Whilst Nick Cohen limited himself, in his article on Gove, to one snide anti-Corbyn comment in the concluding paragraph (In his deceit and cynicism, Michael Gove is the embodiment of the age, 24.11.19), Andrew Rawnsley could not resist devoting over a third of his writing, in a piece ostensibly criticising the Tories for lying about resolving the Brexit issue, to censuring Corbyn (There`s no more deceptive slogan of this campaign than "get Brexit done",24.11.19).
The Labour leader simply cannot win. If he opted for Remain, he would undoubtedly be accused of being anti-democratic, ignoring the referendum result, and running a huge risk of alienating Leave voters and losing key seats; if he came out on the Leave side, it would be seen as a "great betrayal". Yet when Corbyn adopts "a neutral stance", Rawnsley ridicules him, ignoring the fact that the aim is to unify the country rather than compound existing divisions!
Rawnsley also asks why the EU would "engage seriously with a Labour government" when its leader is non-committal, but the real question is "why wouldn`t they?". They don`t want to lose such an important trading partner as the UK, and would surely welcome negotiating with a government not dominated by "ultras wanting a bare bones free-trade deal", but one in support of a customs union and alignment with the single market.
Presumably, in the pre-polling day edition, Rawnsley and Cohen will urge us to abstain, thereby handing the election to the Tories? They can certainly do little more to persuade readers of this left-leaning paper to give up on Labour!
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