UK Labour hopes to paper over Brexit splits for united front

Published on 23.09.2018 at 03h54 by AFP

Britain’s Labour Party kicks off its annual conference on Sunday hoping to prove it is ready to unseat the embattled Conservative government despite its own splits on Brexit and rows over anti-Semitism.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn has a golden opportunity to capitalise on Prime Minister Theresa May’s weakness after European Union leaders rejected her Brexit plans on Thursday.

But he must first ensure that his party’s internal tensions take a back seat to bolster his image as a prime-minister-in-waiting.

“The sheer levels of animosity that exists between Corbyn and his opponents is quite remarkable,” Anand Menon, political professor at King’s College London, told AFP ahead of the four-day event in Liverpool.

Brexit is one of the fault lines, dividing even allies.

Most of Corbyn’s MPs and his younger supporters are in favour of the EU, but many voters in the party’s working-class heartlands back Brexit.

Corbyn has so far tried to avoid the divisive subject, instead sticking to promoting a domestic social agenda that helped him upset the odds at last year’s general election and strip May of her parliamentary majority.

But with Brexit negotiations due to come to a climax before the end of the year, party members look set to force a debate and a vote on the conference floor pushing for a second referendum, something Corbyn has said he is against.

“The big controversial thing would be… whether Labour commits itself to a second referendum… because Corbyn has been trying to keep as ambiguous as possible,” Steven Fielding, professor at University of Nottingham, told AFP.

Pro-EU supporters are due to hold a large march as the conference opens on Sunday, calling for a second vote.

Corbyn will likely stick to his tried-and-tested method when he delivers his keynote speech on Wednesday, according to experts, prioritising efforts to bring down the government rather than trying to stop Brexit.

– ‘Abrasive language’ –

“I suspect the leadership would like to preserve the ambivalence that we have seen so far (on Brexit),” said Tim Bale, chair in politics at University of London Queen Mary.

“Whether they would be able to, in the face of the crushing coming from below, would be an interesting thing to watch.”

Another potential issue hampering Corbyn’s designs on power is the anti-Semitism row that has dogged the party since he took over in 2015.

He recently admitted the party had a “real problem” with the issue, leading veteran MP Frank Field to quit last month. Field said the leadership was becoming “a force for anti-Semitism in British politics”.

The National Executive Committee (NEC), the party’s ruling body, agreed this month to adopt in full an international definition of anti-Semitism for its code of conduct, but only after fierce opposition from those in the party who believe it will limit criticism of Israel.

Labour’s polling numbers have remained relatively stable in recent months, although the chaos in the Tory party could mask any impact of the scandal, according to Fielding.

But the row continues to reverberate through the party.

“There is a lot of resentment, a lot of bitterness which I don’t think will be very easily dispelled and there may be some Labour MPs who eventually leave on the basis of antisemitism issues,” Fielding said.

A group of Labour campaigners will hold a rally on Sunday to protest against Corbyn’s handling of the scandal.

“If they want this conference to work they are going to have to deal with anti-Semitism, rather than pretending that they have dealt with it already,” said Menon.

The row has deepened the divisions between Corbyn’s far-left supporters and the more centrist faction of MPs who held power in the party after Tony Blair took charge in 1994.

Centrist MPs now find themselves on the sidelines and battling for their political lives in the face of aggressive attempts by Corbyn’s supporters to de-select them, another issue that could raise tensions during conference.

“The leadership might try and persuade Momentum activists not to make it (de-selection) a central plank of conference but the language is getting very, very abrasive,” said Menon.

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