Culture

This is the second in my series. The first piece examined how the new Leader needed to react to the Disciplinary Process.

The problem with the culture

Changes to the disciplinary process alone are not enough to end the endemic antisemitism in the Labour Party. A quick scan of the Jewish Labour Movement’s (JLM) final submission to the EHRC shows that there is an antisemitic culture at all levels of the party. A look at the dozens of news articles about antisemitic motions, antisemitic bullying and grass roots support for antisemites would lead you to the same conclusion. As would listening to the testimonies of Jewish members, so many of whom have had horrendous experiences.

It has been said that a ‘Period of Reflection’ should follow the disastrous General Election and this is what’s needed. Not just a reflection of the General Election, but this Leadership contest should be a chance for members, and candidates, to reflect on the question few have dared to pose: Why? Why has antisemitism flourished in the Labour party to a much greater extent than society? Why have antisemites decided that this is the party for them? Why have so many senior party figures (current and former MPs, former Mayors, longstanding NEC members, senior trade union officials etc) become so radicalised against Jews? And why has this all happened in the last four years?

All leadership candidates should provide answers to these questions. It’s easy to call antisemitism unacceptable, tweet support for pledges and even to admit that the Party has failed on antisemitism. Much harder is to understand, and publicly state, why the issue of antisemitism ever got so bad.

Changing the culture

Members take their cues from those at the top. No wonder rank and file members are defending antisemites like Gilad Atzmon and Tony Greenstein, when a Labour MP, Chris Williamson, did with no consequence. When the shadow chancellor is president of the LRC no wonder its cranky, racist views are shared by prominent members. When Labour MPs can sing ‘Hey Jew’ on a coach trip or accuse Israel of being behind Change UK and face no consequence, they signal to the membership that this behaviour is OK. When someone who shared posts about ‘Zionist masters’ is selected for a safe seat, Holocaust deniers are given council seats and elected to regional boards. It cannot be denied that the entire Party is rotten.

Leadership is needed to help clear out this toxic culture that has seeped into every level of the party. It is paramount for the next Leader to explicitly lay out what kind of behaviour is unacceptable. They need to:

Call out CLP motions that: feature antisemitic tropes, provide support for suspended/expelled antisemitism, deny the scale of antisemitism in the Labour Party etc

Call out antisemitic tropes and rhetoric when it comes from senior party figures (eg NEC members) and senior trade union officials

Call for CLPs with a culture of antisemitism to be investigated and put in special measures

If abuse occurs in their name they will accept this, and call it out

Call out antisemitic tropes from organisations like LRC and CLPD

Make clear that JLM is the sole Jewish affiliate

Call on the NEC not to endorse any PPC who has a history of antisemitism

Make it clear that if you engage in antisemitism, support people like Chris Williamson or Jackie Walker, or prioritise motions about Zionism at CLPs- you do not belong in the Labour Party

Israel and Zionism

Contrary to popular belief, most incidents of antisemitism in the Party do not come from people crossing the line from legitimate criticism of Israel into antisemitism and it disingenuous for the Leadership to imply otherwise. But it does occur and decent education on Israel, and its up to the Leader to lead the discussion on what is and isn’t acceptable. The next Leader should give speeches and create videos that explicitly say that Zionism is a legitimate belief in Jewish self-determination, and that Israel forms a part of the identity for many Jews. They need to explain what Zionism means, and that it is not inherently incompatible with belief in justice for the Palestinians, and should highlight some of the many examples of self-defining Zionists doing amazing work to oppose the settlements and support Palestinians. And they need to show how tropes about Jewish conspiracy are just as racist when applied to Israel as they are when applied to Jews. And they need to be clear that talking about Zionist conspiracies, describing Zionists as evil or prioritising a commitment to opposing Zionism above all else is racist, it is unacceptable, and it is not pro-Palestinian activism. Israel is a such a tricky and emotive topic that is understandable why the topic is avoided, but moral leadership is essential.

