Starmer: not as forensic as all that?

JVL Introduction

As we have made clear already, we are appalled that Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended and had the whip withdrawn.

What are the grounds for his suspension? What Party rules is he in breach of?

Did Starmer even listen to what he said? Not on the evidence of interviews he gave today, misquoting Corbyn again and again as this short Skwawkbox video makes clear.

Sign the Reinstate Jeremy Corbyn petition.

We also link to a brief interview with Andrew Feinstein, former ANC MP, on Channel 4 News  last night.

This article was originally published by Skwawkbox on Fri 30 Oct 2020. Read the original here.

So, did ‘forensic’ former barrister Keir Starmer ‘accidentally’ misquote Corbyn 3 times in a few seconds to justify suspension? (video)

TV appearance this morning used three straw men that are exposed by a simple comparison with what Corbyn actually said

Keir Starmer made the rounds of breakfast TV studios this morning to justify the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party.

And three times in a few seconds, he misrepresented what Corbyn had said as he tried to support his decision:

The EHRC explicitly said in its report that Labour members are perfectly entitled to express opinions about the scale of antisemitism in the party – and that MPs have enhanced protection under laws that protect free speech – so Corbyn was well within his rights to do so without disciplinary action against him.

But facts matter, so let’s be absolutely clear:

  • Corbyn did not deny antisemitism in the Labour Party exists or is a problem
  • Corbyn did not say claims are ‘just’ exaggerated
  • Corbyn did not say claims are ‘just’ factional

So, was the ‘forensic’ barrister just being sloppy in his phrasing as he managed three times in about 7 seconds to associate Corbyn with things he hadn’t said? You decide.


And here Channel4 News introduces a short interview with Andrew Feinstein

Andrew Feinstein is an author and Jewish Labour Party member who was an MP under Nelson Mandela in South Africa.

We spoke to him earlier and asked him if he regarded Jeremy Corbyn as in any way anti-Semitic.

 

 

 

Comments (34)

  • DJ says:

    If you reject the claim that the party is awash with anti semites you are in denial according to Starmer. But where is the evidence to support the assertion that the Labour Party has a large antisemitism problem and why have so many Jewish members been suspended? He is making the party unwelcoming for non Zionist Jews, Palestinians and socialists. Jeremy Corbyn’s statement that forces inside and outside the Labour Party have exaggerated the scale of antisemitism in the party is true. No apology or retraction of his statement is required. The problem is Starmer’s unwillingness to admit that this so called “crisis” is a cynical attack on the left and pro Palestinian campaigners. The idea that his statement is antisemitic and warrants suspension is preposterous! Despite Starmer’s claims to the contrary this is civil war.

    0
    0
  • Kuhnberg says:

    This has become a key issue, and a litmus test for political/journalistic probity. Starmer saw what hd thought was his opportunity to be done with Corbyn and his supporters once and for all, so he rushed into the gap, only to find himself stuck in a moral morass. In their eagerness to discredit JC the media and the self-styled ‘centrists’ are now willfully misrepresenting the facts in order to justify Starmer’s over-hasty action. These people complain about Trump, and then follow his playbook. I am increasingly convinced that this will back-fire, leaving KS with egg all over his face.

    0
    0
  • Oriana Johnson says:

    Corbyn is a decent man! He deserve better treatment.
    I joined the Labour Party because I believe that Corbyn represent my values as a Human being.
    Mr Starmer this time you are wrong.

    0
    0
  • Emma says:

    This bullying of Mr. Corbyn is unjust and undignified. Mr.Corbyn and Labour members deserve better than this. As do Mr.Corbyn’s constituents how unfair is his suspension for them as well as Mr.Corbyn.

    0
    0
  • Rohit Barot says:

    It is one of the most shocking events to see the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party I fully back this petition so that the Party reinstates Jeremy to his rightful place in the Party

    0
    0
  • Susan Greaves says:

    All day I have been asking the question “On what grounds has Jeremy Corbyn been suspended?” Not one person on BBC or Channel 4 has asked this extremely basic question. JVL is asking the right question that should have been posed immediately. Thank you. (Although we will not get an answer I suspect.) I despair.

    0
    0
  • Starmer and all who adhere to him have not the least interest in Judaism. Their only agenda is to attack socialism and democracy. All who are Jewish should feel outrage that a religion and culture are exploited for political advantage

    0
    0
  • Simon Anderson says:

    DJ has said it all.

    0
    0
  • George Porter says:

    It seems to me that the Labour Party pleaded guilty and offered no defence or mitigation.

