‘No coming back from Labour’s anti-semitism’

Ian Anderson, rock singer Patti Austin, singer and actress, Rosanna Arquette, actress, Antonio Banderas, actor, Charlie Dimmock TV gardening expert,

Roy Keane, former footballer, football manager, Lawrence Dallaglio former English rugby captain, I HAVE been a Labour Party supporter and occasional activist since 1964 – no longer.

There is no coming back for Labour from its National Executive Committee’s anti-semitism. The most significant of the examples left out of its definition of anti-semitism is “accusing Jewish people of being more loyal to Israel than their home country”.

This libel has surfaced regularly over 1,000 years and more, and, as historian Raul Hilberg observed, has led to “You may not live among us as Jews”, escalating to “You may not live among us” and finally to “You may not live”.

If the NEC doubts Jews, it will almost certainly doubt Asians and Afro-Caribbeans.

It is breathtakingly pompous for a political committee to decree what is, or is not, antisemitism or other racism, and then hand down disciplinary action on those who demur.

The NEC is pure Gilbert & Sullivan. So is Momentum, that ineffective group for Mr Corbyn. Both the NEC and Momentum are, like G&S, farcical and disturbing at the same time.

Labour’s support for Brexit is certainly disturbing.

We now know that any form of Brexit will damage the majority of UK citizens – those on the average wage or less, or on benefits or pensions.

For them, Brexit will mean job losses, wage freezes and further squeezing of work conditions and benefits through renewed austerity.

Labour no longer has an interest in these people, who can only be served by continued EU membership. Labour dishonours the memory of all those match girls and miners, factory hands and dockers, clerks and shopworkers who risked everything to fight for the working conditions it has now turned its back on.

Time for a new political party to be created to represent them.