Labour party

The best that can be said for Jeremy Corbyn’s response to air strikes against the Assad regime is that he is at least consistent. Why did he assert that the smart cuff meted out last night risked ‘escalating further… an already devastating conflict’? Because in Corbyn’s worldview, it is the felling of chemical weapons factories, not the extermination of children with the chemical weapons those factories produce, that escalates conflict. Why did he echo Syrian state media in questioning the legality of military action? Because Corbyn is a cynic who calculates that feigning concern for the global rules-based order -- something he believes in only intermittently -- is useful for stalling, deflection and water-muddying.

There are many figures in the Labour party who wish that Jeremy Corbyn would stay schtum on foreign policy. Whether it's his anti-West views, warm feeling towards his 'friends' Hamas or complicated relationship with Russia, when the Labour leader turns to international affairs, many of his MPs look on in despair. But up until now Mr S had thought that the shadow cabinet were at least on his side. Perhaps not. In an interview with the House magazine, Kate Osamor - the shadow  international development secretary – suggests Corbyn should stop commenting on foreign policy and ‘just let his spokesperson speak'.

This week Tony Blair managed to say something surprising. In a rare sighting of modesty, the former prime minister said that he was not the man to lead a new centre party. But could another Blair be the man for the job? Mr S only asks after the Guardian reported that the new centre party in the works – linked to LoveFilm's Simon Franks and £50m of potential funding – has links to Blair's son Euan: 'One person who was approached to join the fledgling organisation was told Euan Blair was on its board, and his father, the former Labour prime minister, had been helpful in recommending potential donors. Other sources confirmed Euan Blair’s name had been associated with the project.

This afternoon Jeremy Corbyn received the news that Israel’s Labour party are to suspend relations with him – accusing the Labour leader of sanctioning anti-Semitism. However, Corbyn can at least end the day even – having won a surprise endorsement. Former BNP leader Nick Griffin has taken to social media to say that he plans to vote for Labour for the first time – on the condition that Corbyn 'sticks to his guns' and 'refuses to blame Assad' for the suspected chemical attack in Syria: https://twitter.com/NickGriffinBU/status/983356106020880385 Still, even if it does work out, Mr S suspects Griffin won't be invited on to a Labour party broadcast anytime soon.

The UN Security Council will meet on Monday to discuss a suspected chemical attack in Syria on the rebel-held town of Douma. With dozens of people killed, today there has been widespread outrage, with President Trump one of many to criticise Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Russia and Iran – saying there will be a 'big price to pay'. However, over in Labour HQ a more vague response is underway. The Labour press office have today issued a statement which is so bold as to suggest that 'anyone found responsible' for using chemical weapons should be 'brought to justice'. It goes on to criticise the atrocities of this war 'whether committed by the Assad regime' or the 'Jihadist militias'.

Here we go again. Although John McDonnell advised his Labour comrades to boycott Russia Today following the Salisbury poisoning, not everyone is willing to take heed of his advice. On Thursday, Chris Williamson – a key Corbyn ally – took to the airwaves of the Kremlin-funded broadcaster to cast doubt on the government's handling of the nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent. With Moscow claiming it has nothing to with them, the Labour MP said that it was diplomatic row with Russia was 'very convenient for the Government' and had been used 'not so much as a smoking gun but as a smoke screen' to divert attention from Brexit and austerity.

In this week’s episode, we talk about red London – just how badly will the Tories do in the upcoming local elections, and why do people love Sadiq Khan? We also talk about the end of Macron’s political honeymoon, and the death of the Grand Tour. As national headlines are dominated by Jeremy Corbyn, local Labour candidates are preparing for a sweeping victory through London’s upcoming local elections. Will Heaven, the Spectator’s Managing Editor, writes in this week’s cover that ‘the Tories are braced for disaster’. Why is London turning red?

When I lived in the Soviet Union in my early twenties, I developed a personal hostility to socialism. I saw the misery it had visited on that society – the political, spiritual and economic harm. I understood at first-hand how the secret police corrupted personal and public life, how state propaganda denied freedom of thought and how the regime hid the slaughter and imprisonment of millions of its own people. I came to the conclusion that whichever totalitarian power had survived World War II – Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union – they would probably have looked much the same by the time of their demise.

The supporters of Jeremy Corbyn are meant to comprise the most cultish movement British politics has seen. Yet on the issue of left anti-Semitism they do not blindly follow their leader. For once in their lives, they give every impression of thinking for themselves. Corbyn has come as close as he can to admitting a mistake – which by most people’s standards is not close at all. Like Stalin airbrushing his own history, he has deleted his Facebook account. He did not explain how he found himself a member of Facebook groups that featured Holocaust denial, or defending  medieval fanatics who believe Jews drink the blood of Christian children, or endorsing Nazi-style propaganda.

A Times/YouGov poll at the weekend found that nearly eight out of ten Labour members believe that accusations of anti-Semitism within the Labour party in the last fortnight are being exaggerated to damage Jeremy Corbyn and prevent criticism of Israel. So, it seems an opportune time to share Andrew Neil's helpful explainer on what anti-Semitism is and where it leads, from This Week: 'An evil demon we thought had been slain – anti-Semitism – pollutes society on both sides of the channel once more. I was told today that polls and focus groups show that many Brits, not just the young, don't know what anti-Semitism is. Well, gather round. Mireille Knoll was 85 in a wheelchair suffering from Parkinsons, she'd survived the holocaust.

After a torrid few weeks for the Labour party over alleged incidents of anti-Semitism, there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel – at least for the party's moderates. As allegations of anti-Semitism in Labour spiralled, Corbyn’s close ally Christine Shawcroft had to resign on Wednesday as chair of Labour’s disputes panel for defending a candidate who posted a Holocaust denial article. Now Shawcroft has also resigned from her position on the party's ruling committee.

This week, Jeremy Corbyn said he was 'sincerely sorry' for the pain that had been caused to the Jewish community by anti-Semitism in 'pockets' within the Labour Party. Alas, his apology wasn't enough to stop protesters – including some of his party colleagues – gathering in Parliament Square on Monday to voice their concerns. Nor were Corbyn's comments enough to dissuade some of his more loyal supporters that allegations of anti-Semitism aren't always an MSM smear designed to keep the Tories in No 10. So that readers can make up their own mind as to the size of those 'pockets', below is a list which has been compiled detailing alleged incidents on the matter: 1.

One of the mistakes Theresa May made in calling an early election was not anticipating the effect it would have on the Labour party. Up until April 2017, Labour had been noisily divided between the parliamentary party — the vast majority of whom had no confidence in its leadership — and Jeremy Corbyn whom they couldn’t remove because he had the backing of the membership. But the snap election changed this dynamic. Corbyn’s internal opponents nearly all went quiet once the campaign was announced. This wasn’t just tribal loyalty asserting itself. They wanted to make sure that Corbyn failed on his own terms — that there could be no stab-in-the-back narrative. They also felt there was little risk in keeping schtum.