LABOUR HATRED BOILS OVER
Open warfare as union chief savages MPs for defending Corbyn critics
LABOUR descended into open civil war last night after union baron Len McCluskey accused backbench MPs of undermining Jeremy Corbyn with ‘disgusting’ anti-Semitism smears.
Mr McCluskey, the boss of Unite and a powerful supporter of the party leader, said Labour moderates would be ‘held to account’ for their attacks on the party leader.
He also named several backbenchers who have criticised the leadership, suggesting they should face mandatory re-selection.
And he said that watching Labour MPs ‘demean and attack’ Mr Corbyn publicly had ‘made my stomach churn’.
His intervention came as Labour MPs staged an extraordinary demonstration of solidarity with a Jewish colleague giving evidence against a Corbyn ally.
More than 40 Labour MPs and peers effectively formed a human shield around Ruth Smeeth as she arrived at the disciplinary hearing of Marc Wadsworth. They were confronted by placard-waving supporters of Mr Wadsworth.
Amid signs last night that the party was more divided than ever over its response to the antiSemitism crisis:
Mr Wadsworth insisted he would be ‘exonerated’;
Chris Williamson was one of three Labour MPs at the hearing as a witness for Mr Wadsworth;
Jewish leaders who met Mr Corbyn over anti-Semitism on Tuesday said he was simply ‘shrugging his shoulders’;
The most explosive intervention however, came from Mr McCluskey. Writing in the New Statesman, the trade union boss said antiSemitism ‘has joined a line of other [issues] being used by a group of backbench Labour MPs to attack and undermine Jeremy Corbyn’.
He added: ‘I look with disgust at the behaviour of the Corbyn-hater MPs who join forces with the most reactionary elements of the media establishment and I understand why there is a growing demand for mandatory reselection.
‘Promiscuous critics must expect to be criticised, and those who wish to hold Corbyn to account can expect to be held to account themselves.’
He said MPs on Labour’s cen- trist wing were ‘working overtime trying to present the Labour Party as a morass of misogyny, antiSemitism and bullying’.
He went on to name five MPs – Wes Streeting, Chris Leslie, Neil Coyle, John Woodcock and Ian Austin.
As the general secretary of Unite, Len McCluskey’s support of Mr Corbyn comes with the backing of more than a million union members. Unite is the largest Labour affiliate and party donor.
Labour MPs made emotive statements in the Commons last week about their experiences of antiJewish prejudice in the party.
But Mr McCluskey said: ‘To watch as these so-called social democrats tried to demean and attack a decent man who has fought racism and anti-Semitism all his life, made my stomach churn.
‘To see Tory MPs cheer and applaud them was shameful.’
Mr Streeting hit back, saying: ‘No abuse, intimidation or threats of deselection will prevent me from voicing the concerns of my Jewish constituents about antiSemitism in the Labour Party.’
Mr Coyle tweeted: ‘Jeremy says anti-semitism must be tackled. Len claims it doesn’t exist. Undermining the leader and Party efforts to tackle the problem.’
Mr Woodcock tweeted: ‘Len McCluskey should focus on jobs for Unite members.’
A Labour spokesman said Mr Corbyn ‘will lead the drive’ to banish anti-Semitism from the party’.
Meanwhile, a Jewish leader attacked the Labour leader for not treating anti-Semitism as strongly as the Windrush scandal.
A report in The Jewish Chronicle claimed Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) chairman Jonathan Goldstein challenged Mr Corbyn during a meeting between Mr Corbyn, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the JLC over why he had not treated party antiSemitism with the same ‘passion’ as the Windrush scandal.
The Labour leader was alleged to have shrugged.
Comment – Page 16
‘A morass of misogyny’
‘I look with disgust at the Corbyn hater MPs and understand why there is a growing demand for mandatory reselection To watch them attack this decent and honourable man, who has fought racism and anti-Semitism all his life, made my stomach churn Len McCluskey writing in the New Statesma n