Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suffered a crushing defeat in the 2019 general election, as his party secured just 203 seats across the country. It was Labour’s worst result since 1935, and ultimately led to the departure of Mr Corbyn from the party’s leadership. While he was an unpopular figure by the time the polling stations opened, Labour’s Brexit policy also played a big part in the defeat. Sir Keir Starmer, who eventually won with his leadership bid, had been one of the most prominent Remain voices in the Labour Party.
And now six months into his tenure as Labour leader, the MP for Holborn and St Pancras has been accused of making the same mistakes as his predecessor.
Activist Michael Chessum wrote for LabourList earlier this month that Sir Keir has “remained silent” on Brexit despite his history of passionately backing EU membership.
Mr Chessum, who is a campaigner for left-wing group Another Europe is Possible, said this behaviour showed the hallmarks of Mr Corbyn’s mistakes during his time as leader.
He said: “We’ve been here before, of course. Labour under Jeremy Corbyn was also deeply reluctant to take proactive public stands on anything related to Brexit.
“Labour’s policy, cooked up in back rooms rather than in a democratic process, evolved about a year behind the political landscape.
“Everything was based on narrow electoral calculation and parliamentary chess playing.”
Mr Chessum added that if Sir Keir continued to take a back seat on the issue, the Conservatives would be able to “control the narrative” if a no deal scenario becomes a reality.
He added: The irony is that Keir Starmer is now doing almost exactly the same thing [as Corbyn].
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Sir Keir and Mr Corbyn clashed over Brexit during the last few years.
In 2018, Sir Keir contradicted his own party leader by claiming “Brexit can be stopped”.
The then-Shadow Brexit Secretary said: “Well, Brexit can be stopped. But the real question is what are the decisions we are going to face over the next few weeks and months?
“Decision one is on the deal, decision two is if the deal goes down should there be a general election and decision three is if there is no general election then all options must be on the table, including the option of a public vote.
“And that is the clear position, and Jeremy signed up for that, and I’m signed up to that, and that is the position that was passed at the Labour Party conference.”
He added: “Jeremy and I… and the whole Labour Party is absolutely behind the Labour Party policy that was laid out in September.”
However, just days before Sir Keir made the comment, Mr Corbyn had said the complete opposite.
The former Leader of the Opposition had argued for respecting the result of the referendum in 2016, in which Leave won with 52 percent of the vote.
