How the Forde report shows toxic behaviour within Labour

Racism and Antisemitism at the heart of toxic behaviour

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Image Credit: Labour List

The Forde report has been released which has shed light on the toxicity within the Labour Party. When Corbyn took power of the party in 2015 the establishment of the party clearly was not happy, as seen by his cabinet walkout on his first day of office. This instant animosity was due to questions over his electability and fear of radical left wing politics by MP’s who were used to Blairite centrism.

Corbyn’s leadership came under fire for its handling of antisemitism allegations with an independent review by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that antisemitism regularly occurred and there was a systemic issue with dealing and resolving complaints of antisemitism.

Image Credit: Tribune

In the recent Forde report, there appears to be even worse issues within the Labour party that doesn’t die with the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. The report found reports of racism and that party HQ who opposed Corbyn weaponised antisemitism against the Corbyn leadership. 

The report states that the party was ‘operating a hierarchy of racism’ as well as forms of racism and discrimination being ignored. This is obviously problematic for a Labour party that paints itself as the anti-racist party. It will be difficult for Labour to attack others for racism when they themselves have been found to have engaged in systemic racism. 

What the report shows is that it wasn’t just the Corbyn supporters engaging in toxic behaviour but those in the party who opposed him. The opponents of Jeremy Corbyn in party HQ saw antisemitism as a tool to attack Corbyn rather than an issue to address which was their job to fix. 

The report states -

“Some anti-Corbyn elements of the party seized on antisemitism as a way to attack Jeremy Corbyn, and his supporters saw it simply as an attack on the leader and his faction – with both ‘sides’ thus weaponising the issue and failing to recognise the seriousness of antisemitism, its effect on Jewish communities and on the moral and political standing of the party.”

This shows that neither side in the party took antisemitism as seriously as they should have. With an increase in antisemitic hate crimes over the last five years the report will be troubling reading for many in the Jewish community.

The Forde report outlines racism towards black staffers with black staffers struggling to get opportunities and being victims of racist behaviour. The leadership of the party have not effectively intervened in cases of racism, misogyny, or antisemitism meaning they have not made an acceptable amount of progress in dealing with the issues the Forde Report lays out.

The report says that under Corbyn the party was that hostile internally that staff within HQ were ‘forced’ to pick a side meaning that the atmosphere within Labour just became more and more toxic. What this meant is that an issue as huge as antisemitism and hierarchical racism was not being dealt with as urgently as they should have been because infighting made members hostile to each other.

Racism has no place in society especially within a political party as large as Labour. Current leadership states that antisemitism has no place within Labour and Kier Starmer’s removing the whip from Corbyn and sacking Rebecca Long-Bailey for antisemitism shows that the party have made progress, but the party still has a long way to go. The front bench of Labour remains largely white, Rebecca Long-Bailey is still a Labour MP and membership with a far left anti-Israel contingent remaining Labour has work to do to prove it has resolved these toxic issues.

By Jack Dixon

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