Investigation: Did Jeremy Corbyn Really Vote Leave?

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By Lukas Mikelionis | 7:28 am, June 28, 2016
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Jeremy Corbyn is currently under siege from his own party – who are busily tearing chunks off of him in revenge for his failure to swing the EU Referendum.

He undoubtedly had a lacklustre campaign, at one point saying he’d give the EU “seven and a half out of ten” – and is now having to defend himself from mounting accusations that he went full turncoat and voted Leave.

There a lot to sift through, so we at Heat Street have done our best to get to the bottom of this vital interaction between long-time Eurosceptic Corbyn and the ballot box:

 

Labour MP: I ‘suspect’ he went Leave

Chris Bryant raised the prospect live on TV yesterday. Speaking on Sky News, he said that he asked Corbyn to his face whether he voted remain – and got no reply.

Admittedly, he was busy effecting a shadow cabinet revolt (or is it a Zionist plot?!?) on the dear leader at the time – so has good reason to talk up a Corbyn betrayal.

The Times: Corbyn himself said it two weeks ago

Just this morning Britain’s newspaper of record asserted that Corbyn was telling people in a south London tapas bar about his intention to vote Leave this time last week.

They report a claim from diner Martin Waplington, who claims to have asked Corbyn about his intentions and being told it was for leave.

The Times acknowledges its source was an MP – presumably a freshly-resigned member of the shadow cabinet – so a sniff of agenda there too.

Labour press office: Definitely Remain

Obviously the official party response is “deny, deny, deny”.

But Corbyn, crucially, has never been explicit about the matter on camera – and has a rich history of Euroscepticism to support the thesis. He is also being dragged over hot coals for allegedly sabotaging the Remain campaign:

New Statesman political editor: ‘Near-certain’ Leave

The Statesman is practically Labour’s house journal, so you’d hope his political editor would know.

It seems close pals are briefing that Corbyn was for Leave.

Piers Corbyn: He’d never vote to Remain

Corbyn’s own brother – a die-hard outer who spent referendum day agreeing with people saying “don’t listen to Corbyn. He doesn’t believe a word he’s saying” – was also clear.

Corbyn the elder told Guido Fawkes: “Jeremy would not vote to remain.”

Corbyn’s twitter: Look at me, I just voted Remain

Presumably posted by a spin doctor who may well not have actually asked Corbyn how he had just voted. The sly dog.

Heat Street’s Verdict

There is spin on both sides – Labour HQ don’t want to undermine their leader, everybody else in Labour absolutely does.

Corbyn voted against membership in 1975, against the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, against the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, so would hardly be breaking form.

In the good old days of 2011, when he was just a backbencher, and much more relaxed on Twitter, he said:

It’s pretty unlikely that the stubborn  leader – who hasn’t changed a thing since Michael Jackson’s Thriller came out – will suddenly betray his beliefs and stand with the party.

We can’t say for sure, but  Oh screw it, he definitely voted Leave.

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