Labour's leadership hopefuls must acknowledge their part in the anti-semitism crisis | thearticle

Just before Christmas, I attended Limmud, the major Jewish educational festival, to talk about my book on fake news. Part of the joy of attending the annual event to speak, is that you get

to hear some of the other people who present there. One of the sessions I attended featured Labour MPs Jess Phillips and Wes Streeting. During the course of the discussion, it became pretty

clear that Phillips intended to throw her hat into the ring for the party leadership. She has subsequently done so officially, and this week crossed the required threshold of 22 nominations

from her MP and MEP colleagues, along with Sir Keir Starmer (59 nominations), Rebecca Long-Bailey (26 nominations), and Lisa Nandy (22 nominations). In front of a Jewish audience, Phillips

and Streeting were, inevitably, asked about Labour’s never-ending anti-Semitism crisis. Both robustly expressed their horror at the anti-Semitism and at the same time defended their decision

to stay within the party. They, not unreasonably, believed they have a duty to remove anti-Semites from Britain’s main opposition. Phillips and Streeting are good, decent people and highly

credible centre-left politicians. Phillips, without doubt, has star quality, while Streeting is similarly passionate and articulate. However reasonable they are, I still felt a sense of

anger. Despite their opposition to the hard-left takeover of their party, despite their vocal opposition to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, these politicians ultimately were campaigning to put

him into Downing Street. One anti-Corbyn Labour person tried to convince me that, at the crucial moment, Corbyn’s opponents would engage in some Parliamentary wrangling to try and stop him

becoming Prime Minister. To believe this requires a leap of imagination that I’m not prepared to make. However independently minded a politician you are, ultimately you are campaigning for a

party. If you win your seat and that party wins, your presence represents part of the majority that means your leader becomes Prime Minister. The idea that Corbyn could lead the majority or

biggest party and not become Prime Minister is farcical. Of course, I do not direct this criticism solely at the two individuals I heard speak. All the candidates running for the leadership

are culpable, as, frankly, are the rest of their colleagues on the Labour benches. Whatever way you twist it, they all made a calculation that having an anti-Semite in Downing Street was

better than having a Tory there. Sir Keir Starmer sat on the frontbench throughout Corbyn’s leadership, taking a key role in the party as its Shadow Brexit Secretary. Emily Thornberry may

currently be struggling for nominations, but she too stood by Corbyn as one of his closest allies. Clive Lewis backed Corbyn from early on and is currently a shadow treasury minister.

Frontbencher Rebecca Long-Bailey infamously rated Corbyn 10 out of 10 for his rein in a recent interview, displaying a staggering lack of understanding or contrition. I said in a column for

TheArticle during the general election campaign that Labour did not deserve a hearing until they had fully dealt with the anti-Semitism in its ranks, and I maintain that, now that the

campaign is over. The Jewish community was hurt by Labour. More importantly, for the last four years, it was scared of Labour. Things do not change in weeks just because Corbyn is, slowly,

on his way out. His cronies have ransacked their party, taking it over at every level. The process of rebuilding trust between Labour and the Jewish community is going to take years. It

might not return for a generation. I genuinely admire Phillips, Streeting and other Labour politicians who have begun that rebuilding process. I believe their desire to do so comes from a

place of principle, not electoral necessity. However, all Labour moderates need to accept fault for their part in this disgrace. From everyone who put Jeremy Corbyn on the 2015 leadership

ballot to “give him a hearing,” (I’m looking at you Dame Margaret Beckett,) to those who pulled on a Labour rosette in recent weeks. Tribalism and fear meant all but the bravest declined to

jump and join The Independent Group or start something else, even when it was clear how rotten their party had become. It is right and proper that the Conservatives are held to account for

their issues of racism and Islamophobia. That is for the Tory party itself to deal with, and the electorate to take a view on. Labour politicians must not resort to whataboutery though, and

instead focus on getting their own house in order. It bears regular repetition that the only other political party to face statutory investigation from the Equalities and Human Rights

Commission is the British National Party. This week Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick revealed that the force has passed five cases relating to Labour anti-Semitism to the Crown

Prosecution Service for a decision on whether to press charges following arrests in March 2019. That is how serious this situation got. All Labour politicians bear some responsibility for

that. In the coming weeks, Phillips, Starmer and the other leadership contenders are then going to have to explain, repeatedly, why they continued to campaign for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.

Unfortunately for them, there is no good answer.