While you can be critical or supportive of what happens in terms of governance of the United Kingdom, you cannot fail to pay attention to what happening in the Opposition that very much affects developments in the United Kingdom.
Keir Starmer is literally struggling to keep the Labour Party together and by many account he is not succeding. The expressions anti-Semitim and Islmophobia should ring a bell.
In spite of the fact that Keir Starmer was the man the Labour Party chose to deal with the crisis generated concerning accusations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and the fact that as a direct consequence of the crisis the previous leader was deposed and is no longer a Labour Party member, a series of reshuffles following electoral defeats tell you that all is not well in the Labour Party.
What is more, there is a new acquired fear in the Labour Party that is affecting Labour Party policies and relationships between its members as Muslims are increasingly discontent with the stances of the Labour Party regarding Palestine, Labour Party officials are running around in fear that any criticism of the Labour Party regarding what is happening in Palestine might be seen as anti-Semitism.
Any reshuffle in the present circumstances increases discontent and lowers the popularity ratings of the leader both internally and externally. Some polls indicate that Keir Starmer's popularity ratings are pretty low so he himself would not be an asset should there be an General Election.
We are hours away from a by-election in Batley and Spen and people inside and outside the Labour Party await the outcome of the election that could strengthen existing doubts about the leadership of the Labour Party. But there is more. There have been incidents during the campaign for the by-election that are extremely worrying. A well-known Muslim female Labour Party politician was seen laughing when the standing candidate Kim Leadbeater was accosted by a group of angry Muslims who were questioning Kim Leadbeater about her stances on LGBT issues. To what extent can the Labour Party trust its Muslim members and supporters? If what happened regarding Jewish voters happens again but this time involving Muslim voters there are areas and not just Batley and Spen but somewhere else in the country where the Labour vote could collapse.
We then see that added to already existing ideological differences between Labour politicians and Labour Party voters we have two new divides regarding issues that happen outside the country that can seriously undermine the Labour Party. Palestine and the debate about anti-Semitism and Islmamophobia are key issues for the present Labour Party.
A regional official in the UK's Labour Party has prevented local party members from debating a motion on Thursday calling for sanctions on Israel over human rights violations against Palestinians saying it would trigger 'anti-Semitic behaviour'.
Kim Bolton - chair of Hove and Portslade Constituency Labour Party in southern England - ordered that members are prohibited from discussing the motion calling for Israel to 'end its violations of the human rights of Palestinians'.
The motion had urged the UK to 'impose legal sanctions on Israel', such as a ban of arms sales and trade with illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Bolton reportedly acted on advice from Scott Horner, the south east regional officer for Labour. Horner is said to have cautioned her that the discussions 'would undermine the party's ability to provide a safe and welcoming place for all members, in particular Jewish members'.
Bolton said she supported that view and believed that a debate on sanctions against Israel, key demand of the non-violent BDS movement backed by large swathes of Labour Party members, could 'stir up internal conflict'.
What are the alternatives for the Labour Party after July 1st, 2021, day of the by-election in Batley and Spen? If the Labour vote is divided and Labour loses the by-election, will this be the last straw for Keir Starmer's leadership. What will he do? Will he carry out yet another reshuffle as it happend after events in Hartlepool and event in Chesham and Amersham? If the Labour Party is in favour of another leadership challenge, who is there to replace Keir Starmer?
Because of the pandemic, the Labour Party has been desperately trying to capitalize on any criticism made concerning the governing party, whether it is about Dominic Cummings or the actions of Matt Hancock or the fabricated loss of documents pertaining to the Ministry of Defense. But this cannot make up for the general lack of direction and ineffectiveness of the Labour Party.
Keir Starmer very well knows that there are two fundamental divisions in the Labour Party - apart from other divisions - the Parliamentary Labour Party and the grass roots of the Labour Party - never mind the University warriors on social media that do not represent the real Labour Party.
Hartlepool was lost because many Labour supporters chose to abstain. In Chesham and Amersham, Labour barely managed to gather a few hundred votes coming after the Green Party. Somebody talked about tactical votes that gave the Liberal Democrats a win in Chesham and Amersham. What if this wasn't a tactical vote, but something more permanent? The Liberal Democrats seem to believe that the outcome was due to a lot more than just a tactical vote.
We await the outcome in Batley and Spen. Let's see if the Muslim vote for Labour holds or if George Galloway manages to attract both Muslim voters discontent with the stances of the present Labour Party on Palestine and/or Jeremy Corbyn's supporters in general and/or any disaffected Labour voter that does not agree with Keir Starmer's leadership.
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