A personal political thread.
As the dust settles on this week's pile on it set me thinking. One of the insults thrown to which I have not made mention is "Tory". It merits addressing from a personal and wider political perspective. (1)

The first point to note is that I have observed previously that my main purpose on Twitter (and the reason I joined in the first place) is to combat online antisemitism. This phenomenon arose largely out of Corbyn's election as leader of the party and was thereby emboldened
(2)

As a result I rarely, if ever, refer to other political issues still less my own beliefs. Notwithstanding I often am met by the gibe 'Tory'. The only basis therefore for that can be my stated opposition to Corbyn and the antisemitism at the core of his project. (3)

This itself is revealing of an antisemitic mindset. Put another way it must mean for these pro Corbyn accounts any opposition to left antisemitism must make the person raising it a Tory. That denialism is itself antisemitic. (4)

Ironically many of those throwing it out were not themselves Labour members or supporters but a few years ago. Yet now have the gall to arrogate to themselves the right to denounce people as Tories and declare who has the ideological purity to be in Labour and who not.
(5)

They suggest those jews who oppose Corbyn and co are not only Tories but right wing Zionists who are doing the bidding of Netanyahu and the government of Israel. This is once again the operation of an antisemitic mindset now deeply ingrained in those who still 'keep the faith'(6)

I first joined the Labour party nearly 40 years ago when Thatcher was PM. I saw Labour go down to its historic defeat in 1983 due to its sharp left turn. The politics of Benn et al were a disaster for Labour and ensured almost perpetual Tory rule throughout my teens and beyond(7)

I resolved to do that which I could to reverse this state of affairs. Labour could never hope to challenge the Tories until it got its own house in order. And so we began by removing the parasitic ultra left Militant Tendency, a necessary first step towards credibility (8)

Even the expulsion of a small Trotskyist entryist group was bruising; not least because the far left including the newly elected MP for Islington North, one Jeremy Corbyn opposed it so bitterly. I argued then that the expulsions should not be limited to Militant (9)

Instead it should be extended to fellow travellers like Corbyn whose politics were anathema to values of the party. Sadly there wasn't the appetite for it and the "broad church" prevailed. I wanted then that such lack of resolve would one day come back to bite. I was right.(10)

30 years later that is precisely what happened except this time not a small group within but the leadership itself, all brought about by the influx of hard leftists who should not be let within a country mile of it and some very naive people with short memories. (11)

Together they turned the party into a bizarre fan club built around a cult of personality of perhaps the most unworthy recipient of such adulation. Together through a toxic mix of loathsome behaviour and ludicrous politics they drove Labour off the electoral cliff. (12)

One would have thought a modicum of remorse or at the very least introspection might follow. Not a bit of it. More toxic arrogance blithely blaming everything and everyone but themselves. Judging by this week's pile on too many are still there poisoning the party's roots (13)

I will brook no lectures or gibes about being a Tory from people responsible for their victory; people who have been Labour for 5 minutes in marked contrast to my 30 plus years. Support which only came to an end in 2015 with Corbyn's election and my subsequent move to Israel (14)

Where for the record I oppose the occupation of the West Bank, the settlements and the government of Netanyahu with the same vigour I apply to the task of opposing Corbyn and his project. Further most of the jewish people I know (here and there) feel the same way about both.(End)