Can Labour be ‘populist’ without a Brexit position?

So Jeremy Corbyn has finally agreed to back Boris Johnson’s demand for a December election. In the end he had little choice but to bow to the inevitable: Johnson already had the votes thanks to the SNP and the Liberal Democrats. But Corbyn also wanted this election. What had been holding him back was the fears of his own MPs – who were aware of the Conservative’s ten point lead in most opinion polls and their own leader’s dreadful personal ratings. In contrast, Corbyn’s closest advisers and loudest supporters are hopeful the campaign will end in a Corbyn-led government. According to the Sunday Times, the party’s strategist Karie Murphy even says she wants the party to abandon the idea of target seats and instead conduct an ambitious ‘99 per cent strategy’ in which Corbyn will travel across Britain whipping up enthusiasm. Why this confidence? The answer lies in how Corbynites view the June 2017 general election.