BOARD ROW ESCALATES

A Labour meeting in east London on Monday night has been described by a prominent member as "the worst Labour party meeting" he had ever attended.  Hard left party activists had raised a motion condemning the Board of Deputies of British Jews.  The BoD had earlier released a ten point pledge to eradicate anti-Semitism and invited Labour leadership candidates to sign up.  The vice chairman of Ilford South Constituency Labour Party described the reaction of his local branch...

Ilford South's new MP Sam Tarry was drawn into the row after he failed to condemn the motion.  See below for the motion in full (click to enlarge).

Ironically, Tarry's campaign slogan in last month's election was "A fresh start for Ilford".  This was a clear reference to the saga of Mike Gapes - the incumbent Labour MP who quit the party last year and went on to co-found the disastrous Change UK.  One of the key reasons Gapes quit was the party's mishandling of anti-Semitism.  If this week's events in Ilford South prove anything - it's that Sam Tarry's election is far from a 'fresh start'!

Hard left anger over the BoD pledge is also what led to a Twitter spat between Ed Balls and Chris Williamson earlier this week.  The Morning Star also piled in with its front page this morning.

Whoever wins the Labour leadership contest will have their work cut out eradicating anti-Semitism from their own party, let alone wider society.

CONTRADICTION STREETING

If you stay on Wes Streeting's Twitter feed for too long it'll drive you nuts.  The Labour MP is a bag of contradictions.  He's a pro-Muslim campaigner like Corbyn, but he despises Corbyn and he's also gay, oh and he's vice chair of the Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism - whose chair is John Mann, a Labour Brexiteer - while Wes is an ardent Remainer, at odds with his 53% Leave-voting constituency, not to mention he is a supporter of Labour Friends of Palestine.  But he also supports Labour Friends of Israel.  Head explodes!

It's not difficult to unpick his contradictions when you consider that his constituency has a significant Jewish community, outnumbering Muslims, albeit both of crucial importance to maintaining a Labour majority.  Ilford North has been held by the Conservatives for most of its existence, but Wes took it from them in 2015 and increased his majority in 2017, largely thanks to the absence of UKIP.  His constant fawning over his two somewhat opposing communities probably helped him a fair bit too.  However, the Jewish and Muslim peoples of Ilford are still minorities.  If the Leave mandate emanated largely from the white working classes then he is undoing his fine balancing act by completely ignoring his largest pool of voters.

A smarter politician would see this, but Wes is not as smart as he thinks he is.  Yes, he has a comfortable majority - at the moment - but the Brexit betrayal that MPs like him are driving will be his downfall.  He doesn't even play it safe in Parliamentary votes and only commits himself to options that seek to overturn the referendum.  On Monday he abstained from the Boles/Clarke so-called 'soft Brexit' options, but voted in favour of a second referendum and revoking Article 50.  He was also very proud to be a part of the Loser's March.

His constituents can see all this happening in front of their eyes and many of them will be very angry about it.  What can they do about it?  Exactly what they did in 2016 and vote against the establishment, in this case an establishment politician who has not only ignored their instruction - he is actively working to undo it.  UKIP suffered a near fatal collapse in the wake of the Leave vote and failed to field a candidate in many places in 2017, including Ilford North.  However, the Leave vote is now being betrayed - by people like Wes Streeting - and UKIP will be back with a vengeance.  Come the next election it's treacherous MPs like Wes Streeting who will bear the brunt of the democratic backlash - and rightly so.

STREETING THEATRICS

Labour's Wes Streeting wins the award for most over-the-top tweet of the week.

I’ve thought long and hard before saying this, but @theresa_may knows that MPs across the House are subjected to death threats - some very credible. Her speech was incendiary and irresponsible. If any harm comes to any of us, she will have to accept her share of responsibility.

— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) March 20, 2019

It's no wonder Labour MPs are so scathing of May's statement.  The truth is that MPs are largely to blame for the current impasse, and those MPs are predominantly Labour.  Labour MPs overwhelmingly blocked May's deal.  Twice.  Labour MPs overwhelmingly rejected no deal and overwhelmingly voted for the dreaded extension.  Now they are moaning that the extension is not long enough!

Streeting is a prominent supporter of the so-called 'People's Vote' campaign.  Given the contempt with which Labour MPs regard the 52%, perhaps it should come as no surprise that the constituency he claims to represent voted LEAVE by 53%.