    0
    0
  • Allan Howard says:

    DJ, well, yes and no, as the only real weapon in the conflict is the MSM, and THAT is totally owned and/or controlled by the enemies of Jeremy and the left, and they can inflict as much damage as they want to on Jeremy and the left and, as they HAVE, ‘transform’ Jeremy, a life-long anti-racist, into an antisemite, and the left membership (and Momentum activists) into bullies and thugs and homophobes, and of course antisemites too.

    Whatever Jeremy had said in relation to the EHRC report and its findings, he would have been suspended, and I have no doubt whatsoever that it was planned months ago to do so, as apart from anything else, doing so was pretty much guaranteed to have left-wing members resigning and leaving the party in droves.

    0
    0
  • Sue Beatty says:

    It seems clear to.me that Jeremy’s suspension is nothing to do with his statement on the report but everything to do with Starmer and co desperate to see JC gone from the party. They had been waiting for an oppprtunity to do so. This is nothing other than a desire to further humiliate the greatest politician of the party in my lifetime by those scared of his desire for change in this country and of the continuing following that he attracts. The purge of Jeremy and those in Westminster who support him has begun.
    #IStandWithCorbyn

    0
    0
  • Ray hall says:

    Did I read the report correctly? There were only 2 actionable cases of anti semism.?

    0
    0
  • Linda Farmer says:

    I am glad of the support here shown for Jeremy Corbyn

    0
    0
  • Nick Jenkins says:

    It is undeniably true that the general public have been given the impression that the Labour Party has a huge number of antisemites among its members. Polls have proved that to be true.
    While it is important to implement the EHRC recommendations on processes, record keeping and training, is it not time now to take action too against those who deliberately exaggerate the problem? One unnamed “senior Labour MP” was quoted in the Guardian this week, referring to a “tidal wave” of antisemitism in the party. This sort of talk is damaging and dangerous. We hear a lot about the hurt caused to the “Jewish community”. People who overstate the scale of the problem must accept a large part of the blame for any hurt that has been caused.
    And, just a thought, at this time when Starmer is “reaching out” to Jewish people, how about asking for JVL to be accepted as an affiliated organisation? Surely it would be antisemitic to reject such a reasonable request..?

    0
    0
  • Steve Griffiths says:

    Thank you once again, JVL: this is absolutely on the button. If there’s any criticism I’d have of your operation, it’s that there’s so bloody much excellent material, one’s head swims sometimes. I know you prioritise to a degree, but maybe some of this material could form small bundles of campaigning resources, changing over time – I sometimes wonder how the casual visitor gets in to the treasury of essential information and insights. Your search facility is certainly useful, but maybe people need more help. I’ll certainly use this one, and it’s still up to us members and supporters to get it out there, especially in a way that reaches people influenced by the mainstream media. Thank you again. Lots of people are saying you are playing an absolutely crucial role.

    0
    0
  • Marie Joyce says:

    I’m absolutely appalled. It’s also very disturbing that Hope not hate have jumped on the bandwagon holding up the likes of Ruth Smeeth as a shining example. What a warped world we’re living in. 😢😢😢

    0
    0
  • Jim Stockman says:

    It is appalling to what has happened to Jeremy Corbyn. There is no evidence as to anti Semitism being rife in the Labour Party not even hearsay. Only vague allegations without giving any examples of anti Semitism.

    0
    0
  • Despite what calmer states it was and is a cynical attack knowing full well how it would be seen by the socialists in the party I believe that it won’t be the last history will find calmer guilty if they used rule2.1.8 then they need to publish the minutes of the NEC meeting called

    0
    0
  • Sabine Ebert-Forbes says:

    I agree with DJ’s comment, and would like to add that it is the continuation of 5 years of undermining Jeremy Corbyn. Over the past 5 years AS always cropped up as the ‘spanners in the works’ whenever Labour under JC got level or ahead of the tories, usually put in scene by people within Labour and leaked to the media.
    There are Labour MP and have beens who play political football with AS.
    I wonder if the zero-tolerance to AS also applies to these people. Or is that a futile silly question and expectation on my part?
    And why the edict that we must not discuss the report nor comment on anything related to it. This is the third time since April that we the members are banned, threatened with disciplinary action, from discussing issues that affect us. The ‘new’ management is on brittle ground….

