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| Corbyn to launch campaign to defend his leadership after 180,000 sign up to vote – politics live | Corbyn to launch campaign to defend his leadership after 180,000 sign up to vote – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 9.59am BST | |
| 09:59 | |
| My colleague Peter Walker is at the Jeremy Corbyn campaign launch. | |
| I'm at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership launch, held in 70s grandeur of Denys Lasdun's Institute of Education building. Insert your own symbolism | |
| He's due on from 10.30ish. We've already had some main points of the Corbyn speech trailed in advance https://t.co/5xSAhznwEv | |
| 9.47am BST | |
| 09:47 | |
| Here is the Guardian’s preview story about Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign launch. | |
| Related: Jeremy Corbyn to set out measures tackling discrimination at work | |
| And here is an extract from his speech, released overnight, giving more details of his plan to force all but the smallest firms to carry out equal pay audits. | |
| As far back as 195 the ‘Equal Remuneration Convention’ of the International Labour Organisation, a UN body, supported the principle of equal pay for men and women workers for work of equal value. | |
| Sixty-five years on and women are over-represented in the lowest paying sectors … cleaning, catering and caring vital sectors of our economy doing valuable work … but not work that is fairly rewarded or equally respected. | |
| And we know too that many disabled workers are not being given the same opportunities to fulfil their potential. | |
| Last year Britain was ranked 18th in the world for its gender pay gap, below Nicaragua, Namibia and New Zealand. We can and must do far better. | |
| So Labour is calling time on the waiting game and I am making the commitment today that the next Labour government will require all employers with more than 21 staff to publish equality pay audits, detailing pay, grade and hours of every job, alongside data on recognised equality characteristics. | |
| Because it is not only women who face workplace discrimination but disabled workers, the youngest and oldest workers, black and ethnic minority workers. | |
| 9.35am BST | |
| 09:35 | |
| It’s the last day before the Commons summer recess. As usual, that means the government is putting out a raft of announcements on the same day (statements that have to be made to parliament). There are 30 written ministerial statements. On a normal day, we only get around half a dozen. | |
| Last day so of course we have no fewer than 30 Written Ministerial Statement. Wonder what's hidden? #TakeOutTheTrash pic.twitter.com/zb1IycqyrY | |
| 9.09am BST | 9.09am BST |
| 09:09 | 09:09 |
| Andrew Sparrow | Andrew Sparrow |
| Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Claire. | Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Claire. |
| Jeremy Corbyn is launching his leadership campaign at 10.30am. In a speech at a rally last night, Corbyn said he hoped the campaign would be clean. He said: | Jeremy Corbyn is launching his leadership campaign at 10.30am. In a speech at a rally last night, Corbyn said he hoped the campaign would be clean. He said: |
| You may have noticed that I have received one or two criticisms over the last 10 months. But I don’t really have time to read all of those; I’m very busy. But it’s quite important that we don’t reply in the same terms, because I’m not going to get in the gutter with anybody. | You may have noticed that I have received one or two criticisms over the last 10 months. But I don’t really have time to read all of those; I’m very busy. But it’s quite important that we don’t reply in the same terms, because I’m not going to get in the gutter with anybody. |
| 8.44am BST | 8.44am BST |
| 08:44 | 08:44 |
| Abbott says offering Chakrabarti a peerage would be 'entirely appropriate' for Labour | Abbott says offering Chakrabarti a peerage would be 'entirely appropriate' for Labour |
| Jessica Elgot | Jessica Elgot |
| Abbott was asked about reports that Shami Chakrabarti, who chaired an independent inquiry into antisemitism in the the Labour party, had been offered a peerage – a question Chakrabarti herself said she would “evade”. Jessica Elgot, the Guardian’s political reporter, has more: | Abbott was asked about reports that Shami Chakrabarti, who chaired an independent inquiry into antisemitism in the the Labour party, had been offered a peerage – a question Chakrabarti herself said she would “evade”. Jessica Elgot, the Guardian’s political reporter, has more: |
| Diane Abbott said she did not know if Chakrabarti had been offered a peerage but said her work as a human rights campaign meant she deserved a seat in the Lords. | Diane Abbott said she did not know if Chakrabarti had been offered a peerage but said her work as a human rights campaign meant she deserved a seat in the Lords. |
