Editorial Comment:
It should by now be obvious to any sensible, dispassionate observer that Jeremy Corbyn is beyond the pale. He is easily the most extreme leader in the history of the Labour Party. Millions of voters had serious differences with the likes of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown or Neil Kinnock, but they were all formidable leaders, squarely in the mainstream tradition of Western liberal democracy. The same cannot be said of Mr Corbyn. Anyone who remains in his party given what we now know about him is morally compromised: either they must fight to bring him down or they must walk away.
One veteran MP, Mike Gapes, has said he’ll quit, describing anti-Semitism as his red line. Luciana Berger says that as a Jewish MP she now feels “unwelcome in my own party”. Mr Corbyn’s leadership has created an opening at the centre of British public life for horrendous sentiments that we hoped had been banished decades ago – sentiments that we now have concrete evidence of Mr Corbyn himself articulating. The video of him that emerged last week mocking “Zionists” at a previous event and casting doubt on their full Englishness was deeply chilling, and a turning point: how can so many Labour MPs and activists continue to work for a party led by such an individual?
Labour’s moderate MPs generally say there is nothing they can do: Mr Corbyn is what the party’s supporters want and under its rules they have very little power. Even if Mr Corbyn is removed, they fear, another Corbynite with similar extreme views would be elected, given the dramatic shift in Labour’s membership base. In which case, isn’t the obvious next step to form or join a new party? But, say the moderates, that will only split the Left and keep it out of office for a generation, as happened in the Eighties. This is inertia based on self-interest. It is cowardice.
The kind of Left embodied by Mr Corbyn is not worth saving. Are the moderates really so obsessed with beating the Tories – is a middleof-the-road prime minister like Theresa May really so unpalatable – that they would prefer to keep Labour afloat and risk putting Mr Corbyn in No 10? No, it is time to put country before party, time for good social democrats to take a stand.