Labour party

When Labour’s leadership and the NEC were debating how to tackle anti-Semitism in the party, Andrew Murray – Jeremy Corbyn’s close adviser and chief of staff to Unite’s general secretary Len McCluskey – argued that Labour should embrace a much simpler and less contentious code of conduct than what its ruling National Executive ultimately adopted. His recommendation, I understand, was that the Labour Party should employ the widely used IHRA definition of anti-Semitism with all-but-one of its examples – rather than seeking, as it has done, to resile from four of the examples, and create its own illustrations of anti-Semitic language and conduct. He took the view, shared by many

John McDonnell’s response to the latest episode in Labour’s anti-Semitism scandal is another reminder of how he grasps the political danger of this to the Corbyn project so much better than Corbyn himself does. The shadow Chancellor appears to get, in a way that Corbyn doesn’t, just how much this issue could damage Labour. One of the striking things about politics right now is that the Corbynite economic agenda has become relatively uncontroversial within the Labour party. At the start of Corbyn’s leadership, the party committing itself to a universal basic income would have caused a major row. But today’s announcement has passed off without controversy. Rather, what is causing

Labour’s latest anti-Semitism row has gone from awful to even worse thanks to a recording leaking in which veteran left-winger and NEC member Peter Willsman dismisses some of Corbyn’s critics in the Jewish community as ‘Trump fanatics’, suggests critics could ‘falsify social media’ and questions whether his colleagues had actually seen anti-Semitism in the party. While Labour grandees and young Corbynista pundits have been quick to condemn the comments, a number of Corbyn allies are staying schtum. The problem is that with fresh elections underway as of last week to decide who will be elevated to Labour’s governing body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), this comes at a bad time for the

Where’s the concern for Labour MP Sarah Champion? Where are the leftists demanding that this female MP stop being harassed merely for expressing her views? Where are the tweets drawing attention to Ms Champion’s plight — the fact that she now needs an actual security team because people who hate her political views want to physically harm her? In this post-Jo Cox era, I thought we were all meant to have the backs of elected politicians who are under threat from extremists. And yet when it comes to Champion — just such an elected politician — people seem to be looking the other way. It isn’t hard to work out

Labour’s new code of conduct would not allow the return of Ken Livingstone, according to an internal party document seen by Coffee House. A briefing note sent to Scottish Labour MPs and MSPs addresses the case of the former London mayor, who resigned from the party two years after he was suspended for claiming that Adolf Hitler supported Zionism before he ‘went mad and ending up killing six million Jews’. The note says:  ‘So the Code wouldn’t pave the way for Ken Livingstone’s return to the Party? ‘Not at all. The Code is explicitly clear that Hitler, Nazi and Holocaust distortions and comparisons carry a strong risk of being found to be prejudicial or

The House of Commons breaks for recess on Tuesday, and accordingly the Sunday shows will be taking a break. For his last show until September, Andrew Marr was joined by the Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who has taken over the reins after David Davis’ resignation and has already made the headlines by insisting that the UK could tear up the agreed £39 billion ‘divorce bill’ if the two sides do not reach a trade deal. Raab told Marr that he was ‘striving every sinew’ to get the best deal for the United Kingdom, and insisted that his government was on course to agree a deal in the timeframe they expected:

Last week, Labour managed to surprise for a change with the news that Jared O’Mara was to have the whip restored. The MP for Sheffield Hallam had been suspended over a series of misogynistic posts he had made prior to becoming an MP. Others complained that even when he had the whip he had failed to achieve much – never getting round to doing his maiden speech in the Commons. So, Mr S was intrigued to learn that O’Mara is now preparing to do just this – speak in the Commons. In an interview with ITV’s Joe Pike, O’Mara says he will make his maiden speech late this month –

Good news for people who love bad news. Jared O’Mara, a former member of the Labour Women and Equalities select committee, has been reinstated as a Labour MP. He had the whip removed in October over a series of online posts and claims he verbally abused a woman – from his time before becoming an MP. However, an investigation by the Labour Party yesterday ruled the Sheffield MP should have the party whip restored – and a formal warning for good measure. For those who need a refresher, here are a few facts about the newly reinstated Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam: Jared on Angelina He favourably compared a ‘shredtastic’ Sheffield

Jeremy Corbyn has promised to deliver ’21st century socialism’ to the UK if elected. Only Mr S isn’t so sure all Corbynistas are on the same page as to what this will mean in practice. With the ill-fated LabourLive festival just four days away, the blame game has already begun on who is at fault over the low ticket sales. Making matters worse, is the fact that things could have been so different had the organisers managed to get Stormzy to perform. The chart-topping Grime artist is a big Corbyn supporter; ‘My man, Jeremy! Young Jeremy, my guy. I dig what he says.’ While his omission was first blamed on scheduling issues,

Oh dear. The Labour party is one of the loudest cheerleaders when it comes to giving 16-year-olds the vote. At PMQs in January, Emily Thornberry was particularly keen to push the cause. The shadow foreign secretary accused the Conservatives – who oppose such a move – of being in a ‘coalition of cavemen’, before going on to list all the things 16-year-olds could do: leave home, start a family, marry, work, pay taxes and join the army. But there is one other thing that she is not able to add to that list: Labour Live. Mr S was surprised to learn of the ticketing rules for the upcoming Labour Corbyn-tastic Jez-fest

There are few sights more pitiful than Labour ‘moderates’ – I prefer to call them what they are: Corbyn-enablers – plating up meagre scraps as a feast of optimism for the party’s future. Last week, it was the routing of Momentum – and Unite-backed candidates for the Lewisham East by-election. That didn’t last long. Now, it’s Ken Livingstone, allowed to resign rather than risk possible expulsion. In its ‘all out war’ on anti-Semitism, Labour sued for peace on the enemy’s terms without firing a single shot.  Expelling Livingstone would not have undone the bias and abuse the party has inflicted on British Jews. It would have been a hollow gesture in

Earlier this week, I wrote about David Lewis, a Labour member who was allowed to stand for election as a constituency women’s officer on the basis that he identifies as a woman under some circumstances. That report seems to have drawn some attention, not least from Labour HQ. David Lewis was told on Tuesday night that he has been suspended from the party and cannot therefore stand for election as Basingstoke CLP women’s officer. I’ll try to unravel the implications of that in a moment, but first I want to say something about David Lewis and the general debate around this case. As is usual with debates around gender, a

Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman. Except in the Labour Party, when it’s surprisingly easy. Just ask David Lewis. David, 45, is a member of the Labour Party. After several years of supporting the party, he became a full member last year having been “inspired” by Jeremy Corbyn. Tomorrow, David will be a candidate for election as an office-holder in his Constituency Labour Party in Basingstoke. He is standing for election as women’s officer, a post that Labour rules say can only be held by a woman. David is standing for that post because he is a woman. On Wednesdays, at least. When we spoke yesterday, he put it