Quite extraordinary scenes here at the Labour Party conference. I’m typing this in the main conference hall and have just watched Mike Katz of the Jewish Labour Movement give a short speech against anti-Semitism. This ought to be utterly uncontroversial, but it has become a wedge issue between the two tribes who now make up the Labour Party. Between those who were members before May 2015, and those who joined after. There have two very different outlooks, and are at war with each other.
Katz’s speech was cheered effusively, like a rallying call, by about a third of the hall. And, amazingly, heckled by other members. When Katz said: ‘We shouldn’t have to wait’ for action on anti-Semitism, a woman shouted ‘who’s “we”?’ Other members called for her to shut up. Since when did fighting anti-Semitism become contentious in Labour, a party supposedly dedicated to fighting bigotry?
Then came speeches for a rule about whether Kezia Dugdale, leader of the Scottish Labour Party, should be allowed on the party’s ruling 33-member National Executive Committee.
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