Tom Watson faces campaign by Jeremy Corbyn supporters calling on him to resign for warning that Labour will “disappear into a vortex of eternal shame and embarrassment”
The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Tom Watson MP, has warned that his Party will “disappear into a vortex of eternal shame and embarrassment” and render itself unfit for government unless it addresses antisemitism.
Echoing the stance of the Jewish community, Mr Watson demanded that the Labour Party must immediately drop the persecution of Campaign Against Antisemitism’s honorary patrons, Dame Margaret Hodge MP and Ian Austin MP, who face disciplinary action simply for standing up to Mr Corbyn’s transparent attempt to preserve safe space for himself and fellow antisemites.
Speaking to The Observer, Mr Watson said: “I think it is very important that we all work to de-escalate this disagreement, and I think it starts with dropping the investigations into Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin. I think people are very, very concerned that these investigations should be dropped quickly.”
Dame Margaret and Mr Austin, who both lost family in the Holocaust, and now Tom Watson, are outraged that Mr Corbyn and Labour’s National Executive Council have cut key examples from the International Definition of Antisemitism, including the age-old antisemitic trope of Jews having divided loyalties.
Mr Watson went further, insisting that Labour must adopt the definition in full, saying: “We should deal with this swiftly and move on. We can’t have this dragging on throughout the summer. I have made no secret of the fact that…we should adopt the full [international] definition and should do it without delay.”
Instead of addressing Mr Watson’s comments, supporters of Mr Corbyn called on him to resign, with #WatsonResign trending on Twitter.
On two occasions, this past Friday and again on Sunday, Jeremy Corbyn has attempted to deflect criticism in writing and in a short video, while sidestepping any question of his own obvious culpability in normalising and contributing to the antisemitic venom that has taken hold of the Labour Party as his and Momentum’s control of the Party has increased.
The video is yet another bland statement devoid of any apology for his own antisemitism or promises of specific actions. It is just another contradictory, hypocritical, insincere stunt. Jeremy Corbyn is an antisemite and under his leadership the Labour Party has become institutionally antisemitic and an existential threat to British Jewry.
It sometimes feels like people have been calling for me to stand down from day one but I never, ever thought I’d be facing demands to #resignwatson for standing up for people who are facing prejudice and hate.
— Tom Watson (@tom_watson) August 5, 2018
