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Saturday, April 07, 2018

Labour's divisions on anti-semitism laid bare

Over on the Guardian website, the full extent of the divisions within Labour over allegations of anti-Semitism and racism has been laid bare. They say that leaked minutes show fierce disagreements on the party's ruling body over disciplinary action against those accused of such transgressions.

The paper reports that key supporters of Jeremy Corbyn have attempted to block action against Labour members facing complaints:

 The minutes of the meeting in early March show how fractured the disciplinary body has become and sources said cases involving Corbyn supporters were regularly automatically viewed as being politically motivated.

 Among the cases which Corbyn allies pushed to rule out the possibility of expulsion were:
  • A member who allegedly made threats when another raised concern about anti-Semitism, and blamed Zionists for causing his problems in the party. 
  • A member accused of making antisemitic remarks on social media.
  • A member accused of using a racial slur against a black candidate.
Almost all members of the national executive committee (NEC) elected on the leftwing slate acted as a block vote to try and minimise disciplinary action against several members at the committee’s disputes panel meeting in March, according to the minutes and sources at the meeting.

 Multiple sources have alleged that suspended members who were perceived as being sympathetic to Corbyn were defended, even when the evidence against them was overwhelming.

 “People were generally outraged at the scale of the defence of just anything. It’s all about control: control of the party and control of the processes,” one source close to the NEC said.

It is not surprising that some members are losing faith in the disciplinary process and are questioning Labour's commitment to tackling anti-Semitism and racism in the party.

This behaviour also helps to explain why Jeremy Corbyn's leadership continues to be so tainted by this controversy. It is this failure of leadership that continues to drag the Labour Party down in the polls.

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