    0
    0
  • Ian Hickinbottom says:

    This is a concerted and planned strategy to destroy any possibility of a future socialist government. The report has been phrased in such a way that its main points can be interpreted as a failure of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. That he allowed a regime of acceptance of antisemitism to develop and prosper, that he interfered in cases and failed to instill a rigorous complaint system and sufficient training of the complaints team. It’s only when the report is studied carefully that its content is a reflection of the party system the leadership inherited and that only after Ms Formby was installed as GS that any improvement was made. The person who should bear most responsibility for this report and the party’s failings highlighted within, is Ian McNicol, who as GS during the main period covered by the inquiry, 2016 to March 2018, was responsible for the procedure and processes taking place at HQ and across the country.
    Keir Starmer is doing as instructed, make no mistake Mr Corbyn was suspended on his say so in contravention of the report he was quoting. Mr Corbyn was to held responsible, whatever the report findings.

    0
    0
  • Gordon Dawson says:

    Please can you post link here to bbc Starmer interview that the vid here is taken from?

    [JVL web – you will have to ask Skwawkbox for that]

    0
    0
  • David Wolton says:

    I notice that the EHRC report is not signed by its authors – is this standard practice?

    0
    0
  • lisa howells says:

    Shame the focus wasn’t on racism and inequality in the Tory party. Already resigned my membership of the Labour party.

    0
    0
  • Harry Terms says:

    As a lawyer this, at best suggests, Keir Starmer was incompetent, during his interview. Surely he is incapable of lying. After all he is a ‘Sir’

    0
    0
  • SK says:

    show trials coming soon?

    0
    0
  • William Johnston says:

    I think that those of you who describe Starmer as a bully and see him as conducting a concerted purge against left wing members of the party actually over-estimate him.

    I see him as morally weak; very much in the mould of Neville Chamberlain.

    Not that I see that as any sort of cause for optimism. Blair may well have been a disaster for socialism in the party. At least he was a competent disaster.

    0
    0
  • Paul Mackney says:

    Statement from the Greece Solidarity Campaign:
    “Jeremy Corbyn is Patron of the Greece Solidarity Campaign and was the first MP to go to Greece when it was in crisis earlier in the decade.
    We have found him to be very principled, opposed to all forms of discrimination and oppression.
    He has been most active in his concern at the suffering of the Greek people, the growth of the fascist party Golden Dawn and the unbearable conditions for the refugees.
    We stand in solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn and acknowledge his lifelong commitment and contributions to the fight against all forms of racism and injustice, including anti-semitism.”
    Paul Mackney, Co-Chair Greece Solidarity Campaign

    0
    0
  • Sidonia Senior says:

    I read the i Newspaper who state they are unbiased but they rarely give a voice to Jewish groups other than BOD, JLM and right-wing Jewish Labour MP’s. I really wish that you were given an opportunity to provide an article for publication to show that there are Jewish members that support JC. From reading the negative headlines anyone would think there are no Jewish members left.

    0
    0
  • Replying to William Johnson I have come to also suspect that Starmer may be weak. His cringing subservience to Israel and zionism is so abject and his determination to appease the right so baffling that we might suspect he is in some way AFRAID. Starmer’s behavior is so inexplicable that anything is possible.

    0
    0
  • Paul Brooks says:

    Having met Jeremy Corbyn I’ve always trusted him he doesn’t lie, my Starmer on the other hand seems to be duplicitous to me!

    0
    0
  • john wilson says:

    This whole sordid mess was orchestrated a long time ago and the end game was to purge the left and get rid of JC. In the run up to the party leadership elections starmer repeatedly refused to name his financial backers later on (and too late) hey presto we find Blair and his billionaire freinds are behind it you can work the rest of it ouit yourself. Box Dodger

    0
    0
  • Pat. Kane says:

    “. Not. ” guilty as charged.

    0
    0
  • Tammy Johnston says:

    It is unnerving watching Keir Starmer go after Corbyn like this. It’s definitely not about making sure no one feels ostracised or isolated. So what is it for?

    0
    0
  • Mrs ELIZABETH A ROSS says:

    karmer is using the LABOUR PARTY to control politics for Israel. this is wrong and against all socialist values. there should not be anyone suspended for saying out loud what they think ANYWHERE in meetings or out. infact there should not even be “friends of Israel” within the party at all…we stand for ALL equally not just them. to be hounded for speaking against zionism is wrong. being attacked as a racist for saying so is wrong. time we had a sort out and kick out all these trouble mongers including starmer….not our own so called extemist lefties…we are not left loonines we are centrist…starmer is so far right he can zip up boris’s britches

    0
    0

Comments are now closed.