Harold Wilson was born 100 years ago next Friday. Since his heyday in the 1960s, only Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair have dominated politics as comprehensively as Wilson did. Returned to power four times after general elections, he was a phenomenon unprecedented in British politics. And yet today he is almost forgotten. It is, of course, for history to judge whether that is appropriate. But, whatever his other merits, his love of Israel and the Jewish people has given our community a special reason — duty, even — to remember him. The contrast with Jeremy Corbyn speaks volumes about how attitudes to Israel have changed so dramatically on the left. If it is difficult to imagine Mr Corbyn in Number Ten, it is simply impossible to imagine two of his (non-Jewish) closest advisers suggesting that they might volunteer to join the IDF if Israel faced extinction. And yet that is exactly what Lord Donoughue and Joe Haines told Wilson in Downing Street. As Mr Corbyn’s leadership reminds us, we have been lucky that the last two Labour Prime Ministers were such strong supporters of Israel. Truly, we now live in another era.
A true Labour friend
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