ANOTHER HODGE BODGE

To borrow from Oscar Wilde – to lose one veteran Jewish Labour MP may be regarded as a misfortune. Deselecting two looks like carelessness. Or, worse, conspiracy. Last weekend a move was triggered to lever Jewish-born Dame Margaret Hodge out of London’s Barking which she has represented for 25 years. Now Dame Louise Ellman faces the same fate in the Liverpool Riverside seat that she has held since 1997.

What they have in common is criticising Jeremy Corbyn for his failure to tackle anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. The attempted coups against Margaret and

Louise are not the Labour leader’s fault directly.

They are victims of new rules which make deselection easier.

But these actions by local activists serve to reinforce the perception that Labour is institutionally anti-Semitic. Bad MPs of whatever religious background should indeed be removed.

But these are good MPs.

And Corbyn could redress some of the damage being done to his party by speaking up for them. TORY chairman James Cleverly was irritated at conference to be constantly mistaken for Conservative London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey. Talking to one guest at a reception James (top) realised something wasn’t quite right and asked: “Do you know who I am?” The delegate, anxious to please, replied: “Of course. You’re the next Mayor of London.”