Corbyn was right – TIG should have no role in our politics
Kit Knightly
On Wednesday, following her latest series of total disasters, Theresa May called an emergency meeting of party leaders to deal with Brexit. Despite not being a party leader, and the fact The Independent Group not actually a political party, Chuka Umunna was invited.
Jeremy Corbyn refused to take part in the meeting if Umunna was there.
The press, and the chattering classes, dragged Corbyn over the coals for this decision. Mostly because it’s what they do, it’s a reflex at this point. But also because of a general misunderstanding about the reality of the “independent” group.
The tabloids engaged their best hacks headline writers, displaying the limitations of their vocabularies (or demonstrating that they take orders from the same place):
CORB WALKOUT Jeremy Corbyn ridiculed after storming out of Brexit talks as ex-Labour MP Chuka Ummuna was there”
The Sun
Jeremy Corbyn STORMS OUT of Theresa May’s Brexit talks in protest at Chuka Umunna invite”
The Express
While the quote-unquote more reputable papers had their laziest op-ed writers vomit out a few hundred words on the subject:
He’ll meet with Hamas and Sinn Fein – but a coffee with Chuka Umunna is a step too far for Jeremy Corbyn
The Independent
The twitterati spun this as a case of Jeremy Corbyn being too sensitive, or having a big ego:
Paltry, factional and plain childish. The leader of my party will have tea with Hamas but won’t talk to @ChukaUmunna to avoid a national disaster. A joke of a statesman. For the first time I am seriously considering leaving Labour.
— Tony Robinson (@Tony_Robinson) March 20, 2019
Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn’s kinder, gentler politics was found wanting this evening as he stomped out of the meeting with the Prime Minister before it began, rather than breathe the same air as Chuka Umunna.
— Vince Cable (@vincecable) March 20, 2019
Jeremy Corbyn this morning: "It's time for MPs to work together, find a consensus that can get through parliament, be negotiated with the EU in time and bring Leave and Remain voters together."
Last night he walked out of a meeting because Chuka Umunna was there.— Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) March 21, 2019
The propaganda campaign would not be complete, of course, without the The Independent Group themselves doing what they do best – indulging in shameless self-promotion. Chuka “stormed” right out of the meeting and on to the television, where he called Jeremy Corbyn “juvenile”, whilst one of his forgettable back-up dancers wrote an article for The Telegraph calling Corbyn a hypocrite.
Every aspect of the media was united in this narrative. This deliberate misinformation is serving a purpose – more than just the usual need to get the boot in on Corbyn. Every mainstream comment piece, headline, twitter and the like was broadcasting the same message: That this was a personal matter. That Corbyn was being petty and emotional. In short, that it wasn’t important.
This is completely untrue. It is very important.
Barry Gardiner MP was very clear about this when interviewed on the subject on Sky News:
"TIG are not transparent about their funding, and therefore to have them sitting around a table, at Number 10 Downing Street, negotiating the future of our country without knowing what that funding, that secretive funding might be, would be totally improper." @BarryGardiner pic.twitter.com/pNQgVuHA9s
— Radlett Labour🌹 (@UKLabourRadlett) March 21, 2019
This is the key point:
The Independent Group is NOT a political party. They are registered as a company. The media are intent on dismissing this distinction as a matter of semantics…it is not. Under UK law political parties are legally obliged to make their funding sources public knowledge. Private companies have no such obligation, and as such The Independent Group’s funding is a secret (despite their feeble promise of transparency).
Umunna being invited to that meeting was, of course, a piece of political theatre. May did to try to discredit Corbyn, knowing he would have to respond, and throw the hyper-controlled media a distraction to chew on. But also, it’s a part of the establishment effort to give weight to the very idea of the Independent Group. A media and parlimentary presence they have not earned and do not deserve. To normalise them.
This is an effort to lend legitimacy to the Independent Group, to have us accept that it’s perfectly alright to have a private corporation with secret funding sitting in parliamentary meetings, helping to decide policy. That is counter to the very concept of democracy.
The truth is we have no idea how “independent” this group is, and until they are willing to tell us, they deserve – and should have – no role in the running of our country.
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“Paltry, factional and plain childish. The leader of my party will have tea with Hamas but won’t talk to @ChukaUmunna to avoid a national disaster. A joke of a statesman. For the first time I am seriously considering leaving Labour.
