John Palmer says a Schrodinger’s Brexit, neither in nor out, is the likely outcome from the May government unless Labour forces a General Election while keeping a people’s vote on the table.
……….
Andrew Murray Defining Labour’s Brexit Strategy?
Andrew Murray now a Player at Labour ‘Strategy” meetings.
There were considerable concerns expressed, when it was announced that Andrew Murray, full title, Andrew Drummond-Murray of Mastrick, whose father was Slains Pursuivant, one of Scotland’s most senior heraldic titles, was to become a key adviser to Jeremy Corbyn.
Jeremy Corbyn makes Unite’s Andrew Murray a part-time consultant.
“Former communist, loathed by those on Labour’s right, will help hone party’s Brexit strategy.”
Guardian February the 26th 2018.This worries extended far beyond “Labour’s Right’”.
Those backing the politics of Another Europe is Possible were far from happy to see somebody wedded to the Sovereigntist anti-EU stand of Murray’s former party, the Communist Party of Britain (CPB), having a central role in shaping Labour’s policy on Europe.
These views are justified. This key section of an article in the New Statesman yesterday indicates……..
Most of the piece is about taxation.
But this stands out:
At a recent strategy meeting, Andrew Murray – who works part-time as Len McCluskey’s chief of staff and part-time in Corbyn’s office – argued that the Labour Party should vote for Theresa May’s deal to avoid a no-deal exit. At that point, Abbott intervened to disagree. She argued that the party’s pro-European membership would never forgive them for bailing out a weak Tory government and that May’s Brexit agreement would in any case be a disaster that Labour should not be seen to endorse.
Then she warned her old friend Corbyn that their pro-Remain constituents in the north-east of London would be “protesting outside your house” if Labour voted for May’s deal. “That last point really spooked him,” recalls one of the attending staffers.
How the “end of austerity” presents a challenge to the Labour Party Steven Bush.
So, Murray is a player at a Labour “strategy meeting“.
For a different view see (extract)
WHY DEBATING BREXIT IS STILL VITAL FOR THE LEFT
Labour is right to say to May that unless you produce a deal that meets the six tests we will vote it down. Corbyn can also say that Labour is in a much better position to negotiate a much more satisfactory relationship. Labour is far more supportive of EU-proposed reforms on workers’ rights, anti-discrimination measures and tougher environmental controls than any Tory government. The EU knows this too and would likely allow more time and offer more negotiating concessions to a British government led by Jeremy Corbyn to get an agreement leaving the UK in the EU.
Labour, however, needs to spell out its willingness to be more positive in any new negotiations if it wins an early general election. It is worth remembering the ‘renegotiation’ of Harold Wilson in 1974/5 after Labour rejected the Heath Tory government’s EEC Accession Treaty. It is not unprecedented for Labour to go back and renegotiate with Europe. There is little in Labour’s programme to provoke hostility from the EU. No EU opposition has been expressed to the proposed nationalisation of rail, energy and utilities, contrary to what Lexiteers have alleged.
The rest of the EU wants the UK to remain – renegotiating a completely new relationship after the past 45 years, post-Brexit, would be a nightmare. If Corbyn wins an election and says to Brussels ‘we would like urgent talks with you’ he is likely to meet a weary but a positive response. You don’t say ‘No’ to a newly elected government. The need for more time might require some extension of article 50. There may soon not only be a new government in the UK. There will also be a new European Commission taking office next year and also a newly elected European Parliament. So any new negotiation will take time.
In terms of how Labour should approach a people’s vote, I have some sympathy with John McDonnell in not wanting to risk everything on a referendum – if we got anything like the same result as in 2016 the right would be on a rampage. The question is what happens if Labour cannot force an election? In that event, a People’s Referendum should remain on the table. There was a strong consensus on this issue at the party conference. The questions will be set by Parliament not by Government. It would make sense to have tripartite options: ‘support the package’, ‘reject the package’, or ‘reopen negotiations on membership.’
The problem with a referendum is that it can only be indirectly couched within a broader context of policies and arguments on inequality and social justice. I believe the best time for a referendum would be after a new Labour government had returned with its reform and remain package from Brussels. If that has to take place after March next year when we leave the EU, it should include an option to re-apply for membership on the terms negotiated with Brussels.
Meanwhile it will be crucial to work with progressive political forces elsewhere in Europe. Who might they be? Think of the Portuguese left coalition government, Podemos and its allies in Spain, France Insoumise (which has rejected any desire to leave the EU or even leave the Euro), the SDP left, Die Linke and the Greens in Germany, the very successful Green Left and its social democratic allies in the Netherlands and many social democratic and socialist parties from Greece and Italy to Sweden and Finland.
Now is the time for the British Labour party to call for more collaboration with the European left and centre-left parties on a common programme of EU reform and further democratisation. The Labour leadership could call a conference in London to debate the common threats we face and to prepare a common fighting platform to tackle the far right, corruption and climate change across Europe.
Labour should make it clear that following a Labour victory it will prioritise a Reform and Remain strategy for the UK. For now Labour should coordinate with the SNP, Greens and Plaid to ensure a progressive vote against the May deal.
Does Murray even represent the interests of UNITE workers?
Jim Denham argue he does not:
Unite’s McCluskey and Turner – backed by Morning Star – betray automotive workers.
No, I don’t understand what that’s supposed to mean, either: but it sure as hell offers no hope and no way forward for Unite’s automotive members now staring into the abyss at Toyota, BMW, Honda and JLR: presumably, they must be sacrificed to satisfy the pro-Brexit predilictions of McCluskey, Turner and the Morning Star.
Tendance Coatesy 
You also have to remember when Ukraine sanctioned Murray and his Russia connections were examined Labour was pretty clear in arguing that he *wasn’t sitting at the top table. That was one of the lines on Twitter anyway, that it was a lot of fuss about some marginal official.
Paul Canning (@pauloCanning)
November 1, 2018 at 2:30 pm
There are those who think Murray is a strategic genius…
They include the Morning Star, whose answer to this story, about the generous donor to Trade Unionists Against the EU and who knows how many other ‘left’ pro-Brexit campaigns, is awaited with interest:
Andrew Coates
November 1, 2018 at 5:10 pm
http://socialistresistance.org/five-months-to-stop-brexit-nightmare/13479?fbclid=IwAR1BQxDMm3uLGNJ1cS4e3rAz-F3KGF4Wv-C37vmWIQnqJx8HxOneEL9-hng
Andrew Coates
November 1, 2018 at 6:07 pm
I read your speech and have to say that I was completely underwhithered. What is Socialist Resistance?
Dave Roberts
November 2, 2018 at 10:55 am
[…] there’s the suggestion (raised by the New Statesman‘s Stephen Bush as long ago as October last year) that close associate of the M Star, Andrew Murray – who works part-time as Len McCluskey’s […]
The curious incident of the Stalinists who didn’t bark – Shiraz Socialist (Second Run)
February 4, 2019 at 4:17 pm
[…] bad for Labour to simply follow the CPB into openly backing the Tories over Brexit (though Mr Murray did advocate supporting May’s […]
Andrew Murray’s very own “culture war”. – Shiraz Socialist (Second Run)
November 3, 2019 at 7:50 pm