New Times,
New Thinking.

  1. Politics
13 January 2017

Jeremy Corbyn attacks “the people who run Britain“ – but who exactly is he talking about?

The Labour leader will criticise those who led the country into foreign wars. 

By Julia Rampen

Jeremy Corbyn is to pledge that Labour will make a “complete break” with a “rigged system” that serves the elites.

Speaking to the Fabian Society on Saturday, the Labour leader is expected to say: “Last year’s global political earthquake didn’t just come out of the blue. There are many of us who had felt the tremors growing for years. The people who run Britain have been taking our country for a ride.”

He will propose public takeovers of failing care homes and a long-term funding plan for the NHS. 

But here’s an interesting Islington dinner party question. When he talks about a “complete break” from “the people who run Britain”, who is he talking about?

Corbyn says these people have “slashed taxes on the richest”, and cut pay and services for the rest. 

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Sounds like the Tories. But here are some other things about these people that gets Corbyn’s goat.

He says they’ve “put the country at risk by taking us into disastrous foreign wars”. That could, of course, be David Cameron’s Libya adventure. But that is hardly as controversial as Labour Prime Ministers Tony Blair’s decision to join the invasion of Iraq.

Well, we always knew Corbyn opposed Blair and Iraq.

But what about some of the other things the “people who run Britain” did?

Corbyn criticises an elite who have “rigged the economy and business rules” and “piled up debt”. He might be talking about the Coalition government, or the Tory government – or the last Labour government, which bailed out the banks.

 

Content from our partners
Unlocking investment in UK life sciences through manufacturing
Data defines a new era for fundraising
A prescription for success: improving the UK's access to new medicines