— Tony Robinson (@Tony_Robinson) March 20, 2019”
Jesus, Baldrick. Do the Labour Party a favour and fuck off.
If it is constitutional for a private company to be represented in parliament, how long will it be before BAE Systems and Amazon and Vodafone have MPs?
The Independent Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Integrity Initiative?
Chuka Umunna was not elected to the position he holds so he’s illegitimate, and his being there was pure mischief to generate the response it did. Those who don’t like Jeremy will try to beat him with while his supporters will dismiss it, so apart from a few negative headlines it all seemed rather pointless. But imagine if a similar group was formed on the left with Union backing? They’d scream “Communism!”.
Don’t know if already posted, but turns out TIG are bankrolled by one of the Tories’ biggest banker donors.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/solomonhughes/chuka-umunna-jeremy-isaacs
A new kind of politics…
It isn’t really new, though, is it?
The Independant Group is a registered company and a registered company doesn’t have members it has shareholders and employees. So what is the legal relationship between this limited company and the MPs calling themselves “The Independant Group”?
Who is this site actually run by? I make the first comment and it never appears for hours!!!
You can’t trust anyone these days especially Off/On/FU Guardian.
ive commented many times they’ve never been published!
It can be annoying but it happens everywhere. I have been banned by abcnewsgo after I posted facts. It wasn’t even on their site if I remember correctly, just through the same commenting facility. Just facts – they couldn’t take them. I did not even criticize that privileged group just listed some privileges which are known facts, or I would not know them.
“ive commented many times they’ve never been published!”
Apart from this one?
I have never once had a comment disappear on this comment board.
Yep
I’ve never had a problem. Sometimes the comment doesn’t appear right away but it always does in a short time. Your comment “You can’t trust anyone these days” seems designed to foment despair.
Not had a problem either…..
Jeremy Corbyn was right to leave this shambles of a meeting. Created ONLY to humiliate him. TIG are not even a legitimate REGISTERED company in Britain, and are NO LONGER MPs.. They are company Directors who gave up the Labour seats they were elected to, in an effort to bring JC down..
Why are they refusing to stand down, and then stand for re-election? Mmm let’s think about that one… Because no one would vote for them and they would lose their MP’s benefits?
Next we know Witherspoon’s boss will be joining May for cross party parliamentary talks. Or what about Richard Branson.. he seems to have a vested interest in South American politics. Surely that should qualify him to join May’s band of misfit-losers.
Maybot’s decision had the desired effect. To give the pressitutes something to crow about and deflect attention from the complete b*ll*cks she has created.
Never had a problem here. Was banned by Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel for mildly disagreeing with her ridiculous ‘russia stole the US election’ bs. Web pages will time out at different rates at different sites. Best way around that is to refresh the page and get it off your chest pronto and post.
Chuka Umunna is the Juan Guaido of the BLP
Actually, Steven Morrell the company shareholder Chuka Umunna is not a ” hebrew ‘ as John the Guaido ( the surname Guaido is directly translated as ‘ Jew ‘ ) although he is not known as a’ hebrew ‘and how he obtained such a surname has not been disclosed in the South Americian media, perhaps because he spent his early years in North America ?
He definitely likes the benjamins especially the USA print version.
This is all just smoke and mirrors. There is a very serious and clear and present danger forming here. Not just Umunna, or May – but Corbyn as well – deserve no place in our politics. In case no one noticed: it is not our politics. The collective sense of ownership is in complete denial of the blatant fact that we have no right of agency in ‘our’ politics. Denial of agency = denial of ownership. We are being betrayed. And it beyond petty infighting over the result. We voted to leave, they will not let us. This is a constitutional crisis, that if we lose …well, there will be no ‘we’. Except for a sovereign Parliament under EU/NATO military dictatorship. It is a simple administrative coup and cultural genocide against the will of the people. All those involved in this bureaucratic coup d’etat are in High Treason of the… Read more »
BigB The thing is, that I don’t feel it was ever our politics to start with. The status of our sovereignty is based on us being the subjects of, rather then us being sovereign in our own right. Vested interest always usurps the people. The system always wins when we give it power. By buying into the fantasy of democracy, we allow our selves to be manipulated for the gain of the deep state. The whole Brexit thing is setting all sorts of mind games against the people.
