Labour’s John McDonnell has given England’s Tories a huge election gift – Brian Wilson
Spontaneously, he offered the Tories in England a massive gift on a plate, or at least in a pocket. “Vote Miliband and get Salmond” was a powerful weapon in 2015. Now, thanks to Mr McDonnell, it can be updated; this time with greater credibility.
Offering a second independence referendum in such incoherent terms could only be interpreted as clumsy ground-laying by Mr McDonnell for some kind of post-election understanding.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMy own view is that if there is a pro-independence majority at Holyrood after 2021, it will be impossible to refuse a referendum. However, Labour’s job is to campaign against that outcome and focus on issues affecting people’s daily lives.
I don’t know if Mr McDonnell reached Edinburgh with a thought-through plan or if he was winging it in a soft interview – or which would be worse. In that respect at least, he might take lessons from Nicola Sturgeon.
For her, life is one long PR opportunity and soft interviews in non-political settings are low-hanging fruit. Every word is tailored for the occasion. Sadness about Salmond, I’m not sure how much I should say...
Well, nothing, actually – but here is the perfect opportunity for positioning.
Then a well-rehearsed headline about Corbyn being as much to blame for a “no deal” as Johnson. No interviewer to say: “What about your own MPs’ repeated voting down of a deal that would have prevented ‘no deal’?”
If and when that day of reckoning comes, the spotlight may yet be a little more harsh and the chair less comfortable.