Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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DURING Labour’s game-changing 2017 general election campaign it is worth remembering one particularly difficult moment for Jeremy Corbyn — when he was questioned by the audience and presenter David Dimbleby about whether he would press the “nuclear button” during BBC Question Time’s Leaders’ Special.
“Jeremy had begun to look uncomfortable,” Steve Howell, then Labour’s deputy director of strategy and communications, noted in his book about the campaign.
This challenging episode won’t have gone unnoticed by the other political parties, of course. Earlier this month The Guardian noted the Conservatives’ 2019 general election campaign will target Labour seats “by painting Corbyn as a threat to national security.”
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