Owen Jones finally slips the knife into Jeremy Corbyn

I'll call concede that. More pragmatic than I had him down as before. I also have to give him credit for fronting up to the Momentum bullies given their distasteful habit of slandering anyone who disagrees with them on anything, especially Corbyn. It's one thing for someone from the PLP to do it as Momentum probably oppose them in the first place anyway and they have the rest of the moderates to side with but Jones risked a lot here and that's quite brave. I always say that the ability to change one's mind is a good trait.

However I must admit a small part of me considered it a plus point for Corbyn to be attacked by Owen Jones, like a badge of honour *I'll say though that I'm unsure how much damage this'll do to Corbyn, given the personality cult that surrounds him and the fact his supporters are the most blind and dogmatic people in the world. Instead of thinking "hmmm, if even Owen Jones has had enough of him then maybe it's worth reading the article" (and they should as it's actually a very good post hes written there) they'll call Jones a Blairite or some deluded nonsense.

Still, I've grown a slight bit of respect for Jones.*

* incredible but unsurprising. I did read it. It's a very good article.* *

My issue with his piece, is that it fails to deal with what is the potential fatal flaw in all of this. Should Corbyn stand down as leader, it is not only going against the principles of the labour party, it is in many ways admitting that the majority of the party simply do not want a socialist government.

Utter nonsense. The fundamental assumption of your statement is that only Corbyn is a true socialist, which is a slur though a common belief amongst Corbynista who tend to get their information from Twitter propagandists. In fact, claiming that a lawful leadership challenge according to the rules of the party is "against the rules of the party", and that if Corbyn steps down then Labour is effectively over, is the just the kind of personality cult crap we've come to expect from the Corbynista; in their mind, there is no distinction between Corbyn and Labour, they are one and the same and all allegiance is to be rendered to the Great Helmsman. Anyone who doesn't is "not a true socialist / Red Tory / Blairite scum" etc. Or, if we're going by what a Corbynite called Angela Eagle, a "treacherous fat dyke"

The second error on your part is to make reference to a Corbyn "socialist government"; there will never be a government led by Corbyn. He is unelectable. He is the most unpopular opposition leader since polling began; a majority of Labour *voters* and union members want him to step down. Almost unprecedentedly, Theresa May leads Corbyn as preferred Prime Minister in the 18-24 demographic, something unimaginable prior to the Corbyn disaster. In fact, one third of Labour voters say they prefer May to Corbyn. This level of electoral armageddon and complete breakdown between Labour *voters* and the leadership in the CorbynBunker spells trouble.

But of course Corbyn, Milne and McDonnell are willing to split the party rather than let a soft-left MP (who is in fact to the left of Miliband) step up to the plate in order to make some effort to salvage this situation.

Finally, it's unclear how you can call Corbyn a socialist given his repeated betrayal of social values and morals. He accepted up to £20,000 from a regime that murders gay people, paid in order to host programmes on a propaganda network which regularly broadcasts anti-gay and anti-semitic propaganda. In fact, the network itself was directly implicated in being complicit in the torture of a journalist. It seems Corbyn is very happy to appear on Torture TV, but turning up to Channel 4 for a televised leadership debate is too much for his putatively delicate sensibilites.

This doesn't even get into the expensive gift Corbyn accepted from oil industry lobbyist Ardeshir Naghshineh to help pay for him to go on an energy lobbying trip with Jack Straw and Lord Lamont. Oh and the money Corbyn accepted in payment from Capita, the outsourcing merchants. And of course there's Corbyn's praise as "dedicated to peace and social justice" an organisation whose founding charter calls for all Jews worldwide to be exterminated. And I suppose there's also the man Corbyn honoured and saluted in terms of "You are an honourable man. You represent your people well, and I should like to have tea with you on the terrace"; this man Corbyn was honouring had called Jewish people "loser monkeys".