The saga of Chris Williamson — and what we must learn

The saga of Chris Williamson should be a cautionary tale to the next leader. Williamson is the definition of a weathervane politician; in the Blair years he was a PFI lover who lead a coalition with the tories at council level, and following Corbyn’s election he sought to prove himself as a true Corbynite. And this is where his problem with Jews started. In 2016 Williamson (who was no longer an MP) replied to a tweet calling for Labour to look into antisemitism allegations in Oxford University Labour Club, with a video of ‘brutal’ treatment of a Palestinian man by an Israeli soldier. Despite this Williamson was reselected, and became an MP (for the second time) in the 2017 General Election. From here he was appointed Shadow Fire and Emergency Services Minister (he resigned in January 2018 over differences in policy on council tax).

Williamson’s career in Jew baiting began in earnest following the 2017 General election. Early as August 2017, Jewish bodies were calling for his removal from the Shadow Cabinet. Soon after he was ordered by the Chief Whip to meet with JLM representatives, he did and then immediately blocked them on twitter. Until his eventual suspension (which came of the back of huge pressure from the PLP), this is the only action taken against him. There is a clear pattern to Williamson’s behaviour -it got worse over time. Every time he got away with it emboldened him, and allowed him to behave worse the next time. Despite community outcry, and complaints from members he was allowed to continue; presumably due to Corbyn’s support, as a month before Williamson was eventually suspended Corbyn said that ‘he wasn’t antisemitic in any way’.

There is a lot to be learned from the mishandling of Chris Williamson:

1. Allowing for education on antisemitism or engagement with the Jewish Community only works for people who actually repent (Naz Shah is a good example). Training (or anything similar) should not be used as alternative for punishment, unless the individual is immediately dealt with harshly at the first incidence of repeated behaviour or sign that the education was not taken in good faith.

2. Tolerating small incidents of antisemitism creates a climate where antisemitism will prosper. All incidents of antisemitism, denial, supporting of antisemites etc need to have consequences. Otherwise you signal that antisemitism is tolerable. If you tolerate minor incidents of antisemitism, major ones will follow.

3. The actions of senior political figures have consequences. A quick look on twitter, or attendance of a PLP meeting will show how many people Williamson has radicalised. Unsurprisingly when politicians and public figures are racist without consequence, it builds a climate where racism is acceptable. MPs should be held to higher standards than ordinary members.

4. The process on how to deal with disciplinary issues relating to MPs needs to be clarified. Complainants were frequently told that their complaints had been referred to the Chief Whip. But it was GLU who eventually suspended Williamson. Formalised guidance on how GLU and the Leader/Chief Whip deal with MPs need to be a priority of the next leader.

5. A Code of Conduct for MPs need to be created. This would be a clear set of rules specifically for MPs. And this would prohibit: the support of expelled or suspended members, have positions in bodies pushing antisemitic tropes (eg LRC), and enaginging in ‘Jew baiting’ among other things

Rule breeches by parliamentarians should always result in suspension/ withdrawal of the whip. Of course doing a Naz Shah and seriously repenting, learning and reaching out to the Jewish Community, should have the whip reinstated and only given a minor sanction (formal warning or reminder of conduct), but the increasingly common idea that a quick apology is suffice not to launch an investigation allows antisemitism to thrive. Ruth George suggested that Change UK was funded by Israel, Dan Carden allegedly sang racist words to Hey Jude, Rupa Huq allegedly taunted an employee over a Star of David badge, Lord Prescott ranted that Labour antisemitism was ‘all about Israel’. No one whom were suspended, although admittedly Huq was investigated, signalling to the membership that antisemitism has no consequences.

