Chris Green MP: poison in Labour's blood stream revealed ahead of by-election

In my last Wigan Observer article, published two weeks ago, I pointed out how the ongoing and horrific events in the Middle East is casting a spotlight on the values of people across Britain and especially in the political class.

​I pointed out that Labour had been found guilty by the Equality and Human Rights Commission of being institutionally anti-Semitic but I was clear that their leader, Sir Keir Starmer, was genuine in fighting the poison in Labour’s blood stream.

Sir Keir forced Tahir Ali MP to offer a grovelling apology for saying that the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, “has the blood of thousands of innocent people on his hands” and he removed the whip from Kate Osamor MP for making a direct comparison between the slaughter of six million Jews in the Holocaust with the horrific reality of the Gaza Israel conflict.

So far, Sir Keir Starmer had demonstrated the change he wanted to see. Whilst he had remained loyal to Jeremy Corbyn MP when he was Labour leader as others were resigning because their values would not tolerate it, Sir Keir, now as Labour leader, ditched Jeremy Corbyn as soon as he could and is known to be receiving advice from Tony Blair to win at the General Election.

Good values cannot be a fair weather friend and emerging from the shadow cast by the EHRC report takes more than a few token sacrifices. The test comes when doing the right thing costs you personally and politically.

Sir Keir Starmer has now failed the test he set himself. The Rochdale by election, following the sad death of the popular and widely respected Tony Lloyd MP, ought to have been a walk in the park for Labour to have yet another victory. Instead of being a cause of celebration, it has turned into a cause for shame.

The Labour group leader of Lancashire County Council, Coun Azhar Ali OBE, said the Israelis “deliberately took the security off, they allowed… that massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want.”

To me, this reads as a blood libel – one of the oldest mechanisms to stir up hatred against Jews. We know that hate does not respect international boundaries so it will stir up more fear and anger in the UK.

He did not say this with a few of his mates down the pub over a pint but at a Lancashire Labour Party meeting. Think of how many senior Labour figures would have been in the audience and just imagine how enthused they normally are to censor others who misspeak.

Labour has accepted that the words of Azhar Ali OBE are anti-Semitic.

Labour are not disowning him because they prize a by election victory in Rochdale ahead of fighting the institutional racism within their ranks.

I would rather be discussing Britain’s industrial recovery and Labour’s ditched plan so perhaps next time…