Peter Hitchens: this ‘nonsense’ of attacking Jeremy Corbyn is neither civilised nor sensible The Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens has said that attacks on Jeremy Corbyn are “neither civilised nor sensible” and […]

The Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens has said that attacks on Jeremy Corbyn are “neither civilised nor sensible” and that the Labour leader “represents a current in British politics and he is entitled to be heard”.

In an interview with Business Insider he said: “One of the reasons from the beginning I’ve said stop this nonsense of attacking Corbyn over and over again is because it’s neither civilised nor sensible.

“I did get quite a lot of pleasure out of his pretty successful election campaign and his far better performance than that of May.

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“I’ve been saying for so long ‘stop this!’ He represents a current in British politics and he is entitled to be heard.”

Jeremy Corbyn ‘recognises something’ others don’t

Hitchens, who is considered a standard bearer for social conservativism, added: “He recognises something in a way that neither the Tory party not its twin in New Labour do not. For millions of people living in Britain, life isn’t much fun.

“Corbyn observed that life for large numbers of people is pretty thin.”

“By simply observing that people were working on zero-hour contracts; couldn’t afford their rents; were making ends meet by loans; that a university degree doesn’t get you a job; Corbyn observed that life for large numbers of people is pretty thin.

“By noticing that the economic recovery just hadn’t happened outside London and the southeast, he got the sympathy of an awful lot of people and that’s how he did so well.”

Theresa May is ‘dull and uninteresting’…

The right-wing journalist who has previously said that both Labour and the Conservative Party “ought to collapse” said that he had never been impressed by Theresa May. “I thought from the first time I encountered her that she was a dull and uninteresting politician who moves with the times,” he said.

“I thought her performances versus Jeremy Corbyn in Prime Minister’s Questions were woeful.”

“I remember looking into her the week where she suddenly moved from being an opponent of all women shortlists to a supporter of them. This is a huge revolution of the mind. Yet she offered no explanation on it.

“She isn’t a good public speaker. I thought her performances versus Jeremy Corbyn in Prime Minister’s Questions were woeful. I could not understand why people were seriously touting her as a prime minister.”

…but that doesn’t really matter

“There are few more insignificant creatures than backbench MPs.”

“Being an MP is not an activity as I’d class as being particularly important,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. There are few more insignificant creatures than backbench MPs.

“The front bench is a desert. A range of extinct volcanoes would be a compliment because to be extinct they would once have to be active.”

He also claimed that “nobody died for the right to vote” and that it is misguided to claim they did in order to persuade people to cast a ballot.

He said: “I’ve for a long time advocated abstention from voting as the best way of undermining the fraudulent nature of our government.

“I find that people have this ridiculous idea that voting is some sort of sacrament. That is was allegedly won for people who died for it on occasions which they can’t name. Nobody died for the right to vote.”