‘You’re not letting me finish!’ Owen Jones’ tantrum exposed amid Labour meltdown
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Although Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, led the party to its worst defeat since 1935 in the December general election, he still lingers in the public psyche. The failed leader is now in the headlines following a string of cases brought against him by current and former Labour member regarding anti-semitism. Last week, Labour made the move to apologise and pay “substantial damages” to seven former party workers who turned whistleblowers over anti-Semitism in a Panorama documentary.
At the time, they were accused by the party of acting in bad faith and of being critics of Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
The decision to pay damages will now cost the party £500,000.
Many have noted that the move underlines the determination of the new leader Sir Keir Starmer to mark an end to the crisis.
Despite this recent settlement, several commentators have warned that it might be only the beginning to a long road of settlements.
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg said that the whistleblower’s day in court “not for a moment” marks an end to Labour’s anti-semitism agony.
She said: “Jeremy Corbyn’s response to Labour’s total reversal and apology was to question the merits of settling at all, and that could prompt further legal action.”
Ultimately, she added: “The arguing about what happened and how is far from over.”
Anti-semitism is something that marred Mr Corbyn’s leadership, but many continued to support the politicians effort to bring socialism to the UK.
One high-profile supporter was Owen Jones, the left-wing commentator best-known for his columns in The Guardian newspaper.
In the run up to the 2017 and 2019 general elections, Mr Jones became synonymous with the Labour Party.
Videos of him talking politics, socialism, and condemning the government for measures such as austerity went viral on social media and garnered the support of the masses.
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Mr Jones has described his “point in life” and drive to use his platform to give a voice to masses and to agitate a movement into power that represents the majority of people.
He has written several books in this vein.
His first, ‘Chavs: The demonisation of the working class’, struggled to get accepted by a publisher and was later commissioned by a small left-wing publication.
With the backdrop of the financial crash, its publication fell at a great time for Mr Jones and it became an instant best-seller.
Many criticised Mr Jones, however, for writing about working class struggles from a privileged, middle class, Oxbridge educated stance.
Despite this, Mr Jones enjoyed a surge in support and popularity during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party, much to the disappointment of many former party members.
One such member was Alastair Campbell, the party’s former spin doctor and pioneer of the New Labour movement on the turn of the century.
Mr Campbell repeatedly condemned Mr Jones and the movements he was associated with for a lack of “vision” and ability to get into power.
In 2017, just five days before then Prime Minister Theresa May announced she intended to hold a general election in June of that year, Mr Jones appeared in an interview with Mr Campbell for GQ Magazine.
It was here that the pair clashed and fought a war of ideology.
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Mr Jones, who spoke in paragraphs for the majority of the interview, kept getting interrupted by Mr Campbell because, as one viewer claimed, “he wants to make soundbites”.
The constant trickle of interruptions began to grind on Mr Jones, who became visibly angered by losing his trail of argument.
At one point, Mr Jones angrily burst and rebuked Mr Campbell for his interviewing technique.
It came as the pair were talking about whether Mr Jones believed Mr Corbyn was up to the job of Labour leader in the run up to his party election.
Mr Campbell read Mr Jones an excerpt from a journalist that “thanked” him and others for giving the Tory party votes for endorsing Mr Corbyn.
Mr Jones replied: “Do you know what’s weird, people often on the left…”
Mr Campbell butted in: “He’s not on the left,” to which Mr Jones rebuked: “No, you keep doing this – I’m not saying that. I’m saying because you’ve just endorsed his logic…”
Mr Campbell again interrupted and said: “No I haven’t! I just want to know how you feel about that! You’ve got a guy on the right here who sees you as one of the four people who have delivered the Labour leadership. Is that fair?”
Mr Jones replied: “No, and I…” Mr Campbell tried to talk over him but to no avail, as Mr Jones burst into frustration and shouted “can you let me finish!
“You’re worse than Piers Morgan! You really are.”
Mr Jones and Mr Campbell are both left-wing but sit at different points on the political spectrum.
While Mr Campbell, who took Labour from its traditional socialist roots on the turn of the century under Tony Blair to a more centre-ground, Mr Jones follows an ideology that wishes to return the Labour Party to where it started – in socialism.
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