You have no decency, Unite boss tells Corbyn’s ‘racism’ accusers
LEN MCCLUSKEY has accused anyone “screaming racist” at Jeremy Corbyn of losing “every sense of moral proportion” in a perceived attack on Jewish MP Margaret Hodge.
It came after the Unite boss claimed Labour only signed up to the official definition of anti-semitism to “ease attacks” on the Labour leader.
He told the party conference yesterday: “Anyone with a point of view should be heard. But anyone screaming ‘you are a racist’ at Jeremy Corbyn has lost every sense of moral proportion, every shred of decency.”
Dame Margaret Hodge was under threat of disciplinary action after she called the Labour leader an “anti-semitic racist” over the party’s failure to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-semitism.
The party later dropped plans to take action and has since adopted the IHRA definition in full but with the caveat: “this does not in any way undermine the freedom of expression on Israel and the rights of Palestinians”.
Left-wing firebrand Mccluskey received a standing ovation in the conference hall in Liverpool when he said “everything possible” had been used throughout the summer to attack and undermine the party and its leader.
It came after Constituency Labour Parties (CLPS) across the country voted overwhelmingly for Labour to discuss Palestine ahead of other domestic issues.
When members were asked which issue they wanted to see debated on the conference floor, Palestine received 188,019 votes, while Brexit received 149,172 votes and the NHS, 121,487. The welfare system proved even less popular with just 89,861 votes.
Mr Mccluskey said: “Despite the smears and the sneers from the media and some who should know better, we have held all the incredible advances we made last year under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
“People are desperate for hope, crying out for an alternative to austerity, fed up with inequality and the economics of privatisation, outsourcing and deregulation and anxious about a blundering Tory no-deal Brexit.
“And they can see through the venomous attacks for what they are – the last throw of an elite desperate to hang on to its privileges, perks and ill-gotten gains.
“It also tells us something about our party and our movement. We are stronger than our enemies.
“Their abuse is the highest compliment they could pay us – they feel threatened, and they are right to be so.”
The outburst came after he gave a speech on Sunday likening the antisemitism scandal to the “Charge of the Light Brigade”, saying it bolstered awareness of the Palestinian cause.