And there's Corbyn's utterly immoral support for the IRA, encouraging them to continue a campaign of violence and Corbyn opposing the Anglo-Irish Agreement in parliament. This was at a time when the British government was having back-channel talks with the IRA through MI6 intermediary Michael Oatley; the difference is that when HMG did it, they were always pushing the IRA to agree to a ceasefire and engage in a political process for legitimate democratic participation. When Corbyn spoke to the IRA during this period, it was to egg them on to continue their campaign of bombings and shootings, a campaign which in hindsight was an obscene waste of lives given the IRA ended up accepting partition and a deal that was no more ambitious than what they were offered in 1972. It is worth noting that during this period Corbyn supported the violent Marxist terrorists of the IRA while giving the cold shoulder to the Labour Party's non-violent fraternal centre-left party the SDLP.

Corbyn is a disgrace. He has behaved corruptly, he has behaved without honour; he has befriended and lauded anti-semites, homophobes and fasicsts. He's enriched himself and filled his pockets with the blood money of regimes that hang gay people, stone women and imprison trade unionists. But I suppose he probably says, "Who cares? I've enjoyed an MP's salary for the last 30 years sitting in a Labour seat that is so safe that it is essentially a job for life. Why should I care what moral people think?". Whenever there was a moral conundrum between speaking out against homophobia, misogyny or anti-semitism on the one hand, and on the other sucking up to and trying to look good in front of hard left or Islamist men with guns, Corbyn always chose the latter.

That is why I will vote for Owen Smith as Labour leader; that is why Corbyn must go.

@KingBradly @KimKallstrom @TelAviv @Atlas Thugged

Utter nonsense. The fundamental assumption of your statement is that only Corbyn is a true socialist, which is a slur though a common belief amongst Corbynista who tend to get their information from Twitter propagandists. In fact, claiming that a lawful leadership challenge according to the rules of the party is "against the rules of the party", and that if Corbyn steps down then Labour is effectively over, is the just the kind of personality cult crap we've come to expect from the Corbynista; in their mind, there is no distinction between Corbyn and Labour, they are one and the same and all allegiance is to be rendered to the Great Helmsman. Anyone who doesn't is "not a true socialist / Red Tory / Blairite scum" etc. Or, if we're going by what a Corbynite called Angela Eagle, a "treacherous fat dyke"

The second error on your part is to make reference to a Corbyn "socialist government"; there will never be a government led by Corbyn. He is unelectable. He is the most unpopular opposition leader since polling began; a majority of Labour *voters* and union members want him to step down. Almost unprecedentedly, Theresa May leads Corbyn as preferred Prime Minister in the 18-24 demographic, something unimaginable prior to the Corbyn disaster. In fact, one third of Labour voters say they prefer May to Corbyn. This level of electoral armageddon and complete breakdown between Labour *voters* and the leadership in the CorbynBunker spells trouble.

But of course Corbyn, Milne and McDonnell are willing to split the party rather than let a soft-left MP (who is in fact to the left of Miliband) step up to the plate in order to make some effort to salvage this situation.

Finally, it's unclear how you can call Corbyn a socialist given his repeated betrayal of social values and morals. He accepted up to £20,000 from a regime that murders gay people, paid in order to host programmes on a propaganda network which regularly broadcasts anti-gay and anti-semitic propaganda. In fact, the network itself was directly implicated in being complicit in the torture of a journalist. It seems Corbyn is very happy to appear on Torture TV, but turning up to Channel 4 for a televised leadership debate is too much for his putatively delicate sensibilites.

This doesn't even get into the expensive gift Corbyn accepted from oil industry lobbyist Ardeshir Naghshineh to help pay for him to go on an energy lobbying trip with Jack Straw and Lord Lamont. Oh and the money Corbyn accepted in payment from Capita, the outsourcing merchants. And of course there's Corbyn's praise as "dedicated to peace and social justice" an organisation whose founding charter calls for all Jews worldwide to be exterminated. And I suppose there's also the man Corbyn honoured and saluted in terms of "You are an honourable man. You represent your people well, and I should like to have tea with you on the terrace"; this man Corbyn was honouring had called Jewish people "loser monkeys".

And there's Corbyn's utterly immoral support for the IRA, encouraging them to continue a campaign of violence and Corbyn opposing the Anglo-Irish Agreement in parliament. This was at a time when the British government was having back-channel talks with the IRA through MI6 intermediary Michael Oatley; the difference is that when HMG did it, they were always pushing the IRA to agree to a ceasefire and engage in a political process for legitimate democratic participation. When Corbyn spoke to the IRA during this period, it was to egg them on to continue their campaign of bombings and shootings, a campaign which in hindsight was an obscene waste of lives given the IRA ended up accepting partition and a deal that was no more ambitious than what they were offered in 1972. It is worth noting that during this period Corbyn supported the violent Marxist terrorists of the IRA while giving the cold shoulder to the Labour Party's non-violent fraternal centre-left party the SDLP.

