Film Screening: “Oh Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie”

The first UK screening of the documentary film “Oh Jeremy Corbyn — The Big Lie”. In 2017 Britain came close to electing the most left-wing prime minister it ever had. But within three years the Corbyn project had apparently fallen apart. What happened? This film talks to people who were at the heart of events and tells a shocking story of smears, deceit and political treachery. Narrated by Alexei Sayle.

LABOUR MPS: From the start, Jeremy Corbyn’s biggest threat was from his own Labour MPs. Out of 230 or so of them, he could maybe count on around 30 to support him. Most were actively working to get rid of him. Many MPs resigned from his shadow cabinet. They passed a vote of no confidence in him. They supported a leadership challenge against him. Nothing worked.

2017 ELECTION: The snap election in April 2017 was like an answer to the prayers of Corbyn’s enemies. Jeremy, they thought, would be totally slaughtered. But things didn’t go that way. Corbyn didn’t win but he got the largest increase in the share of the vote of any Labour leader since 1945 and robbed the Tory party of its majority in Parliament. The result sent shockwaves around the world.

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HIM: The Tory press threw it all at Jeremy Corbyn. They tried smear after smear, but in the end it was charges of antisemitism that were the most damaging. High-profile Corbyn supporters, like ex-London mayor Ken Livingstone, were attacked and brought down. A TV programme attacking Labour for antisemitism hit Corbyn and his supporters hard.

SECRET WAR: But while all this was going on in public, the film reveals that behind closed doors a secret war was being waged against Corbyn. It was called “trot hunting.” Parliamentary wranglings over Brexit diverted Jeremy from his path of popular insurgency. Keir Starmer was Corbyn’s Shadow Brexit Minister — what part did he play in Corbyn’s downfall?

MAINSTREAM MEDIA: After Starmer was elected Labour leader, there was a ruthless purge of Corbyn’s supporters, the long-delayed Forde Report highlighted racist attitudes in the party, and Al Jazeera TV revealed huge injustices at the heart of the party. But all these things went largely uncovered by the mainstream media. Why?

THE FUTURE: The film concludes by exploring the strengths and weaknesses of the extraordinary grassroots movement which almost got Jeremy Corbyn elected. What went wrong? Might the movement rise again?