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In a normal political world, the expulsion of Jackie Walker from the Labour Party would be a minor story of interest only to those interested in obscure political figures.
Ms Walker has played no worthwhile role either in Labour or British public life and her antisemitic views have no place in any mainstream party. So of course she should have been expelled.
But we do not live in a normal political world. We live in a world where Labour is led by an antisemite and where racist bullies in the party are effectively given licence to drive out a female Jewish MP.
In that context Ms Walker and her views assumed an importance that they would never otherwise have merited, as a symbol of all that is wrong with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.
The party deserves little praise for expelling her; it took them three years to finally act.
In fact, Ms Walker’s expulsion raises more questions than it answers because, throughout those three years, she has been supported and backed by a series of high-profile Labour members, such as the now-suspended MP Chris Williamson, all of whom knew her views and still defended her. Ms Walker’s milieu is that of the Labour leadership itself — the likes of Mr Corbyn, John McDonnell and the assorted hard left extremists who, for decades, were on the fringes of the party but now run it.
If Ms Walker’s expulsion heralded a serious attempt to clean up the party, it would be welcome. But it will not, indeed it cannot — because the institutionally antisemitic Labour Party’s tolerance of and support for bigotry comes from the top, from Ms Walker’s political allies.
For the Labour leadership to take more than token action against antisemites would mean acting against themselves.