Kathy Of course you are right. Tony Blair followed a long line of charlatans and traitors: installing the legal architecture of a fascist police state. He also pulled a silent administrative coup: bypassing Parliament and running the UK for the banks and corporations – bureaucratically administered through the Cabinet Office. He strengthened the credit imperialism of the City of London Corporation. He formed an elected dictatorship bringing the Executive, Legal, and Administrative separation of powers into close alignment. His buddy Bill Clinton did much the same in America. Bush finished the job with the Patriot Act and the GWOT. Brexit will be the final nail in the public coffin of autonomy. We are now just one of the small countries, one that has yet to realise just how small we are, that will find its collective strength, unity and new corporate identity waiting for it in the newly declared EU… Read more »
‘What is Brexit?’ asks Mr. Pie (and everybody else). Did Cameron really intend to put the UK-EU nexus on the line for the sake of a few grumpy backbenchers and a single seat lost to UKIP ? And The City of London ? It’s as if the whole process has been a perfect inversion of it’s media portrayal. ‘The Biggest Ever Excersize in UK Democracy’ (TM) turned out to be loss of any residual UK democracy. The very issue of democracy would surely lay at the centre of any sane discussion about Leave-Remain, yet it has been the subject furthest from discussion – with immigration and ‘the economy’ formed as the false binary in its place. May’s Deal is really the EU’s Deal. Taking back control has turned into the EU taking complete control of the process. Maybe in such a strange country as the UK, it was the only… Read more »
The City of London is a powerful state within a state and one that should not be underestimated. This article gives some insight of the very long and deep tentacles it has on influencing UK parliament. https://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/city-of-london-the-shocking-study-no-mainstream-media-outlet-dared-to-publish/ What saddens me most about the whole Brexit issue is the way that it is a debasing of, rather then a pinnacle of democratic process. Just as one example of this. A true democratic process of a union of countries. As the UK is. Would surely have been served better by a country by country based vote, and not one based on head count. We now have the country with the largest population having the greatest say. England as sovereign. This is a power grab over the other countries that make up the uneasy collective of the UK. Even the EU work on a more egalitarian principle then this. We are now in… Read more »
Crank; Kathy What is Brexit? We know what it isn’t: leaving the EU. What did Cameron want? There is no need to speculate. He laid it out in his “Best of Both Worlds”: a new relationship with a reformed EU. Things like exemption from any Banking Union; or accession to the Eurozone; extension of the Single Market; Capital Markets Union; maintaining a strong financial services sector: and trade deals …lots of trade deals and FTAs. In other words: he wanted protected status for the City – in order to increase its piratical sterling credit imperialism. When he didn’t get it: he was off (narrowly missing his Libya retribution). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502291/54284_EU_Series_No1_Web_Accessible.pdf So how has the EU ‘reformed’? By actively and openly embracing an integrated Defence Union – inter-operable with NATO; forming a militaristic ‘superpower’; Germany and France federalising via the Aachen treaty; taking an unannounced plenipotentiary seat at the UNSC; Germany returning… Read more »
Kathy
As a little aside: and not something I can verify – if you know who the City’s ‘Rememberancer’ is, and their role in politics – I wonder if it was direct from the City that Bercow got his instruction to strike down May’s deal for the third time? With an archaic 17th century ruling. The Speaker is not neutral: he has someone sitting behind him. Maybe not now it is on TV: but historically the interests of the City were represented in a cubicle behind the Speaker.
BigB As far as I am aware the City representative does still sit to the side of the speaker. . Suffice to say though. Most if not all in the house are to some degree tainted by some vested financial interest. I am not sure who is representative of whom at this stage. They all play out a role of some kind. But plenty of money is being made out of all of this uncertainty for the lucky few. Are we really meant to believe that Mr and Mrs May never discuss how the pound will play out depending on what deal / no deal is being proffered for the week and share this information with investors etc. There does seem to be a certain degree of corralling parliament into an agreement of a half in half out deal. Which as far as I can see is dismissive of both… Read more »
At last Brian, A post of yours I can understand and FULLY AGREE WITH….
You seriously think we live in anything like a Democracy BigB? Would say bless ya if i didn’t think you were just a liar instead of naive.
