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| For anti-Corbyn MPs, muddling through is no longer viable | For anti-Corbyn MPs, muddling through is no longer viable |
| (5 months later) | |
| There are three categories of Labour MP these days: the ones who can’t stomach the idea of making Jeremy Corbyn prime minister, the ones who can, and the ones who are in denial about the question. Each camp has subtle variations. Among implacable anti-Corbynites, some are more exercised by what they see as anti-western, pro-Kremlin foreign policy positions, others by despair at a back catalogue of rubbing shoulders with extremists and terrorism apologists. | There are three categories of Labour MP these days: the ones who can’t stomach the idea of making Jeremy Corbyn prime minister, the ones who can, and the ones who are in denial about the question. Each camp has subtle variations. Among implacable anti-Corbynites, some are more exercised by what they see as anti-western, pro-Kremlin foreign policy positions, others by despair at a back catalogue of rubbing shoulders with extremists and terrorism apologists. |
| Corbyn’s parliamentary support is built from the tiny number who believed from the start that he could inspire a socialist revival, and a larger number who didn’t but had their minds changed by his impressive performance in last year’s general election. The late adopters still have qualms – but not sufficient, as they see it, to scupper a once-in-a-generation shot at forming a truly radical left government. | Corbyn’s parliamentary support is built from the tiny number who believed from the start that he could inspire a socialist revival, and a larger number who didn’t but had their minds changed by his impressive performance in last year’s general election. The late adopters still have qualms – but not sufficient, as they see it, to scupper a once-in-a-generation shot at forming a truly radical left government. |
| The third category, the denialists, bury their heads in the sand of “Labour values”. Leaders come and go, but what matters is some internal spirit of what it means to belong to the party. | The third category, the denialists, bury their heads in the sand of “Labour values”. Leaders come and go, but what matters is some internal spirit of what it means to belong to the party. |
| All agree that Corbyn is the legitimately elected leader, and there is a surprising level of consensus that he deserved his victories. Even his critics concede that he had the clearest account of where Labour should go – on a crusade for social justice. His opponents sort of agreed in principle, then set out stalls explaining why that wouldn’t work. A veteran of anti-Corbyn campaigns once told me: “We lost because we were shit.” No one really disputes that analysis. | All agree that Corbyn is the legitimately elected leader, and there is a surprising level of consensus that he deserved his victories. Even his critics concede that he had the clearest account of where Labour should go – on a crusade for social justice. His opponents sort of agreed in principle, then set out stalls explaining why that wouldn’t work. A veteran of anti-Corbyn campaigns once told me: “We lost because we were shit.” No one really disputes that analysis. |
| Corbyn’s detractors failed to make moderation and compromise sound like ethical propositions, as opposed to shabby, Tory-lite betrayals. By doubling down with a leadership challenge in 2016, they guaranteed their motives would forever be suspect. When Labour MPs advocate a second EU referendum, they are liable to be accused of doing so as a means to undermine the leader. Their anger over antisemitism in the party ranks is belittled as synthetic and cynical, even when Corbyn himself has conceded that the problem is real. | Corbyn’s detractors failed to make moderation and compromise sound like ethical propositions, as opposed to shabby, Tory-lite betrayals. By doubling down with a leadership challenge in 2016, they guaranteed their motives would forever be suspect. When Labour MPs advocate a second EU referendum, they are liable to be accused of doing so as a means to undermine the leader. Their anger over antisemitism in the party ranks is belittled as synthetic and cynical, even when Corbyn himself has conceded that the problem is real. |
| The dynamic on that front has shifted since the revelation last month of a 2013 speech in which Corbyn derided “Zionists” who “having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, don’t understand English irony”. Even ardent supporters, quick to excuse their hero for keeping unsavoury company in the past, were discomfited. Here was a case of British Jews, flimsily camouflaged as “Zionists”, being depicted as alien, as strangers to the indigenous culture of the place they call home. That is unambiguous racism, more in tune with a golf club bar circa 1970 than the office of a modern party leader. | The dynamic on that front has shifted since the revelation last month of a 2013 speech in which Corbyn derided “Zionists” who “having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, don’t understand English irony”. Even ardent supporters, quick to excuse their hero for keeping unsavoury company in the past, were discomfited. Here was a case of British Jews, flimsily camouflaged as “Zionists”, being depicted as alien, as strangers to the indigenous culture of the place they call home. That is unambiguous racism, more in tune with a golf club bar circa 1970 than the office of a modern party leader. |
