The danger for Corbyn is that his vulnerability on antisemitism will haunt him as long as he stays
Extraordinarily given everything else that’s happening that this is the main political news
Uptil now during Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party it has really been quite amazing that his less than robust views on antisemitism has never been a big problem for him.
That’s changed this weekend following the revelation of his response on Facebook in 2012 to the mural on the wall of a building in East London.
Under the heading “Corbyn’s ‘regret’ over an antisemitic mural doesn’t go remotely far enough” Matthew D’Ancona in the Guardian examines the LAB leader’s views and observes:
“The real question is otherwise: why does Corbyn – admirably proactive in tackling other forms of prejudice – seem to squirm and dither when confronted with allegations of antisemitism? As Richard Gold, a party member active in the anti-racist Engage campaign, put it in his submission to Shami Chakrabarti’s inquiry into Labour antisemitism: “[It is] as though being unpleasant to Jews … should be excused or minimised, treated merely as rudeness or bad manners, rather than racist behaviour…
…Antisemitism is on the rise all over the world. According to the Community Security Trust, a record number of antisemitic incidents were reported in the UK last year. Why does this bother Corbyn as little as it seems to? Does he believe in universal rights and equality of worth, or not? The fact that the Labour leader appears to regard allegations of antisemitism as an irritant rather than a fundamental issue says nothing good about him. In this respect, at least, the writing is upon the wall.“
Unless Corbyn can appear to change in a convincing manner fast this has the potential to dog him as long he survives in the job. Whenever ever any issue related to antisemitism comes up his response will be closely monitored and highlighted.
No doubt his ultra loyal supporters will blame the media to try to deflect attention from the man himself which is where it should lie.
PaddyPower are offering 1/6 that TMay of the main party leaders will be first to go with Corbyn at 3/1. If that was priced a little bit longer it would be a good bet.
Betfair makes it 9/2 that he’ll be out during 2018.