My understanding is that his leaving had nought to do with the Tigs anyway. They’d been invited to a different meeting and May had refused further negotiation by that point.
We need to remember that the BBC is stuffed with Cameronite producers and presenters. Cameronism is virtue signalling ( gay rights – same sex marriage etc etc) offset by neoliberal economic polices for the particularly the poor and even in many instances the lower and middle middle classes. The 2% that work for the 1% ( the BBC hacks and those on around 150k plus per year including a lot of politicians ) live in mortal fear that if Corbyn gets in their little world will fall apart. I parody Paul Mason and he’s right. The more time Brexit/Non Brexit takes the more chance there is off that happening. This is why the MSM will not countenance any type of Deal from the Labour Party or anyone else for that matter. More time may equal Labour and Corbyn led government. This is waht keeps Fiona and her chums awake at… Read more »
”He’ll (Corbyn) meet with Hamas and Sinn Fein …” Yes, why shouldn’t he, it’s called diplomacy. I think the Independent has overlooked the fact that Blair was involved in the Good Friday Agreement which ended the military conflict in Ulster. This was perhaps the most/only achievement during his whole period of tenure in no. 10 Downing Street. But trust the media boneheads to miss that. They can only echo the war cry of the loyalist militias – UDA/UVF/UFF – No surrender!
Mo Mowlem deserves all the credit for the GFA , Bliar deserves none.
The key issue with TIG is their existence in Parliament as an unincorporated private company. In effect this makes those squatting in those Parliamentary seats Board members whose chief fiduciary duties and responsibilities are towards their shareholders/funders rather than their constituents, the electorate, the citizenry. They cannot serve two masters and this presents not just a conflict of interest but also one of values. Allowing them to continue to keep their seats on this basis sets a dangerous democratic precedent as there now seems to be no impediment to any individual or group of existing MP(s) setting up in similar fashion. It undermines the democratic franchise and turns Constituencies into rotton boroughs with Parliamentary seats available to the highest bidder. Ironically, this more than anything else demonstrates, albeit unintended, the point made by TIG about “politics being broken.” The Commons Speaker and the Speakers Office have advised this does not… Read more »
Dave : The summation in your first two paragraphs is absolutely on the button and these Brexit circumstances have led this country to where it finds itself today. We have a nation with a substantial proportion of the population who have, rightly, felt they have not prospered as well as their peers and have been left behind or ignored by those they elected to look after their interests in Parliament. By and large the British people have been fed, as Mr Knightly points out, by a hostile self serving national press who promote the interests of a small wealthy elite to the detriment of a largely politically ignorant electorate who have been persuaded to vote against their own best interests. You make an admirable case for the elimination of any outside Parliament MPs interests to be permitted as the only interest an MP should have should be that of his/her… Read more »
‘The Independent Group’ is an oxymoron. MPs are either independent or part of a group (i.e. a party).
Some might say ‘kabbalist thinking’ there. See the TIG pose as ‘an eye’.
On reflection, a private corporation actually governing from Downing Street would save us all a lot of running around pretending that we still have a functional democracy of any sort.
I remember reading Korten’s book ,When Corporations Rule The World back in the 1990s, and now….well…..shit.
If I was Corbyn I would set up my own Youtube channel and in such a situation livestream an immediate message to the nation from the back of the car after leaving the meeting, explaining why the walk out. Jump the gun on the psychopathinc liars before they got the chance to shape the message in their warped, perverted minds and broadcast it to the brainwashed masses.
I mean, why not?
Jezza needs to take on the MSM directly like Trump has. Tweeting, attacking them directly as implacably hostile actors and fake media. Refuse interviews and ignore them. Put them on the defensive. Puncture their over inflated egos.
John Bolton (I’m no fan) did this when interviewed by Bay Kurley at Sky. She was doing her usual Ali G style of interviewing and he just slapped her down and called her a media munchkin. There’s no need to defer to them, Bruce, Dimbleby, Sackur, Snow – they are all self important lying scum.
They should just rename themselves the Friends of Israel Party before they get wiped out at the next election.
Perhaps the Board of Deputies can just get them booted upstairs into the Lords.
I can just see them now, resplendent in their ermine robes, Lord Chuka, Lady Luciana, Dame Anna.
