Eddie Izzard went out of his way to pledge support for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn when the entertainer announced he was standing for election to the party’s National Executive Committee. But Izzard’s campaign theme of trying to bring more diversity to the party highlights a stubborn weakness in Corbyn Labour, which has been accused by internal party critics of paying lip service to minorities and tolerating antisemitism.
Izzard told the Guardian that the party needs to do more to tap into the diversity of the wider Labour movement. “[We should] do more to increase involvement from a range of groups that I don’t feel are represented enough in our party,” he said.
“That includes those from LGBT, disabled and ethnic minority backgrounds, as well as those who have suffered from mental health issues. Gender equality and increasing working-class participation is also vital.”
Most of the constituency party positions on the NEC are likely to be won by candidates who express firm support for Corbyn, which Izzard has done. While the stand-up comic and writer insisted he was “not standing for any faction” he specifically said he wanted to help Corbyn take on the Conservatives, while also fighting to make the party more inclusive.
“Not Doing Enough”
Izzard’s platform is based on the clear assumption that Corbyn has not done enough to pursue an agenda of inclusion or else there would be no need for a celebrity activist to take up the battle of reforming the party’s culture. To openly criticise Corbyn would dramatically reduce Izzard’s chances of success, given the leader’s sky-high popularity among the party’s grassroots members and the strength of pro-Corbyn activist groups such as Momentum. The mood within Labour was demonstrated last month when the NEC voted in favour of a hard-Left move to transfer more power from MPs to party members, including by opening up more spaces on the committee.
Izzard’s announcement came amid headlines about the homophobic and misogynistic comments made on social media more than a decade ago by Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam Jared O’Mara (left), a member of the Women and Inequalities Committee.
The party initially stood by O’Mara but suspended him on October 25 when he was accused of more recent poor behaviour by at least one woman. Corbyn was criticised for his failure to act earlier against O’Mara.
Antisemitism remains an ongoing sore sport for some Labour MPs and members, with Corbyn repeatedly accused of tolerating bigotry among some of his colleagues on the hard Left of the party.
“Nobody should be abused whoever they are,” Corbyn said last month. “We have just passed a motion on racism and antisemitism, which is comprehensive and inclusive and is supported by all wings of the party and unanimously agreed by our national executive. Anyone using antisemitic language and anyone using any form of racist language is completely at odds with the beliefs of this party.”
LGBT
As for LGBT rights, Corbyn recently came under fire for saying that people who “chose” to be gay or lesbian should not be persecuted.
“The real sin that Corbyn commits against LGBT people is not this error, which is just another example of his incompetence, but his record of supporting regimes that are systematically homophobic” said writer Hannah Jane Parkinson.
While accepting that it was ludicrous to call Corbyn a homophobe, Parkinson complained that he had “hero-worshipped” Fidel Castro, for instance, a man who referred to gay men as “worms”. “it was galling to hear Corbyn say in his speech that we should push back against countries where homosexuality is punishable by death when he has previously embraced such regimes,” she noted.
The pervading criticism of Corbyn is not so much the stances he has taken on specific issues and incidents but his failure to make minorities a greater priority in his public statements. An ambassador and champion like Eddie Izzard may be just what Labour needs to rebut the accusations of prejudice or indifference.
by Stewart Vickers
The post Politics: Izzard Reveals Corbyn’s Failings? appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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