Rachel Reeves's Pitiful Attack on Corbyn

Being the object of Rachel Reeves's criticism is like getting gummed by a toothless sheep. Nevertheless, her "scathing" broadside against Jeremy Corbyn interests because, in a few sentences, she encapsulates the outlook and politics of the Labour right.

Speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe and asked about her opinion on Corbyn's emerging new left party, the Chancellor said "Jeremy Corbyn has had two chances to be prime minister and I think the country gave their verdict, most recently in 2019 when Labour had its worst result since 1935 ... He tried to destroy my party and he can now go set up his own party ... The country has rejected him twice. The bloke’s got a big ego. He can have another go but I think the country will have the same verdict.”

It's always funny when the likes of Reeves bring up the "worst result" line. Because, as we know, this nadir in Labour's recent parliamentary fortunes still secured more public support than Keir's Starmer's super spectacular victory. It was only the collapse of the Tories and the Reform surge that gave the 2024 election the first-glance appearance of a Labour triumph. She knows this too, and so do all the journalists who've praised Starmer's pragmatism and genuflected to Morgan McSweeney's hyped up genius. It's almost as if there's a conspiracy of silence that refuses to ask questions or acknowledge the problems with the election result.

That Reeves should accuse Corbyn of nearly destroying the Labour Party sounds a bit like projection too. Always a politician who has to get other people to do the organising for her, Reeves kept her head down during the Corbyn years. But she was party to the destructive behaviour that ensured a left-led Labour never got a clear run at the Tories. And, in the summer of 2016, she was on the side of the isolated parliamentary party that not only tried to topple Corbyn, but threatened to split the party with its tacit endorsement of the court case seeking to bar Corbyn from running again. And that's just for starters.

Since assuming office, Reeves has showcased a singular lack of judgement. Coming for the winter fuel allowance, then attacking disabled people, and sapping small businesses through her increase of employer National Insurance contributions, she more than any other front bencher is arguably responsible for the collapse in Labour's polling. Yes, even more than the Prime Minister.

Lastly, Reeves alights upon Corbyn's ego. The Labour right have convinced themselves that he is a preening narcissist, probably because they can't imagine that someone might be motivated to do something about poverty because they're against poverty, as opposed to it looking good for the TV cameras. And this to come from a woman who has better things to do than write her own books, and is so conscious of her place in the history books as the first female chancellor that she can't stop boasting about it, seldom do we see a clearer example of an accusation being a confession.

As you may have noticed, what was absent from her remarks was politics. Reeves can't offer a political critique of a new left party because, for her, there are no politics outside of tailing the Bank of England, doffing her cap to the bosses that might give her a nice post-politics job, and having cosy chats with establishment stenographers. She typifies the Labour right entirely. In recent days, rather than stand up to Nigel Farage's division-stoking "Lawless Britain" tour and the efforts of sundry far right groups to stir up a repeat of last year's racist riots, we see Angela Eagle affirming that those protesting outside of refugee hostels have genuine concerns. And then we had Peter Kyle and Jess Phillips likening Reform's opposition to the Online Safety Act as "enabling modern day Jimmy Saviles". When you look at who was the chief crown prosecutor at the time, I'm guessing they haven't thought about the consequences of dwelling on this.

The Labour right do not have the ability or the nous to take on their opponents to their left and their right, because they got to the top by lying, chicanery, and bureaucratic manoeuvring. That was enough to win them the Labour Party and, from there, an election through fortuitous circumstances. But as Reeves's lobbing of duds at the left have shown, none of them have a clue about how to defend their position. And it's this that will do for them in the end.

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