Corbyn's Former Advisor Explains Why Labour Leader Called A Crunch Vote

17 December 2018, 20:49

Earlier today, Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister, due to her delay of a 'meaningful' vote on her Brexit agreement.

The announcement came after the Prime Minister survived a no-confidence vote from her own party last week.

Steve Howell, former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn explained why he thought the opposition leader had made this decision, revealing that an opposition has "very few options" in this situation and that "what they're clearly trying to do is flush May out".

Referring to calling a vote of no confidence in the government, rather than a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister, Corbyn's former advisor said that the problem is "you only really get one bite of the cherry, and it's important that Labour picks the right moment to do that when it's got a real chance of winning".

"Until we see what May gets out of the EU, which looks like not very much, we won't be in a position to table that motion", he added.

When pushed by Iain Dale on whether Corbyn should have waited to table the motion until after May had lost a 'meaningful' vote, Howell conceded that from a purely party-political point of view, waiting until January may well have been better.

However, he then went on to say that "there's clearly a feeling that the clock is ticking...and Jeremy Corbyn this afternoon was responding to that pressure and thinking on his feet in the house".

"You have to make a tactical call in a situation like that, and I think he made the right call", Howell added.

Listen to the clip in full above...