| “I don’t think it would be improper at all. Shami has an incredibly distinguished career, she is just the sort of person who should be going into the Lords,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. | “I don’t think it would be improper at all. Shami has an incredibly distinguished career, she is just the sort of person who should be going into the Lords,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. |
| “If you look at her record at Liberty and you look at her defence of human rights and civil liberties, she’s exactly the right sort of person.” | “If you look at her record at Liberty and you look at her defence of human rights and civil liberties, she’s exactly the right sort of person.” |
| Asked if it might look as if she had been offered the peerage while conducting an independent review, Abbott said: “The ‘look of it’, in my opinion, is one of the most distinguished women in public life is going into the Lords, that is entirely appropriate.” | Asked if it might look as if she had been offered the peerage while conducting an independent review, Abbott said: “The ‘look of it’, in my opinion, is one of the most distinguished women in public life is going into the Lords, that is entirely appropriate.” |
| Here is the video showing Chakrabarti evading a question about whether she has been offered a seat in the House of Lords. The key exchange starts at 1.12 minutes in. | Here is the video showing Chakrabarti evading a question about whether she has been offered a seat in the House of Lords. The key exchange starts at 1.12 minutes in. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 9.01am BST | at 9.01am BST |
| 8.40am BST | 8.40am BST |
| 08:40 | 08:40 |
| Diane Abbott welcomes the 180,000 registered supporters who signed up to Labour this week (although she says £25 fee was an attempt to gerrymander the result): | Diane Abbott welcomes the 180,000 registered supporters who signed up to Labour this week (although she says £25 fee was an attempt to gerrymander the result): |
| I’m really glad all these people have joined. We believe many of them are Jeremy supporters … | I’m really glad all these people have joined. We believe many of them are Jeremy supporters … |
| It’s not enough but it’s quite exciting that we’ve got the biggest Labour party we’ve ever had. | It’s not enough but it’s quite exciting that we’ve got the biggest Labour party we’ve ever had. |
| She says Corbyn will not spend the two months of the leadership bout campaigning: | She says Corbyn will not spend the two months of the leadership bout campaigning: |
| He’s very keen that we don’t spend the summer looking inwards. He wants to look outwards … it would be quite wrong if he was forced just to look inwards. | He’s very keen that we don’t spend the summer looking inwards. He wants to look outwards … it would be quite wrong if he was forced just to look inwards. |
| And if Corbyn pulls off a second win? | And if Corbyn pulls off a second win? |
| He’ll have won twice. There is obviously a hardcore of Labour MPs who will never reconcile themselves. | He’ll have won twice. There is obviously a hardcore of Labour MPs who will never reconcile themselves. |
| But she says she hopes others will realise “they really have to come behind him … I don’t expect them to leave”. | But she says she hopes others will realise “they really have to come behind him … I don’t expect them to leave”. |
| There won’t be a split, Abbott says, adding that she was around for the SDP years, which “didn’t go well”. | There won’t be a split, Abbott says, adding that she was around for the SDP years, which “didn’t go well”. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 8.52am BST | at 8.52am BST |
| 8.34am BST | 8.34am BST |
| 08:34 | 08:34 |
| In that Guardian interview, Smith denied having been a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical firms he worked for: | In that Guardian interview, Smith denied having been a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical firms he worked for: |
| Let’s get the terms right – I was never a lobbyist. I was head of policy at Pfizer, then director of health economics and corporate affairs at Amgen … I never held a lobby pass, I have never lobbied MPs. | Let’s get the terms right – I was never a lobbyist. I was head of policy at Pfizer, then director of health economics and corporate affairs at Amgen … I never held a lobby pass, I have never lobbied MPs. |
| Abbott tells the Today programme she’s not buying that version: | Abbott tells the Today programme she’s not buying that version: |
| For practical purposes, he was … He wasn’t a scientist, he was a lobbyist. | For practical purposes, he was … He wasn’t a scientist, he was a lobbyist. |
