JK Rowling, a longtime critic of Jeremy Corbyn, has mocked the Labour leader’s position on Brexit in sixteen biblical-style tweets.
In a series of tweets entitled “The visitation of the Corbynites: a festive thread”, the Harry Potter author claimed the possibility of “Saint Jeremy” bringing a jobs-first Brexit was “bollocks” and described Corbyn as “in third place after Pontus May”.
Rowling wrote: “And she did answer, ‘How shall the poor fare under Brexit, which thy saint hath always in his secret heart desired, yet he hath not admitted what was in his heart, lest fewer attend his next sermon on the Glastonbury B stage.’
“And they did answer, ‘Saint Jeremy will achieve a miracle, and he shall bring forth a jobs-first Brexit and all the land shall rejoice.’ And she did answer, ‘Bollocks.’”
And lo, unto her did appear a host of Corbyn defenders, who did descend upon her mentions, and she was not sore afraid, because she was used to it. And the host did sing with one voice, ‘ungodly woman, thou foolest us not. We know the true reason thou despisest Saint Jeremy.’ 1
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 22, 2018
And she did say unto them ‘share thy hot take.’ And with righteous wrath they did declare, ‘thou fearest Saint Jeremy, friend of the poor, because he shall take from thee in taxation much more even than Herod, and so thou attackest the meek and honest saviour of this land.’ 2
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 22, 2018
Anticipating the often-repeated claim that the Edinburgh-based Rowling is a critic of Corbyn because he would subject the wealthy author to higher taxes, she wrote: “’Tis not Saint Jeremy who shall tax me, nay, not even if he enters the house of No 10, for my tax rates are set by Queen Nicola [Sturgeon], in whose kingdom I do abide.”
Her thread prompted a flood of responses from Corbyn supporters. Aaron Bastani, co-founder of the left-leaning website Novara Media, wrote: “Corbyn has repeated the policy Labour has had for two years … I’m afraid multimillionaires can’t always get their way.”
