Paul Ovenden, Downing Street’s Director of Political Strategy from the election to September last year, has levelled his guns at the potent pro-EU movement inside Labour. Which is currently at the peak of a comms wave aimed at putting Starmer on the path to rejoin…
Ovenden has popped up in the Times and now the New Statesman to settle scores. He says of the pro-rejoin cabal:
“You don’t need to be a psephologist to know that the vast bulk of Labour MPs and members would dearly love to rejoin the EU. I disagree with them but have never doubted the sincerity of their belief or their reasoning. However, the discussions swirling around the party about rejoining the customs union or re-entering the single market are the arguments of 2016, not 2026. They are false promises that will be exposed by reality.
Not only would Britain crawling back to the EU from a position of weakness diminish us, but there is also no reason to think the Union would even welcome us at a time when Eurosceptic parties lead many polls and France faces an era-defining presidential election. If your goal is to rejoin the EU – and let’s be clear, that is what these arguments are about – then at least have a plan to do it from a position that does not leave the UK locked outside the rooms where decisions on its trade and industry are made.”
This is an attack on Tim Allan, Number 10 Communications Director, as well as his outriders Tom Baldwin (Starmer’s hagiographer) and Alastair Campbell. They and others in government think putting Britain at the feet of the EU where it can be repeatedly slapped by the bloc is a good idea…
Labour’s experience of ever-closer union with the EU has so far been chastening for government figures paying attention to the high price the bloc is extracting for anything substantial. Like with everything else, ‘not being the Tories’ does not an improved position make…
Overheard by a co-conspirator in Parliament, minister Chris Bryant speaking to Tory MP Paul Holmes:
“You must be happy now that all the bastards are leaving.”