Leaders
If even establishment figures have their bags packed, it's time to ask why
The JC Leader - October 25, 2019
October 24, 2019 14:58
1 min read
The JC Leader - October 25, 2019
October 24, 2019 14:58There is a striking line in our interview this week with Lord Dyson. As a former Master of the Rolls, one might well think of him as the very definition of an establishment figure.
And yet even he echoes a feeling shared by many in our community, saying that his bags are “metaphorically” packed. Indeed, he asserts that he feels “fundamentally” insecure in the UK. Lord Dyson was speaking generally rather than specifically about Labour antisemitism.
But as someone who has occupied one of the most senior judicial posts in the land, he is more alive than most to nuance and context, and in what he describes as “dangerous times” it is difficult not to see his words at least in part in the context of the threat posed by Jeremy Corbyn.
Indeed our poll this week confirms the extent of Jewish fears of the Labour leader.
Despite being more pro-Remain as a community relative to the rest of the country, an overwhelming 78 per cent of British Jews say we would rather have a No Deal Brexit than contemplate having Mr Corbyn as prime minister.
A paltry 7 per cent would consider voting Labour while he is leader. None of this is surprising; the surprise would be if the figures were reversed.
But, quite apart from those who are part of the problem, there are still supposedly well meaning people who continue to doubt the existence of this crisis — even after a second female Jewish Labour MP was driven out of the party over antisemitism last week.
What more evidence do they need than the words of so sober and measured a man as Lord Dyson? Who else do they need to see forced out of Labour after Dame Louise Ellman?
How many Jews need to actually leave the country before they wake up to reality?