An already bad December has been made worse with the news that Marc Wadsworth has been forced to drop his case for reinstatement as a Labour Party member.

Most readers of this blog will be aware of Marc’s case. He faced trumped-up allegations of antisemitism back in 2016 for an innocuous comment made to Ruth Smeeth at the press launch of Labour’s Chakrabarti report. The initial allegation of antisemitism was later dropped because it clearly had no basis in reality, and Marc was eventually expelled (in 2018) under the catch-all charge of ‘bringing the Party into disrepute’ – a McCarthyite clause which renders any defence problematic.

The case against Marc was flimsy in the extreme, and it would have been reasonable to expect the Party leadership to support one of their own, particularly when we are talking about a leading Black activist renowned for his work with the Stephen Lawrence campaign, anti-racism and anti-apartheid, and the building of Black Sections. In the event, the many private assurances Marc was given by key leadership figures were never followed through, and his explusion was confirmed with a nod and a wink from the top table.

The contrast between Marc’s treatment and the support offered to Smeeth, whose relentless attacks on Jeremy culminated in her describing Labour as “the racist Party” after losing her seat in the general election this month, could not have been starker. Similarly, while the leader’s office was rumoured to have intervened in order to ensure that charges against Margaret Hodge were dropped after she had publicly called Corbyn a “fucking antisemite”, when it came to Marc’s disciplinary case the leadership simply sat on their hands.

What we have seen in Marc’s case is the clear application of a facile and ill-conceived ‘hierarchy of oppression’, where antisemitism is privileged over more prevalent and institutionally entrenched forms of racism. This does no-one any favours, least of all Jews, who must unite with other minorities to oppose racism if we are to fight it effectively.

When it came to the crunch, the leadership were unwilling to support a principled Black activist with a long record in the movement, in the erroneous belief that by throwing him to the wolves they would bring the constant allegations of antisemitism to an end. Predictably, their act of cowardice had the opposite effect, green-lighting further attacks.

Despite private promises of help from the leader and shadow chancellor’s offices, nothing has been done to support Marc during the lengthy legal process which has followed his expulsion – a process that would have been wholly unnecessary if the Party had swiftly implemented Chakrabarti’s recommendation for a legally qualified appeals panel.

In the event Marc has had to do his own crowd-funding in order to pursue his case. Despite widespread support amongst the Labour Party grassroots and beyond this has finally proved to be inadequate when faced with the full weight of Labour’s legal hierarchy, who seem to have been unbending in their determination to rubber stamp his expulsion.

Mounting costs and legal technicalities have proven decisive. Because the Labour Party is a voluntary association rather than a public body, it would not have been subject to a binding judicial review even if Marc had won his case. And if he had lost he would have faced personal financial ruin.

So Marc has had to drop his case for reinstatement. The outcome is a defeat for the Left, and a serious loss for a Party which is not exactly awash with prominent BAME activists.

No doubt there will be much celebration in the ranks of the self-styled Jewish Labour Movement and the Labour Friends of Israel. But it should give the rest of us pause for thought. Our leadership’s policy of throwing comrades under the bus – not just Marc but also Chris Williamson, Jackie Walker and many other fine socialists – at the behest of the Party’s Israel lobby, has not helped the leadership to shore up its position. Instead it has been part of the process of enfeeblement that led to the catastrophic election result on 12th December.

Things could have been very different – but that would have required a leadership that were actually prepared to lead. Lessons have to be learned. And we must continue to fight for Marc’s eventual reinstatement.