In the past three years since his election as leader of the Labour Party in 2015, critics of Jeremy Corbyn have relentlessly used his long track record of rebelling against the party line during the leadership of Tony Blair and others on the Labour right as a way of lambasting him as a supposed traitor to the party.
During his time as a backbencher, Jeremy Corbyn did vote against the Labour line an astonishing 428 times, and critics of the current Labour leader have often used this statistic to imply that he is supposedly more loyal to himself than to the party’s values.
Indeed, following Frank Field’s decision to resign the Labour whip last week, many on the Labour-right were quick to point to Corbyn’s own record of rebellion in an attempt to silence criticism from Corbyn supporters over Frank Field’s decision to vote with the government on key Brexit legislation.
Writing on Twitter, the former Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith attempted to slap down Corbyn supporters who had criticised the Birkenhead MP, stating:
“Dear Corbynites criticising Frank Field for voting with the Tories against his own party. This is what Jeremy did consistently before he became leader. However he felt able to stay in a broad church, inclusive Labour Party. What’s different now?!”
Dear Corbynites criticising Frank Field for voting with the Tories against his own party. This is what Jeremy did consistently before he became leader. However he felt able to stay in a broad church, inclusive Labour Party. What’s different now?!
— Jacqui Smith (@Jacqui_Smith1) August 31, 2018
At the time, Evolve responded to Smith by asking her exactly how many times Corbyn had voted “with the Tories” – a question we unsurprisingly received no response to.
It’s true that Jeremy Corbyn consistently voted against Blair and other right-wing Labour leaders, but what key votes did Corbyn vote “with the Tories” on, Jacqui?
— Evolve Politics (@evolvepolitics) August 31, 2018
However, following painstaking research conducted by Channel Four’s Fact Check, it can now be confirmed that rather than “consistently voting with the Tories” as the former Home Secretary had stated, Jeremy Corbyn actually voted against the Conservative Party a staggering 421 times out of his 428 rebellions against the Labour Party.
This means that, rather than Corbyn supposedly rebelling against his own party, Labour were actually consistently proposing legislation that was essentially in line with what the Tories wanted.
Take for example the 2003 vote for war in Iraq:
Mr Corbyn was one of 84 Labour MPs to vote against the decision to invade Iraq.
What has historically happened in British democracy is that the opposition party opposed the government. Yet, a majority of Conservative MPs also voted with the Labour government to push through the bill to go to war.
Time and time again on crucial votes such as these, Jeremy Corbyn consistently voted against his own party as well as voting against the majority of Conservative MPs.
Indeed, according to Channel Four’s Fact Check, there were only seven times during Mr Corbyn’s 32 years as a Labour backbencher that he ever voted in line with the majority of Tory MPs whilst also rebelling against the Labour line.
These seven votes are listed below:
- Mr Corbyn voted against the motion, along with 246 Conservative MPs.
- Labour MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour, with 203 voting for the motion.
- Mr Corbyn was one of three Labour MPs to vote against the motion, along with John McDonnell and Dennis Skinner.
Protection of Freedoms Bill — Clause 3 — Retention of DNA and Fingerprint Information — 10 Oct 2011
- Mr Corbyn voted against the motion, along with 243 Conservative MPs.
- Labour MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour, with 218 voting for the motion.
- Mr Corbyn was one of two Labour MPs to vote against the motion, along with John McDonnell.
- Mr Corbyn voted against the motion, along with 256 Conservative MPs.
- Labour MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour, with 208 voting for the motion.
- Mr Corbyn was one of two Labour MPs to vote against the motion, along with John McDonnell.
- Mr Corbyn voted against the motion, along with 260 Conservative MPs.
- Labour MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour, with 210 voting for the motion.
- Mr Corbyn was one of two Labour MPs to vote against the motion, along with John McDonnell.
Deferred Divisions — Social Security — 4 Mar 2010
- Mr Corbyn voted against the motion, along with 147 Conservative MPs.
- Labour MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour, with 238 voting for the motion.
- Mr Corbyn was one of two Labour MPs to vote against the motion, along with David Drew.
Fiscal Responsibility Bill — 5 Jan 2010
- Mr Corbyn voted against the motion, along with 146 Conservative MPs.
- Labour MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour, with 264 voting for the motion.
- Mr Corbyn was one of four Labour MPs to vote against the motion, along with Diane Abbott, Katy Clark and Linda Riordan.
Bill Presented — Fiscal Responsibility — New Clause 3 — 2010 Target — 9 Dec 2009
- Mr Corbyn voted in favour of the motion, along with 145 Conservative MPs.
- Labour MPs voted overwhelmingly against, with 279 voting against the motion.
- Mr Corbyn was one of three Labour MPs to vote in favour of the motion, along with David Drew and Lynne Jones.
You will note from the dates above that Jeremy Corbyn never once voted in line with the Tories during a single one of his vote rebellions under Tony Blair’s Labour leadership.
In other words, Jeremy Corbyn consistently voted with Labour bills that the Tories did not agree with, and voted against Labour bills that the Tories agreed with.
It is also worth nothing that Mr Corbyn’s reasoning for voting in line with the Tories on the above seven examples were almost certainly not for the same reasons as the Conservative Party.
Indeed, Channel Four’s Fact Check goes on to caveat that:
“It’s worth stressing that these records don’t tell us anything about why Mr Corbyn voted the way he did on each occasion. Professor Philip Cowley of Queen Mary University of London made the salient point that Mr Corbyn may have been “voting with [the Conservatives] but for different reasons, like when there is a bill which he objects to because it’s not left-wing enough and others object to because it’s not right-wing enough.” ”
This startling new evidence proves that it was not in fact Jeremy Corbyn supposedly rebelling against Labour’s long-held values that was the problem, it was that, under the leadership of Tony Blair especially, the Labour Party was lurching further and further in line with Conservative Party values.
So the next time somebody tries telling you that Jeremy Corbyn was supposedly a Labour ‘rebel’, feel free to quote this article and inform them that the evidence proves he was almost always standing up against what the Tories wanted.