| He’s a great bloke and so on … but I don’t believe someone who’s been a special adviser and a pharmaceutical lobbyist is going to enthuse the base … | He’s a great bloke and so on … but I don’t believe someone who’s been a special adviser and a pharmaceutical lobbyist is going to enthuse the base … |
| People find the link between politics and lobbyists very distasteful … There’s no issue close to Labour members’ hearts than the NHS. | People find the link between politics and lobbyists very distasteful … There’s no issue close to Labour members’ hearts than the NHS. |
| 8.31am BST | 8.31am BST |
| 08:31 | 08:31 |
| Abbott criticises Labour MPs for not supporting Corbyn at PMQs | Abbott criticises Labour MPs for not supporting Corbyn at PMQs |
| Diane Abbott, shadow health secretary and a Corbyn backer, is defending the Labour leader’s performance at PMQs yesterday (which Owen Smith told the Guardian had made his blood boil). | Diane Abbott, shadow health secretary and a Corbyn backer, is defending the Labour leader’s performance at PMQs yesterday (which Owen Smith told the Guardian had made his blood boil). |
| Abbott says that when Theresa May entered the chamber, she won a huge cheer from her side. When Corbyn came in, there was nothing from his own side, whom she accuses of “sitting on their hands”: | Abbott says that when Theresa May entered the chamber, she won a huge cheer from her side. When Corbyn came in, there was nothing from his own side, whom she accuses of “sitting on their hands”: |
| If Owen Smith wants Jeremy to score over Theresa May at prime minister’s questions he needs to talk to his colleagues. | |
| They refuse to cheer, they sit on their hands, they sulk, they chat among themselves. Some of these Labour MPs need to understand it is not about supporting Jeremy as a person, it is about going into the chamber for prime minister’s questions and supporting your party. | |
| When Theresa May came in she got huge cheers from the Tory benches. When Jeremy came in there was silence. If your own side isn’t behind you, it is really difficult to hit your stride. | |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 9.30am BST | |
| 8.22am BST | 8.22am BST |
| 08:22 | 08:22 |
| If today you’d like your politics 1983-style, take a look at what’s been turfed up in newly released Downing Street documents: | If today you’d like your politics 1983-style, take a look at what’s been turfed up in newly released Downing Street documents: |
| And something that isn’t being revealed: | And something that isn’t being revealed: |
| 8.06am BST | 8.06am BST |
| 08:06 | 08:06 |
| Gisela Stuart 'seriously thinking' about not voting in Labour leadership | Gisela Stuart 'seriously thinking' about not voting in Labour leadership |
| Stuart says Labour is losing its traditional voters: | Stuart says Labour is losing its traditional voters: |
| To be back in government, we have to actually reflect what our voters want, and they want greater cohesion and greater control … | To be back in government, we have to actually reflect what our voters want, and they want greater cohesion and greater control … |
| Those who felt they had nothing left to lose voted in large numbers for Leave and they are not rejoining the Labour party. | Those who felt they had nothing left to lose voted in large numbers for Leave and they are not rejoining the Labour party. |
| She says she has not decided whether to back Corbyn or Smith in the leadership battle: | She says she has not decided whether to back Corbyn or Smith in the leadership battle: |
| I genuinely at the moment do not know what I should do. | I genuinely at the moment do not know what I should do. |
| And, she adds, she is considering not voting at all: | And, she adds, she is considering not voting at all: |
| I seriously have to think about it … That tells you we’ve got a problem with the Labour party. | I seriously have to think about it … That tells you we’ve got a problem with the Labour party. |
| Stuart was not enthused by the prospect of Corbyn’s leadership launch today, saying of his expected new policies: | Stuart was not enthused by the prospect of Corbyn’s leadership launch today, saying of his expected new policies: |
| You don’t just write them overnight in your relaunch of defending your leadership. | You don’t just write them overnight in your relaunch of defending your leadership. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 8.08am BST | at 8.08am BST |
| 8.02am BST | 8.02am BST |
| 08:02 | 08:02 |
| Gisela Stuart, the Labour MP who chaired the Vote Leave campaign but has been rather quieter than her Brexiter colleagues Boris Johnson and Michael Gove since the referendum, has been on the Today programme. | Gisela Stuart, the Labour MP who chaired the Vote Leave campaign but has been rather quieter than her Brexiter colleagues Boris Johnson and Michael Gove since the referendum, has been on the Today programme. |
| Labour – and its leadership – needs to accept the result of the vote to leave the EU, she says: | Labour – and its leadership – needs to accept the result of the vote to leave the EU, she says: |