Corbyn is a disgrace. He has behaved corruptly, he has behaved without honour; he has befriended and lauded anti-semites, homophobes and fasicsts. He's enriched himself and filled his pockets with the blood money of regimes that hang gay people, stone women and imprison trade unionists. But I suppose he probably says, "Who cares? I've enjoyed an MP's salary for the last 30 years sitting in a Labour seat that is so safe that it is essentially a job for life. Why should I care what moral people think?". Whenever there was a moral conundrum between speaking out against homophobia, misogyny or anti-semitism on the one hand, and on the other sucking up to and trying to look good in front of hard left or Islamist men with guns, Corbyn always chose the latter.

That is why I will vote for Owen Smith as Labour leader; that is why Corbyn must go.

@KingBradly @KimKallstrom @TelAviv @Atlas Thugged

I suspect he refused a TV debate with Owen Smith due to the risk of being called out on this.

Utter nonsense. The fundamental assumption of your statement is that only Corbyn is a true socialist, which is a slur though a common belief amongst Corbynista who tend to get their information from Twitter propagandists. In fact, claiming that a lawful leadership challenge according to the rules of the party is "against the rules of the party", and that if Corbyn steps down then Labour is effectively over, is the just the kind of personality cult crap we've come to expect from the Corbynista; in their mind, there is no distinction between Corbyn and Labour, they are one and the same and all allegiance is to be rendered to the Great Helmsman. Anyone who doesn't is "not a true socialist / Red Tory / Blairite scum" etc. Or, if we're going by what a Corbynite called Angela Eagle, a "treacherous fat dyke"

The second error on your part is to make reference to a Corbyn "socialist government"; there will never be a government led by Corbyn. He is unelectable. He is the most unpopular opposition leader since polling began; a majority of Labour *voters* and union members want him to step down. Almost unprecedentedly, Theresa May leads Corbyn as preferred Prime Minister in the 18-24 demographic, something unimaginable prior to the Corbyn disaster. In fact, one third of Labour voters say they prefer May to Corbyn. This level of electoral armageddon and complete breakdown between Labour *voters* and the leadership in the CorbynBunker spells trouble.

But of course Corbyn, Milne and McDonnell are willing to split the party rather than let a soft-left MP (who is in fact to the left of Miliband) step up to the plate in order to make some effort to salvage this situation.

Finally, it's unclear how you can call Corbyn a socialist given his repeated betrayal of social values and morals. He accepted up to £20,000 from a regime that murders gay people, paid in order to host programmes on a propaganda network which regularly broadcasts anti-gay and anti-semitic propaganda. In fact, the network itself was directly implicated in being complicit in the torture of a journalist. It seems Corbyn is very happy to appear on Torture TV, but turning up to Channel 4 for a televised leadership debate is too much for his putatively delicate sensibilites.

This doesn't even get into the expensive gift Corbyn accepted from oil industry lobbyist Ardeshir Naghshineh to help pay for him to go on an energy lobbying trip with Jack Straw and Lord Lamont. Oh and the money Corbyn accepted in payment from Capita, the outsourcing merchants. And of course there's Corbyn's praise as "dedicated to peace and social justice" an organisation whose founding charter calls for all Jews worldwide to be exterminated. And I suppose there's also the man Corbyn honoured and saluted in terms of "You are an honourable man. You represent your people well, and I should like to have tea with you on the terrace"; this man Corbyn was honouring had called Jewish people "loser monkeys".

