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Corbyn accused of trying to ruin Labour tribute to the Queen

By Brendan Carlin

JEREMY Corbyn was accused of trying to sabotage Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour conference tribute to the late Queen last night by slamming the decision to play the National Anthem.

The former leader sparked fury by branding the decision to play ‘God Save The King’ at the start of Labour’s annual rally in Liverpool as ‘very, very odd’ and ‘excessively nationalist’.

In a BBC interview, longstanding republican Mr Corbyn – who is currently forced to sit as an independent MP – said: ‘It has never, ever happened at a Labour conference since the conferences were first held at the time of the First World War.

‘I find it peculiar and not really necessary.

‘We are not that sort of what I would call excessively nationalist [country].’

But last night, Starmer loyalists rounded on the former party leader, with one Shadow Minister saying: ‘Only Corbyn would try to wreck Sir Keir’s tribute to the late Queen. It’s because Corbyn was seen as unpatriotic that we’ve got to build bridges with so many former traditional Labour voters who deserted us while Left-wing “Jezza” was wrecking our party.’

Other MPs recalled how Mr Corbyn was criticised for failing to sing the National Anthem at a Battle of Britain service at St Paul’s Cathedral in 2015 although he claimed he had been lost in reflection.

However, there were fears last night that Mr Corbyn’s intervention – in an interview on Nick Robinson’s Political Thinking podcast – will ‘give licence’ to Left-wing party republicans to jeer when the anthem is played later today.

Mr Corbyn’s comments come after The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that the National Anthem would be played at conference as part of tributes to the Queen but amid fears some republican delegates could heckle.

That led one of Sir Keir’s key advisers to recommend that he start the four-day conference by appealing to members not to boo – advice dismissed as ‘ridiculous’ by a Shadow Minister.

Labour sources said last night that they disagreed with Mr Corbyn’s National Anthem remarks, adding: ‘Keir’s party is proudly patriotic.’ But in a further embarrassment last night, one of the first fringe meetings for the conference was set to be a Labour For A Republic meeting, entitled: ‘Beyond the Jubilee: What Future for the Monarchy?’

Last night, there were claims the event had originally been billed as ‘Beyond the Jubilee: Time to Close down the Monarchy’ but that this had had to be toned down at the last minute.

In June after the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Labour For A Republic said: ‘The Queen’s reign will soon be over and there is little chance of stopping the Crown passing to Charles, a less worthy successor.’

The campaign group added that now Jubilee ‘hysteria has subsided, there is more chance of having a reasoned debate on what should come next’.

Labour stressed last night it ‘is not responsible for the content of fringe meetings’ at party conference.

The party conference opens with some Labour MPs daring to predict the party is on course to win the next Election in the wake of the Tories’ controversial programme of tax cuts.

As he arrived in Liverpool, Sir Keir said the Tories had shown their ‘true colours’, adding their ‘driving ideology’ was to ‘make the rich richer and do nothing for working people’. l LABOUR considered turning its red rose party logo green this week under proposals to show its environmental credentials and win over Green voters, party insiders have revealed.

However, the idea was abandoned after one Shadow Cabinet Minister branded it ‘absolutely stupid’.

Party sources said last night: ‘Lots of ideas are discussed in the run-up to conference.’

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2022-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

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