| That was the decision, we should get the best deal for the country. | That was the decision, we should get the best deal for the country. |
| Stuart says both Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith have misjudged what voters want. Corbyn would like unlimited immigration, she says, arguing it is “not good to have immigration policy that doesn’t address feelings of voters”. | Stuart says both Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith have misjudged what voters want. Corbyn would like unlimited immigration, she says, arguing it is “not good to have immigration policy that doesn’t address feelings of voters”. |
| And on Smith’s plans to ask the country again about the terms of any Brexit deal: | And on Smith’s plans to ask the country again about the terms of any Brexit deal: |
| A second referendum is not the answer. | A second referendum is not the answer. |
| She says politics at the moment tends towards the Bertolt Brecht quote, as she puts it: | She says politics at the moment tends towards the Bertolt Brecht quote, as she puts it: |
| Would it therefore not be better for the government to dismiss the people and elect a better one? | Would it therefore not be better for the government to dismiss the people and elect a better one? |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 8.12am BST | at 8.12am BST |
| 7.45am BST | 7.45am BST |
| 07:45 | 07:45 |
| The 180,000+ new registered supporters who signed up in the 48-hour window that closed yesterday outnumber, it’s thought (because the Tory figures aren’t public), the entire membership of the Conservative party. That’s estimated at around 130,000-150,000, according to this analysis. | The 180,000+ new registered supporters who signed up in the 48-hour window that closed yesterday outnumber, it’s thought (because the Tory figures aren’t public), the entire membership of the Conservative party. That’s estimated at around 130,000-150,000, according to this analysis. |
| Jeremy Corbyn – perhaps encouraged by reports that judge it most likely that the bulk of new joiners are #TeamJC4PM – has welcomed them this morning: | Jeremy Corbyn – perhaps encouraged by reports that judge it most likely that the bulk of new joiners are #TeamJC4PM – has welcomed them this morning: |
| 183k Registered Supporters signed up in 48 hrs to vote in Labour leadership. I hope they all become full members & help us beat the Tories | 183k Registered Supporters signed up in 48 hrs to vote in Labour leadership. I hope they all become full members & help us beat the Tories |
| Prior to the registered supporters sign-up, Labour membership stood at over 503,000 – the highest number in modern history. | Prior to the registered supporters sign-up, Labour membership stood at over 503,000 – the highest number in modern history. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 7.47am BST | at 7.47am BST |
| 7.31am BST | 7.31am BST |
| 07:31 | 07:31 |
| Corbyn calls for compulsory pay audits for all but the smallest firms | Corbyn calls for compulsory pay audits for all but the smallest firms |
| Ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s official campaign launch at 10am, we have some details about one of the policies he intends to set out: | Ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s official campaign launch at 10am, we have some details about one of the policies he intends to set out: |
| Corbyn will say: | Corbyn will say: |
| Women are over-represented in the lowest paying sectors: cleaning, catering and caring – vital sectors of our economy, doing valuable work, but not work that is fairly rewarded or equally respected. | Women are over-represented in the lowest paying sectors: cleaning, catering and caring – vital sectors of our economy, doing valuable work, but not work that is fairly rewarded or equally respected. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 8.50am BST | at 8.50am BST |
| 6.57am BST | 6.57am BST |
| 06:57 | 06:57 |
| Morning briefing | Morning briefing |
| Claire Phipps | Claire Phipps |
| Good morning and welcome to our daily politics live blog. As parliament heads into its summer recess, there’s still a fair bit to keep politics-watchers happy, not least the launch today of Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign for the Labour leadership (again). | Good morning and welcome to our daily politics live blog. As parliament heads into its summer recess, there’s still a fair bit to keep politics-watchers happy, not least the launch today of Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign for the Labour leadership (again). |
| Do come and share thoughts and questions in the comments below, or find me on Twitter @Claire_Phipps. Andrew Sparrow will be along later, but first: your morning briefing. | Do come and share thoughts and questions in the comments below, or find me on Twitter @Claire_Phipps. Andrew Sparrow will be along later, but first: your morning briefing. |
