The Conversation (0)
Darren Richman
Dec 16, 2019
One might have assumed the election result this week might lead to introspection and soul-searching on the left, given that progressive politics in this country has been all but destroyed by the Conservative victory. Instead, in the most grimly predictable moment of the year, Ken Livingstone has appeared on television and started talking about Jewish people again.
Livingstone went on TV the day after the election to cheerfully announce “the Jewish vote wasn’t very helpful” since he seems to suffer from a rare form of Tourette's syndrome in which he’s unable to go a few seconds without mentioning either Adolf Hitler or the Jewish people. It is worth reiterating that Jews account for just 0.5 per cent of the population and yet are somehow still to blame for Labour’s crushing defeat according to the erstwhile Mayor of London and Blur collaborator.
One can only assume that with the intention of stoking those sweet controversy fires, the producers of Good Morning Britain decided to interview Livingstone live on the ITV breakfast show. He did not disappoint with his opening gambit:
All my Jewish friends who are in the Labour Party, not a single one of them can remember in their entire time in the party an antisemitic incident.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day and Piers Morgan went on to point out that his guest was expelled from the Labour party for defending an antisemitic post by Naz Shah, so it was impossible for him to claim it was all smears.
The exchange descended into a slanging match but Red Ken did manage to refrain from referring to Hitler or the Nazi party so we can mark that down as progress.
More: Ken Livingstone basically just blamed Jewish people for the election result