And there's Corbyn's utterly immoral support for the IRA, encouraging them to continue a campaign of violence and Corbyn opposing the Anglo-Irish Agreement in parliament. This was at a time when the British government was having back-channel talks with the IRA through MI6 intermediary Michael Oatley; the difference is that when HMG did it, they were always pushing the IRA to agree to a ceasefire and engage in a political process for legitimate democratic participation. When Corbyn spoke to the IRA during this period, it was to egg them on to continue their campaign of bombings and shootings, a campaign which in hindsight was an obscene waste of lives given the IRA ended up accepting partition and a deal that was no more ambitious than what they were offered in 1972. It is worth noting that during this period Corbyn supported the violent Marxist terrorists of the IRA while giving the cold shoulder to the Labour Party's non-violent fraternal centre-left party the SDLP.

Corbyn is a disgrace. He has behaved corruptly, he has behaved without honour; he has befriended and lauded anti-semites, homophobes and fasicsts. He's enriched himself and filled his pockets with the blood money of regimes that hang gay people, stone women and imprison trade unionists. But I suppose he probably says, "Who cares? I've enjoyed an MP's salary for the last 30 years sitting in a Labour seat that is so safe that it is essentially a job for life. Why should I care what moral people think?". Whenever there was a moral conundrum between speaking out against homophobia, misogyny or anti-semitism on the one hand, and on the other sucking up to and trying to look good in front of hard left or Islamist men with guns, Corbyn always chose the latter.

That is why I will vote for Owen Smith as Labour leader; that is why Corbyn must go.

Utter nonsense. The fundamental assumption of your statement is that only Corbyn is a true socialist, which is a slur though a common belief amongst Corbynista who tend to get their information from Twitter propagandists. In fact, claiming that a lawful leadership challenge according to the rules of the party is "against the rules of the party", and that if Corbyn steps down then Labour is effectively over, is the just the kind of personality cult crap we've come to expect from the Corbynista; in their mind, there is no distinction between Corbyn and Labour, they are one and the same and all allegiance is to be rendered to the Great Helmsman. Anyone who doesn't is "not a true socialist / Red Tory / Blairite scum" etc. Or, if we're going by what a Corbynite called Angela Eagle, a "treacherous fat dyke"

The second error on your part is to make reference to a Corbyn "socialist government"; there will never be a government led by Corbyn. He is unelectable. He is the most unpopular opposition leader since polling began; a majority of Labour *voters* and union members want him to step down. Almost unprecedentedly, Theresa May leads Corbyn as preferred Prime Minister in the 18-24 demographic, something unimaginable prior to the Corbyn disaster. In fact, one third of Labour voters say they prefer May to Corbyn. This level of electoral armageddon and complete breakdown between Labour *voters* and the leadership in the CorbynBunker spells trouble.

But of course Corbyn, Milne and McDonnell are willing to split the party rather than let a soft-left MP (who is in fact to the left of Miliband) step up to the plate in order to make some effort to salvage this situation.

Finally, it's unclear how you can call Corbyn a socialist given his repeated betrayal of social values and morals. He accepted up to £20,000 from a regime that murders gay people, paid in order to host programmes on a propaganda network which regularly broadcasts anti-gay and anti-semitic propaganda. In fact, the network itself was directly implicated in being complicit in the torture of a journalist. It seems Corbyn is very happy to appear on Torture TV, but turning up to Channel 4 for a televised leadership debate is too much for his putatively delicate sensibilites.

This doesn't even get into the expensive gift Corbyn accepted from oil industry lobbyist Ardeshir Naghshineh to help pay for him to go on an energy lobbying trip with Jack Straw and Lord Lamont. Oh and the money Corbyn accepted in payment from Capita, the outsourcing merchants. And of course there's Corbyn's praise as "dedicated to peace and social justice" an organisation whose founding charter calls for all Jews worldwide to be exterminated. And I suppose there's also the man Corbyn honoured and saluted in terms of "You are an honourable man. You represent your people well, and I should like to have tea with you on the terrace"; this man Corbyn was honouring had called Jewish people "loser monkeys".

And there's Corbyn's utterly immoral support for the IRA, encouraging them to continue a campaign of violence and Corbyn opposing the Anglo-Irish Agreement in parliament. This was at a time when the British government was having back-channel talks with the IRA through MI6 intermediary Michael Oatley; the difference is that when HMG did it, they were always pushing the IRA to agree to a ceasefire and engage in a political process for legitimate democratic participation. When Corbyn spoke to the IRA during this period, it was to egg them on to continue their campaign of bombings and shootings, a campaign which in hindsight was an obscene waste of lives given the IRA ended up accepting partition and a deal that was no more ambitious than what they were offered in 1972. It is worth noting that during this period Corbyn supported the violent Marxist terrorists of the IRA while giving the cold shoulder to the Labour Party's non-violent fraternal centre-left party the SDLP.

