Rochdale is a straw in the wind for Labour’s fight with antisemitism
by William Atkinson, Conservative Home:
Keir Starmer’s raison d’etre hangs on the idea that he has fundamentally changed Labour from being the party it was under Jeremy Corbyn. Making that clear has taken several forms: junking his Corbyn-lite leadership manifesto, centralising control of candidate selections, repudiating tax rises, praising Margeret Thatcher, cosying up to business, and even kicking his predecessor out of the party.
Starmer suspended Corbyn back in 2020. He had suggested allegations of antisemitism in Labour had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents” in response to the EHRC report critical of his handling of complaints. Despite Labour’s National Executive Committee ruling Corbyn should be reinstated, Starmer has refused to readmit him as an MP or candidate as a sign that his party is under new management. This isn’t your Magic Grandpa’s Labour anymore.
With some stiff competition, the stench of antisemitism that hung around Labour under Corbyn’s leadership was the bleakest period of recent political history. For 40 per cent of British Jews to be considering leaving their country if Corbyn entered Number 10, for the Jewish Labour Movement to describe their own party as a “welcoming refuge for antisemites”, and for Jewish Labour MPs to quit in disgust was tragic and appalling.
Voters of all parties and none should be cheering on Starmer’s efforts to rid his party of this cancer. Undoubtedly, he has had some victories. Aside from Corbyn’s very public expulsion, the return of both Louise Ellman and Luciana Berger – Jewish ex-MPs who had quit over Corbyn’s leadership – and Starmer’s public backing of Israel in the immediate aftermath of October 7th were signs that this was a party under new leadership.
Yet whilst I don’t doubt Starmer’s efforts to tackle antisemitism are wholly sincere, this week’s tergiversations over Azhar Ali have made clear that any hope that a change of leadership has done away with Labour’s antisemitism problem forever was woefully naive. Since October 7th, it has become clearer that the poison runs deeper than many have hoped.
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