Sebastian Payne

Twelve disagreements Charlie Falconer has with his party leadership

Charlie Falconer is one of the few figures closely associated with Blairism serving in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, which isn’t surprising given the new leader’s mandate. In an extraordinary interview on the Sunday Politics, the shadow justice secretary said he was serving under Corbyn because ‘I want to make the opposition as effective as possible in holding the government to account’ — while outlining a long list of policy areas he is at odds with the leadership on. As well as saying he would quit if Labour campaigns for a Brexit, Falconer has revealed no fewer than twelve other areas where he differs with Corbyn and John McDonnell.

1. Leaving Nato

Corbyn has previously said that Britain should consider leaving Nato (he has since backtracked). Falconer disagrees:

‘He said during the course of the leadership election for example, we might think about withdrawing from Nato – that would obviously be a position I couldn’t agree with.’

2. Trident

The Labour leader has advocated

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