There’s nothing like a national crisis to get your priorities in order. With the coronavirus death toll in the UK passing 10,000 this weekend, one government adviser has said Britain could be on course to be the worst performing country in Europe when it comes to overall fatalities. So, surely this is the issue on which the Labour party has spent the bank holiday Monday campaigning? Actually, no.
Instead, Labour bods – and new Labour leader Keir Starmer – have busied themselves with their favourite topic of old: internal party politics. A seemingly leaked internal report alleges that anti-Jeremy Corbyn sentiment within Labour thwarted the party’s effort to tackle anti-Semitism. The report says that ‘abnormal intensity of factional opposition’ towards Corbyn meant that the party ceased to operate in a functional manner. Senior Corbynites have been quick to pounce on the claims to suggest that the party would have won an election under Corbyn had it not been for certain figures working in Labour HQ.
So, how has Starmer responded? By launching an ‘urgent’ independent investigation. In a joint statement with deputy leader Angela Rayner, Starmer said:
‘We will therefore commission an urgent independent investigation into this matter. This investigation will be instructed to look at three areas. First, the background and circumstances in which the report was commissioned and the process involved. Second, the contents and wider culture and practices referred to in the report. Third, the circumstances in which the report was put into the public domain.’
Good job there’s not much else going on…
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