| The big picture | The big picture |
| And so the official Corbyn fightback begins, with more than 180,000 new supporters signed up to vote in the leadership contest, in addition to those who already met the six-month membership rule. The 48-hour sprint for those £25 registered supporters has, if nothing else, raised £4,588,525 for Labour. Internal strife has to have some upsides. | And so the official Corbyn fightback begins, with more than 180,000 new supporters signed up to vote in the leadership contest, in addition to those who already met the six-month membership rule. The 48-hour sprint for those £25 registered supporters has, if nothing else, raised £4,588,525 for Labour. Internal strife has to have some upsides. |
| In a speech in London today, Corbyn will hit back at jibes by challenger Owen Smith that he offers questions but not answers by spelling out some fresh policies (and keep an eye out for that mention of “the next Labour government”). | In a speech in London today, Corbyn will hit back at jibes by challenger Owen Smith that he offers questions but not answers by spelling out some fresh policies (and keep an eye out for that mention of “the next Labour government”). |
| With more than a nod to William Beveridge’s “five evils”, the Labour leader will say: | With more than a nod to William Beveridge’s “five evils”, the Labour leader will say: |
| The injustices that scar society today are not those of 1945: want, squalor, idleness, disease and ignorance. And they have changed since I first entered parliament in 1983. Today what is holding people back above all are inequality, neglect, insecurity, prejudice and discrimination. | The injustices that scar society today are not those of 1945: want, squalor, idleness, disease and ignorance. And they have changed since I first entered parliament in 1983. Today what is holding people back above all are inequality, neglect, insecurity, prejudice and discrimination. |
| In my campaign I want to confront all five of those ills head-on … setting out not only how Labour will campaign against these injustices in opposition, but also spelling out some of the measures the next Labour government will take to overcome them and move decisively towards a society in which opportunity and prosperity is truly shared. | In my campaign I want to confront all five of those ills head-on … setting out not only how Labour will campaign against these injustices in opposition, but also spelling out some of the measures the next Labour government will take to overcome them and move decisively towards a society in which opportunity and prosperity is truly shared. |
| In an interview with the Guardian, Corbyn’s opponent, Owen Smith, adds another to the list of ills: fury. With Corbyn, that is, and his performance as Theresa May stepped up for her first PMQs yesterday: | In an interview with the Guardian, Corbyn’s opponent, Owen Smith, adds another to the list of ills: fury. With Corbyn, that is, and his performance as Theresa May stepped up for her first PMQs yesterday: |
| I was more than frustrated: I was furious that we were sitting there with a Tory government that has imposed swingeing cuts on public services, on tax credits, on universal credit, that have smashed women and public sector workers the length and breadth of Britain, and we are taking lectures from them about social justice and economic fairness. | I was more than frustrated: I was furious that we were sitting there with a Tory government that has imposed swingeing cuts on public services, on tax credits, on universal credit, that have smashed women and public sector workers the length and breadth of Britain, and we are taking lectures from them about social justice and economic fairness. |
| It makes my blood boil to see us so useless at saying to them: ‘How dare you have the temerity to make these claims, to make these arguments.’ Jeremy is just not up to the job of taking them on at the dispatch box. I don’t think he enjoys it; I don’t think he’s robust enough at arguing Labour’s case. | It makes my blood boil to see us so useless at saying to them: ‘How dare you have the temerity to make these claims, to make these arguments.’ Jeremy is just not up to the job of taking them on at the dispatch box. I don’t think he enjoys it; I don’t think he’s robust enough at arguing Labour’s case. |
| Robustness will certainly be required for politics-watchers, who have two months of leadership campaigning ahead of them before the winner is lifted aloft at the party conference in September. | Robustness will certainly be required for politics-watchers, who have two months of leadership campaigning ahead of them before the winner is lifted aloft at the party conference in September. |
