The long delayed/withheld Forde Report into was going on in the Labour Party from 2015 has at last been published. Well its hot and summer hols beckon.
The BBC predictably claims the report is about anti-semitism. It is but as Michael Rosen repeatedly asked is the UK Lbour Party the only place where anti-semitism exists? Infact its a major issue in societies across Europe.
There is another story to tell. Forde looks at the period between Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader in 2015 and the 2017 General Election. Corbyn’s victory was unexpected by the Labour Party bureaucracy and Corbyn himself.
Labour Party HQ imagined hordes of Trotskyists seizing the machine (if only). In fact Corbyn’s forces were isolated at HQ level, despite some outstanding people. This happens in organisations sometimes. Labour HQ sought to frustrate Corbyn’s policies.
It was not that successful, given the strength of grassroots support for Corbyn. The 2017 Election presented another challenge. Given Labour HQ didnt think Corbyn’s politics represented their view of what Labour should be they backed candidates they preferred.
Anti-democratic and shameful certainly. But its worth recalling the opening line of Ralph Miliband’s Parliamentary Road to Socialism(1960). He argued that Labour is the most dogmatic of parties, not about socialism but Parliament.
The Forde Report underlines the point
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