Angry audience grill leadership pair
JEREMY CORBYN was perched on a stool, shifting awkwardly as he tried to find a comfortable position.
On his left, literally if not politically, was Owen Smith, his challenger in the Labour Party leadership contest.
And in front of Mr Corbyn, in rows stretching high towards the ceiling, was an audience of 250 people, mostly Jewish, with attitudes towards him ranging from mildly combative to downright antagonistic.
Hostility to the Labour leader was not uniform, however. A cluster of Jewish fans were near the front, while prominent members of the hard-left Momentum group nestled near the auditorium’s rafters.
Nonetheless, it was probably the most unwelcoming audience Mr Corbyn has encountered in some time.
In the current political climate, few events have excited public passions more than the contest between Mr Corbyn and Mr Smith, and the ques- tion and answer session was sold out weeks ago.
The JW3 community centre in Finchley Road, which hosted the debate, received abuse for hosting Mr Corbyn. In emails and Facebook posts sent to the venue, an activist described the Labour leader as a “known collaborator of Hamas and Hizbollah”, with “the blood of Jewish victims of terror on his hands”. Sunday evening’s debate was the final hustings of the leadership campaign, with the ballot closing at noon on Wednesday and the result due tomorrow.
I t was har d t o escape the impression that this was not an exercise in appealing to Labour voters quite as much as it was an opportunity for both candidates to lock horns one final time.
The debate was moderated by Lucy Manning, the BBC’s special correspondent, who performed admirably in occasionally trying circumstances.
Dissenters were vocal in their dis- pleasure for Mr Corbyn. Although the audience was generally well behaved, cries of “shame”, “rubbish” and “liar” greeted some of his responses. But not all were there to heckle him.
His supporters included Jon Lansman, the founder of Momentum, and James Schneider, its national organiser. At one point Mr Smith referred scornfully to the “entourage” which had accompanied his opponent.
Although there were some questions on general issues, the majority of points raised centred on the candidates’ approaches to Israel and antisemitism.
Marie Van der Zyl, Board of Deputies vice-president, asked what it would take for Labour to expel Ken Livingstone from the party.
Mr Corbyn delivered his generic response in a monotone.
“Ken was suspended for remarks he made. He’s under investigation. Due process will be followed,” he said.
It proved as comforting as cold chicken soup for the audience, which responded with groans of disgust.
Mr Smith said he suspected Mr Liv- ingstone “will be let back into Labour in due course. I don’t think Jeremy wanted him suspended in the first place”.
Mr Corbyn said nothing in response to the charge.
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, asked Mr Corbyn: “What is your defence for associating with Paul Eisen, a self-pro- claimed Holocaust denier, and Jackie Walker, who accused Jews of carrying out the slave trade?”
The Labour leader responded: “When it became apparent to me that Paul Eisen’s views had gone in a direction I absolutely did not agree with, I declined to attend any further events.”
His answer was greeted with shouts of “you knew” from the audience.
Mr Corbyn’s Communist fans were sitting near the front