As Theresa May sets off to have further, probably fruitless, talks with the bully boys of the European Union, Jeremy Corbyn, while pretending that he might support the Prime Minister, has set down what are referred to as Labour's '5 Demands'.
That Corbyn's demands fly in the face of the expectations of those who voted for Brexit seems to have been forgotten. Effectively, they 'demand' that the UK remains so close to the EU as to not really leave, remaining in a customs' union and closely aligned with the 'single market', thus making an independent trade policy a non-starter. Additionally, Corbyn wants the rules applying to workers to remain tied to those of the EU, apparently regardless of how insane they are or whether the UK might prefer to be even more generous. His other demands are probably less contentious, wanting the UK to continue to participate in certain EU agencies and continuing to play a role in the EU's security arrangements.
Being a lifelong Eurosceptic, Corbyn is clearly playing a political game designed to keep his own party onboard an, at the same time, make life as difficult as possible for the Prime Minister while appearing to be reasonable and cooperative. He has only one aim in mind and it isn't achieving the best outcome for the UK, it's gaining power.
Listening to the various pundits who have been 'analysing' every word, phrase, nuance, cough, smile, frown and even sneeze, one could be forgiven for believing that Mrs May is about to betray Brexit and betray Remain, both at the same time, while the EU will remain utterly intransigent, is on the point of caving in or is preparing for anything in between. There's been a suggestion that yesterday's disgraceful outburst form Donald Tusk was a smokescreen and precursor to EU concessions; who knows ?
Given the way in which the representatives of the EU have acted over recent months and how intransigent, rude and bullying they've been, let's not forget that Tusk's outburst follows on from Juncker's comments about Theresa May being 'nebulous', I'm almost coming round to the view that a second referendum might not be a bad idea, although the demands for this seem to have abated. If such a vote was called, the Leave side would surely need to do no more than broadcast clips of the various EU bureaucrats, as well as national leaders such as Macron or Merkel, being their usual unpleasant selves. Leave would win in a landslide.
So much for fantasy. Whatever will Theresa May achieve from this latest visit to the superpower that is Belgium ?
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