‘In the 2017 general election Jeremy Corbyn led Labour to a result that defied the polls’

• JENNIFER Sheridan, not Gareth Murphy, is the one suffering from collective amnesia, (The catastrophic consequences of Corbyn’s leadership, December 9).

In the 2017 general election Jeremy Corbyn led Labour to a result that defied the polls and establishment pundits, winning the support of almost 13 million voters, representing 40 per cent of the vote, just short of Tony Blair’s result in 2001.

Labour gained 30 seats and was just 2,227 votes from Corbyn becoming prime minister. In 2017 Labour won all Red Wall seats.

Corbyn’s personal approval ratings doubled as Labour received huge support for its vision of a rejuvenated public sector and an end to austerity and growing inequality.

The report of the Equality and Human Rights Commission did not find Labour guilty of institutional anti-Semitism.

The commission investigated a number of complaints of anti-Semitism made against Labour Party members. The investigation found only four cases, two cases of harassment related to race, and two cases of indirect discrimination potentially worthy of disciplinary action.

Corbyn commissioned Shami Chakrabarti to investigate anti-Semitism in the party. Her report made clear in the foreword: “The Labour Party is not overrun by antisemitism, Islamophobia or other forms of racism.”

Added to this, a home affairs select committee report concluded that anti-Semitism was not more prevalent in Labour than in other parties.

The EHRC report conceded that improvements in the disciplinary process did occur over time but failed to highlight that this followed the appointment of a Corbyn ally, Jennie Formby, as general secretary in spring 2018.

Formby also released figures in February 2019 indicating that of 673 accusations of anti-Semitism received between April 2018 and January 2019, 96 were suspended, 12 were expelled, and six received sanctions. The 12 expulsions represented 0.1 per cent of the party membership.

Until spring 2018 Labour Party HQ was controlled by a fiercely anti-Corbyn team. In 2019 Sir Keir Starmer, shadow Brexit secretary, was one of several leading Labour figures promoting a second referendum, a policy that went down like a lead balloon among Red Wall voters.

All the indications are that a Starmer-led government will do nothing to confront the corporate power responsible for the poverty and inequality disfiguring British society and continue to support the racist apartheid state of Israel.

GARETH MURPHY
& SABBY SAGALL