The British Independent writes in: “Jeremy Corbyn Labour coup designed to stop him ‘calling for Tony Blair’s head’ after Chilcot report, says Alex Salmond” that “Salmond has appeared to suggest the internal Labour party coup against Jeremy Corbyn is connected with the publication of the long-awaited Chilcot report into the Iraq war.
“His comments come just three days before the publication of the inquiry into the 2003 Iraq war. Earlier reports have suggested Mr. Blair, the former Prime Minister, and his contemporaries will be savaged in an ‘absolutely brutal’ verdict.
“In an article for the Herald, the former Scottish First Minister wrote: ‘It would be a mistake to believe that Chilcot and current events are entirely unconnected. The link is through the Labour Party.'”
The Chilcot report is slated for release on Wednesday. Just a little over a month ago, the Independent reported: “Jeremy Corbyn ‘still prepared to call for Tony Blair war crimes investigation.'” Meanwhile, a recent bombing in Baghdad just killed more than 200 people.
The Washington Post reports: “Britain’s Nigel Farage resigns as leader of right-wing party in wake of Brexit vote.” Prime Minister David Cameron stated just after the Brexit vote that he would be resigning.
ASA WINSTANLEY, mail[at]asawinstanley.com, @AsaWinstanley
Winstanley is an investigative journalist who lives in London and is associate editor of The Electronic Intifada. He wrote the piece “How Israel lobby manufactured U.K. Labour Party’s anti-Semitism crisis” and has written extensively on the rise of Corbyn.
TOM BARKER, tom.p.barker[at]googlemail.com
Barker recently wrote the piece “Saving Labour From Blairism: the Dangers of Confining the Debate to Existing Members” for CounterPunch. He is an independent journalist and PhD student in aesthetics and politics. See his papers, including: “The War for the British Labour Party: Re-selecting Socialism,” and “Corbyn’s Enemies Within: Working Class Heroes or Right-wing Populists,” at durham.academia.edu/ThomasBarker.
He said today: “Rather than taking the fight to a weak and divided Conservative Party, 172 MPs and 600+ councillors in the Labour Party have joined forces with right-wing and liberal media to take pot-shots at Corbyn. They claim that Corbyn is ‘unelectable,’ despite winning the biggest mandate of any party leader in British history. Even leaders proven to be ‘unelectable,’ such as Ed Miliband, are now calling for Corbyn to resign.
“Right-wingers within the Labour Party would rather sabotage their own party than see it elected with a socialist leader.
“This latest round of attacks on Corbyn’s leadership also coincide with the findings of the Chilcot Inquiry, set to be announced later this week. Because many Blairite MPs voted in favour of the war in Iraq, they would have liked to have removed Corbyn before the report was made public and their leader (Tony Blair) is completely discredited.
“Corbyn was thrust into office by a popular movement against austerity, mostly from outside of the Labour Party. But since then, he has been trapped behind enemy lines, with an overwhelmingly hostile Parliamentary Labour Party, committed to austerity and war.
“Now they are going for the kill.
“It should now be clear to everyone that the strategy of pacifying the Labour right has failed and we need to step up the fight back.
“The only way to defeat Blairism is to harness and build on the anti-austerity movement that got Corbyn elected.
“Corbyn should call a conference of all anti-austerity forces — inside and outside of the Labour Party — that want to support him. This should include affiliated and unaffiliated trade unions, anti-cuts organisations, the organisations involved in the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition such as the Socialist Party, anti-austerity Greens, and others.
“This would be a real step to building a movement capable of defeating the right, and would also be a step towards creating a genuinely anti-austerity Labour Party, organised on a democratic federal basis, in which all socialists can be involved, including those like the Socialist Party expelled by the Blairites in the past.”
