One of the most important things in life is to be humble enough to admit that you might have got something wrong.
If Jeremy Corbyn somehow manages to topple Theresa May then I'd have to admit that I was wrong about Brexit.
Anyone who ever actually read my articles (rather than simply writing me off as "pro-EU" and ignoring what I was saying altogether) will have understood that my opposition to Brexit didn't stem from an ideological rejection of the idea of leaving the EU, but actually from a recognition that a chaotic unplanned Brexit carried out by a callous bunch of Tory elitists would obviously be a total disaster for the economy and a complete nightmare for millions of ordinary working people (Tories always load the burden of economic crises onto the workers in order to protect the assets of the mega-rich).
As I acknowledged in my work time and again, it wasn't just the extreme-right bigots and the economic hard-right who wanted Brexit. Lots of other people wanted rid of it because they're anti-neoliberals.
To be honest I thought these people were shockingly naive.
I thought there was no way the Tories would wilfully relinquish their grip on power before 2020, so Brexit would have been conducted by the most neoliberal party in Europe and entirely in the interests of the corporate giants, the landed gentry, the tax-dodging Tory donors and the mega-rich.
Binning one bunch of establishment elite (the EU technocrats) in order to hand absolute power to another, altogether crueller and more exploitative bunch of establishment elitists (the Tory party) was what I described as a classic "out of the frying pan, into the fire" situation.
Amazingly. Thanks to Theresa May's incredible narcissism and hubris, the Tory establishment party have actually given us a chance to bin them too.
So now there's a chance for a genuine anti-establishment figure to take over the Brexit process and deliver a Brexit that works for all British people, not just the establishment few.
If anyone is anti-establishment it's Jeremy Corbyn.
- In 2003 he defied the establishment and helped to organise the biggest protest in British history against their disastrous invasion of Iraq (an invasion that Theresa May supported).
- Since 2010 he has constantly opposed Tory austerity dogma (even when Ed Miliband and Ed Balls were going along with it) because he knows that loading the cost of the crisis onto ordinary people whilst lavishing vast handouts on the mega-rich isn't just immoral, it's economically ruinous too (economies need consumers with disposable income, otherwise the economy flat lines).
- In 2011 he was one of just 13 MPs to vote against helping to turn Libya into another lawless terrorism breeding ground (in which the Manchester bomber was radicalised).
- In 2015 he was a 200-1 outsider to lead his party but he won a massive landslide victory over the three establishment candidates
- In 2016 the pro-establishment faction of his party cynically tried to use the Brexit vote to try and overthrow him, but he resisted and the ordinary people stood behind him and showed the coup-plotter MPs their place (servants of the people. not our masters).
Corbyn is hated by the political establishment, which is why this kind, peaceful, softly-spoken man has been smeared and abused in the most outrageous manner. They're absolutely terrified of him.
Just think about it. Are we really going to defiantly make a huge anti-establishment stand as a nation in 2016, then completely screw it all up by voting in favour of the British establishment in 2017?
How is it possible for Brexit supporters to go from defying the UK establishment and voting to quit the EU, to actually voting in favour of the British establishment just because their cowardly self-serving charlatan of a leader immediately wrapped herself in the "Brexit means Brexit" flag for the sake of her own career?
If you're looking for a proper anti-establishment revolution then the chance doesn't come along very often, and it really doesn't come better than this.
Jeremy Corbyn's not perfect, but he's undoubtedly on the side of ordinary people (no tax rises for the 95%; better workers' rights; decent treatment of disabled people; no asset stripping of pensioners; education for all, not just those who can afford it; properly funded police, NHS and emergency services; clamping down on tax-dodgers to end their unfair economic advantage over the rest of us who do pay our taxes) and he's undoubtedly fought this election campaign honestly and decently, when his opponents reduced themselves to slinging the most vitriolic abuse at him.
If you voted Brexit to stick it to the establishment, don't screw it up now.
It doesn't work if you allow yourself to be tricked into voting in favour of the establishment at the next step.
It simply doesn't work without part two.
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