Finchley Church End councillor Eva Greenspan doesn’t trust Labour on antisemitism

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on a visit to Boots in Whetstone — Keir Starmer (centre) visiting Barnet in January – (Credit – David Floyd)

‘’The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command’’. – 1984, George Orwell.

Statements that the Labour Party has changed by Sir Keir Starmer and his candidates in Barnet over the last couple of years always sounded too good to be true.

Indeed, the removal of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party is a mere sacrificial lamb to appease the appetite of those who did not vote for Labour because of the rot of antisemitism within the party that had finally reared its ugly head. A rot, which, for decades, has been the unnerving underbelly of the party.

We must however not forget that it was not only Corbyn who stood by and watched the disgraceful attempts of the Labour Party in trying to whitewash the levels of antisemitism in the party.

Who can forget current Labour MP, and until recently a member of Sir Keir Starmer’s frontbench, Naz Shah, reposting a map which superimposed the flag of the USA on Israel with the caption ‘Solution for Israel-Palestine conflict – relocate Israel into United States’.

This (alongside other comments made by Ken Livingstone) prompted an inquiry into antisemitism in the Labour Party, commissioned by the Labour Party, led by Baroness Chakrabarti.

Many will remember the then-MP Ruth Smeeth, who is Jewish, being hounded by members of the Labour Party when she rightly criticised the findings. Fast forward past more scandals, we now have Keir Starmer who tells us that the Labour Party has changed.

The party that, only 5 years ago was in the midst of infighting has now miraculously changed and everyone is now on the Starmer train. Everything has changed. It seems recently that this apparent change has been entirely surface-level.

The debacle with Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen (amongst others) and the reaction from their side of the Labour Party shows that these people have not gone away, and any future Labour government will have these people (many of whom are still on his backbenches such as Kate Osamor who has been readmitted into Labour after she used the Holocaust Memorial Day to compare the Holocaust with Palestinian deaths in Gaza and the aforementioned Naz Shah).

The factional rift is still there. Just look at the comments of Baroness Chakrabarti on the Laura Kussenberg on the 2^nd of June 2024 speaking on the failed attempt of Sir Keir to get rid of Diane Abbott: ‘’After this sometimes-sordid week of unauthorised, anonymous briefings by overgrown schoolboys in suits with their feet on the table, I hope they will remember that it’s country first and not faction first’’.

There is a war brewing once again in the Labour Party.

What does this mean for those of us who fear a return to the Labour of a few years ago?

There is still, in Labour, strong undercurrents of the party of Jeremy Corbyn that seek to sway the ship that is the party back to where it was where many friends and family of mine were considering leaving this country because of the threat of a Corbyn-led government.

We must not forget that Richard Burgon is also standing, a man who said his hate march in Leeds was on the “right side” of history – now many Jewish students at Leeds University are facing a torrent of harassment.

To conclude, I can only say this. Labour’s apparent changed party is weak at the foundations and liable to crumble with the smallest winds. Just as Sir Keir changes positions daily, his party will soon revert to the party of 2019 and what will we do then…

Eva Greenspan is a Conservative councillor for Finchley Church End ward.

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