“It was Keith Vaz - a former minister who is not seen as politically close to Chris Williamson - who had the pivotal vote over whether to readmit the Derby North MP.
He is now calling the process into question and suggesting the whole thing could be re-run - an action replay that could give a different result and defuse a potentially explosive internal row.
Mr Vaz was brought into the process at the last minute and the theory being advanced by some in leadership circles is that he initially and mistakenly did what he thought Mr Corbyn wanted, the better to avoid a deselection threat.
When he saw the strength of the backlash, he suggested effectively re-running the process.
But Mr Corbyn is in a difficult position - one his internal opponents relish.”
(Was this written before the decision to re-suspend Chris Williamson?)
 |
| Vim Jaz |
“There was a large backlash from Labour peers and MPs after Mr Williamson was allowed back into the party on Wednesday.
Deputy leader Tom Watson was among more than 100 of them to sign a letter calling for Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to act and remove the whip from the Derby North MP.
Seventy-one Labour politicians also wrote to the chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), John Cryer, earlier, asking him to begin a process that could have lead (sic) to the whip being withdrawn from Mr Williamson if Mr Corbyn didn't act.
BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said the whip being removed again was "an attempt to defuse" the situation.
Mr Williamson said he "deeply" regretted the remarks and did not want anyone to think he was "minimising the cancer of anti-Semitism".
After his readmission, he told BBC Radio Derby: "Anybody who knows me, who knows my record, knows I'm someone who has stood up against bigotry throughout my political life and indeed beforehand.”
Does not having a single racist bone in your body include the backbone?
This earlier web post is roughly a written version of the broadcast I transcribed earlier. Maybe I needn't have bothered.
It still irks me to read that Mr Vaz's vote was the 'pivotal' one. In the broadcast, Watson explained why the Blairite member of the trio would have voted not to reinstate Williamson, but not a squeak about why the third member would have voted to reinstate him. If Williamson's suspension is for antisemitism, why isn't this lady's rather obvious antisemitism a matter of interest to the public?
Update:
Stephen Daisley on top form.
Update:
Stephen Daisley on top form.
