Let this be the end of Labour’s Brexistential crisis.... If there is a deal, Keir must support it

Labour may be under new management but it faces the same old drama when it comes to Brexit. While the country agonises over whether there will be a deal, the party is torn over how to respond to one. As someone who was a passionate Remainer and hosted huge rallies at Parliament Square which many reading this will have attended, there’s no question I think Brexit is a huge mistake.

But we lost an argument not just once in the EU referendum back in 2016, but also at the general election last year. Although I concede Boris Johnson was gifted the worst opponent in living memory with Jeremy Corbyn, the referendum result was a major issue. Many people across the country were sick of both sides screaming at each other. They definitely thought Corbyn was crap but they were also deeply confused by Labour’s stance on Brexit. We had more positions than the kama sutra which is ironic given what then happened to us on election night.  

Labour paid a heavy price last December as the red wall crumbled because of both Corbyn and Brexit. The new leader Keir Starmer has vowed to win back these voters. His first conference speech as leader was done virtually but from Doncaster in front of an actual red brick wall. The optics couldn’t have been clearer. The red wall is on his mind.  

But can this north London, pro-European who argued for a second referendum bring himself and his party to vote for a Boris Johnson deal? If he wants to have any chance of winning in 2024, he’ll have to swallow his pride and do it. The Labour line right now is “we have to wait and see what the deal is” but let’s get real. The raw political choices are clear. Labour would never support no-deal. Voting against would be a gift to the Tories and allow them to frame Starmer as still being the Remoaner in Chief.  

Would it make it harder for Labour to criticise the Tories if things go wrong?  Well it didn’t harm David Cameron when the Tories backed Gordon Brown over his measures around the 2008 financial crash and then accused him of “crashing the car” very effectively in 2010.  

This isn’t about fighting past Brexit battles. This is about looking to win the bigger war which is power. If there is a deal, it will be thin and there will be much negotiating still to do. Starmer should make the pragmatic decision to support it but he must make it clear that the Prime Minister owns this outcome. No political paternity test will ever be needed for this particular project.  

No-drama Starmer will face what we Glaswegians call a stooshie within the party. But sometimes political leadership is about having tough conversations with your pals. But most importantly, Labour needs to move on from its own Brexistenial crisis of the last four years and look to the future.

I love Nigella Lawson. I love watching her cook, the gorgeous backdrops but most of all her vocabulary and language. Everything is silken, luxuriant or unctuous. Last  night she sent the world into a spin by elevating the humble microwave with a new pronunciation “meecro-wav-ay.” Yes, it was tongue in cheek but why not? Especially since it’s the only way I can actually cook. My culinary disasters have even been noted by the domestic goddess herself who once messaged me after I posted something which resembled pig swill. I’m better off with a ready meal and my beloved meecro-wav-ay.