Dennis Skinner: Theresa May called an election because of Tory fraud investigation Ten minutes on the phone to Labour MP Dennis Skinner, and we’ve already covered the 1974 election, how Clement Attlee […]

Ten minutes on the phone to Labour MP Dennis Skinner, and we’ve already covered the 1974 election, how Clement Attlee beat Churchill, the successes of the Blair government – and why Theresa May has really called a general election.

Like his fellow MPs, Skinner is only a day out from the Commons vote which confirmed that Britain will, once again, be going to polls, with a General Election called for June 8th.

“The idea me, Corbyn and the rest of us are going to accept this is nonsense”

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Yet if the country is reeling from the shock news, the so-called Beast of Bolsover seems unshaken – especially in his resolve to kick the Tories out of power.

Tedious Theresa

“I don’t believe this fairy story put forth by Tedious Theresa”, he says, almost spitting out the “ts”.

“She tried to kid people, especially the media, over why she’s having an election.”

In her surprise announcement on Monday, May said that she was going to the polls to seek a mandate for Brexit, which she accused other political parties of opposing. “The country is coming together”, she claimed, “but Westminster is not”.

The ping pong lasted for one ping

“That is not true”, Skinner says.

“I sit there every day. I know what happens in the Commons. The idea that somehow she’s had to battle to get Brexit through is nonsense.”

“It’s because the Crown Prosecution Service are due to make a decision on Tory election expenses”

Dennis Skinner

Referring to the process of “ping pong” by which bills are passed back and forth between the House of Commons and the House of Lords before being passed into law, Skinner tells i “the House of Lords hasn’t done the ping, pong, ping, pong as they have done many times with a Labour government.

“The ping pong lasted for one ping!”

The real reason?

So why did May really call a general election, forcing Parliament to vote on its own dissolution years before the next scheduled election in 2020?

For Skinner, the real reason is as clear as day.

“It’s quite clear: it’s because the Crown Prosecution Service are due to make a decision on Tory election expenses,” he says.

Reports suggest that the CPS are investigating more than 30 people, including “a raft” of Conservative MPs and their agents, over election expenses from 2015.

“She could be in power one week, and if they’re charged, she’ll be out next week”, Skinner says.

“I would hope the press would be smart enough to write the proper story”, he says, adding firmly, “the country has a right to know”.

Elections have a mind of their own

As for what will happen in June, Skinner is optimistic – despite polling showing his party are twenty points behind the Tories.

“Any Labour government is better than a Tory government.”

Dennis Skinner

It could, he suggests, be a bit like 1974 – “when Ted Heath thought that he could have an election over one issue: the miner’s strike”.

But elections, Skinner says, “tend to have a mind of their own. People started talking about employment, schools, and everything else.”

Leaving parliament on the day of the 1974 vote, Skinner ran into a fellow Labour MP, an elderly gentleman, who was watching the news come in on a ticker tape. “It’s just starting to shift”, his colleague said.

He and his fellow member stood, watching the tide begin to turn for their party.

“I believe this”, he says, “is the nearest parallel”.

Defending New Labour’s record

But what about those who would like to vote Labour but are reluctant to back Jeremy Corbyn? What would he say to them?

“Clement Attlee was a kind of Jeremy Corbyn of his day.”

Dennis Skinner

Skinner’s response is so forceful I feel like I may have to hold the phone away from my ear.

“Any Labour government is better than a Tory government”, he booms, adding, “even Blair”.

Famously unimpressed by the former Prime Minister, Skinner is ready to sing New Labour’s praises if the alternative is a Conservative party in power.

“After Blair’s Labour government, we had treble the amount of money going to the National Health Service. We had double the amount of money going to the schools.

“And Blair made a major decision in Northern Ireland [with the Good Friday Agreement].”

“That would have been Blair’s legacy if he hadn’t got involved in that daft crusade”, he adds, in reference to the 2003 Iraq War.

Attlee was the Corbyn of his day

But for Skinner, it’s not the Blair years that we should be thinking about, nor even the 1974 victory. Rather, the prospect of a Corbyn premiership should remind us of 1945.

“By God,” he says, “this Labour government, if it’s given a chance – it would be like 1945 all over again.

“Clement Attlee was a kind of Jeremy Corbyn of his day. He was a bit more right wing, yes – but he didn’t look the part. He was a man of few words. No-one gave him a cat in hell’s chance.

“But he smashed Churchill in the polls.

What a Corbyn government could achieve

“Then they introduced the NHS, they were building council houses by the thousand, they introduced pensions for the first time, and the welfare state … and Britain was changed.

“That’s what can happen,” he says, addressing the concerns of those voters put off by Corbyn.

“You can potter about if you want, with different parties. Or you can decide to make a real change in favour of the real wealth creators.

“It used to be industrial workers. Now, it’s workers in the service industry. It’s those people on zero hours contracts. It’s making sure the NHS gets the money it needs.

“We’ve got an agenda. Believe me.”

i originally approached Dennis Skinner about writing a comment piece. He insisted, however, that he would not “moonlight” and take work from journalists, and offered to be interviewed instead.