Wilful blindness

It is almost impossible to look at the image of the Statue of Liberty being smothered by an alien with the Star of David on its back that was shared on Facebook by Kayla Bibby, a Liverpool Riverside CLP delegate at Labour’s party conference, and not recoil in revulsion at its obvious and blatant antisemitism. Almost impossible — because Thomas Gardiner, the head of Labour’s governance and legal unit, had no such reaction. He decreed that it was “anti-Israel, not antiJewish” and recommended that Ms Bibby should not be suspended. Appalling as such blindness to bigotry may be, the workings of Mr Gardiner’s mind are relevant only as yet another example of the disease that has taken over Labour. On Monday, we published a recording of a rally with a panel of speakers including Chris Williamson MP, who spoke of the “dark forces” using their “power” and “contacts in the media” to undermine Jeremy Corbyn, and a Wirral councillor who attacked those who campaign against Labour antisemitism for “privileging one group over another” — and joking that the party does not allow “due process” but, rather, “Jew process”. But it is not the panel’s speeches which are the worst aspect of the meeting; it is the audience’s laughter and applause. The event sounds like a form of left-wing fascist rally, with Jews as the main target. This is what Labour has become, with senior staff who cannot — or perhaps do not want to — recognise antisemitism of the most foul kind, with members who laugh and cheer at attacks on Jews, and with a leader who is himself an antisemite. It is no longer a question of whether decent MPs and members leave; it is simply when.