No, Jeremy Corbyn

With another civil war in the Labour Party, there’s been something of a return to normality in politics.  This time, though, it is Labour’s anti-racists who are in the ascendant. Following his unapologetic response to today’s historic Equality and Human Rights Commission report into Labour antisemitism, Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended from the party he once led.

We’ve covered the EHRC report on the site today – read it here. But to sum up, the Labour Party has been served with an unlawful act notice over its failure to tackle antisemitism under Corbyn’s leadership. The EHRC saw evidence of political interference in antisemitism complaints, harassment of Jewish Labour members – including by Labour councillors and MPs – and a failure to provide adequate training to those handling antisemitism complaints.

Sir Keir Starmer’s response to the findings was robust. “If – after all the pain, all the grief, and all the evidence in this report – there are still those who think there’s no problem with antisemitism in the Labour Party, that it’s all exaggerated, or a factional attack, then, frankly, you are part of the problem too, and you should be nowhere near the Labour Party either,” he told a press conference this morning.

Mark those words: if you think the antisemitism crisis was exaggerated or a factional attack, you should be nowhere near the Labour Party. Now cue Jeremy Corbyn’s statement this morning: “The scale of the problem was… dramatically overstated by our opponents inside and outside of the party, as well as by much of the media.”

Thus, Starmer was left with no option but to suspend his predecessor. If Starmer’s words (“nowhere near the Labour Party”) are to be taken literally, we should expect Corbyn to be permanently expelled following the investigation into his statement.

The Labour Leader has shown the public that he is serious about reforming his party. Yet, while this is an encouraging sign, it has also been pointed out that Starmer did support Corbyn’s leadership and served in his shadow cabinet; barely eleven months ago, he was campaigning to make Corbyn Prime Minister.

What’s more, he must now face up to the Labour Left, which still remains a powerful and popular faction among party members. Starmer took an important stand today, but this longer battle will be a crucial test of his resolve.

Indeed, the timing of the suspension – just before voting begins for National Executive Committee elections and a new Unison union leader is picked – could energise Corbyn’s supporters and imperil Starmer’s prospects of gaining control of these important institutions. It may also restrict Starmer’s ability to reform the party in other areas, such as its economic policy platform. He has already angered the left wing and is unlikely to want to turn them into arsonists.

Former Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, who has in the past been openly critical of Corbyn’s handling of antisemitism, today tweeted: “On the day we should all be moving forward and taking all steps to fight antisemitism, the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn is profoundly wrong. In the interests of party unity, let’s find a way of undoing and resolving this.”

Corbyn has said he will appeal the suspension. The question now is, what will his supporters do if the decision is not reversed?

France “will give in to nothing”

France was attacked twice today by Islamist extremists. First, a terrorist armed with a knife killed three people – two women and a man – at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Nice. Police described the scene of the church killing as a “vision of horror”, with reports that one of the female victims, aged 70, was beheaded. The suspect was shot and detained.

Second, a guard was attacked with a “sharp tool” outside the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A suspect was arrested and the guard taken to hospital.

There also seems to have been an attempted attack in Montfavet, near the southern French city of Avignon, where a man was shot dead after threatening police with a handgun.

Visiting the scene of the Nice attack this afternoon, President Macron declared: “France is being attacked. Three of our compatriots died at the basilica in Nice today and at the same time a French consular site was attacked in Saudi Arabia.” He added: “If we have been attacked once again, it is because of our values, our taste for freedom; the freedom to believe freely and not give in to any terror.

“We will give in to nothing. Today we have increased our security to deal with the terrorist threat.”

These attacks follow the beheading of Samuel Paty, a history teacher, after he gave a lesson to his school students about the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Macron has now raised the terrorist threat level in France to the highest level, as it was in early 2015, when Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan were attacked, and in the summer of 2016, when a 19-tonne cargo truck rammed into hundreds of people in Nice.

The French military will be mobilised to protect places of worship, and in particular Catholic Churches, for La Toussaint (All Saints Day) this Sunday. There will be 7,000 soldiers on the streets, up from 3,000, with some deployed to guard schools as they return to lessons on Monday.

With a new coronavirus lockdown and a deteriorating economy, this security crisis couldn’t have come at a worse time for France.

March to lockdown continues 

Londoners could be facing Tier 3 restrictions in the very near future, Reaction has been told, as coronavirus cases surge across England. A study by the REACT team at Imperial College, London, which was released yesterday evening and based on 85,000 swab tests, showed that England is experiencing around 100,000 new infections a day.

Professor Paul Elliot, director of the REACT programme, said: “These interim findings paint a concerning picture of the situation in England, where we’re seeing a nationwide increase in infection prevalence, which we know will lead to more hospitalisations and loss of life.”

Buckle up for a difficult winter.