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| Corbyn’s Christ-like position may have nuked his chances of becoming PM | Corbyn’s Christ-like position may have nuked his chances of becoming PM |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| No. Never. Those final words will for ever define Jeremy Corbyn. Maria Eagle, the new shadow defence secretary, said abruptly: “I don’t think that a potential prime minister answering a question like that in the way he did is helpful.” David Cameron instantly riposted: “Labour can’t be trusted with our national security.” | No. Never. Those final words will for ever define Jeremy Corbyn. Maria Eagle, the new shadow defence secretary, said abruptly: “I don’t think that a potential prime minister answering a question like that in the way he did is helpful.” David Cameron instantly riposted: “Labour can’t be trusted with our national security.” |
| Related: Jeremy Corbyn: I would never use nuclear weapons if I were PM | Related: Jeremy Corbyn: I would never use nuclear weapons if I were PM |
| After Labour had slid past Trident renewal, party delegates and unions overwhelmingly united in choosing not to debate changing pro-Trident policy, Corbyn ignored them by raising it again in his speech. Then he nuked the whole party peace process by saying he would never press the red button. Voting against an outrageously expensive four-sub Trident renewal permanently and pointlessly patrolling the high seas is a feasible political position. Some token “bomb in a box”, a missile in a silo that keeps the UK nominally a nuclear power, might be politically saleable. But out-and-out unilateralism, as abandoned by Neil Kinnock in 1989, looks a very hard sell indeed. | After Labour had slid past Trident renewal, party delegates and unions overwhelmingly united in choosing not to debate changing pro-Trident policy, Corbyn ignored them by raising it again in his speech. Then he nuked the whole party peace process by saying he would never press the red button. Voting against an outrageously expensive four-sub Trident renewal permanently and pointlessly patrolling the high seas is a feasible political position. Some token “bomb in a box”, a missile in a silo that keeps the UK nominally a nuclear power, might be politically saleable. But out-and-out unilateralism, as abandoned by Neil Kinnock in 1989, looks a very hard sell indeed. |
| Can Corbyn from opposition really turn Britain from Europe’s bellicose pub brawler, eager to join any fight, into an unarmed pacifist country, with no more than peacekeeping forces? Of course there are good reasons for the UK to downsize its inflated self-image and stop strutting on the global stage; give up our UN seat, behave more modestly and stop “punching above our weight”. But will Brits elect a man who says he will never use the weapons we have? Many frontbenchers don’t think so – the two Eagles, Lord Falconer, Heidi Alexander, Andy Burnham and Hilary Benn among them. | Can Corbyn from opposition really turn Britain from Europe’s bellicose pub brawler, eager to join any fight, into an unarmed pacifist country, with no more than peacekeeping forces? Of course there are good reasons for the UK to downsize its inflated self-image and stop strutting on the global stage; give up our UN seat, behave more modestly and stop “punching above our weight”. But will Brits elect a man who says he will never use the weapons we have? Many frontbenchers don’t think so – the two Eagles, Lord Falconer, Heidi Alexander, Andy Burnham and Hilary Benn among them. |
| Even if Labour backs nuclear weapons, can they ever win with a leader who won’t use them? Let’s hope no sane prime minister ever left a letter in those submarine safes saying, “Fire!” Once deterrence has failed, what’s the point of mega-slaughter? But bluff is the nuclear game – mutually assured destruction, MAD by name and nature. | |
| Related: Trident is useless. Corbyn’s shadow cabinet should be ashamed | Simon Jenkins | |
| Corbyn must have known the killer question would come. He’s not called JC for nothing: there is something Christlike about adhering to his deepest beliefs, even if they lead to political crucifixion. That No comes from deep within – and he can never unsay it. He can’t ever play the bluffing game. | Corbyn must have known the killer question would come. He’s not called JC for nothing: there is something Christlike about adhering to his deepest beliefs, even if they lead to political crucifixion. That No comes from deep within – and he can never unsay it. He can’t ever play the bluffing game. |
| He and I were both teenage Aldermaston marchers in an era when the bomb was an ever-present fear. Hard to convey the terror now, but the 1962 Cuban missile crisis felt close to the end of the world. Civil defence warnings on how to survive for weeks under the stairs, imagining what you’d do when the four-minute siren wailed, how long strontium-90 stays in the air and soil, poring over graphic descriptions of dying from nuclear fallout, as in Neville Shute’s On the Beach – all these were horribly real. For my father, one of CND’s early founders, apocalypse was so imminent that he had to turn the car round on a holiday to Wales and go home to collect the large jar of suicide pills he kept for the whole family, in case of nuclear attack. | He and I were both teenage Aldermaston marchers in an era when the bomb was an ever-present fear. Hard to convey the terror now, but the 1962 Cuban missile crisis felt close to the end of the world. Civil defence warnings on how to survive for weeks under the stairs, imagining what you’d do when the four-minute siren wailed, how long strontium-90 stays in the air and soil, poring over graphic descriptions of dying from nuclear fallout, as in Neville Shute’s On the Beach – all these were horribly real. For my father, one of CND’s early founders, apocalypse was so imminent that he had to turn the car round on a holiday to Wales and go home to collect the large jar of suicide pills he kept for the whole family, in case of nuclear attack. |
| Decades of living with the bomb without mishap (so far) have made the horror less real to younger generations. Random terror attacks are real enough. Actual wars from Vietnam to Iraq and Syria have needed more campaigning attention than hypothetical annihilation of ourselves. Unilateral nuclear disarmament has moved on to most protesters’ back shelf as an issue and Corbyn’s stand may feel dustily outdated and perplexing to many voters. Why make it his defining issue now? | Decades of living with the bomb without mishap (so far) have made the horror less real to younger generations. Random terror attacks are real enough. Actual wars from Vietnam to Iraq and Syria have needed more campaigning attention than hypothetical annihilation of ourselves. Unilateral nuclear disarmament has moved on to most protesters’ back shelf as an issue and Corbyn’s stand may feel dustily outdated and perplexing to many voters. Why make it his defining issue now? |
| However, Corbyn’s pacifism will have its effect on those on his frontbench considering supporting David Cameron on bombing Syria. Corbyn has no authority to whip them, but those joining the Tory bomb lobby may find themselves haunted by echoes of that old Iraq vote. Will they really want to stand out against a Labour conference vote saying no bombing without UN approval? My guess is they will all find good reasons why Cameron’s plan lacks purpose, effectiveness or exit strategy. | However, Corbyn’s pacifism will have its effect on those on his frontbench considering supporting David Cameron on bombing Syria. Corbyn has no authority to whip them, but those joining the Tory bomb lobby may find themselves haunted by echoes of that old Iraq vote. Will they really want to stand out against a Labour conference vote saying no bombing without UN approval? My guess is they will all find good reasons why Cameron’s plan lacks purpose, effectiveness or exit strategy. |
| But JC may have ruled himself out of ever becoming prime minister until Britain turns pacifist too – and that’s probably not till a’ the seas gang dry, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun. | But JC may have ruled himself out of ever becoming prime minister until Britain turns pacifist too – and that’s probably not till a’ the seas gang dry, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun. |