Corbyn is a disgrace. He has behaved corruptly, he has behaved without honour; he has befriended and lauded anti-semites, homophobes and fasicsts. He's enriched himself and filled his pockets with the blood money of regimes that hang gay people, stone women and imprison trade unionists. But I suppose he probably says, "Who cares? I've enjoyed an MP's salary for the last 30 years sitting in a Labour seat that is so safe that it is essentially a job for life. Why should I care what moral people think?". Whenever there was a moral conundrum between speaking out against homophobia, misogyny or anti-semitism on the one hand, and on the other sucking up to and trying to look good in front of hard left or Islamist men with guns, Corbyn always chose the latter.

That is why I will vote for Owen Smith as Labour leader; that is why Corbyn must go.

@KingBradly @KimKallstrom @TelAviv @Atlas Thugged

I agree with every criticism you have made of Corbyn, for me the foremost problem is not that he's a socialist or whatever, it's that far from being the pure politician who can't be bought, he is owned by some of the nastiest most anti-Western regimes in the world, his morals are more bankrupt than his economic policy.


I however cannot for one moment support Owen Smith either because whilst I agree he is a step up from Corbyn, he still tips his hat to this damaging notion that the Blairite era of the Labour party was somehow a disgrace to be ashamed of in spite of all the real achievements it brought about in terms of sustainable social justice. I voted for Ed Miliband over Cameron, but the day he lost to his brother, I knew the Labour party was heading for some really bad years.

Shows he is a lot more nuanced than given credit for.

He actually is. For one, he's come to at least one Conservative conference and had a bit of banter with the young Tories. He's pretty left-wing but he's not mad with it, or inclined to routinely vilify his opponents.

I agree with every criticism you have made of Corbyn, for me the foremost problem is not that he's a socialist or whatever, it's that far from being the pure politician who can't be bought, he is owned by some of the nastiest most anti-Western regimes in the world, his morals are more bankrupt than his economic policy.


I however cannot for one moment support Owen Smith either because whilst I agree he is a step up from Corbyn, he still tips his hat to this damaging notion that the Blairite era of the Labour party was somehow a disgrace to be ashamed of in spite of all the real achievements it brought about in terms of sustainable social justice. I voted for Ed Miliband over Cameron, but the day he lost to his brother, I knew the Labour party was heading for some really bad years.

I agree with every criticism you have made of Corbyn, for me the foremost problem is not that he's a socialist or whatever, it's that far from being the pure politician who can't be bought, he is owned by some of the nastiest most anti-Western regimes in the world, his morals are more bankrupt than his economic policy.

I however cannot for one moment support Owen Smith either because whilst I agree he is a step up from Corbyn, he still tips his hat to this damaging notion that the Blairite era of the Labour party was somehow a disgrace to be ashamed of in spite of all the real achievements it brought about in terms of sustainable social justice. I voted for Ed Miliband over Cameron, but the day he lost to his brother, I knew the Labour party was heading for some really bad years.

The debate was scheduled for Monday when he was already due to speak in Liverpool. He is in debate with Owen Smith tomorrow in Cardiff. If you look on the Labour party Facebook page they are having five debates ahead of the leadership election.

I don't know why you bother with this great long rant, why not just call him a racist, sexist, anti-semite, Marxist, Trot, who wants to bring down the world with all his terrorist friends

Presumably they have known all these things from day one, so why did they wait 9 months to try to get rid of him?

Smith is appealing to a left wing membership though and blairism is toxic to them. He has to try and tack to the left to win their votes.

Owen Jones just published an incredible post on Medium explaining why Corbyn is unelectable and essentially calling for him to step down.

It's a very interesting read, quite heartfelt and very revealing. It's a devastating critique of the insularity and arrogance of this in the CorbynBunker

https://medium.com/@OwenJones84/questions-all-jeremy-corbyn-supporters-need-to-answer-b3e82ace7ed3#.txqbm71w3