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Labour MP Barry Gardiner: party's Brexit tests are 'bollocks' Labour MP Barry Gardiner: party's Brexit tests are 'bollocks'
(about 1 hour later)
Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, has been recorded saying Labour’s six tests for Brexit are “bollocks”. Barry Gardiner, the shadow trade secretary and Jeremy Corbyn loyalist, has described Labour’s six tests on Brexit as “bollocks”, ridiculed the “meaningful vote” on the deal that Labour MPs fought for, and said “any politician who tells you what’s going to happen … around that final deal is lying to you”.
The tape has emerged hours after he was forced to apologise for suggesting that the Good Friday agreement was outdated, a suggestion made at the same event in Germany last month. His remarks, caught on tape at a question and answer session after a speech in Germany last month, are the most disruptive within Labour since the general election cemented Corbyn’s position as party leader. They will be regarded by some in the shadow cabinet as a deliberate attempt to wreck Labour’s carefully negotiated position on Brexit.
On the recording he can be heard condemning the pledge to achieve the same benefits in any new relationship with the EU. The recording emerged hours after Gardiner was forced to apologise for suggesting that the Good Friday agreement was outdated, a suggestion made at the same event in Germany.
“It’s bollocks. Always has been bollocks and it remains it …” Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, is understood to have raised Gardiner’s comments about the Good Friday agreement with Corbyn’s office, and is expected to make a second complaint later on Tuesday.
He criticised the party strategy that Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, has been putting forward for the past two years. Starmer has repeatedly demanded that any Brexit deal achieves “the exact same benefits” as the current relationship with the European Union. It was one of six tests set a year ago, just before article 50 was triggered, setting the negotiations in progress.
“We know very well that we cannot have the exact same benefits. And actually it would have made sense, because it was the Tories who said they were going to secure the exact same benefits, and our position should have been precisely to say: ‘They have said they will secure the exact same benefits and we are going to hold them to that standard’, not that we think we can secure the exact same benefits as well.” Gardiner is recorded ridiculing the proposal to have the same benefits – “It’s bollocks. Always has been bollocks” – and goes on to dismiss the whole strategy of the six tests.
The remarks will further stoke the anger in the party that arose after the Guardian reported that he had criticised the Good Friday agreement. “We know very well that we cannot have the exact same benefits. And actually, you know, it would have made sense, because it was the Tories that said they were going to secure the exact same benefits, and our position should have been precisely to say: ‘They have said that they will secure the exact same benefits and we are going to hold them to that standard.’”
As dignitaries gathered in Northern Ireland on Tuesday to mark the peace deal’s 20th anniversary, Gardiner said sorry for remarks that provoked protests from Labour colleagues and from politicians in the Irish Republic. Gardiner then pours scorn on the idea of holding a “meaningful vote” in parliament on the final deal – Labour’s proudest achievement during the passage of the bill.
“I am deeply sorry that my informal remarks in a meeting last month have led to misunderstanding,” Gardiner said. “You tell me what a meaningful vote is? Is a meaningful vote one where you have alternatives and you reject one and you opt for the other. If so, what are the alternatives? … What we’re going to have is, at best, clarity about the divorce settlement.”
He suggested the most likely result would be the downfall of Theresa May, but even that would not resolve anything.
“What is the new prime minister, the new leader of the Conservative party going to be able to do as a result of that parliamentary vote? Do they go back and try to renegotiate a different deal in Europe? Well there’s no time for that. Do they hold a general election?”
Labour has not formally addressed the question of what should happen if the deal is unacceptable to the Commons.
In remarks that will further infuriate his shadow cabinet colleagues, Gardiner warns: “Do not underestimate the fact that any politician who tells you what’s going to happen in September/October around that final deal is lying to you. None of us know, none of us, because it is the biggest constitutional crisis that our country has faced in about 40 or 50 years and we simply don’t see a clear way through it at the moment. It’s going piece by piece, staggering.”
The remarks will further stoke the anger in the party that arose after the Guardian reported Gardiner’s criticism of the Good Friday agreement.
As dignitaries gathered in Northern Ireland on Tuesday to mark the peace deal’s 20th anniversary, Gardiner said: “I am deeply sorry that my informal remarks in a meeting last month have led to misunderstanding.”
He apologised in particular for the use of the word “shibboleth”, which he acknowledged “gave the impression that I thought the Good Friday aagreement was in any way outdated or unimportant. I absolutely do not.”He apologised in particular for the use of the word “shibboleth”, which he acknowledged “gave the impression that I thought the Good Friday aagreement was in any way outdated or unimportant. I absolutely do not.”