Supporting victims and those who speak out

One of the biggest moral failings of the Corbyn years, was how Jewish MPs were abandoned by the top, left to deal with huge volumes abuse and threats themselves. Watching Luciana Berger be bullied out the party should have been a (much belated) wake up call. But nothing changed, and less than a year later a second Jewish female MP was bullied out the Party. There is something sickening when a backbench MP needs police protection at conference, for the crime of being Jewish. Even more sickening is when asked about it on TV, Corbyn cannot even bring himself to address it, or show sympathy for her. This lead to the antisemitic internet left promoting all sorts of conspiracies about it, and calling Berger a liar. When Ruth Smeeth saw the Sunday Times story which claimed that swift action on a case of abuse against her, she WhatsApped Corbyn. He left her on read. The threats and abuse that Jewish politicians (especially women) deal with is real and scary. No MP should receive hand delivered death threats, be forced to move out of their London home, and need to be accompanied when in public at all times. But this was the reality for Ruth Smeeth, a result of threats from both the far left and far right. What did Corbyn and his Shadow Cabinet do? Nothing.

It is a sign of how badly Corbyn failed that the next sentence needs saying. The next Leader of the Labour Party should reach out to MPs who receive threats and sustained abuse, and support them. They should ask the victims what needs to be done and do it. They should also be able to go on the record and say (if it is needed), that yes a Jewish MP needs police protection at Conference, and that that is disgusting and wrong, and that anyone who thinks differently should rip up their membership cards. A real leader would support MPs who received death threats, not ignore them.

Many who call out antisemitism, become under attack from fellow members of their own party. And it’s hardly surprising that lay members behave in this way, when the Party attacked the whistleblowers on Panorama. The response to whistleblowers and Panorama should shame us all. Young staffers, who resigned after going on sick leave, were made to sign restrictive NDAs in order to receive a settlement so they could pay rent. They were attacked by pitbull lawyers for daring to expose the institutional rot in the Party. And after they discussed how working for the Party wrecked their mental health, and in one case almost drove them to suicide, they were publicly smeared as ‘disgruntled former staffers’ with an ‘axe to grind’. This can never happen again. The whistleblowers should be commended, not attacked. Leadership candidates need to all make sure that they support the whistleblowers, and should reach out to them and offer support. And they should pledge that never again will the Party attack those who speak out about antisemitism.

Dealing with both factionalism and the internal fight

It cannot be denied that the corrosive levels of factionalism in the Party has contributed to the antisemitism crisis. Despite having ranted about ‘Jewish Trump fanatics’, Pete Willsman still got reelected to the NEC due to slate politics. This is not an isolated case either- at every level of the Party antisemites and antisemitism deniers have been elected because they are on the ‘correct slate’. Antisemitism has also become factionalised. The crank left indulge a culture when denial of antisemitism, conspiracies about Israel and hatred of the JLM are seen as signs of truly supporting Corbyn. Antisemitism is denied when politically inconvenient.

Factions will always exist, and should exist. But having groupings of like minded people pushing policy points, or individuals who share their values, is miles away from the toxic levels of factionalism we have now. The toxic levels promoted by the bunker mentality of LOTO and key people in the Corbyn project. It should be a primary goal of the new Leader to end this toxic culture, which allows antisemitism to fester.

Ways to do this could include:

Pushing for STV to be used in internal elections, to end factional dominance

Having a Shadow Cabinet that reflects the diversity of thought within the Party

Being honest about the successes and failures of all previous Labour Leaders, and Labour Governments

Calling out the toxic levels of factionalism that have occurred

If removing the toxic excess of factionalism wasn’t hard enough, this needs to be done whilst having a fight against parts of the party machine (see my first piece), and the crank aspects of the Corbyn project. This is a battle akin to Kinnock’s purging of militant, with the added bonus of the social media war. Somehow the new leader needs to unite members from momentum to hard core Blairites, whilst attacking the antisemitic hard left. The ordinary rank and file members must be encouraged to organise to root out the antisemites and sympathisers from all positions. There is an internal fight that needs to occur; from branches chaired by conspiracists to rooting out the apologists from the NEC. And this fight must be defined not by the Leader, whomever they may be, but by antisemitism. This fight must not seek to ensure factional dominance of the Party, but to eradicate bigotry. This fight will be hard and brutal, and somehow the membership opposed to this bigotry must be united in this fight. Factional politics must give way to a commitment to eradication of antisemitism. I fear this is an impossible task, and do not envy the Leader who has to take it on.