Britain’s Labour Party vs. Anti-Semitism At least one Western party of the left is trying to purge the bias in its ranks.
Anti-Semitism has become an embarrassment to the political left in many countries in recent years—as U.S. Democrats have discovered in their own ranks. It’s a relief, then, to see at least one center-left party in the West tackling this problem head-on, as Britain’s Labour Party has this week.
Labour Leader Keir Starmer on Wednesday published a column in the Times of London telling activists with anti-Semitic views that they’re not welcome in the party.
“Antisemitism is an evil,” he wrote. “Its conspiratorial nature attracts those who would have no truck with any other form of prejudice. Indeed, it can be those who call themselves ‘anti-racist’ who are most blind to it. . . . That’s why my first act as [party] leader was to commit to tearing antisemitism out by the roots, without fear or favor.”
Mr. Starmer became Labour leader in 2020 after the party had suffered a humiliating election defeat under former leader Jeremy Corbyn. Mr. Corbyn, his inner circle, and their radical supporters promoted anti-Semitic tropes and turned a blind eye to complaints about abuse directed by their online camp followers at those who objected. Polls suggest this helped cost the party the 2019 election.
Since taking up his position, Mr. Starmer has worked to clean out the stables by replacing top party leaders and sticking to a zero-tolerance message. “The Labour Party I lead today is unrecognizable from 2019,” Mr. Starmer wrote in the Times. “There are those who don’t like that change, who still refuse to see the reality of what had gone on under the previous leadership. To them I say in all candor: we are never going back. If you don’t like it, nobody is forcing you to stay.”
To reinforce the point, Mr. Starmer also said this week that Mr. Corbyn will not be allowed to represent Labour as a candidate for Parliament in the next election. Mr. Corbyn remains a lawmaker although he was expelled from Labour’s parliamentary caucus in 2020. This will force Mr. Corbyn to run as an independent, which is very difficult in the British system.
Contrast this purge of erstwhile senior party figures with the reluctance that U.S. Democrats have shown about disciplining even junior House members for anti-Semitic comments. Labour’s last election defeat is a warning to Democrats that tolerating such prejudice eventually diminishes parties of the left. Mr. Starmer’s clean-up job is an example of how to fix it.
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