| It’s still not as long as we’ve been waiting for universal credit, the new benefits system that suffered yet another timetable slip yesterday. In the seventh new launch date since 2013, the year 2022 has now been dangled – I’m not going to say set – as the completion date. That’s five years behind its original projected finish date. | It’s still not as long as we’ve been waiting for universal credit, the new benefits system that suffered yet another timetable slip yesterday. In the seventh new launch date since 2013, the year 2022 has now been dangled – I’m not going to say set – as the completion date. That’s five years behind its original projected finish date. |
| In more “what’s the hurry” news, May has hinted that the government pledge/aim/Post-it note saying that net migration would be brought down below 100,000 by 2020 might not be met. Questioned at PMQs, she said “it will take some time” to swipe down the current 333,000 figure to the tens of thousands. | In more “what’s the hurry” news, May has hinted that the government pledge/aim/Post-it note saying that net migration would be brought down below 100,000 by 2020 might not be met. Questioned at PMQs, she said “it will take some time” to swipe down the current 333,000 figure to the tens of thousands. |
| Later on Wednesday, however, May’s spokeswoman insisted: “The manifesto stands.” Which is handy, as that manifesto has been liberally cited as a reason for May not needing to call a general election before 2020. | Later on Wednesday, however, May’s spokeswoman insisted: “The manifesto stands.” Which is handy, as that manifesto has been liberally cited as a reason for May not needing to call a general election before 2020. |
| Does anyone have a Brexit plan yet? | Does anyone have a Brexit plan yet? |
| Sssshh now. There’s no rush. Or at least that appears to be what May and Angela Merkel agreed in their meeting yesterday. It was “absolutely understandable”, the German chancellor said, that the new British government would need to “take a moment first and try to seek to identify its interests”. | Sssshh now. There’s no rush. Or at least that appears to be what May and Angela Merkel agreed in their meeting yesterday. It was “absolutely understandable”, the German chancellor said, that the new British government would need to “take a moment first and try to seek to identify its interests”. |
| May – who’s off to Paris today to talk Brexit with the French president, François Hollande – reiterated her determination that there was no need for article 50 to be triggered this year (let’s not use up all the news before 2017 starts, right?): | May – who’s off to Paris today to talk Brexit with the French president, François Hollande – reiterated her determination that there was no need for article 50 to be triggered this year (let’s not use up all the news before 2017 starts, right?): |
| The United Kingdom will not invoke article 50 until our objectives are clear … I understand this timescale will not please everyone but I think it is important to provide clarity on that now. | The United Kingdom will not invoke article 50 until our objectives are clear … I understand this timescale will not please everyone but I think it is important to provide clarity on that now. |
| Veiled compliment of the day – there’s bound to be a German word for that – goes to Merkel, when quizzed about the promotion of Boris Johnson to UK foreign secretary: | Veiled compliment of the day – there’s bound to be a German word for that – goes to Merkel, when quizzed about the promotion of Boris Johnson to UK foreign secretary: |
| Negotiations with Britain have always been exhausting, interesting and tactically clever negotiations. | Negotiations with Britain have always been exhausting, interesting and tactically clever negotiations. |
| Nigel Farage had a try at sarcasm, too, telling Republicans at the national convention in Cleveland that the US president’s plea for Britain to stay in the EU had been a tremendous boon: | Nigel Farage had a try at sarcasm, too, telling Republicans at the national convention in Cleveland that the US president’s plea for Britain to stay in the EU had been a tremendous boon: |
| I’m a huge fan of Barack Obama. Without him we wouldn’t have won the referendum. He was very helpful. | I’m a huge fan of Barack Obama. Without him we wouldn’t have won the referendum. He was very helpful. |
| But unveiled non-compliment of the day goes to MPs on the foreign affairs committee whose report on the absence of contingency planning for a Brexit vote concludes that David Cameron’s decision | But unveiled non-compliment of the day goes to MPs on the foreign affairs committee whose report on the absence of contingency planning for a Brexit vote concludes that David Cameron’s decision |
