“That” Corbyn car crash interview …

That was fun – Andrew Neil’s Corbyn interview, broadcast by the BBC yesterday evening! I’ll address it further down, but firstly: there actually were “EU News”! These are rather interesting.

The first piece should provide you with suitable ammunition to address Remain candidates on your doorsteps. You can also use it to slap round the heads of your Remain colleagues. Under the headline “Radioactive food from Fukushima will be heading to UK under EU plans” (paywalled link) we read:

“Under the Brussels deal radiation inspection certificates will no longer be needed, apart from for certain fish products, mushrooms and wild vegetables. In exchange, the EU will be allowed to sell to Japan limitless quantities of reduced tariff French champagne, foie gras, cognac, and wine. Britain has agreed to mirror EU food regulations during the Brexit transition period, set to end in December 2020. It comes after Remain campaigners insisted that Britain should stay in the EU because of the bloc’s stringent food safety standards. Talks over a possible post-Brexit trade deal with the US have already been overshadowed by fears over chlorinated chicken.” (paywalled link)

I’m sure our Remain friends can explain why this EU deal is ‘good’. I was intrigued to read that the beneficiary of this ‘deal’ is France who’ll dump their agricultural ‘luxury products’ on Japan’s consumers. Japan certainly doesn’t want to lose face by selling us contaminated food, but do ask Remainers why we should take what others reject, thanks to the EU:

“Since the accident Japanese consumers have turned away from Fukushima’s agricultural produce. Peaches and beef from the area suffer a price disadvantage, while rice is often used for industrial purposes. The Japanese government insists the food is safe, and has launched a campaign to revive the fortunes of Fukushima farmers. From April 2018 to March this year, officials examined 9.21 million bags of rice, with not a single one exceeding the safe limit. However nations including South Korea, China and the US have maintained bans on produce from the area.” (paywalled link)

In a nutshell, this trade deal says: ‘we’ll take your rejects if you take our rejects’. That’s the mighty EU for you! And then M Barnier cropped up … see here and paywalled here. After saying that the EU would tie the trade talks to an acceptance of ‘free movement’, there’s his veiled interference in our GE campaign:

“New pacts on goods, data, fisheries, aviation and judicial will be the basis for early negotiations, the Brussels bureaucrat added. But he described the timetable as a “very difficult scenario”, which could result in Britain leaving on the transition period on WTO after December 2020. Mr Barnier hinted that a Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party coalition would result in new negotiations on a much closer future relationship with Britain. He conceded that this option would not take no-deal Brexit off the table until the House of Commons ratifies the new agreement.” (link)

Unscrambled and put into electioneering language this means: vote LibLabSNP and everything will be fine, especially if you want to abolish ‘No Deal’! Here are more quotes, picked up by The Times Brussels correspondent:

“The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator told a confidential meeting of MEPs yesterday afternoon that if the Conservatives won the general election difficult trade talks would not be over by the deadline. “This is very difficult scenario — not much time,” he said, according to one MEP present at the meeting. “Eleven months is too short.” (link, paywalled)

That comes under ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’: tell listeners that the time is too short before talks have even started and lo and behold, it will be because it’s in the EU’s interest to make it so. There’s more, revealing the EU’s timetable while showing the usual torture instruments to the UK negotiators:

“If Mr Johnson wins a workable majority in 15 days the EU is preparing to begin trade talks in February, leaving 11 months to meet his manifesto promise of having a trade deal in place at the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31, 2020. The government and the EU will have to decide by the end of June if the transition period needs extending, with most Brussels officials believing that at least another year will be needed. The tight timetable will give the EU leverage to demand “level playing field” structures to keep the British economy aligned with European legislation in return for zero-tariff trade in goods.” (link, paywalled)

Then the hoary old ‘tick-tock’ meme is wheeled out again, this time garnished with a little bit of ‘Project Fear’ aimed at the EU member states:

“The clock will be ticking and working for us,” a senior diplomatic source said. “Johnson has made his own trap.” Mr Barnier told MEPs that unless the EU was “careful” to ensure alignment “there will be dumping” as the UK tears up social and environmental standards to gain a competitive edge over European economic rivals. Sabine Weyand, who was Mr Barnier’s deputy and now leads the European Commission trade department, said the EU would need “to build muscle” to impose itself on Britain after Brexit.” (link, paywalled)

There it is: the EU negotiation strategy in plain view. It’s about dragging heels while the EU will  ‘impose’ itself on us. Since No Deal isn’t off the table, perhaps the Johnson negotiators might use that threat? Past experience shows though that this would, sadly, come under ‘forlorn hope’.

And so to ‘that’ interview. I watched it and it was even worse than described in the MSM’s headlines today (here, here, paywalled here and here). This interview was not a live broadcast, so feel free to assume that the worst bits have probably been taken out by the gentle BBC.

No watcher could have failed to notice that Corbyn, on the repeated question about anti-semitism, kept to whataboutery by immediately tacking onto it ‘islamophobia’. When he said that Labour would ‘protect the mosque, the synagogue, the temple’, Corbyn omitted to say they’d protect churches. Keep that in mind when listening to Labour acolytes defending Corbyn!

Andrew Neil then nailed him with questions about taxes and finances, allowing Corbyn to display his astonishing ignorance.  When asked about how he’d pay the £58bn he promised the WASPI women, Corbyn couldn’t even say that yes, this would incur more debts. He repeatedly said it was a ‘moral debt’ and they would find the money and anyway, it wouldn’t have to be paid all at once.

I hope the WASPIs will realise that Corbyn’s promise comes under ‘jam tomorrow, never today’ – and that their grandchildren will have to pay for this. A fine instrument to be used in the war between generations! This comment from one of my watching friends cannot be bettered:

“My God. It was bad and then the WASPI women issue came up. Then it got a whole lot worse. That wasn’t a car crash. It was the 1955 Le Mans disaster.”

Here’s a bit of context showing that Labour voters are as financially illiterate as Corbyn:

“Only 17 per cent of the public think Labour’s proposals to spend an additional £82 billion are affordable and 18 per cent believe them to be realistic, according to a YouGov survey for The Times, the first survey since the manifesto launches.” (link, paywalled)

Good grief! Are these the Labour core voters? There’s more – it’s about yesterday morning’s ‘presentation’ of Labour’s ‘anti-racist’ educational policies. Quentin Letts in The Times writes:

“You could have sworn he [Corbyn] was doing everything not to mention the antisemitism controversy. But eventually he blamed it on the far right. Of the left, not a mention. And, again, no apology. A woman behind me had no doubt about why the Chief Rabbi had criticised Labour. “That’s because he’s a Tory,” she snapped.” (link, paywalled)

A Labour member’s defence against accusations of anti-semitism: as bereft of independent thought as those who think we can afford Labour’s spending plans. I hope the other Faith Leaders, the Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs who came out in support of the Chief Rabbi, understand that Labour members believe they’re all Tories anyway, therefore to be disregarded – and draw the consequences when going to the polls.

Meanwhile we Leavers must use the ‘latest’ from the EU when confronting Remain canvassers. As for ‘that’ interview – I think there were so many dead cats inadvertently slapped on the nation’s tables that I fear for our cat population!

KBO!

Photo by Arslan