Ridge on Sunday: McCluskey, Ashworth and Beckett

This morning, Len McCluskey and Jon Ashworth appeared on Sky’s Ridge on Sunday to talk about Brexit, Tom Watson and shadow cabinet responsibility.

Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite the Union, said shadow cabinet members not backing Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit position should step aside – singling out Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry. He also dismissed claims of Corbyn’s or his involvement in the move to oust Watson as “fake news”.

• On removing Tom Watson as deputy leader: “Jeremy Corbyn didn’t know about it, I certainly didn’t know about it. The first I heard about it was when it broke in the media. This is fake news because obviously the media is looking for a story”.
• On why the motion was put forward: “The prime role of the deputy is to assist the leader and unfortunately the impression Tom gives is that every time he speaks, he undermines the leader”.
• On Corbyn’s response to the move: “It demonstrated Jeremy’s leadership – he stepped in, he calmed it all down and it’s yesterday news.”
• On whether Labour should have a second deputy leader: “I am ambivalent about it. It doesn’t matter to me. I am concentrated on the leader, on the general election and on getting him into Number 10”.
• On the resignation of Andrew Fisher: “He’s not stepping down yet. This is another non-story. Andrew is a valued member of the team, he’s still there and he’ll be there in the general election we’re about to go into”, adding that “it’s not a question of him suddenly resigning in a fit of pique, he’s still with us”.
• On the national executive committee’s (NEC) statement about Brexit: “My appeal to all delegates, is support your leader and support the NEC statement.” He continued, saying “the Labour Party is the only party trying to heal a broken nation”.
• On Corbyn’s position on Brexit: “My view is Jeremy Corbyn’s view. We said we were going to respect the 2016 referendum. Corbyn’s been consistent in wanting to respond to the democratic wishes, but there has been a polarisation of views, and that’s why it’s absolutely correct that we go back to a confirmatory vote with remain on the ballot paper.”
• On party unity on the Brexit line: “We must go into an election united. When we have a policy on Brexit, and Jeremy Corbyn makes it clear that that is the policy, that’s what leading members of the shadow cabinet should argue for; if they find that they can’t argue for it because they feel strongly – well, of course they have that right, but they should step aside.”
• He continued to say: “My appeal to them, to Emily and anybody else, support your leader. Emily Thornberry is a fantastic politician, she’s been loyal to Jeremy. If we get to a position where Jeremy is saying “let’s not make our decision on how we will campaign until we know what the deal is”, my appeal to her is support Jeremy.”
• On Labour’s position in the polls: “To take you back two years, when the polls were indicating the Labour Party would be wiped out – we came within touching distance”, adding “if that election had taken place an additional two weeks later, Labour would be in power”.
• On the abolition of private schools: “Would I like to see private schools abolished? I would like to see better education for ordinary working people. The answer to your question is ‘yes’.”

Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said the plan to remove Tom Watson as deputy leader was “counterproductive and misguided”, and that Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit position “has logic and merit” in speaking to both remainers and leavers.

• On the move to abolish Tom Watson’s post as deputy leader: “I was a bit frustrated yesterday when my announcement about training 5,000 GPs so we could get 27 million extra GP appointments – that’s what a Labour government is going to deliver, that’s what I announced yesterday – I was a bit frustrated, yes, at it being overshadowed.”
• He continued, saying, “It was put forward by Jon Lansman, and I’ve known Jon for years. Jon Lansman is a master of all the different manoeuvres at conference but look, it is off the table now, it’s gone and we’re focusing on policy.”
• On whether Corbyn was involved: “I don’t know is the honest answer, I’ve got no idea what discussions went on, I’m not on the NEC anymore. We need to focus on the policies like more GPs, more GP appointments, getting free prescriptions.”
• On Corbyn’s position on Brexit: “I actually think the policy we’ve put forward has merits and logic because we’ve got to understand that we as a Labour party speak out for those constituencies like mine who are Labour voters and Remain voters but we also speak up for the constituencies like Ashfield, like Doncaster, like Barnsley who voted Leave and are also Labour voters so we’ve got to unite the country and I think that’s an entirely respectful thing to do.”
• On the difference between the Labour and Lib Demo Brexit positions: “You’ve got the Liberal leader saying that we should end Brexit. If viewers want a referendum they should vote Labour in the coming election.”
• On plans to abolish prescription charges in England: “There is an immediate cost to this.  You have got a situation now where people are not taking their medicines and are getting iller and that puts more pressure on the NHS.  You have got a situation where people are not taking their medicine because they can’t afford a prescription and they are taking more time off work, affecting productivity in the economy and affecting our overall economic growth.  So actually this is a sensible intervention both for the NHS, for people’s health and for the economy as a whole.”
•  When pressed on how Labour will pay for the plans: “John McDonnell will outline an itemised spending plan for each and every policy in the same way that he did at the last general election”
• On whether to abolish private schools: “I’ve never liked private schools at all and I think they do need to be reformed and I’m a big fan of Tony Crossland who was very rude about the private school system”. He declined to say whether he would support such a policy, instead saying that “we’ll see what conference decides”.
• On the announcement that a Labour government would abolish the school inspectorate, Ofsted: “We don’t think the Ofsted rating works anymore”, but he was keen to insist that “we are still going to have an inspectorate of schools driving up those standards”.

Margaret Beckett, former deputy leader of the Labour party and a member of Labour’s ruling body, the NEC, said the plan to remove Tom Watson was “unwise” and that Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit position was “smart”.

• On the plans to remove Tom Watson as deputy leader: “I thought it was very unwise. It’s not what we want to be talking about because that’s not what we’re here for. It was just one of those things that seemed to Jon [Lansman] like a good idea so he suggested it.”
• On whether Jeremy Corbyn knew of the plan: “If Jeremy was to keep abreast of every plot or idea that Jon Lansman has thought of he’d go crazy!”
• On Labour’s Brexit position: “I think Jeremy is smart actually in concentrating on trying to bring people together and to keep people together.  There may come a point where we have to make more of a choice.”
• On Jeremy Corbyn staying neutral: “If you are trying to say, as he is, let’s not close the door for people irrespective of their point of view, then you are bound to end up saying, well hang on a minute, we don’t have to decide that yet but whether that would work, whether it is credible, whether the electorate would accept it, that’s exactly the sort of thing we are trying to thrash out this week.”
• On the threat posed by the Lib Dems: “Yes, I am worried about that and I think everybody is. Everybody is really worried about what’s the best stance to take. Yes I am worried about that but I completely accept the legitimacy of the argument by people who say that’s the best thing to do.”
• On a national unity government: “I have to admit I am not a great believer in it myself. I think a government of national unity is pretty unlikely and we do actually have a candidate for Prime Minister.”