Corbyn has been exposed as unfit for office, but labour is gaining ground | thearticle

The country has yet to wake up to the full import of this election. Yet the stakes could hardly be higher. Not only Brexit, but Britain’s economy, security and — in the words of the Chief

Rabbi — “the very soul of the nation” are at stake. But who will win? With only a fortnight to go, the polls are narrowing. The Conservatives still have an average lead of 11 points, but the

margin is perilously small. Just as the Brexit Party collapsed in favour of the Tories in the first fortnight, so Labour appears to be squeezing the Liberal Democrats in the second. If

Conservative support were to fall by even a couple of points in the next two weeks, while Labour’s continued to creep up, the country could easily find itself with another hung Parliament.

As against this grim scenario, Peter Kellner argued yesterday here on TheArticle that a Conservative landslide is “not inevitable, but it is certainly possible”. He suggests that the Tory

vote only has to hold firm, while Labour’s falls, for many seats that voted Leave in 2016 to change hands. Yet the latest figures suggest that Labour’s vote may no longer be falling, but

gradually rising. The question is: will this trend continue until polling day? One factor that could bring the Labour revival to an abrupt halt is its leader’s performances on television,

which go from bad to worse. Last night Andrew Neil took Jeremy Corbyn apart, piece by piece. It was painful to watch. Corbyn refused four times to apologise to the Jewish community. Instead,

he tried to defend Labour’s abysmal record, claiming that he had tightened up procedures to expel anti-Semites. Yet earlier that day the Labour leader had stood proudly alongside three

hand-picked candidates to launch the party’s “race and faith manifesto”. Afzal Khan, the Shadow Immigration Minister, shared Facebook posts about “mass murdering Rothschilds Israeli mafia

criminal liars”. Claudia Webbe supported Ken “Hitler was a Zionist” Livingstone and compared a Jewish journalist who dared to criticise him to a concentration camp guard. Apsana Begum shared

a Facebook post claiming that the Saudis were “inspired by their Zionist masters”. So much for any hope that Corbyn might show contrition for unleashing the virus of Jew-hatred into the

British body politic. In his interview with Neil, it was as if Corbyn had deliberately decided to ignore Ephraim Mirvis’s warning that this not a failure of procedure, but one of culture and

of leadership — his leadership. He spoke of racism as “poison”, appropriating the Chief Rabbi’s warning that “a new poison — sanctioned from the top — has taken root in the Labour Party”,

even as he denied that such a poisoning had happened. Corbyn seems to be mocking the Jewish community. Perhaps he reckons that adding insult to injury will solidify the anti-Semitic vote in

his favour. The fact that Labour’s standing in the polls has risen since attention was drawn to Corbyn’s record suggests that there is such a body of opinion in Britain, fed by online

conspiracy theories and legitimised by Her Majesty’s Leader of the Opposition. The rest of Corbyn’s interview with Andrew Neil was equally evasive and at times embarrassing. He refused

several times to explain how a Labour government would pay for the £58 billion that he has promised to 3.7 million women born between 1950 and 1960. After waffling about non-existent

“reserves” he admitted that this money, like most of his programme, would have to be borrowed. So the nation’s future must be mortgaged so that Theresa May, 63, can be given a Christmas

present of £22,000 and Diane Abbott, 66, can be given an even bigger bung? Corbyn’s responses on other issues were no less lamentable and revealing. He refused to say whether as Prime

Minister he would order a future Isis leader to be “taken out”, thereby confirming the suspicion that the support of the Islamist vote matters more to him than national security. Indeed, it

is doubtful that there are any circumstances in which this man would use military force to defend the national interest, let alone our Nato allies. Corbyn and his colleagues were exposed as

liars for claiming that their colossal programme of public spending and nationalisation would be paid for entirely by those earning more than £80,000 per annum. Neil gave the example of a

couple with a modest retirement income of £14,000 a year who would pay £400 because of Labour’s proposed tax on share ownership. All Corbyn could do was to squirm. Even Labour admits that it

will need to raise £82 billion from taxation. It is, of course, implausible that such vast sums could be raised from the top 5 per cent of taxpayers, over and above what they already

contribute. When Neil asked him what proportion of income tax this group pays, he did not know. The answer is 50 per cent. It is incredible that this basic fiscal fact was news to the man

who is demanding the keys to Downing Street — incredible, but true. Corbyn’s only response was to protest that these people would just have to pay “a little bit more”. It would, of course,

have to be a great deal more. When Neil pointed out that wealthy taxpayers might leave the country, Corbyn simply denied it. He thinks that all he has to do to build a socialist paradise on

earth is to squeeze “the rich”. How long before he adds “until the pips squeak”? The next few days will tell us whether this public demonstration of insouciance and incompetence will have

halted Labour’s march to power. And Boris Johnson has yet to submit himself to a similar grilling. If and when he does, his political career won’t be the only thing at stake. If the Tories

hand power to a man as unfit for office as Jeremy Corbyn, they will deserve never to be forgiven.