Gone fishing

For many years I used to be a member of the Labour European Safeguards Committee, which at the time I naïvely imagined represented a left-critical perspective on the EU that sought reform of the EU from that perspective. I left when I discovered it was being funded non-transparently and was actually just a vehicle for pulling out. A leading light was Austin Mitchell, then MP for Grimsby. Now, in a Guardian article he is criticising Labour for not focusing on the real agenda, which is standing up for the ‘left behind,’ Labour he claims has ‘no clear proposals to repair a failing economy.’

I wonder if Austin has noticed that the party is now led by Jeremy Corbyn? The ex-MP, who clearly delighted in his role as a maverick has now been out-mavericked. He must feel a little out of sorts, and perhaps hasn’t heard that Labour would end the failed policy of austerity, which is even making Tory-run councils go bust, or that Labour would renationalise natural monopolies (water, energy, rail, etc) that have squeezed the ‘left behind’ with inflation busting price rises.
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As an early proponent of Brexit, Mitchell now accuses the party of being distracted by it. He should pay more attention.