Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Labour row over Trident
The Guardian reports that Jeremy Corbyn's announcement that he would not press the nuclear button has sent the brothers and sisters into a bit of a tizzy at their Brighton Conference:
In a sign of deep divisions over Trident in the shadow cabinet, Maria Eagle described the Labour leader’s comments as unhelpful – prompting a rebuke from Diane Abbott, the shadow development secretary. Sir Paul Kenny, the general secretary of the GMB union, said he also disagreed with Corbyn.
They add that Eagle, who is the shadow defence secretary and a supporter of Trident, told the BBC: “I think it undermines to some degree our attempt to try and get a policy process going. As far as I am concerned, we start from the policy we have. I don’t think that a potential prime minister answering a question like that in the way he did is helpful.”
In response Diane Abbott tweeted: “Surprised that Maria Eagle criticised JC for making his position clear on Trident nuclear weapon system.”
The paper concludes that the open defiance by Eagle, who has been instructed by Corbyn to lead a review into Trident, shows that the shadow cabinet faces a bumpy ride after the Labour leader told the conference that he would use his mandate to change the party’s position.
Not only could the new Labour leader not get his conference to debate the issue, he is now being openly defied by key members of his front bench.
In a sign of deep divisions over Trident in the shadow cabinet, Maria Eagle described the Labour leader’s comments as unhelpful – prompting a rebuke from Diane Abbott, the shadow development secretary. Sir Paul Kenny, the general secretary of the GMB union, said he also disagreed with Corbyn.
They add that Eagle, who is the shadow defence secretary and a supporter of Trident, told the BBC: “I think it undermines to some degree our attempt to try and get a policy process going. As far as I am concerned, we start from the policy we have. I don’t think that a potential prime minister answering a question like that in the way he did is helpful.”
In response Diane Abbott tweeted: “Surprised that Maria Eagle criticised JC for making his position clear on Trident nuclear weapon system.”
The paper concludes that the open defiance by Eagle, who has been instructed by Corbyn to lead a review into Trident, shows that the shadow cabinet faces a bumpy ride after the Labour leader told the conference that he would use his mandate to change the party’s position.
Not only could the new Labour leader not get his conference to debate the issue, he is now being openly defied by key members of his front bench.