| not to instruct key departments including the foreign office to plan for the possibility that the electorate would vote to leave the EU amounted to gross negligence. | not to instruct key departments including the foreign office to plan for the possibility that the electorate would vote to leave the EU amounted to gross negligence. |
| You should also know: | You should also know: |
| Poll position | Poll position |
| As Labour reeled from the Brexit vote and the leadership turmoil, the Guardian surveyed 101 constituency parties. As Ewen MacAskill reports: | As Labour reeled from the Brexit vote and the leadership turmoil, the Guardian surveyed 101 constituency parties. As Ewen MacAskill reports: |
| Enthusiasm for Jeremy Corbyn has waned since the start of the year among Labour supporters … The Guardian exercise found many local party officers blaming the softening of support on the Labour leader’s performance in the EU referendum campaign. | Enthusiasm for Jeremy Corbyn has waned since the start of the year among Labour supporters … The Guardian exercise found many local party officers blaming the softening of support on the Labour leader’s performance in the EU referendum campaign. |
| Six months ago the Guardian conducted a similar survey against a backdrop of euphoria over huge rises in membership after Corbyn’s election in September. While support is more muted by comparison, party officers report that he remains ahead and likely to win. | Six months ago the Guardian conducted a similar survey against a backdrop of euphoria over huge rises in membership after Corbyn’s election in September. While support is more muted by comparison, party officers report that he remains ahead and likely to win. |
| One stark finding in the survey is that there is no evidence of support for an alternative candidate – with barely a mention of either Owen Smith, relatively unknown until he launched his challenge to Corbyn, or Angela Eagle, who dropped out shortly after the survey was completed. | One stark finding in the survey is that there is no evidence of support for an alternative candidate – with barely a mention of either Owen Smith, relatively unknown until he launched his challenge to Corbyn, or Angela Eagle, who dropped out shortly after the survey was completed. |
| You can read the full survey here. | You can read the full survey here. |
| Diary | Diary |
| Read these | Read these |
| Jenni Russell in the Times says Theresa May’s new cabinet could help shift perceptions about older workers: | Jenni Russell in the Times says Theresa May’s new cabinet could help shift perceptions about older workers: |
| When David Cameron became prime minister, the average age of the holders of the four great offices of state was 46. Under Theresa May it is just under 56. That decade’s difference will send a strong subliminal message about the power and potential of older people. And that message has a remarkable effect on our bodies, our health and our own longevity. | When David Cameron became prime minister, the average age of the holders of the four great offices of state was 46. Under Theresa May it is just under 56. That decade’s difference will send a strong subliminal message about the power and potential of older people. And that message has a remarkable effect on our bodies, our health and our own longevity. |
| When Tony Blair became PM at 43, I knew a whole raft of people a little older who were grief-stricken. His success left them feeling that they were over the hill and that if they weren’t at the top of their professions by their early forties they’d had it … We internalise society’s beliefs about ageing many decades before we get old ourselves. Whether those are positive or negative has a dramatic effect on how well we age and how long we live. | When Tony Blair became PM at 43, I knew a whole raft of people a little older who were grief-stricken. His success left them feeling that they were over the hill and that if they weren’t at the top of their professions by their early forties they’d had it … We internalise society’s beliefs about ageing many decades before we get old ourselves. Whether those are positive or negative has a dramatic effect on how well we age and how long we live. |
| And do read Zadie Smith’s essay in the New York Review of Books on the Brexit fallout: | And do read Zadie Smith’s essay in the New York Review of Books on the Brexit fallout: |