| Some MPs will still extend the benefit of the doubt and change the subject. But even with the most generous interpretation, Corbyn has been exposed as intellectually unequipped to understand antisemitism, let alone combat it effectively. A simple equation then follows: a Corbyn-led party will inevitably permit some visceral prejudice against Jews. How much is OK? It is logically inconsistent to answer “none”, and then run for parliament as a Labour candidate. | Some MPs will still extend the benefit of the doubt and change the subject. But even with the most generous interpretation, Corbyn has been exposed as intellectually unequipped to understand antisemitism, let alone combat it effectively. A simple equation then follows: a Corbyn-led party will inevitably permit some visceral prejudice against Jews. How much is OK? It is logically inconsistent to answer “none”, and then run for parliament as a Labour candidate. |
| That is the conclusion that Frank Field drew last week, and so he resigned the whip. He says he was helped to that decision by a culture of intimidation in his constituency party. Field was marked as a target for deselection – and he is not alone. Momentum, the pro-Corbyn pressure group within the party, is agitating for rule changes at this year’s annual party conference, calling for “open selections” that would make it easier to dislodge sitting MPs. | That is the conclusion that Frank Field drew last week, and so he resigned the whip. He says he was helped to that decision by a culture of intimidation in his constituency party. Field was marked as a target for deselection – and he is not alone. Momentum, the pro-Corbyn pressure group within the party, is agitating for rule changes at this year’s annual party conference, calling for “open selections” that would make it easier to dislodge sitting MPs. |
| There is a false caricature of Momentum as a phalanx of gnarled Marxist ultras, settling old scores from the 1980s. There are a few of those, and they dominate some constituency meetings. But most of its members are unaggressive recruits from the more diverse ranks of left idealism. They see themselves as part of an inclusive, upbeat social movement and are frustrated that many Labour MPs refuse to get on board. Some impatience to jettison the old guard is understandable, but it also tells high-profile Corbyn critics that their options are few. It is not a question of stay or go, but of jump or be pushed. | There is a false caricature of Momentum as a phalanx of gnarled Marxist ultras, settling old scores from the 1980s. There are a few of those, and they dominate some constituency meetings. But most of its members are unaggressive recruits from the more diverse ranks of left idealism. They see themselves as part of an inclusive, upbeat social movement and are frustrated that many Labour MPs refuse to get on board. Some impatience to jettison the old guard is understandable, but it also tells high-profile Corbyn critics that their options are few. It is not a question of stay or go, but of jump or be pushed. |
| The strangest aspect of all this is that so many Labour figures still pretend there is a middle way between Corbynism and its malcontents. Over the weekend, John McDonnell described Field as an “old mate” who would be welcome “back in the fold”. David Lammy proposed the campaign for a people’s vote on Brexit as the banner around which the party could unite. Voices from all sides warn that a split will benefit the Tories; that new parties never prosper. | The strangest aspect of all this is that so many Labour figures still pretend there is a middle way between Corbynism and its malcontents. Over the weekend, John McDonnell described Field as an “old mate” who would be welcome “back in the fold”. David Lammy proposed the campaign for a people’s vote on Brexit as the banner around which the party could unite. Voices from all sides warn that a split will benefit the Tories; that new parties never prosper. |
| Those warnings resonate clearly within the arena of party loyalists. They are effective with people for whom it is self-evident that Labour, under any leader, has a natural monopoly on virtue. But viewed from the outside, the cult of unity at any price is mystifying. Some Labour MPs believe – not without reason – that their leader enables antisemitism. Some believe he poses a threat to national security. Most party members believe those are malicious falsehoods. Corbynites do not want disloyal MPs representing them. It would be ludicrous for those MPs to fight an election denying that Corbyn is their candidate to be prime minister. It is obvious to anyone looking in without thick, rose-tinted, Labour-branded goggles that there is no available reconciliation. To pretend otherwise doesn’t bring unity closer, it just invites ridicule and, in time, contempt. | Those warnings resonate clearly within the arena of party loyalists. They are effective with people for whom it is self-evident that Labour, under any leader, has a natural monopoly on virtue. But viewed from the outside, the cult of unity at any price is mystifying. Some Labour MPs believe – not without reason – that their leader enables antisemitism. Some believe he poses a threat to national security. Most party members believe those are malicious falsehoods. Corbynites do not want disloyal MPs representing them. It would be ludicrous for those MPs to fight an election denying that Corbyn is their candidate to be prime minister. It is obvious to anyone looking in without thick, rose-tinted, Labour-branded goggles that there is no available reconciliation. To pretend otherwise doesn’t bring unity closer, it just invites ridicule and, in time, contempt. |
| • Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist | • Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist |
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