Anti-semitism: tearing Labour apart?

“How on earth has it come to this,” asked Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian – a party once revered for its tolerance, mired in an endless dispute over anti-semitism. Ever since Labour’s National Executive Committee decided a “near universally accepted” definition of anti-semitism wasn’t good enough for its new code of conduct, Jewish groups, rabbis and MPS have been up in arms. Last week, Ian Austin became the second Labour MP to be placed under investigation for angrily confronting party leaders over the issue, and Britain’s three main Jewish newspapers published a joint front page warning that a Jeremy Corbyn-led government would pose an “existential threat to Jewish life” in Britain. Yet still the Labour leader and his acolytes remain unmoved. An NEC member was recorded saying “Jewish Trump fanatics” were behind accusations of anti-semitism in the party. (He has apologised.) Corbyn backer Billy Bragg even suggested that Britain’s Jews have “work to do” if they are to regain Labour’s trust.

The anti-semitism row “illustrates a wider problem” with Corbyn, said Rachel Sylvester in The Times: his complete “intolerance” for dissent. He is “so sure of his moral superiority that he believes any criticism of him must be malicious”. His followers are no better. Witness the vows by local party members to deselect veteran MPS Frank Field and Kate Hoey for siding with the Government on a recent Brexit vote. But you almost have to admire Corbyn’s intransigence, said Robert Shrimsley in the FT. Adopting the full definition of anti-semitism endorsed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance would have been infinitely easier, and politically cannier, than insisting on changes. “But oh no.” Convinced that the IHRA’S definition could stymie criticism of Israel, Corbyn stuck to his guns – knowing full well that the inevitable stink it would cause could split his party and imperil his election chances. Unlike many politicians, he really is “ready to risk it all for the purity of his ideals”.

This could be a turning point for many Labour MPS, said Angela Epstein in The Daily Telegraph: the moment when they finally denounce their “pathetic” leader in unambiguous terms. But they should avoid the temptation to quit the party, as Corbyn’s Momentum cronies would “fill the vacuum”. Better to “stay and fight”. On the contrary, said Stephen Bush in the New Statesman. No MP can win re-election without the support of Labour activists, and they remain largely supportive of Corbyn. As long as that is the case, the only way MPS can displace Corbynism as “the dominant force on the British Left” is to split and form a new party.