Keir Starmer was a star member of Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet up to the point when an investigation into Anti-Semitism within the Labour Party started.
Keir Starmer, married to a Rabbi's daugher and with children raised in the Jewish tradition became the obvious contender to conter Anti-Semitism within the Labour Party and it was also pretty obvious that Jeremy Corbyn who had invested much of his political career supporting the Palestinian movement was a self-made target.
Sadiq Khan thought that becoming Mayor of London would give him the public exposure necessary to rise within the ranks of the Labour Party, but his association with Muslims involved in terrorism doesn't help. Andy Burham as Mayor of Greater Manchester is presently involved in a struggle battling with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and has relatively a higher profile, adding to the fact that he is not part of London's circles. Andy Burham can claim has he is more relevant because he cannot possibly be associated with London's Labor Party nor with developments involving Anti-Semitism.
The Kinnock brand was damaged when the heir of Neil Kinnock was chastised for having criticized the policies of Israel in Palestine and this happens at a time when the Labour Party leadership is trying to distance itself of any possible charges involving Anti-Semitism or bias against Israel.
Putting aside personalities, divisions within the Labour Party have not gone away and cannot be attributed merely to personality feuds and under Lockdown the chances of organising a popular resistance movement are very limited. This means that this is a window of opportunity for Keir Starmer to counter divisions that could bring him down before the next General Election. Having said that, the fact that Keir Starmer is going after the man that he very publicly supported does not fare well for the Labour Party.
Being accused by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is no minor issue: The charges are:
- Political interference in Anti-Semitism complaints
- Failure to provide adequate training to those handling anti-Semitism complaints
- harassment, including the use of anti-Semitic tropes and suggesting that complaints of anti-Semitism were fake of smears
If the office of Jeremey Corbyn was involved, there is no way to separate Jeremy Corbyn from the charges being made. The first stage was to depose Jeremy Corbyn. The second stage is to put Jeremy Corbyn on notice. We could end up hearing about expulsion from the Labour Party, but this could prove to be a step too far. Jeremy Corbyn was supported by Labour Party activists against the will of the Parliament Labour Party that was wacked in the recent General Election where heartland Labour seats were lost to the Conservative Party. If factional differences lead to a break up of the Labour Party, any hopes of electoral success will go up in smoke.
Keir Starmer himself is under siege. Andy Burham has not been involved in the struggle between Keir Starmer and Jeremy Corbyn. Therefore, Andy Burnham appears to be the obvious challenger.
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