If you’ve not had your head in the news, the UK heads to the polls on December the 12th for a snap general election.
The candidates for PM are the incumbent, Tory Boris Johnson, and the unpopular Labour opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Both, apparently, will be electioneering on a pro-Brexit platform. [Johnson’s widely tipped to win in a landslide.]
To make matters worse, Corbyn’s already off to a shaky start with not one but four senior members of his very own party urging people to vote against him.
Ian Austin, who was a minister in last Labour government under Gordon Brown, just called Corbyn an “extremist” who is “completely unfit” to be PM and would be a “total disaster for Britain” if elected.
Ever since becoming leader of the opposition in 2015, Corbyn’s pro-Palestine stance has been translated by media and the Jewish community as anti-semitism. He’s also been accused of ignoring festering anti-semitism amongst Labour’s rank and file.
And now Britain’s The Jewish Chronicle has used its latest front page to urge everyone – and not just Jews – to cast their vote for anyone but the Labour party on December 12.
According to the article, the “vast majority” (87 per cent) of British Jews consider Corbyn to be an anti-Semite and that nearly half (47 per cent) would “seriously consider emigrating” if he won the election.
The article added: “There were some who hoped he might change as a leader. The opposite has happened. The near total inaction of Mr Corbyn and the rest of the Labour leadership in dealing with anti-semitism in the party has both emboldened them and encouraged others.
“If this man is chosen as our prime minister, the message will be stark: that our dismay that he could ever be elevated to a prominent role in British politics, and our fears of where that will lead are irrelevant. We will have to conclude that our fears count for nothing.”
Labour has worked hard in recent times to change its image and court Britain’s Jewish community.
The last census, back in 2011, showed there were 263,346 Jewish people living in the UK, primarily in London, the south of the country and in Glasgow.
This week, Labour shadow minister Rebecca Long-Bailey told the BBC that it would “take a long time” to restore faith between Labour and the Jewish community.
“The Jewish community is rightfully hurt, they don’t feel that we [Labour] were doing enough or taking it seriously. I think we’ve got a lot of work to do to rebuild that trust and that’s certainly something that we want to do now, and also in government,” Long-Bailey said.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said in a recent TV interview he was “saddened” by claims that Corbyn becoming prime minister would “harm the Jewish way of life”.
While leader of the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson, responded to The Jewish Chronicle’s front page with a tweet that read: “Incredibly powerful message and appalling that any community in our country has been forced to feel like this.”
