Whistling in the dark

Yeah, well, it's difficult.  The Times' Red Box illustrates the problem:

Why can't everyone understand Labour's position on Brexit? It is perfectly clear to anyone who is not a Tory stooge desperate to twist the facts.

As Jeremy Corbyn made quite clear on Sunday, leaving the EU means leaving the single market. Except John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, then said actually he wasn't ruling anything out, and Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, agreed.

Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, took rather a lot off the table, ruling out single market membership and warning it also would be a "disaster" to stay in the customs union. ("What Barry did wasn't a shift in policy," says a Labour source, "it was an egomaniac going completely off piste.")

Don't worry, here comes Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, on last night's Newsnight to clear it up: "The Labour Party made it very clear in its manifesto that it wants a Brexit that puts jobs and the economy first and we are not at this stage taking any options off the table." Oh.

Almost (but not quite) as shambolic as the Tory Cabinet.