It will appal many of his young supporters but Corbyn welcomed David Cameron’s Referendum announcement – because his Euroscepticism is long-standing and deep-rooted
Europe, he told President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela in 2014, had ‘suffered appallingly’ because the EU was a capitalists’ club and a barrier to his life’s work to ‘build socialism’.
The EU, he believed, existed for greedy bankers and multinationals to exploit the working class.
If Britain voted to leave, and freed itself from Brussels’ control, a socialist government could prevent British investment abroad and control markets, tariffs and profits – all contrary to EU laws.
Criticised: Corbyn angered Remainers with his appearance on the comedy show The Last Leg
Both Corbyn and McDonnell wanted to campaign for Britain to leave, but were challenged by Hilary Benn and others in the Shadow Cabinet. Reluctantly, Corbyn agreed to campaign for Remain. The Remainers’ chances of success, Corbyn knew, depended on Labour voters. Cameron’s fate was equally bound up in the outcome. If Britain voted Leave, Corbyn calculated, the PM would be humiliated and the Tories weakened. Those were good reasons not to appear on any platform alongside him. To Alan Johnson, appointed to lead Labour’s Remain campaign, Corbyn’s reluctance to preach the advantages of the EU was ‘risible’.
Within weeks of Johnson starting his work, tensions intensified. According to him, Corbyn’s closest associates were undermining his efforts.
Corbyn ignored him at meetings and found regular excuses not to appear on the Remainers’ platform while he continued to speak in favour of the IRA and Hamas.
‘You’re deliberately sending Jeremy to speak in areas where he’s not needed,’ a journalist told Seumas Milne, Corbyn’s spin doctor. ‘Don’t be so stupid,’ said Milne, laughing. He would not dream of ‘scuppering the vote’.
Corbyn knew the contrary. For Labour supporters tempted to vote Leave, controlling immigration was critical, but to him those opposed to open borders were racist. To keep ideologically pure, he ordered party officials to remove every reference to immigration from Labour’s campaign. As he understood perfectly well, his stance was deeply damaging to Remain. Hilary Benn intervened. Entering Corbyn’s office, he said: ‘You need to think in the language of the national interest.’
Milne laughed. ‘What’s funny about the national interest?’ asked Imran Ahmed, Benn’s assistant.
The EU, he believed, existed for greedy bankers and multinationals to exploit the working class
Milne’s dismissive shrug sparked an outburst from Benn directed at Corbyn. Trashing Cameron, he said, was short-sighted. The Referendum could be lost. Milne started to interrupt. ‘Shut up!’ Benn shouted. ‘This is for elected people to discuss!’
‘We won’t speak about immigration or the national interest,’ Corbyn told Benn. Soon after, he removed from an important leaflet a personal endorsement written by a party official. The words he deleted ran: ‘I am clear, just like my Shadow Cabinet, the trade union movement and our members, that it is in the interests of the people of this country to remain in the EU.’
His not-so-subtle sabotage of his own campaign went on. On Milne’s advice, Corbyn chose to star at the British Kebab Awards rather than attend a major Remain rally. Johnson was even more indignant about his leader’s appearance in a white fur coat and black tie on The Last Leg, a Channel 4 comedy show.
Not only did Corbyn deliberately look unserious, but, to harm the campaign still further, he told the audience that he was only ‘7 or 7.5 out of 10’ in favour of Europe.
‘I’m not a huge fan of the EU,’ he said, smiling.
The result of the Referendum on June 23 shocked everyone. The puzzle on that momentous night was to locate Corbyn. He had disappeared – his staff assumed he had gone home to sleep, and had turned his telephone off. After getting up late the following day, Corbyn was seen laughing over breakfast with his team. Although Milne and McDonnell admitted to voting Leave, Corbyn would deny that he had done so.
After a telephone conversation, his old friend Keith Veness believes that he did vote Leave, not least because he sounded so delighted.
Before Corbyn arrived at his office that morning, he publicly demanded that the Government should immediately apply for Article 50, the process to terminate Britain’s membership of the EU. Back then he saw no reason to prepare for negotiations or for a transition period.
He simply wanted Britain out of the European Union without establishing any relationship with the customs union or the single market, and emphatically ruled out a second referendum.