By coming out for Remain Jeremy Corbyn has betrayed his party, its history and, worst of all, himself

JEREMY Corbyn spent most of his long Parliamentary career on the wilderness of the back benches, railing at betrayals by his party’s leadership.

But now, as leader himself, he has committed the ultimate act of treachery. After months of dithering, he has finally come out for Remain.

From now on, Labour is to be an unashamedly pro-EU movement, dedicated to overturning the 2016 referendum result. Once the voice of the oppressed working class, Labour is now to be the mouthpiece of the Europhile political class.

Yesterday, having succumbed to relentless pressure from his anti-Brexit MPs, Corbyn announced that Labour will campaign to stay in the European Union and vote against any deal negotiated by the next Conservative Prime Minister.

It is a historic decision, one that graphically shows how Labour has lost both its political compass and its moral authority.

The move represents a profound betrayal in every sense — of true democracy, of Labour’s traditions, of its heartland voters and of the cause of national freedom. Corbyn has also savagely betrayed his own values, for he has always been a Eurosceptic who regarded the EU as a barrier to national rights.

Now he has emerged as just another identikit member of the chattering, snobbish metropolitan elite, which holds sovereignty and patriotism in contempt.

Recently there were reports that when Corbyn was considering a change of stance, his tough Chief of Staff Karie Murphy shouted at him: “We’re not doing that. We’re not selling out our class.” But that is exactly what Corbyn has done.

In the process, he has torn up Labour’s democratic credentials and made a mockery of the party’s manifesto commitment in the 2017 General Election to “respect the referendum result”.

Now Corbyn has shown those words were empty. Labour can no longer pretend it has any belief in the ballot box or any faith in voters.
The will of the people now counts for nothing, as do all of Labour’s past principles.

The party was created in 1900 to represent working people in their struggle against the political establishment. Central to the party was a belief in national, democratic sovereignty and a profound hostility to imperialism.

That helps to explain why, for decades, Labour was so suspicious of the project for European integration. Clement Attlee refused to have anything to do with the European Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner of the Brussels empire, while his successor Hugh Gaitskell warned that Common Market membership would mean: “The end of 1,000 years of history.” In 1983, under Michael Foot, the party openly campaigned for withdrawal from the European Community.

But all that soon changed. Under Neil Kinnock, the party — regularly beaten in general elections — began to see Brussels as a vehicle for the introduction of socialism into Britain without the need for support from voters. Labour’s rampant European enthusiasm was born, and quickly entrenched by Tony Blair.

It was a development that dismayed me.

Through much of the 1980s and 90s I was a Labour activist in Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington North constituency and I shared his views on Brussels.

Indeed, his Euro-scepticism was the only thing I admired about him. But I could not stomach Blair’s servile devotion to Brussels. Disillusioned, I left Labour in 1995.

Now Labour’s capture by the pro-EU ideologues is complete. “Labour’s hearts are Remain and our values are Remain,” declared the Deputy Leader Tom Watson recently. The party that once campaigned against imperialism now wants us to be subsumed in the EU’s federalist empire.

Labour is in decline not because of its stance on Europe, but because of the uselessness and extremism of Corbyn’s neo-Marxist leadership

This shameful step has been dressed up as a political necessity because Labour is haemorrhaging political support, down to just 18 per cent in one recent opinion poll. But Labour is in decline not because of its stance on Europe, but because of the uselessness and extremism of Corbyn’s neo-Marxist leadership.

In fact, by alienating Labour’s voters in the predominantly pro-Leave heartlands of the North and the Midlands, Corbyn’s decision is likely to backfire disastrously.

It is estimated that more than four million people who backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum voted Labour in the 2017 General Election. Just as importantly, around 60 per cent of all Labour constituencies had majorities for Leave in the referendum. In fact, many of the most fervent pro-Brexit seats in 2016 are Labour-held — places such as Ruth Smeeth’s Stoke-on-Trent North, Gloria De Piero’s Ashfield in Nottingham and Melanie Onn’s Great Grimsby, all where virtually 70 per cent supported Leave.

All these seats, and scores of others with slim Labour majorities, will be at risk due to Corbyn’s new policy. Nor will there be any chance of Labour winning any pro-Leave Tory marginals, which are necessary for a Commons majority.

The dangers were highlighted in May’s European elections, where Nigel Farage’s Brexit party beat Labour in a string of traditional heartland seats including Hartlepool, Redcar and Bolsover.

As the Labour Brexit campaigner Brendan Chilton put it recently: “A pro-Remain policy would be an electoral disaster for the Labour Party on an unprecedented scale. If this were to happen, Labour may never recover.”

Well, it has happened. But the sense of betrayal goes far deeper than electoral calculations. This week Labour has dramatically shown where its priorities lie — not with the traditional working class, but with the sneering elitists of the affluent, pro-EU middle class.

Tragically, this once proud movement has become a pale imitation of the Liberal Democrats in all their EU worship and disdain for national pride. Instead of embracing its industrial communities, Labour has retreated into its metropolitan enclaves.

And this twist has thrown up a bizarre reversal of roles — Corbyn, the eternal rebel, is now the pathetic stooge of the pro-EU establishment, while Boris Johnson, the likely Tory victor, is the real warrior for British justice and liberty.

• GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk