Whether or not Jeremy Corbyn was ever a spy for the Communist Eastern Bloc — as some in the British press are insinuating — if he becomes Britain’s next Prime Minister, America will have to alter its relationship with Britain.
The central challenge that a Corbyn government would pose to U.S. interests is twofold. First, that it could not be trusted to protect U.S. intelligence secrets. Second, that Corbyn’s foreign policy vision is diametrically at odds with standing U.S. government policy.
Regardless, in light of ongoing media interest into Corbyn’s repeated meetings with a Czechoslovakian StB officer, Ján Sarkocy, it’s worth considering where Corbyn’s attitudes towards the United States come from.
After all, while the Corbyn-led Labour Party has rarely been pro-American (Tony Blair being the exception), Corbyn opposes the essence of American society and foreign policy. The formative base of these opinions seems to rest in his experiences during the latter parts of the Cold War.
A professional politician who first took local office in 1974 at the age of 24, Corbyn’s opportunities and networks have always centered on the far left of British political activism. A trade unionist and frequent fan of communist movements in Latin America, Corbyn saw himself as an heir to Che Guevara; as someone who was part of the great cause of rolling back capitalism.
Of course, such a cause has always had one defining adversary: the United States.
Despising U.S. capitalist democracy and our focus on individual aspiration as part of a community, Corbyn has always sought a collective-democracy. One in which the interests of the individual are subordinated to the enlightened interests of the collective. Even as he occasionally opposed its human rights violations, this ideology made Corbyn naturally sympathetic towards the Soviet model of governance. Interestingly, Corbyn’s top media adviser and strategist is an ardent Stalinist sympathizer.
Indeed, by coincidence or not, numerous entities and individuals linked to Corbyn have also been linked to Soviet or Russian-aligned intelligence interests. Corbyn also retains the direct and overt support of the Russian state and almost certainly covert support — though he is probably unaware of it.
Under all this, however, is Corbyn’s broader hatred for American global influence. Whether Iran, Russia, Venezuela, China or terrorist groups, Corbyn and his inner circle brain-trust believe that the United States is responsible for much of the world’s ill. This informs Corbyn’s ardent belief that Britain should abandon NATO’s strategic defense pinnacle: the U.S., French, and British nuclear deterrent triad.
As I say, all of this bears consideration for U.S. policymakers.
While Corbyn remains unlikely to become Britain’s next Prime Minister, that possibility cannot be ruled out entirely. And if that day comes, at least for his term in office, the Australians will have to become our new best friend.
