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Many years ago, sometime in the last century (how worldly I feel writing that!) I was at the launch party for the dear dead Modern Review mark II and feeling mildly appalled by the whole flimsy thing when a young man introduced himself to me as Nick Cohen and told me he’d be writing for us. ‘O, a Cohen!’ I exclaimed happily, all innocence. ‘Just what this magazine needs – a clever Jew!’ Did I ever get a mouthful! ‘I’m not a Jew – my family rejected Judaism decades ago…never been so insulted…’ ‘But your name is the name of Moses’ brother – Aaron!’ I pointed out. ‘How can you not be a Jew?

Zac Goldsmith came in for a fair amount of criticism yesterday after writing a piece in the Mail on Sunday that, among other things, pointed out that Sadiq Khan criticised Labour’s decision to suspend Ken Livingstone in 2006 when he compared a Jewish Evening Standard journalist to a Nazi concentration camp guard. Reviewing the papers on Marr, Owen Jones called it ‘another example’ of a ‘poisonous’ and ‘disgraceful’ campaign that had tried to brand Khan as an extremist simply because he’s a Muslim. He called it ‘an attempt to tap into anti-Muslim prejudice’ and urged Conservatives to tackle Islamophobia as vigorously as his own party is tackling anti-Semitism. But is

Anyone concerned about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party should welcome the appointment of Shami Chakrabarti, the former head of Liberty, to lead an internal inquiry into the matter, but it’s a little late in the day to be addressing this issue. And will the inquiry’s terms of reference allow her to investigate the leader of the party? The Jewish Chronicle drew attention to Jeremy Corbyn’s links to a rogues gallery of “Holocaust deniers, terrorists and some outright anti-Semites” back in August of last year. Among other dubious acts, Corbyn donated money to an organisation run by Paul Eisen, a self-confessed Holocaust denier who boasts of links to the Labour leader

If there’s one thing Jeremy Corbyn does not like, it’s being hassled by journalists. The Labour leader was filmed yesterday refusing to answer questions about Ken Livingstone’s remarks before he managed to give the camera crew the slip. He’s also been filmed walking through Westminster keeping quiet whilst journalists try and persuade him to answer questions. And earlier this month, Corbyn did not take kindly to a reporter from LBC doorstepping him following the row over David Cameron’s tax affairs. On all of those previous occasions, he’s managed to make a quick exit. But his attempts to do the same earlier today were thwarted – by a locked door. The

If I were the Conservative party I’d be getting worried: Labour’s implosion is happening too fast. At this rate they could fall apart and regroup in time to go into the next election with a respectable leader. Everybody knows the latest developments. Naz Shah MP was found to have said some anti-Semitic things on social media. After some bitter internal wrangling she was suspended from the party. Fellow MP Rupa Huq tried to come to her defence and compared anti-Semitism to any old mishap. And then Ken Livingstone smoothed it all over by talking about which of Hitler’s policies he thinks Zionists agree with. The low-point today was probably the

Just when you thought things couldn’t look much worse for Labour’s Naz Shah, Ken Livingstone arrives on the scene. After Shah apologised several times today for sharing anti-Semitic posts on social media, she has finally been suspended. However, not everyone appears to see what the big deal is. Popping up on LBC, Red Ken offered Iain Dale his take on the situation. The former London mayor said that he would not describe Shah’s comments on social media as anti-Semitic: KL: What she said was over the top and offensive, it wasn’t anti-Semitic. ID: Well it was anti-Semitic, everyone seems to agree that it was anti-Semitic — even Jeremy Corbyn seems to admit that KL:

Zac Goldsmith’s campaign for mayor is nothing if not ambitious. Despite lagging behind Sadiq Khan in the polls, the Conservative candidate remains hopeful that he can beat the Labour candidate in the mayoral race. In fact, Goldsmith’s team appear to be so confident that they are even going after individuals who are unlikely to be convinced to vote blue. Step forward Ken Livingstone. The former Labour mayor — and hard-left socialist — has been on the receiving end of campaign literature from the Goldsmith campaign: https://twitter.com/mikejoslin/status/710227415012921344 Mr S suspects Goldsmith will need a back-up plan, if he is counting on Livingstone’s support.

John Bercow hit out at Greg Hands for his ‘long-winded, boring and unnecessary’ answer in the Commons: Ken Livingstone said that his history of rebellions, as well as those rebellions orchestrated by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, proved they were right: The former London mayor also said Labour was ‘completely out of kilter with the membership’ and that it was time for Labour MPs to come to terms with Corbyn: George Osborne had a dig at Labour’s appointment of Yanis Varoufakis. The Chancellor said he was signed up by the party because ‘Chairman Mao was dead and Mickey Mouse was busy’: And Sadiq Khan vowed to crack down on Uber

One of the oddest features of the cabinet majority for staying in the EU is that almost no one in it admits to being a Europhile. How is it, then, that the very last-century ideas of Edward Heath, Ken Clarke, Michael Heseltine and Chris Patten can still exercise so much power over those who have so strongly and, in some cases, consistently criticised the EU in the past — Philip Hammond, Theresa May, Michael Fallon, Sajid Javid, Oliver Letwin, Liz Truss, Stephen Crabb, and, of course, David Cameron himself? Obviously one factor is that Tory MPs have found it convenient in recent years to adopt Eurosceptic protective colouring in their constituencies.