3 min read
When Tim Farron told the London Evening Standard that a number of Labour MPs who had been in touch with him were deeply distressed by the election of Jeremy Corbyn as their leader, the paper quickly jumped to the conclusion that he was anticipating defections. In fact, while I have no particular knowledge about the content of those conversations, Tim made it abundantly clear that most were looking not for a political bedfellow but an agony aunt.
Like Tim, having been involved in centre-left politics for many years, I have plenty of friends in the Labour party and I hope I am not betraying any confidences when I say that most are totally dismayed by the turn of events. I don't expect many of them to jump ship any time soon, although I think it is fair to say that those from the Jewish community are far more uncomfortable than the rest.
For those of us Liberal Democrats who have had to put up with jibes about David Ward and Jenny Tonge for the past few years - and the vociferous criticism about their views on Israel - I don't mind the shoe being on the other foot for a while but, frankly, any comparison is absurd.
However distasteful some of their comments, Ward was a mere backbencher - now gone - playing to a constituency audience and speaking only for himself, while Jenny Tonge is a peer who had the whip suspended and now sits as an independent.
In contrast, Nick Clegg as leader of the Liberal Democrats was and is a consistent friend of the British Jewish community. Throughout his leadership, he ensured that Liberal Democrat policy towards Israel remained balanced and proportionate.
The comparison between Clegg - and indeed Farron - and Corbyn is stark. Corbyn is the Labour leader, the party's would-be prime minister. His attitude towards Israel has been anything but balanced and his explanations for supporting Hamas and Hizbollah barely withstand scrutiny . Indeed, his failure to even acknowledge Israel by name at the recent Labour Friends of Israel fringe confirms a deep seated antipathy which has now been transplanted lock, stock and barrel to the very top of the Labour Party.
For now, I expect my Labour friends to stay and fight, despite the increasing discomfort that seems likely to accompany every Corbyn foray into Middle Eastern politics.
For some committed socialists - a more than respectable position within the Jewish community, with a proud tradition -there is nowhere else to go. If you think Labour is bad, try the Greens or parties even further to the hard left.
But many, also within a strong Jewish tradition, are what would generally be thought of as ''small l'' liberals and social democrats. They are committed to fiscal responsibility coupled to varying degrees of wealth redistribution.
Our own experiences as Jews give us not just sympathy but empathy for the plight of the refugees now fleeing across Europe and a commitment to the international rule of law which is the basis of all human-rights legislation. Jews are fearful of the concentration of power, suspicious of state intrusion into our private lives and committed to equality - a liberal agenda if ever there was one.
This is a prospectus which may previously have been more than compatible with Labour Party membership but which was also the basis of co-operation between the parties of Blair and Ashdown, as they worked privately together to plot the overthrow of John Major in the 1990s.
While it would be churlish to pretend that, under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour is set to abandon its liberal agenda in its entirety, few within our community with our understanding of business and commitment to enterprise will be convinced that the party retains the economic credibility to deliver on it, while most are extremely perturbed by Corbyn's deeply illiberal attitudes towards, and friends in, the Middle East.
In contrast, Tim Farron's commitment to equality and passionate opposition to injustice draws heavily on his faith values. His Christianity and his natural instincts make him a friend of Israel, albeit a critical friend with a commitment to the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians. His is a party where to be a Jew and a progressive Zionist is a source of pride not discomfort.
In the circumstances, I hope my many liberal and social democrat friends who would never have previously considered abandoning their party, but now find that their party has anyway abandoned them, will look again at the Liberal Democrats.
It is time to find a new platform from which to rebuild the centre left in British politics.
Ben Rich is Tim Farron's interim chief of staff and former chief executive of the Movement for Reform Judaism
