Tory MPs have seized on that interview by Ian Austin and his endorsement ofBoris Johnsonand attack on Jeremy Corbyn.
Liz Truss(@ trussliz)
Ian Austin, ex Labor MP on@ BBCr4todaysaying Jeremy Corbyn unfit to be Prime Minister and that people should vote for@ BorisJohnson.
People who know Corbyn are very worried about what he would do to our country.
Tom Tugendhat(@ TomTugendhat)
This is extraordinary.@ IanAustin 1965is a man of integrity and courage. He’s right. Jeremy Corbyn is fundamentally unfit for office.https://t.co/4H0SvIGk7P
(November 7, 2019
Christopher Pincher(@ ChrisPincher)
Ian Austin is a decent and brave man – calling out Jeremy Corbyn and his backers despite a lot of abuse. He should be listened to.https://t.co/5jITUIwaNA
Chris Skidmore(@ CSkidmoreUK)
When I entered parliament I used to think that Ian Austin was on the left of the Labor Party … this shows how much the party under Corbyn simply isn’t actually the Labor Party at allhttps://t.co/aVmuB2UaBn
(Libby Brooks)
Boris Johnsonis heading for the north-eastern Scottish constituency of Moray, where Scottish Tory MP Douglas Ross unseated the SNP’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson in 2017, in one of the most shocking results of that election night.
You canread more about the constituency here.
In quotes released before the visit, Johnson hammered home his warning that Jeremy Corbyn “would spend next year dancing to the SNP’s tune, wasting the year with two divisive referendums – one on the EU and one to give up on our union. Only a vote for the Conservatives will stop the SNP’s plans to break up the UK. ”
It’s a message that may well resonate in Euro-sceptic Moray, home to one of the few remaining active fishing ports along the north-east coast. In 2016 this electorate delivered the narrowest margin of victory for the remain vote anywhere in the UK, falling just 112 short of ruining Scotland’s unanimous pro-EU tally.
In advance of the visit, first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon called on Johnson to apologise to the people of Scotland for Brexit and austerity.
She said: “On his visit to Scotland today, Boris Johnson should apologise not just for the Brexit mess he has created, but also for a decade of Tory austerity that has caused so much misery for so many . He should also come clean on his Brexit deal and his plans for a no-deal exit in barely over a year’s time if a trade deal cannot be agreed. That would be a disaster for Scotland and the rest of the UK, and it underlines the huge threat the Tories pose. ”
Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary has urgedLaborto remain a “Pluralist party” following Tom Watson’s announcement that he is quitting politics.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, while Austin was interviewed on Today, Long-Bailey paid tribute to Watson’s record.
She said:
“Tom was a big figure and commanded a lot of support and respect within the party from people from all wings at the party, not just those who are supposedly on the middle of ground.
“But we’ve always been a pluralist party. And it’s important that we stay that way, that we represent views right across the center / left spectrum. Ultimately the Labor Party was created to bring together aspects of the center / left to make as a credible force to defeat the Conservative Party. And hopefully, that’s what we’re certainly going to do for the next 30 40 50 Years.
Long-Bailey, who is often tipped as a possible successor to Corbyn, was asked if she would be standing to become the new deputy leader.
She said: “It’s not something that I’m considering at all at the moment.”
Asked if she was ruling herself out from a position Labor has indicated should be held by a female MP, Long-Bailey said: “It is not something that has even entered my mind at the moment at all . We’ll make that decision and candidates will put themselves forward, I’ve no doubt we’ll have a range of really great candidates after the 12 th of December because Tom will be our deputy until after the general election. ”
Austin added: “I think their [Labour’s] economic policies would make our country worse off not better off. I think they would chase away investment. I think they would put businesses and jobs at risk. I think Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit policy is a completely fantasy. ”
Austin described Tom Watson’s decision to stand down from politics as “enormously significant”.
He said: “If Tom thought that Jeremy Corbyn was fit to lead our country and fit to form a government, would he really be standing down?”
He added: “Anybody who has spoken to Tom knows what he thinks about Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. More importantly, they know how appalled he is, like so many other people, by the scandal of antisemitism that has poisoned theLaborparty under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. ”
Austin also revealed that he would not be standing as an independent candidate in his constituency of Dudly North as he had previously indicated.
