Well, that lasted long. From the moment Keir Starmer left the conference stage after setting out Labour’s Brexit position, rumours began to circulate that all wasn’t as it seemed. When the shadow Brexit secretary spoke in the conference hall this morning, he received a standing ovation for pledging to keep all options open on Brexit – including the option to remain in the EU; ‘Nobody is ruling out remain as an option.’
However, less than an hour later and dissent has broken out on the conference hall over the party position – and whether the shadow Brexit secretary correctly articulated the official policy. As Steerpike reports, that passage of the speech was not in the official text sent to hacks – leading to suggestions that it was not approved. Notably, the reception among Corbyn’s allies has been lukewarm at best.
I understand that the line was ad-libbed.
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