ANALYSIS

LABOUR’s breakdown over anti-Semitism sums up the party’s quandary as it faces up to nearly a decade out of office.

Jeremy Corbyn is pitted against the weakest Tory Prime Minister for more than 20 years. Theresa May’s troubled leadership could result in a formal split in her party and her vision of Brexit is likely to make voters worse off.

A focused and competent Opposition would be more than 20% in the lead in the opinion polls. The parliamentary Labour party would be united behind the leader and MPs would be positioning themselves for places in Government.

The reality is Labour is barely ahead of a struggling Tory party and is tearing itself apart about what constitutes prejudice towards Jews.

Anti-Semitism has always existed in pockets of the Left. Criticism of the current Likud-led coalition in Israel is entirely merited, but some individuals seem incapable of distinguishing between the appalling Benjamin Netanyahu and conspiracy theories involving banking, Mossad and Nazis.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) deserves credit for making the clear distinction between legitimate criticism of Israel’s Government and hostility to Jews. Accepting the IHRA definition, and all 11 of the associated examples, should have been a no-brainer for Corbyn’s Labour.

But some Labour figures believed the IHRA definition would restrict the scope for criticism of Israel and, despite the definition being supported by dozens of countries and organisations, the party's governing body needlessly offended the Jewish community by watering down some of the eleven examples.

The anti-Semitism row may seem like Corbyn’s problem, but it is also illustrative of the difficulties faced by Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard since he succeeded Kezia Dugdale.

Leonard, despite the sneers from people who do not understand Scottish Labour, leads an autonomous party. He can say whatever he wants on reserved matters and can offer his view on whichever drama is consuming internal UK Labour politics.

Given that Labour is reviewing its code of anti-Semitism, Leonard could have led the way in calling for his party to back the full IHRA definition. He could have staked out a distinctive position, which would have reflected the majority in his own Holyrood group and in the wider Scottish party.

Leonard has instead kept quiet about the IHRA row while allowing the Scottish party to put out a defensive statement that backs the UK position. As with Brexit, where he has signed up to the baffling stance adopted by the Westminster Shadow Cabinet, Leonard prioritised unity with Corbyn over acting as the voice of Scottish Labour.

The Central Scotland MSP, eight months into his leadership, has two sizeable problems. One is that a majority of his MSPs – and their staff – do not, and will never, fully support him. Every day is a struggle and his enemies hope he fails.

The second issue is that many of his supporters care more about the Corbyn project than they do about him. Deviating from the UK leadership line is viewed by elements inside Team Leonard as tantamount to helping the Labour Right. For them, Leonard should be a replica Corbyn whose job is to help return Labour MPs.

Johann Lamont’s last call as leader was to warn that Scottish Labour had been treated as a “branch office” by London. Leonard has the power to be his own man, but seems reluctant to walk in his own shoes.