The Spectator

For the few

In some alternative universe the Labour party, as under Tony Blair in the mid 1990s, is busily preparing for government, its confidence boosted by a massive lead in the polls over a shambolic Tory administration. Back in this one, however, Labour is crumbling even faster than the divided and unpopular Conservatives. Remarkably, while the Tories have seen a collapse in their share of the vote to just 22 per cent, according to one poll this week, Labour has sunk to just 20 per cent. Just how it succeeded in throwing away such a remarkable opportunity to seize power is going to trouble its remaining members for decades to come.

Those members will not now include Lords Turnberg, Triesman and Darzi, all of whom resigned this week after finally abandoning their struggle to fight Labour’s anti-Semitism. Triesman, a former general secretary of the party who has been a member for 50 years, said he had concluded that under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership Labour is beyond reform. Meanwhile, the party has responded to concerns over anti-Semitism by instructing lawyers to send a threatening letter to an ex member of staff who they believe has spoken to the makers of a BBC Panorama documentary on anti-Semitism, accusing them of breaking non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Yes, the party which was set up to protect workers from bullying and overbearing employers, and which more recently has campaigned to prevent NDAs being used to silence whistleblowers, has itself come to behave like the very foe against which it defined itself.

Corbyn’s decision this week to commit his party to fighting for Remain if a second referendum were to be called is unlikely to boost its fortunes. Labour’s ambiguity on Brexit served it well in the 2017 general election, convincing Leavers to return to the party from Ukip while simultaneously persuading Remainers that Labour had a better chance of reversing Brexit than the Liberal Democrats.

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