‘I GOT us into this mess, and I will get us out of it’ PM May told the massed ranks of Tory backbenchers at Monday’s late afternoon 1922 Committee meeting.’
The emotion that dominated the Tory MPs gathering was ‘fear’ – that there would be another general election and that the Tory government would be smashed with many MPs losing the livelihoods.
Therefore Tory MPs were more than willing to accept May’s assurances that she would remain as long as they wanted her to do so. Despite the debacle of the unnecessary general election, the mass rejection of the Tory general election manifesto and the fact that the ‘despised’ Corbyn came from nowhere to get the upperhand and almost brought them down, Tory MPs agreed to keep May at the helm, provided that there is a deal with the DUP to keep them in office.
However, May is now the leader in name only, tolerated but no longer feared, to the extent that the Scottish Tories are demanding a soft Brexit, and the majority of Tory MPs who support ‘remain’ are now stronger and looking for allies, with the object of remaining in the EU and defying the 2016 vote.
Yesterday the Daily Telegraph reported that senior Tory cabinet members are engaged in secret talks with Labour MPs to secure cross party backing that will see the UK remain in the single market and the Customs Union, i.e. a coup plot is being launched to stab the 17 million who voted to leave the EU in the back.
Of course the right wing Blairites who sought to repeatedly remove Corbyn, and who were amazed at the way the masses voted for Labour on June 8th, are now flocking back into the parliamentary Labour Party and are seeking allies to halt Brexit or dilute it to the extent that it is acceptable to the bosses and bankers.
The idea is being floated that there should be a cross party Brexit Commission to agree the common ground of the coup. Tory Party ex-leader Hague has even emerged to suggest ‘call in the CBI, the Institute if Directors, the British Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, the TUC, the first ministers of the devolved governments and the leaders of all of the opposition parties – yes even Corbyn’ to ‘help the economy through Brexit as a priority’.
It is clear that the desperate Tories, who were brought to earth with a bang in the June 8th election, are now in favour of mobilising the Labour right wing, the TUC et al for a coup to frustrate the decision of the 2016 EU referendum, to leave the European Union.
The beaten Tories want the Labour Party right wing and the TUC to keep them in office and to do their dirty work for them – that is to keep the EU for the British bosses and bankers who have reduced the UK working class to poverty since the 2008 crash.
Both Labour leader Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor McDonnell have made it perfectly clear that they and the Labour Party are in favour of carrying out the Brexit referendum and leaving the EU, including its single market and its Customs Union.
Every Labour MP that stood in the recent election made it clear that the party supported leaving the EU. This is why in the north the large numbers of workers that had voted UKIP returned to vote Labour.
The Labour leadership must stop any not-so-secret talks that are taking place, and must continue the mobilisation of the entire working class and middle class to complete the work of the last general election and bring the Tories down.
There must be no dirty sell-out deal over Brexit, no matter how many Blairite MPs demand it. Such a dirty deal will destroy the Labour Party by alienating the millions who voted Labour to get rid of the Tories.
Labour and the trade unions that support it must organise a national campaign of marches and demonstrations to force May and the Tories out of Downing Street and out of government. Trade unions such as the RMT, who have been battling alongside commuters for renationalisation of the railways, must call political strikes to force the Tories out. The Tory plan to remain in office for another two years with the support of the DUP and Blairite collaborators must be defeated.
Labour must mobilise to defeat the Tories in a vote to reject the Queen’s Speech, on the basis that remaining in government with the support of the DUP is completely unacceptable and a threat to peace in Ireland and the UK.