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She had to be reckless or obtuse not to see that this Labour leader will insist on zero tolerance for antisemitism
During Keir Starmer’s campaign for the Labour leadership, one of the party’s most senior figures said to me that it was all very well to promise unity. “But unity around what?” The worry about Mr Starmer was that he might opt for a fudgy, phoney version of unity that sought to please every faction, including the hard leftists who brought Labour into such awful disrepute with the public. This isn’t durable as a long-term leadership strategy and it won’t convince the country that Labour is changing under new management. To do that, a less false kind of unity is required. This is the unity to be forged by purging all that was rotten and repulsive to voters about the discredited Corbynite regime, setting a fresh direction for Labour, rallying the party behind the new course and marginalising those who are unwilling or incapable of getting aboard.
We now have a clear indication that Mr Starmer wants unity, but on his terms. The signal was sent by the dismissal from the shadow cabinet of Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Corbynite standard bearer in the leadership contest, after she promoted a view that Mr Starmer held to be antisemitic. Her fellow travellers on the hard left are foaming that the sacking is a shocking disgrace. His admirers are hailing it as a steely act of ruthlessness by a brave leader. In truth, it was neither outrageous nor courageous. It was simply necessary. Mr Starmer had no choice but to fire her if he wanted to be taken seriously both by his friends and by his enemies and to convince the public that his Labour party will be very different to the one that they rejected by such a crushing margin back in December. Continue reading...