On another thread Ians wrote
Subject: RE: BS: Conservative Leadership Contest
From: Iains - PM
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 03:11 PM

DMcG IT seems compo corbyn has been dragged off the fence by his union paymasters. Is that how democracy works for labour? The biggest checquebook dictates policy? Oh Dear!


I think it better addressed here.

It would be much more accurate to say it was the support of the 'Unite' union in particular that allowed Corbyn to stay 'on the fence'. For a long time most unions and most of the members have thought the party should take a stronger remain stance, but at least initially it made sense to recognise that after we leave (or not), we still all have to live on the same island and talk to each other, which led to a more complex and ambiguous stance. However, few people still think that is the best approach, and now believe that its time is over.

As for setting policy, the new position - if it happens - is still in line with the policy set last year, because it was a quite complex set of statements. Nothing unusual in that - there is almost always a stage like this where a general statement needs to be refined into a more precise position and ultimately to down to specific actions. It is essentially the same problem as taking a generic 'Leave means Leave' and working out what exactly that means for the security policy, for instance.