John McDonnell has done it again.
A month ago it was "Let me put this message out to anyone: We are a party that is anti-racist and anti-Semitist". This morning (on Today) it was "Let's talk about how we tackle that now as a community as a whole and the Labour party will play its full role in leading that anti-Semitism".
Don't worry John, it's already doing more than enough on that front!
Of course, he misspoke. Here it is in context - the whole two minutes that Today gave over to the topic this morning:
Kamal Ahmed: Can I just ask you finally about headlines in the papers today and yesterday around a speech made by Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 where he was quoted as saying - this raises again the issues around anti-Semitism in the Labour Party - where he says that Zionists in Britain and I quote "don't understand English irony". This has received very strong condemnation from many Jewish leaders in Britain. Is there a danger...is that a phrase, firstly, Mr. McDonnell you would use? And was it right for the leader of the Labour Party to described 'Zionists', as he put them, and some people are saying that's shorthand for 'Jewish people' "don't understand English irony"?
John McDonnell: No. I think this has all been taken out of context. Whatever Jeremy has said throughout the years has always been about how to secure peace, particularly within the Middle East. and also peace with justice for all concerned, both members of the Jewish community and also members of the Palestinian community. In that context, in that context Jeremy has devoted his life. So I think to take expressions out of context in that way is not helping...
Kamal Ahmed: (interrupting) Would you have used a phrase like that? Would you have used a phrase like that?
John McDonnell: In the...in the context...in certain contexts certain phrases are appropriate. To take them out of context is unacceptable and I think is not helping. It's exacerbating the issue. Where we want to get to now is let's recognise there is anti-Semitism in our society. Let's have a real serious debate about the actions needed to tackle anti-Semitism wherever it's displayed. I want to live...I repeat time and time again...I do not want to live in a society where Jewish pupils have to have security when they go to school or when Jewish cemeteries are daubed with swastikas. Let's talk about how we tackle that now as a community as a whole and the Labour party will play its full role in leading that anti-Semitism, the campaign against anti-Semitism, the way in which we develop our policies both to tackle anti-Semitism wherever it occurs, and that includes in the Labour party.
Kamal Ahmed: Mr. McDonnell, thank you very much.
Kamal didn't exactly go at him like a ferret up a kilt there, did he? In what way, Kamal might have asked, have Jeremy Corbyn's words been taken out of context here? And doesn't the actual context make it even worse?
And talking of context, Radio 4 listeners coming new to the story weren't given the full context either. The bit about "having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives" (i.e. that they aren't properly English) got missed from Kamal's framing of the story.
And talking of context, Radio 4 listeners coming new to the story weren't given the full context either. The bit about "having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives" (i.e. that they aren't properly English) got missed from Kamal's framing of the story.
