ON WEDNESDAY PM May was finally forced to sack her Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green following an inquiry by officials from the Cabinet Office which concluded that he had lied about the existence of pornographic images on a computer seized by the police back in 2008.
Green’s sacking is a massive blow to PM May. He is her long-time friend and stalwart supporter since their days at university. It was Green she brought back into her cabinet after the disaster of the last general election to provide her with a loyal ally who could be relied upon when the rest of the Tory leadership were stabbing each other and her in the back on a daily basis.
Now Green has joined the list of Tory ministers forced to resign in the past two months. First the Defence Secretary Michael Fallon resigned over claims of sexual harassment swiftly followed by International Development Secretary Priti Patel for her secret meetings with leading Israeli politicians including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Any administration that loses three top-ranking ministers in the space of two months is a government that is not just in chaos but is disintegrating before our eyes. Never in the history of parliament has there been such a brutal public implosion of a government, let alone a minority government that was forced to rely on a billion pound bribe to twelve DUP MPs just to cling on.
And yet this Tory government is still clinging on despite all the scandals, sackings and being the most hated government of all time. The reason for this is the outright refusal of the Labour leadership and their allies in the TUC to do anything to bring it down.
Indeed, it is becoming abundantly clear that Corbyn is terrified of doing anything that would force the Tories out of office. At the last general election, the Labour Party fought on a manifesto of breaking with the EU, the single market and the EU customs union.
On the basis of this manifesto, Corbyn won the massive support of workers and youth that overturned the expectations of May and the bourgeois press that the Tories would be returned with a majority of over 100.
Workers and young people voted in their millions to break with the bosses and bankers of Europe and for an end to all austerity attacks on wages and the welfare state. This stunning victory for Labour was a massive blow to the right-wing of the party who have never disguised their hatred for Brexit.
Unable to oust Corbyn as leader through plots, the right-wing has relentlessly pursued a policy of turning Corbyn into their prisoner, a left figurehead while they plot with the Tories. On the issue of Brexit it has worked and campaigned to form a coalition with the Tory remainers and threatened to split the Labour Party to ensure Brexit is derailed.
This was clear on Wednesday when Labour MP Chris Leslie tabled an amendment to the Brexit bill designed to keep Britain in the customs union, in effect keep the country in the EU. 62 Labour MPs defied Corbyn and voted for this amendment openly declaring their intention to split from him and abandon the party’s manifesto commitment.
This is the trap that Labour’s right wing has sprung on Corbyn. If the Tories are forced out and call a fresh election, the right-wing will demand that Labour fights it on a manifesto that completely overturns the last one.
They will insist that it must commit Labour to staying within the EU under any circumstances – either that or they will leave, split the party and join openly with the Tories in a government of national unity, a right-wing coalition.
This is the reason Corbyn has remained absolutely silent on calling for this weak, hated Tory government to be kicked out. The working class must do what Corbyn won’t. Workers must immediately organise a general strike to kick the Tories out and go forward to a workers government and socialism.
