Jeremy corbyn has finally apologised to his party — but not to the nation | thearticle

For Jeremy Corbyn, the hardest word is “sorry”. Not until he had received a public dressing-down at the hands of Mary Creagh, one of the dozens of defeated MPs, did the Labour leader finally

apologise to his party. He has still not, however, apologised to the nation. For more than four years, including two elections, the British people has had to live with the nightmarish

possibility that it would wake up to find this man running the country. It is that prospect, more than any other factor, which has deterred investors and depressed the markets. Corbyn has

been eager to blame Brexit for all this, and for his defeat too, but the truth is that he himself is largely responsible for the toxic atmosphere that has now been banished for the

foreseeable future. Nor has Corbyn apologised to the Jewish community for putting them through an ordeal that caused 47 per cent to tell a poll that they would seriously consider emigration

rather than live under an anti-Semitic government. It is an old fear, as old as the hatred that Labour has unleashed, and it has revived memories of Europe’s genocidal past, when Jews would

keep a suitcase packed at all times. It should be a source of shame for Labour that Corbyn’s conduct has topped the world’s “ten worst anti-Semitic incidents” for 2019, according to the

Simon Wiesenthal Centre. The Jewish human rights and Holocaust remembrance organisation, founded in memory of the great Nazi-hunter, commented: “In a year awash with anti-Semitism on both

sides of the Atlantic, no one has done more to mainstream anti-Semitism” in a democratic country. It isn’t only Jews who will recall the question posed by the British Chief Rabbi, Ephraim

Mirvis, during the election campaign: “How complicit in prejudice would a Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition have to be in order to be considered unfit for high office?” Yet in spite of the

revulsion with which not just most of his comrades and compatriots but the entire free world now regards this discredited demagogue, he is still in office. Incredibly, Corbyn insists that he

must stay on to oversee the leadership election that will occupy the Labour Party for the next few months. In other words, he wants to rig his own succession. The unappetising lineup of

leadership candidates is likely to include Rebecca Long-Bailey, on a joint ticket with Angela Rayner. These two favourites at the court of King Jeremy figured prominently in the campaign —

so much so as to look suspiciously like the Continuity Corbyn team. They are likely to have much of the party machine and the membership of Momentum behind them in any ballot. By contrast,

Jess Phillips, from the moderate centre of the party, challenged the leadership at a post mortem meeting of surviving Labour MPs by reading out a message from a defeated colleague who had

received no thanks or sympathy, let alone an apology, from Corbyn. His mishandling of the election has evidently continued into its aftermath. Indeed, Labour was lucky that its defeat was

not even more crushing. The Brexit Party probably saved about 20 Labour MPs, including prominent names such as Ed Miliband and Yvette Cooper, by taking votes from the Tories. To add insult

to injury, Corbyn is now indebted to Nigel Farage for the fact that Boris Johnson’s majority is not over a hundred. Labour’s misfortunes have only just begun, however. The report of the

Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is due early in the New Year. It is certain to be a devastating indictment of Labour’s institutional anti-Semitism and will surely provoke new

calls for the Corbynite faction to be ousted. Whether that will happen is another matter. The party may need to descend into yet deeper circles of Hell before it comes to its senses. The

electorate decided that it was not merely Corbyn who was unfit for high office, but the party he still leads. Britain deserves a proper Opposition, a party of the centre-Left for which

people can decently vote. Under its present management, Labour has forfeited any right to be that party. Someone needs to echo Oliver Cromwell and tell Jeremy Corbyn: “In the name of God,

go!”