“Nobody is ruling out remain as an option.”
When Keir Starmer made this comment at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool yesterday, it will be no surprise to you that this was music to my ears. Finally, we have a UK politician who is not only bold enough to make this statement but also a man in the making who could lead both a party and the country. The long, standing ovation he received was also a significant sign that the mood in the nation is changing. I would not be surprised if the Labour Party were to approve a motion that included remain as an option.
Meanwhile, as if disconnected from the real political landscape and real human beings, Theresa May grasps on to her Chequers Plan, knowing that she is a dead woman walking, and Jeremy Corbyn, when asked by Sky TV five times about a second referendum, simply cannot give a simple answer to the question. I do admit that Corbyn did well in his concluding speech at the conference today. He was more confident than in previous years, raised important issues that concern those who Labour has lost to other parties in recent years and his offer to support the Conservatives in the event of a successful Brexit was undoubtedly a sound tactical manoeuvre that will protect the Labour Party in the months ahead.
Nevertheless, he is not the right man at the right time for the UK’s current attempt at kamikaze.
Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”
It is my sincere and deepest hope that, while May and Corbyn remain bound in the shallows, a humble and gifted leader such as Keir Starmer recognises the tide and leads the UK back to good fortune, a fairer society and a key European player on globalised stage.
There are still many more interesting days ahead, and who knows what might happen …
“I believe things cannot make themselves impossible.” Stephen Hawking.