Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism
Mainstream described itself as being 'led by a group of people from different political backgrounds – designed to encourage a return to respectable and responsible politics, and to banish extremism from British politics once and for all'.[1]
Background
Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism (MTCAE) Ltd was incorporated on 14 August 2019 and Dissolved on 30 August 2022(company number 12156740) under the name MTCAE Ltd.[2] It has a single director – Benjamin Tait. [3]
The campaign's website listed people supporting Mainstream as: Ian Austin, Eric Pickles, Rachel Riley, Maureen Lipman, Rabbi Jonathan Hughes, Michael McCann, Ivan Lewis, Mike Gapes, Anne Coffey and Joan Ryan.[4] In the campaign's introductory video, Austin tok credit for the organisation, saying 'I've formed a new organisation – it's mainstreamuk.org'.[5]
Stance
Mainstream does not provide a definition of extremism. However, one of its three publications is entitled Corbyn, McDonnell and the IRA: A History of Extremism,[6] and Lipman reprises her role as Beattie from the British Telecome adverts to say of the Labour leadership 'This lot's not Labour, they're not socialists. You know what they are, Nora? They're extremists'.[7] A tweet about another video, presenting the results of a poll of Labour members' views calls the members themselves 'out of touch and extreme'.[8]
Patriotism enters into the vocabulary of Mainstream. Reminiscing about an age in which 'mainstream politics was the norm', the campaign's opening statement remembers wistfully that 'It felt as if we shared the same mainstream patriotic outlook, even if we disagreed with each other on the best way to achieve a better society and a more prosperous economy'.[1] In a video on the organisation's home page, Austin insists that 'decent, mainstream, patriotic Labour voters have got to ask themselves whether Jeremy Corbyn, who supported terrorism, supported extremism, backs our country's enemies, whether he can be trusted to lead it, and I just don't think he can'.[5]
While claiming to be a 'campaign against extremism on the far left and the hard right',[5] the Independent noted that 'despite the non-partisan branding and mission statement under which it solicits cash donations, the group’s entire advertising output is in actual fact targeted at the opposition Labour Party – the bulk of it on issues like taxation and public ownership'.[9] The same article documented that the campaign had spent approaching £5,000 to run three anti-Labour adverts on Facebook. Two included clips of varying lengths from Limpan's video. The third 'which appears completely unrelated to the group’s stated anti-extremism purpose, reads: “REVEALED: Jeremy Corbyn said that nobody below £80,000 will pay more in tax under his government. Wrong. Watch this”. It features only a video of BBC interviewer Andrew Neil asking Mr Corbyn about dividend taxes'.[9][10]
Tax seems to be a particular preoccupation of the group, with a report on the subject published just before the video went out.[11] In his foreword, former Shadow Chancellor, Chris Leslie, argued that 'it is ƚhe consequence of Labour's adoption of an anti-capitalist, anti-markets approach to the economy and public services which deserves serious attention in the 2019 election'.[11]
The research into Labour members' views, commissioned from YouGov in September 2019 (with an unstated sample size), included questions about tighter controls on the broadcast and print media, a general strike, open borders, national pride, the monarchy, nuclear disarmament, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, antisemitism in the Labour Party and Islamist terrorism, in a bid to show that Labour members were 'out of touch and extreme'.[8]
In the same month as the survey results were published, Austin attempted to photobomb the Labour Party conference under the Mainstream banner. He parked a digital billboard in front of the conference venue, bearing the legend 'Jeremy Corbyn: Unfit to lead the Labour Party. Unift to lead the country'.[12]
The day before the 2019 General Election, Mainstream published an open letter, signed by Austin, Coffey, Gapes, McCann and Ryan alongside Leslie, Louise Ellman and John Woodcock. The letter asked 'Thinking about Labour? Think again'.[13]
Labour Party Antisemitism
In the introductory video, Austin asserts that, under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, 'a political party with a proud record, a long history of fighting for equality, fighting racism, has become poisoned with anti-Jewish racism and it is a complete and utter disgrace'.[5]
Resources
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mainstream About Us. Retrieved from the Internet Archive of 27 September 2021
- ↑ Companies House MTCAE Ltd.
- ↑ Companies House Officers.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210927012611/https://mainstreamuk.org/why-were-backing-mainstream/
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Ian Austin Video, Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism, Home.
- ↑ Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism Corbyn, McDonnell and the IRA: A History of Extremism, Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism, Publications.
- ↑ Maureen Lipman Why would anybody vote for this Labour Party?, Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism, Videos.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Mainstream UK Tweet 22 September 2019.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Jon Stone Self-styled ‘anti-extremism’ campaign just spending thousands on anti-Labour attack ads, The Independent, 5 December 2019.
- ↑ Mainstream UK Jeremy Corbyn isn't telling the truth on tax, Facebook advert, 2–3 December 2019.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism Taxation: The Labour Party's questions to answer, November 2019.
- ↑ Skwawkbox Video: moment of genius makes Ian Austin’s sad vendetta-trip to Brighton backfire hilariously Skwawkbox, 22 September 2019.
- ↑ 'Thinking about Labour? Think again' Open Letter, 11 December 2019,