| While we loudly and rightly condemn the misguided racial attitudes that led to millions asking ‘them’ to leave ‘us’, to get out of our jobs and public housing and hospitals and schools and country, we might also take a look at the last thirty years and ask ourselves what kind of attitudes have allowed a different class of people to discreetly manoeuvre, behind the scenes, to ensure that ‘them’ and ‘us’ never actually meet anywhere but in symbol. Wealthy London, whether red or blue, has always been able to pick and choose the nature of its multicultural and cross-class relations, to lecture the rest of the country on its narrow-mindedness while simultaneously fencing off its own discreet advantages. We may walk past ‘them’ very often in the street and get into their cabs and eat their food in their ethnic restaurants, but the truth is that more often than not they are not in our schools, or in our social circles, and they very rarely enter our houses – unless they’ve come to work on our endlessly remodelled kitchens. | While we loudly and rightly condemn the misguided racial attitudes that led to millions asking ‘them’ to leave ‘us’, to get out of our jobs and public housing and hospitals and schools and country, we might also take a look at the last thirty years and ask ourselves what kind of attitudes have allowed a different class of people to discreetly manoeuvre, behind the scenes, to ensure that ‘them’ and ‘us’ never actually meet anywhere but in symbol. Wealthy London, whether red or blue, has always been able to pick and choose the nature of its multicultural and cross-class relations, to lecture the rest of the country on its narrow-mindedness while simultaneously fencing off its own discreet advantages. We may walk past ‘them’ very often in the street and get into their cabs and eat their food in their ethnic restaurants, but the truth is that more often than not they are not in our schools, or in our social circles, and they very rarely enter our houses – unless they’ve come to work on our endlessly remodelled kitchens. |
| Elsewhere in Britain people really do live cheek-by-jowl with the recently migrated, and experience the undercutting of their wages by newcomers. They really do have to fight for resources under an austerity government that makes it all too easy to blame your unavailable hospital bed on the migrant family next door, or on an oblique bureaucracy across the Channel, which the nitwit demagogues on the TV keep telling you is the reason there’s not enough money in the NHS. In this atmosphere of hypocrisy and outright deceit, should the working-class poor have shown themselves to be the ‘better man’ when all around them is corruption and venality? | Elsewhere in Britain people really do live cheek-by-jowl with the recently migrated, and experience the undercutting of their wages by newcomers. They really do have to fight for resources under an austerity government that makes it all too easy to blame your unavailable hospital bed on the migrant family next door, or on an oblique bureaucracy across the Channel, which the nitwit demagogues on the TV keep telling you is the reason there’s not enough money in the NHS. In this atmosphere of hypocrisy and outright deceit, should the working-class poor have shown themselves to be the ‘better man’ when all around them is corruption and venality? |
| Crafty scheme of the day | Crafty scheme of the day |
| Strictly speaking, that day was in 1983, but we’ve only just discovered it via newly released Downing Street files: Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary, Bernard Ingham, came up with a plan to keep CND protests out of the headlines by suggesting the release of video footage of royal baby Prince William pootling about with his parents. | Strictly speaking, that day was in 1983, but we’ve only just discovered it via newly released Downing Street files: Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary, Bernard Ingham, came up with a plan to keep CND protests out of the headlines by suggesting the release of video footage of royal baby Prince William pootling about with his parents. |
| Nice try. Luckily we readers are more sophisticated these days. Oh hello, Thursday’s Daily Mail! | Nice try. Luckily we readers are more sophisticated these days. Oh hello, Thursday’s Daily Mail! |
| Celebrity endorsement of the day | Celebrity endorsement of the day |
| At the Republican National Congress, disappointed former presidential candidate Ted Cruz won a resounding huzzah when he praised the UK’s vote for Brexit, saying voters had showed their dislike of the political establishment and “big government”. | At the Republican National Congress, disappointed former presidential candidate Ted Cruz won a resounding huzzah when he praised the UK’s vote for Brexit, saying voters had showed their dislike of the political establishment and “big government”. |
| Cruz was later booed off the stage after failing to endorse Donald Trump in his speech. | Cruz was later booed off the stage after failing to endorse Donald Trump in his speech. |
| The day in a tweet | The day in a tweet |
| A former shadow cabinet minister calls for calm: | A former shadow cabinet minister calls for calm: |
| If today were a seemingly endless film franchise | If today were a seemingly endless film franchise |
| It would be the Fast and the (really very) Furious. | It would be the Fast and the (really very) Furious. |
| And another thing | And another thing |
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