It’s where all the Owens and Dick Tavernes tend to end up.
Unfortunately, the Kinnock style Brussels sinecures in charge of bendy bananas aren’t available now.
Israel to hold referendum on replacing Britain in the EU :
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-hold-referendum-on-replacing-britain-in-eu/
Wot being in eurovision song contest is not enough? How about inviting Syria to join with its multicultural population…not sure they might accept though….
Why would Israel want to do that. They get the benefits already without paying. However with UK in the EU with Corbyn as PM that might change.
As the next phase of the Yinon Plan seems to be being enacted in the Golan (then presumably the West Bank), and we consider that Israel is probably the only country in the world with close relationship to America, Russia and China, we all might want to consider if those ‘cranky ones’ were really right all along….(?)
Enough Talking(Jaw Jaw) – Time for Action(War War). – The Shit Hits the Fan!
IMHO Bruce is a fully paid up Tory propaganda presstitute, who is incapable of chairing Question Time and is utterly embarrassing with her smarm and her irritatingly condescending voice.. I stopped watching Antiques Roadshow because of her, and now will stop watching QT. The audience are hand picked anyway, and do not represent what the ‘actual” man in the street thinks. It is pre-programmed propaganda. She forgets her place… What she should be doing is attacking the Tories who are allegedly the Government of the day who are making a bo**ocks of everything they do… instead, she delights in gunning for Labour who are the OPPOSITION. Clearly a ploy to sway public opinion against JC. She is what I think a typical MI5 stooge looks like. Not the first time she has shown her colours…. >>Bruce was criticised for showing “blatant bias” when interviewing Matt O’Connor, founder of Fathers 4… Read more »
Just another bog standard BBC media mouthpiece hack.
Funded with £3.7 billion of taxpayers money.
She comes from that far away country the British Empire, where she grew up like so many before a sometimes hurried and unexpected return to Britain. As a class they miss the servants and the sun and have little knowledge or interest in Britsin outside of the upper class. I don’t think Ms Bruce had to be persuaded to regurgitate the latest anti Labour jibes, it comes quite naturally, circa 1951.
In all honesty, the first thing that goes through my (tiny) mind is “Who cares?” 1) Whatever Corbyn does is wrong, because Corbyn… 2) There will be many of the “I know best, how dare the uppity racist plebs push their brexit onto me” supporting Umunna. Mostly because of 1) 3) The problem with Brexit is our MPs… On both sides of the house. From elsewhere on the tubes; By Votes 17.4million Leave : 16.1 Million Remain By Constituency 406 Leave : 242 Remain By Constituency Party Lab-148 Leave : 84 Remain Con- 247 Leave : 80 Remain By Region 9 Leave : 3 Remain BY MP 160 Leave : 486 Remain Ironically, through arrogance (they couldn’t see us voting differently to what they thought) they agreed to honour the results. I don’t think we’re going to see any sort of Brexit, and will be very surprised if we do… Read more »
Hey Some Random Guy. Your comment caught my eye, good thoughts. Why do you not think that with the majority of constituencies being Pro Brexit, the majority of MP’s will vote leave to protect their jobs?
Game of troughs, isn’t it. (Slightly off topic, where is the money for 200 remainer protest buses coming from?!?!)
They don’t want to leave the EU because of the money. The lobbying money spent on the European parliament is mind bogglingly huge. Then there’s we know best attitude that’s seeps from almost all of them.
If they were going to vote leave, they would have already, because that’s what democracy should be. We haven’t seen this.
The only thing I’ve seen so far is party before country followed by Get Corbyn!
Chilling to see how the dreadful Fiona Bruce on QT last night so eagerly seized the story and excitedly put it as soon as she could to the commendably calm Labour guy. In fact there was nothing to actually ask just a little rant about Corbyn ‘storming out’ etc etc. No mention that CU is just one MP very much on his own; no party, no policy -( not sure about No money! He won’t say). These little Tory ‘attacks’ are predictable and weak and having ‘commentators’ like Bruce gush it all out again with that fake air of outrage only tells people how weak they are.
Apparently the SDP relaunched last year. Reading the New Declaration they seem to tick all the boxes for a truly liberal centrist social democratic party. No other party is matching them in my book.
https://sdp.org.uk/new-declaration/