Updated
Matthew Weaver
Former Labor MP,Ian Austin, has called on voters to backBoris Johnsonin the election saying his former party would make the country worse off.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today program Austin said: “I’m not a Tory but I wouldn’t say Boris Johnson is unfit to be our prime minister in the way that I say that about Jeremy Corbyn . ”
Updated
Sally Weale
University lecturers are giving studentsfive minutes at the start of their lectures to register to voteas a nationwide campaign gets under way to ensure that students’ voices are heard in the forthcoming general election.
The move was condemned by some on social media as “brainwashing”, but according to the universities’ regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), institutions now have a duty to facilitate the electoral registration of students .
Dan Elphick, a music lecturer, was among those to flag up his efforts to encourage student votes, when he said he was setting aside five minutes of his lecture time to allow students to register online, adding: “I see this as being a vital part of their education.”
The initiative has been supported by the University College Union (UCU), which represents university workers, and is being replicated by lecturers elsewhere in the country before the 26 November deadline for registration.
Thisis delightful and features this excellent picture of Tom Watson at Glastonbury in 2017.
Updated (at 1. 44 am EST
Boris Johnsonheads north today, traveling to Scotland for campaign events.
Johnson kicked off the Conservative election campaignyesterday with a speech in Birmingham that he hopes will give his party some positive momentum after a series of damaging gaffes in recent days. These include Jacob Rees-Mogg’ssuggestion that victims of the Grenfell Tower fire lacked common senseandAlun Cairns, the Welsh secretary, having to resignover his knowledge of a former aide’s role in allegedly sabotaging a rape trial.
Johnson came out swinging at Corbyn, whom he accused of planning tax rises to fund “deranged” nationalism; at parliament, which he said was “paralysed, blocked, generally incapable of digestive function, as an anaconda that has swallowed a tapir”; and without naming him, at Nigel Farage, as the Brexit party leader has refused requests from pro-leave Tories to stand down Brexit party candidates in their seats. “I’ll see you at the barricades,” Johnson told supporters.
Good morning and welcome to the first day of the official election campaign. It has not yet been 24 hours sinceBoris Johnsonvisited the Queen, dissolved parliament, and formally announced that a general election would take place on 12 December, and already we have seen high drama.
On the Labor side this came asTom Watsonannounced last night thathe will step downas deputy leader. Watson – who has spent 35 years in full-time politics, and has represented West Bromwich East as its MP since 2001 – has repeatedly clashed with Jeremy Corbyn, including over the Labor leader’s Brexit stance and handling of antisemitism.
His departure is likely to reignite the debate about the direction of the Labor party under Corbyn after one seniorLaborfigure said Watson’s announcement had led to “a great sense of desolation and abandonment sweeping the moderates” in the party.
Watson insisted his resignation was “personal, not political” and said he would “spend this election fighting for brilliant Labor candidates and a better future for our country”. Corbyn thanked Watson, saying: “Few people have given as much to the Labor movement as you have.” For his part Watson says he has a lot of irons in the fire, including training to become a gym instructor and a book about weight loss coming out in January. Here he is, talking about his plans for life post-politics.
Meanwhile today, Sajid Javid and his Labor shadow, John McDonnell, areboth set to give speeches in the north- west of England.
Javid isexpected to hammer Labor on the economy, saying the Tories won’t “let Labor off the hook like last time ”. In 2017, the Conservatives’ claims that Labor was relying on a “magic money tree” to fund its lavish spending pledges fell flat when Theresa May’s party failed to publish costings of its own policies. But Javid will signal the Tories’ determination to attack Labor on the economy relentlessly over the next five weeks – although unlike two years ago, the government is touting a series of multibillion pound spending pledges of its own.
Meanwhile McDonnell will announce a £ 100 bn “social transformation fund ”to“ repair the fabric that the Tories have torn apart ”.
As usual, you can get in touch with me viaTwitterand email ([email protected] ). I’ll have the reins of the blog for the first hour or so before I hand it over to my excellent colleagues.
Day one, off we go.
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