Do you agree with Jeremy Corbyn's suspension from the Labour Party?
First of all, just for clarity, contrary to what Kirsty Wark on Newsnight and Channel 4, etc claimed - Corbyn did not reject anything in the EHRC report. He said it should immediately be implemented.
Second, surely anyone familiar with the evidence knows that what Corbyn did say - that a/s in Labour has been exaggerated by people inside and outside the party - is true.
I take it no one is going to deny that? The public think 34% of members were investigated, when its a tiny fraction of one percent. The evidence for there being more a/s in Labour/on the left is entirely anecdotal, and pretty much all the hard evidence from Jewish Policy Research, The Economist, etc. etc flatly contradicts that claim. Hodges etc. are clearly hugely inflating the scale of the problem. Yet despite it being obviously true that it's exaggerated, no one is ever challenged when they exaggerate it in interviews, etc..
Third, this exaggeration has caused Jewish people grave fears that Labour is 'rife' with antisemitism that are in reality groundless. This is actually the context of Corbyn's remark, if you read it.
Fourth, this was a day on which, inevitably Corbyn and the left were going to be smeared again and these exaggerations made unchallenged yet again.
So my question is, is it right that Corbyn should be suspended for pointing out an obvious fact that we all know to be true on day when that fact was yet again going to be denied without challenge?
And (tough one for defenders of free speech who also hate Corbyn) is it right that there should be no place in the Labour Party for anyone who says what is true - that the problem has been exaggerated for political reasons?
Incidentally, 73% of the members believe a/s has been exaggerated according to 2020 Aschroft poll. So my fifth point is this - is it strategically wise to tell 3/4s of your membership that they can't say what they believe and indeed know to be true?
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