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was also forced to repeat his commitment to ensuring there was no hard border. “There must be no return to a hard border between north and south, and no return to the horrors of the Troubles. All of us on both sides of the Irish Sea have a responsibility to maintain hope for the future.” Corbyn was also forced to repeat his commitment to ensuring there was no hard border. “There must be no return to a hard border between north and south, and no return to the horrors of the Troubles. All of us on both sides of the Irish Sea have a responsibility to maintain hope for the future.”
Marking the anniversary, Corbyn paid tribute to the architects of the agreement, which he called “a defining moment in Irish history which allowed peace to prevail”.Marking the anniversary, Corbyn paid tribute to the architects of the agreement, which he called “a defining moment in Irish history which allowed peace to prevail”.
“It was a great achievement and I pay tribute to the work done by Tony Blair, Mo Mowlam and Paul Murphy, as well as those on all sides in Ireland, north and south, in achieving the crucial breakthrough of the peace process.”“It was a great achievement and I pay tribute to the work done by Tony Blair, Mo Mowlam and Paul Murphy, as well as those on all sides in Ireland, north and south, in achieving the crucial breakthrough of the peace process.”
Labour insiders were furious at Gardiner’s apparent breach of the hard-won agreement that Labour policy should be to remain in a customs union with the EU, which was agreed and set out in Corbyn’s Coventry speech in February to protect the Good Friday agreement.Labour insiders were furious at Gardiner’s apparent breach of the hard-won agreement that Labour policy should be to remain in a customs union with the EU, which was agreed and set out in Corbyn’s Coventry speech in February to protect the Good Friday agreement.
“Barry’s remarks certainly weren’t agreed policy, and they were very unhelpful. Barry’s on the Brexit subcommittee and he was in the room when Jeremy’s Coventry speech was drafted, and that’s the policy now, ” one source said.“Barry’s remarks certainly weren’t agreed policy, and they were very unhelpful. Barry’s on the Brexit subcommittee and he was in the room when Jeremy’s Coventry speech was drafted, and that’s the policy now, ” one source said.
Gardiner’s “shibboleth” comment came at the end of last month during a Q&A session after a speech he gave at a German conference organised by European parties and trade unions. In his speech he kept strictly to the Labour party line, but afterwards suggested the agreement was being exploited by people anxious to prevent a hard border. On Tuesday morning, Gardiner restated his support for party policy. “The Good Friday agreement is a vital and essential part of the relationship between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and has been central to the two decades of peace it has brought about.
On Monday the Guardian, which had obtained a recording of his remarks, repeatedly tried to reach Gardiner for a comment.
On Tuesday morning, Gardiner restated his support for party policy. “The Good Friday agreement is a vital and essential part of the relationship between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and has been central to the two decades of peace it has brought about,” he said.
“Labour is completely committed to the agreement and opposed to any return of a hard border between north and south. We are committed to negotiating a new customs union between the UK and Ireland as part of a final Brexit settlement, which would play a key role in ensuring there is no hard border.”“Labour is completely committed to the agreement and opposed to any return of a hard border between north and south. We are committed to negotiating a new customs union between the UK and Ireland as part of a final Brexit settlement, which would play a key role in ensuring there is no hard border.”
Shortly before the apology was released, Starmer tweeted: “Labour fully supports the Good Friday agreement in all its aspects, including no hard border. Crucial this is fully respected in the Brexit negotiations and beyond.”
Starmer intends to try to amend the Brexit legislation to ensure no hard border can be created.
Days after Gardiner’s remarks in March, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Smith, was sacked from Labour’s frontbench for writing an article in the Guardian that supported a second referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal.Days after Gardiner’s remarks in March, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Smith, was sacked from Labour’s frontbench for writing an article in the Guardian that supported a second referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal.
Smith described Gardiner’s remarks as “reckless and plain wrong”.Smith described Gardiner’s remarks as “reckless and plain wrong”.
“On the Good Friday Agreement’s 20th anniversary, Labour should be defending and sustaining it, not joining the Tory Brexiteers in downplaying its importance and the risks of a hard border,” Smith wrote in a tweet.“On the Good Friday Agreement’s 20th anniversary, Labour should be defending and sustaining it, not joining the Tory Brexiteers in downplaying its importance and the risks of a hard border,” Smith wrote in a tweet.
The former Labour prime minister Tony Blair said he could not believe what Gardiner had said.
“It is the only basis upon which you are going to have peace,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. “That’s [the deal on peace] not a shibboleth that’s had its time, that’s absolutely fundamental to keeping the peace.”
A Fine Gael Brexit spokesman, senator Neale Richmond, said he expected remarks such as Gardiner’s to come from “militant extremists”, not members of the Labour party.
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