Could the Labour Party actually sink lower than this?
AFUNDAMENTAL paradox lies at the heart of British politics. Despite all the turmoil in the Conservative Government, it is Labour that faces the far bigger leadership crisis. Boris Johnson is likely to be soon elected our new prime minister with a resounding mandate to deliver Brexit. In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn will now only sink deeper into the mire of unpopularity, dragged down by his own extremism and ineptitude.
For the Tories, there is the hope of a fresh start fuelled by the advent of British independence. For Labour, the nightmare of internal strife and public contempt now beckon. This week, the problems for Corbyn’s beleaguered party worsened on two crucial fronts: the failure to tackle anti-Semitism and the surrender to the anti-Brexit lobby. The former reveals the toxic atmosphere that Corbyn has created in his party. The latter shows Labour’s disdain for democracy.
The acrid controversy over anti-Semitism was cranked up on Tuesday by the resignations of three senior Labour peers – Lord Triesman, a former General Secretary of the party; Lord Darzi, a former health minister; and Lord Turnberg, a past president of the Royal College of Physicians. In words that should shake Corbyn’s supporters to their core, Lord Triesman declared that Labour “is very plainly institutionally anti-Semitic”.
THE departure of this distinguished trio was followed by the broadcast last night of the BBC Panorama investigation into anti-Jewish prejudice within Labour’s ranks, featuring incendiary allegations from ex-party officials that Corbyn’s own circle had indulged in coverups and protected allies from disciplinary action. Before the programme was aired, the Corbynista pressure group
Momentum tried to accuse the BBC of anti-Labour bias, but that just graphically reinforces the point that the leadership does not take this issue seriously.
Such shameful inaction demolishes all Corbyn’s muchvaunted anti-racism credentials. He is a prize hypocrite, presiding over a cesspool of bigotry.
There could be no greater indictment of him than the fact that the Equality and Human Rights Commission is now conducting an inquiry into Labour’s conduct. The only other British party to be subjected to such scrutiny by the EHRC was Nick Griffin’s infamous BNP in 2009.
Corbyn’s disgrace on antiSemitism is compounded by his treachery over Brexit. After months of dithering, he announced this week that Labour will demand a second referendum and, in that event, will campaign to stay in the EU, overturning the 2016 result.
The decision represents a spectacular act of betrayal against democracy, Leave voters, Labour’s traditions and Corbyn’s own past Eurosceptic principles.
His party was founded in
REMAINERS might cheer at Labour’s intensifying adherence to their cause. But if Corbyn thinks he will gain from this pro-EU stance, he is badly mistaken.The desertion of Labour’s pro-Leave heartlands in the North and the Midlands will cause severe damage. More than four million Labour voters are thought to have backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum, while there was a Leave majority in around 60 per cent of Labour-held constituencies.
Scores of Labour marginal seats are now vulnerable because of Corbyn’s move, including places like Stoke North and Ashfield in Nottingham where the Leave vote was over 70 per cent. Nor will Labour gain many Remain voters to compensate, given that the diehard pro-EU mantle has already been seized by the Liberal Democrats.
The reality is that Labour is heading for meltdown under Corbyn. That has long been inevitable, for he has always been utterly unfit for the role of leader. A puerile rebel, cocooned in his revolutionary fantasies, he has neither the intellectual equipment nor the political outlook for senior office. This is a man who is a threat to our national security and prosperity, who believes in the overthrow of capitalism and support for terrorist movements around the world.
As long as he is in charge, his party is doomed.